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The Complexity of Change in Universities
Author(s) -
MeisterScheytt Claudia,
Scheytt Tobias
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
higher education quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.976
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1468-2273
pISSN - 0951-5224
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2273.2005.00282.x
Subject(s) - christian ministry , scope (computer science) , government (linguistics) , field (mathematics) , frame (networking) , intervention (counseling) , management , process (computing) , political science , public administration , sociology , public relations , engineering , law , computer science , psychology , economics , mathematics , telecommunications , linguistics , philosophy , psychiatry , pure mathematics , programming language , operating system
This paper relates to the implementation process of the Universitaetsorganisationsgesetz 1993 (University Organisation Act of 1993) at an Austrian university. In accordance with the idea of a managed university, the Austrian government aimed this law at transferring a greater scope of responsibility for strategic decisions and management issues from the ministry to the universities. The empirical basis is derived from a 2‐year, in‐depth field study showing that the transformation to a ‘simple’ management orientation is in itself complex. We suggest therefore a frame of reference that is based on an understanding of universities as complex and self‐referential organisations. This view explains changes in universities as nontrivial transformation and conceptualises the management of change in universities as a paradoxical intervention.