| Abstract: | Adaptations by higher education to an information-processing world will involve the development of new organizational forms that encourage and reward collaboration. As the world ‘becomes smaller’, we are rediscovering the interdependence of things. The leadership team and interdisciplinary group are emerging as the workplaces for the information-processing world. Colleges and universities that develop viable networks for processing information will lead the way into the 21st century. Recommendations for higher education worldwide include the following: developing interdisciplinary, team-taught courses of study; forming interdisciplinary groups to bring together people to analyze problems; implementing leadership teams in the decision-making structures of departments, schools and colleges. The creation of interdisciplinary problem-solving groups as the building blocks of the information-processing society will require changes in our attitudes toward leadership. The leader as servant will emerge as governance model. Changes in our systems of selection, evaluation and promotion of faculty and administrators will also be required. Interdisciplinary groups and leadership teams will form the infrastructure of the new world order of information processing and decision making. |
