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Higher education institutions have proven to be one of the most enduring organizations of the last centuries. In recent decades, however, significant changes in their institutional environment have forced universities to rethink their strategies. This is particularly true for management higher education institutions. How do universities, and specifically business schools, deal with these various expectations? Are there different organizational responses in the American, German, or Swedish higher education systems? These and other important questions of higher education management research are examined in this doctoral thesis. Taking neo-institutionalism theory as its basis, the thesis is convincing both conceptually as well as empirically through its multiple case study design. The insights gained are most interesting. They reveal how a form of "organizational schizophrenia" can help institutions comply with external demands without compromising the pursuit of academic reputation which is essential for the inner stability of higher education institutions and their continued existence. This book is relevant both for students and researchers in higher education management as well as management practitioners and administrators. I can say this with conviction as Heinke Robken's doctoral thesis was one of the last that I supervised as a teacher before changing to the president's office of the University of Oldenburg. As such, I read it both from a theoretical viewpoint as well as that of a practitioner.
List of contents
I: Introduction.- 1 Introduction.- II: Researching Organizational Change in Business Schools.- 2 Organizations and Institutional Environments: Neo-Institutionalism.- 3 The Historical Development of Business Schools.- 4 Business Schools from a Neo-Institutional Perspective.- 5 Excursus: Isomorphism - The Case of Entrepreneurship Professorships.- 6 Business Schools in the Context of the National Higher Education System.- III: The Empirical Study.- 7 Methodology and Research Design.- 8 Organizational Responses to Institutional Pressures.- 9 Comparing and Learning from the Three Case Study Business Schools.- 10 Implications.- IV: Conclusion.- 11 Conclusion.
About the author
Dr. Heinke Röbken promovierte bei Prof. Dr. Uwe Schneidewind am Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre und Wirtschaftspädagogik der Universität Oldenburg. Nach ihrem Studium in Deutschland, den USA und Schweden war sie Gastforscherin an der University of Chicago und an der Cornell University. Heute arbeitet sie als Juniorprofessorin für Bildungsmanagement an der Universität Oldenburg.
Summary
For the last centuries higher education institutions have been very enduring organizations. Nevertheless, they are now forced to rethink their strategies because of changes in their institutional environment.
Heinke Röbken analyses how American, German and Swedish universities - and particularly business schools - deal with the various expectations they are confronted with. She shows, how higher management education institutions change and how they translate demands from their institutional environment (e.g. from business recruiters, academia or government) into their internal organizational structures. On the basis of neo-institutional theory the author argues that a form of "institutional schizophrenia" can help institutions to comply with external demands without compromising the pursuit of academic reputation which is essential for their inner stability.
