MTU Library Catalogue

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How colleges work : the cybernetics of academic organization and leadership / Robert Birnbaum.

By: Birnbaum, Robert.
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookSeries: The Jossey-Bass higher education series.Publisher: San Francisco : Jossey-Bass, 1988Edition: 1st ed.Description: xx, 253 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.ISBN: 155542354X (pbk.); 9781555423544; 1555421261.Subject(s): Universities and colleges -- United States -- Administration | Cybernetics -- United States | Education | Universities -- organization & administration -- United States | Education | Philosophy & theory of education | Universités -- États-Unis -- Administration | Educational administration & organization | Cybernétique -- États-Unis | Higher & further education, tertiary education | Universities and colleges -- United States -- Administration | United States Higher education institutions ManagementDDC classification: 378.73 BIR
Contents:
Part 1: Understanding colleges and universities as organizations -- Problems of governance, management, and leadership in academic institutions -- Thinking in systems and circles: the structure and dynamics of academic organizations -- Making decisions and making sense: the administrator's role -- Part 2: Models of organizational functioning -- The collegial institution: sharing power and values in a community of equals -- The bureaucratic institution: rationalizing structure and decision making -- The political institution: competing for power and resources -- The anarchical institution: finding meaning in a community of autonomous actors -- Part 3: Integrating the models -- The cybernetic institution: providing direction through self-regulation -- Effective administration and leadership in the cybernetic institution.
Summary: Based on careful reading of the extensive literature on leadership and governance, Birnbaum's 'How Colleges Work' bridges the gap between theories of organization and practical applications.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Barcode
General lending MTU Kerry North Campus Library First Floor Main 378.73 BIR (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 38888000573760
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"One of the best theoretical and applied analyses of universityacademic organization and leadership in print. This book issignificant because it is not only thoughtfully developed and basedon careful reading of the extensive literature on leadership andgovernance, but it is also deliberately intended to enable theauthor to bridge the gap between theories of organization, on onehand, and practical application, on the other."
--Journal of Higher Education

"A publication of the National Center for Postsecondary Governance and Finance"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical details (p. 231-244) and index.

Part 1: Understanding colleges and universities as organizations -- Problems of governance, management, and leadership in academic institutions -- Thinking in systems and circles: the structure and dynamics of academic organizations -- Making decisions and making sense: the administrator's role -- Part 2: Models of organizational functioning -- The collegial institution: sharing power and values in a community of equals -- The bureaucratic institution: rationalizing structure and decision making -- The political institution: competing for power and resources -- The anarchical institution: finding meaning in a community of autonomous actors -- Part 3: Integrating the models -- The cybernetic institution: providing direction through self-regulation -- Effective administration and leadership in the cybernetic institution.

Based on careful reading of the extensive literature on leadership and governance, Birnbaum's 'How Colleges Work' bridges the gap between theories of organization and practical applications.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • Understanding Colleges and Universities as Organizations
  • Models of Organizational Functioning
  • Integrating the Models

Author notes provided by Syndetics

ROBERT BIRNBAUM is professor of higher education at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he teaches and writes about higher academic leadership and organization. He was previously vice chancellor of the City University of New York, vice chancellor of the New Jersey Department of Higher Education, and chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. He is also author, coauthor, and editor of numerous articles and books, including How Academic Leadership Works and How Colleges Work.