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Managing change in two-year institutions in Alberta (Canada) and Victoria (Australia): A comparative case study
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative, comparative case study was to explore the experiences of two technical institutes--the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Canada and the Western Melbourne Institute of TAFE in Australia--which have undergone a process of major change over a period of approximately five years. Change in these two institutions has proceeded rapidly rather than incrementally and has been characterized by disruption rather than adaptation. Their internal no less than their external environments have been turbulent and unpredictable. Institutional financial crises of major proportions have been parallelled by significant changes in government policies and priorities throughout this period. Using a model of organizations as interpretation systems (Daft & Weick, 1984), the study explores the ways in which an organization, through its senior management, goes about making sense of its environment. Examining two institutions recovering from crises and actively re-creating themselves provided an opportunity to explore the relevance of this model to a change process. The study sheds light on change from several perspectives: national policy frameworks, technical education and training, and institutional strategies. This study is particularly relevant to those who wish to know about the educational policies of Canada and Australia, the effects of change on the technical education sector, and the pattern of response in two institutions' experiences with crisis.
Subject Area
Community colleges|Vocational education|School administration
Recommended Citation
Robson, Kenneth John, "Managing change in two-year institutions in Alberta (Canada) and Victoria (Australia): A comparative case study" (1998). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9826098.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9826098