The partnership between project management and organizational change: Integrating change management with change leadership

The nature of project management is change. Even though all knowledge areas in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) are rooted in controlling change, none of these areas specifically addresses the human elements of change. There is a significant distinction between directly controlling change relative to the nonhuman aspects of a project ( change control) and effecting change in the human dimensions of a project through leadership ( change leadership). This article characterizes the distinctive activities of change leadership and change control and their interrelationship throughout the project life cycle. Although distinct, change control and change leadership are interdependent and mutually supporting—both are needed to support project success.     

Equality and excellence. Hegemonic discourses of economisation within the German education system

Looking to conflicting constitutions of education systems through the terms equality and excellence, this paper examines the discursive formation of two political rationalities in the contemporary German education system. While early childhood and primary education discourses are dominated by a terminology of equality, tertiary education institutions such as universities are described using a terminology of excellence that has become a reference point for political interventions and institutional reform processes. Drawing from hegemony theory, governmentality studies and systems theory, this paper analyses the rules of justification referred to by such hegemonic discourses. It presents a policy discourse analysis of strategic, conceptional and institutional texts produced between 2003 and 2010. Through this analysis, the paper suggests that ‘mobilising’ and ‘optimising’ represent the common principles of equality and excellence as economic rationalities.     

The literature on planned organizational change: A review and analysis

In this paper, the state of the art of the literature on change is examined in an attempt to explain why most attempts at change in schools fail. The historical development of modern change studies is traced from the early 1940s to the present. This evolution is analyzed and evaluated and some probable future directions in the literature are suggested. Finally, some preliminary conclusions are drawn and reasons are suggested for the failure of most attempts at change.     

Different discourses,discourses of difference: Globalisation,distance education and open learning

Post‐Fordism and globalisation are trends in the contemporary world in which the role of the market and consumer are given greater centrality. It has been argued that these trends have consequences of spreading ‘Western’ lifestyles and values around the globe, encouraging cultural uniformity, while also giving greater importance to senses of the local and place, encouraging cultural difference. Drawing on Foucault's notion of discourse, this paper suggests these trends are found also in changing theories of distance education and open learning. It is argued that notions of distance education are part of the trend towards uniformity under conditions of globalisation, while those of open learning are part of the trend encouraging difference and diversity. The discussion is situated within contemporary debates about the modern and postmodern.     

Selecting early-career researchers: the influence of discourses of internationalisation and excellence on formal and applied selection criteria in academia

This article examines how macro-discourses of internationalisation and excellence shape formal and applied selection criteria for early-career researcher positions at the meso-organisational and micro-individual levels, demonstrating how tensions between the various levels produce inequalities in staff evaluation. In this way, this article contributes to the literature on academic staff evaluation by showing that Selection Committee members do not operate in a vacuum, and that their actions are inextricably linked to the meso- and macro-context. This study draws on qualitative multi-level data that comprise institutional-level policies, recruitment and staff protocols, job postings and individual-level interviews and focus groups with Selection Committee members. Findings show that a majority of Selection Committee members consent to university policies and macro-discourses when evaluating early-career researchers, but a smaller group questions and resists these criteria. Furthermore, the analysis revealed four inequalities that emerge in the application of criteria and reflect on disciplinary differences between the Natural and Social Sciences. The article concludes that with only a few Committee members to critically question and resist formal selection criteria, they limit the pool of acceptable candidates to those who fit the narrow definition of the internationally mobile and excellent early-career researcher, which may exclude talented scholars.     

Distributed leadership and organizational change: Reviewing the evidence

This article explores the relationship between distributed leadership and organizational change. It draws upon the existing literature to consider whether distributed forms of leadership influence development and change in schools. The article examines the research base relating to distributed leadership and organizational outcomes. It focuses on how different patterns or configurations of distributed leadership contribute to organizational development. The article concludes by highlighting issues that require further study and more empirical confirmation. This article is based on a literature review commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills as part of a research project currently being undertaken by Leithwood, K., Day, C., Sammons, P., Harris, A., and Hopkins, D. (2006) ‘Leadership and student outcomes’ and Leithwood, K., Day, C., Sammons, P., Harris, A., and Hopkins, D. (2006) ‘Successful school leadership: What it is and how it influences pupil learning’. London, DFES.     

