Responsiveness and Renewal in Canada's Community Colleges: A Study of Change in Organizations

This study deals with change in organizations. Specifically, the focus is upon Canada's community colleges during a period of economic and socio-political change in the 1980s. Canadian colleges, born and nurtured within an unprecedented era of postsecondary educational expansion in the 1960s, were founded upon ideals of democratization of opportunity, accessibility, adaptability, and comprehensiveness. This study examines if and to what extent the colleges have retained these principles in confronting external and internal forces during the last decade. The theoretical model designed for the study involved a three-dimensional matrix in which theories of adaptation (Cameron, 1984) and power, (Mintzberg, 1979) form two dimensions. The third dimension is created from a variety of optional developmental models specific to the community college as an organization (McCartan, 1983; Cross, 1985; Dennison and Gallagher, 1986). The results of the study revealed that much of the idealism and innovation which guided the colleges in earlier days was still to be found. However, in attempting to deal with increased direction from government, and from reduced fiscal support, the colleges have sought several ways to adjust or adapt. In doing so they have become more enterpreneurial, less community-oriented, and more tightly managed. Diversity, however, was also evident, as adaptive strategies differed widely in various regions across Canada. By applying the matrix designed for the study, it was possible to determine that colleges were managing change by utilizing a variety of techniques. Change in community colleges involves a diversity of methods and produces a diversity of results.