Part II – Gaining Faculty Support

One of the possible reasons for a decline in transfer enrollment is institutional policy on granting credit for transfer courses. Currently, Apex does not grant credit toward a student’s major for courses taken at other colleges. Based on your review of the literature, you have decided that this is the most plausible explanation for the decline in transfer enrollment at Apex.

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Knowing that faculty “own” the curriculum at Apex, you trace this policy back to the academic departments. Your previous experience with the college of liberal arts and sciences has convinced you that the academic departments at Apex function in a very anarchical way.

For this assignment, use your knowledge of the anarchical model to explore the faculty’s interest/involvement in transfer policy. Describe how you might frame the issue to gain their attention, and incorporate the following concepts into your response:

• Diffuse goals
• Unclear technology
• Fluid participation
• Organizational learning
• “Streams” within the academic departments (problems, solutions, participants, decision making)
• Effective leadership

Assignment length: 3 pages

SCENARIO

Not unlike many universities today, Apex State University is experiencing a serious decline in student enrollment—m ore specifically, in the number of students transferring to Apex. The decline in transfer student enrollment is having a serious impact on overall tuition revenue. A review of systemwide data has convinced the president that the issue deserves further scrutiny. She has asked you, the director of enrollment management, to prepare a position paper detailing transfer policies and procedures. The president is seeking a better understanding of how the process works, who the stakeholders are, where they are within the institution (positions, departments), to whom do they answer, and what kind of resistance can be expected. She has asked you for recommendations on how the people involved in the process can work together to achieve mutually agreeable solutions.

You will write a position paper that synthesizes the following assignments, which you will complete in Weeks 2–7 of the course:

1. Identification of stakeholders, their positions/departments within the institution, and their roles/interests in the transfer enrollment process (Week 2)
2. First step in gaining the support of faculty (Week 3)
   

   REQUIRED READINGS

   Birnbaum, R. (1988). How colleges work: The cybernetics of academic organization and leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

   • Chapter 3: “Making Decisions and Making Sense: The Administrator’s Role”
   • Chapter 4: “The Collegial Institution: Sharing Power and Values in a Community of Equals”
   • Chapter 5: “The Bureaucratic Institution: Rationalizing Structure and Decision Making”
   • Chapter 6: “The Political Institution: Competing for Power and Resources”
   • Chapter 7: “The Anarchical Institution: Finding Meaning in a Community of Autonomous Actors”

   REQUIRED MEDIA

   Apex State University: How Do Colleges and Universities Work?This week, you will follow aspiring transfer student Tiffany as she travels across campus experiencing different behaviors and value systems.

   OPTIONAL RESOURCES

   Bolden, R., Petrov, G., & Gosling, J. (2008). Tensions in higher education leadership: Towards a multi-level model of leadership practice. Higher Education Quarterly, 62(4), 358–376.Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.

   Zepke, N. (2007). Leadership, power and activity systems in a higher education context: Will distributive leadership serve in an accountability-driven world? International Journal of Leadership in Education, 10(3), 301–314.Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.

   McAlister, D. T., & Darling, J. R. (2005). Upward influence in academic organizations: A behavioral style perspective. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 26(7), 558–573.Note: Retrieved from ProQuest Central database.