The influence of leadership behavior and organizational commitment on organizational readiness for change in a higher learning institution

Many factors contribute to the effectiveness in implementing organizational change. However, many change effort fail due to several factors such as lack of commitment, style of leadership, and emotional distress of the employees who have to implement the change. This study was intended to determine the influence of leadership behavior and organizational commitment on organizational readiness for change in a higher learning institution. It was based on a conceptual framework that combined part of an adapted model from organizational development and change theory. A total of 169 academic staff from the main and branch campuses UiTM throughout Malaysia were selected based on stage and cluster sampling to participate in this study. The result shows that there is a significant relationship between organizational commitment and leadership behavior on organizational readiness for change. The findings also revealed that 36.5% of the variance in readiness for change is explained by organizational commitment and transactional leadership behavior. In determining the role of the organization commitment as a moderating variable, the result of the study indicates significant moderating effect of affective commitment on the relationship between transformational leadership behavior and organizational readiness for change. This study implied that building organizational commitment as well as developing transformational and transactional leadership behavior could contribute to formulation of organizational readiness for change and subsequently lead to the success of a change program.     

From elitism to mass higher education in Taiwan: The problems faced

The transition from an elitisthigher education system to mass education hascreated a number of concerns in this sector.Among these are fears for the quality of theprovision; the rise in the unemployment rate ofgraduate university leavers; and the increasedfinancial burden on the government.This paper examines the transition periodover the last fifty years in Taiwan, in orderto promote an understanding of the problemscurrently being faced, and to give an insightinto the political and cultural background inwhich they have arisen. The USA and Japan arecompared, as these countries are seen to beadvanced in the provision of mass education.The paper has three main objectives. Firstly todetermine whether or not Taiwan can be said tohave developed a mass higher education systemby international comparison. Secondly, todetermine which factors have influencedgovernment policy to achieve mass highereducation, and thirdly to identify the problemswhich remains as barriers to the success ofthis system.Conclusions are drawn relating to the aboveobjectives and it is noted that similarproblems to those experiences by Westerncountries can be identified.     

School decentralization as a process of differentiation,hierarchization and selection

The Austrian ‘school autonomy policy’, which allowed schools to develop specific ‘curricular profiles’, is taken as an example for discussing processes and effects of school decentralization policies. Data from school case studies (based on qualitative interviews and document analysis) are used to analyse and interpret the processes by which schools and teachers take up policy innovations and translate it into action and structures on school and classroom level. These policy changes and the resulting governance regimes are examined from a perspective on changing modes of ‘action coordination’ between actors on different levels of a school system and from an attention to processes of ‘re-contextualization’ in multi-level governance systems. The main result is that the Austrian decentralization policy – although not explicitly based on a market approach – boosted principles of competitive coordination between schools. In consequence, it resulted in processes of differentiation and hierarchization of schools and classes and offered new legitimatory and practical opportunities for student selection.     

Achieving inclusive excellence: Strategies for creating real and sustainable change in quality and diversity

Since the 1990s, the University of Connecticut has made several shifts in its culture and practice that have resulted in improved educational quality and greater success rates for students from traditionally underrepresented populations. Damon Williams shares his institution's approach.     

Academic staff job change: Winning characteristics in organizational musical chairs

This study examined predictors of job change for academic staff administrators. Analyses of questionnaire data from 143 administrators who had been employed from 1971 through 1978 indicated that predictors of job mobility differ for diverse kinds of moves with two exceptions—age and gender. The four most important predictors for internal institutional change were age, mentor, president of a professional organization, and marital status (married). Planning to move, gender, and editorship, contributed most to external institutional change, whereas age, mentor, gender, and planning to move contributed most significantly to overall job change (adjustedR ²=.439).     

Mathematics and science inequalities in the United Kingdom: when elitism,sexism and culture collide

An examination of gender, social class and ethnicity performance and participation patterns in different UK countries shows that inequities occur in relation to gender, class and ethnicity but that the patterns of inequity look quite different in the three domains. Achievement is equal for different genders but many more males take mathematics forward to advanced levels; social class differences persist in both achievement and participation; and ethnicity shows a varied pattern with some groups performing and participating at particularly high levels and some particularly low. This paper identifies some critical issues that we face in making mathematics and science equitable and begins to analyse some of the barriers that stand in the way of students who are female, and from some ethnic and social groups.