The impact of managerialism on the strategy work of university middle managers

Davis, Annemarie; Rensburg, Mari Jansen van; Venter, Peet

doi:10.1080/03075079.2014.981518

Cited by 72 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Schouteden, Verburgh and Elen (2016) stress the importance of informing teaching through research activities. Davis, Jansen van Rensburg, and Venter (2016) note the drive towards holding faculty accountable for both the quality of research, and the quality of teaching and learning via the use of integrated objectives and performance management. However, a general paucity of insight on how to integrate research findings into teaching hampers the process (Davis et al, 2016).…”

Section: Research Competenciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysing the Importance-Competence Gap of Distance Educators With the Increased Utilisation of Online Learning Strategies in a Developing World Context

Bezuidenhout

2018

IRRODL

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The competence of distance educators has a significant impact on learners’ success. The paradigm shift for universities to become distance and electronic learning environments justifies the urgency to address competency gaps in distance educators’ competencies efficiently. From a strategic human resource development perspective, the systems theory is used to explain the idea of maximising outputs with the minimum inputs (Biddle, 1986). In this study, distance educators at Unisa reflected on their experienced competency gaps. Where previous studies mainly focus on the size of the gaps, the aim of this article is to highlight the competency gaps likely to have the biggest impact. For this study, we used stratified non-probability sampling, and selected 407 academics who were, at the time of the study, permanently employed at a mega ODL university in South Africa. These academics represented a wide range of colleges, campuses, ages, and genders. The results of this study have implications for capacity building of academic staff in developing world contexts and other contexts where resources are scarce.

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Section: Research Competenciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysing the Importance-Competence Gap of Distance Educators With the Increased Utilisation of Online Learning Strategies in a Developing World Context

Bezuidenhout

2018

IRRODL

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“…Traditional strategy research focused on the role of top managers and in particular the CEO in making strategic decisions (Ansoff 1965). However, the focus of strategy as practice is on the middle manager as the critical link between operational staff and managerial staff -the latter typically makes the strategic decisions and the former implements the strategies (Davis et al 2014b;Whittington 2006). This embeddedness in the structure of organisations and the body of research and education as a societal practice emphasises the importance of competitive intelligence within strategy (Whittington 2006), also from a practical point of view.…”

Section: Process Of Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

The practice turn within strategy: Competitive intelligence as integrating practice

Maritz

Toit

2018

SAJEMS

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Background and aim: This article investigated the positioning of competitive intelligence within the field of strategy. Methods: Publications on strategy and competitive intelligence were reviewed through thematic content analysis based on an extended literature review to determine their respective contents and how strategy as practice related to the crystallised competitive intelligence themes. Results: The research demonstrated that strategy and competitive intelligence are inextricably interwoven. Competitive intelligence was shown to be not merely an activity or sequence of activities within the broader strategic management process, but a significant strategic practice. Conclusion: We argued, based on a comprehensive literature review, that competitive intelligence is an integral practice within strategy that should be explored further for its contribution to emergent and deliberate strategies and the linkage between intra-organisational and extra-organisational activities. We proposed a framework to position competitive intelligence within strategy as practice and in relation to the process view of strategy. The conceptualised framework contributes to the corpus of strategy research as it formalised competitive intelligence as a critical part in the thinking about and the practice of strategy. It moved competitive intelligence from a position on the periphery of strategic management literature, where it was regarded as a mere activity, to an integral practice of strategy to be recognised by strategy scholars and worthy of further research.

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“…Is such training being used by senior managers as a controlling mechanism -to instil and maintain a top down managerial culture, aligning academic middle managers to university processes and ensuring that organisational control is not lost or diluted at departmental level -a practice in line with New Public Management ideology and one which can perpetuate an "us versus them" culture, lead to an erosion of collegiality (Davis et al 2014), and thus potentially a more divided profession (Deem and Brehony 2005) However, these practices had tended to be set up at the insistence of the incoming department head themselves.…”

Section: Managing the Workload: A Case Of The Greedy Organisation?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting Academic Middle Managers in Higher Education: Do We Care?

Floyd

2015

High Educ Policy

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In the current higher education environment, the need to develop and support good leaders and managers could hardly be more pressing. Yet, research on how academic middle managers are supported in their roles is surprisingly sparse. The purpose of this paper is to address this perceived gap in the literature by reporting on the findings from two separate, but related, research projects investigating the role of the academic middle manager in two culturally different English universities, specifically to examine the support that such leaders have received in relation to taking on and adapting to this increasingly challenging role. By drawing on semi-structured interviews with 28 academic middle managers from one pre and one post 1992 university, the paper argues that we need to provide more support and individually tailored training for today's middle managers so that the best may become the sector's effective senior leaders of tomorrow.

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The impact of managerialism on the strategy work of university middle managers

Cited by 72 publications

References 50 publications

Analysing the Importance-Competence Gap of Distance Educators With the Increased Utilisation of Online Learning Strategies in a Developing World Context

Analysing the Importance-Competence Gap of Distance Educators With the Increased Utilisation of Online Learning Strategies in a Developing World Context

The practice turn within strategy: Competitive intelligence as integrating practice

Supporting Academic Middle Managers in Higher Education: Do We Care?

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