Management as ideology: the case of ‘new managerialism’ in higher education

Abstract

The paper explores ideological conceptions of management, especially ‘new managerialism’, with particular reference to their role in the reform of higher education. It is suggested that attempts to reform public services in general are political as well as technical, though there is no single unitary ideology of ‘new managerialism’. Whilst some argue that managers have become a class and have particular interests, this may not be so for all public services. The arguments presented are illustrated by data taken from a recent research project on the management of UK higher education. It is suggested that managers in public service organisations such as universities do not constitute a class. However, as in the case of manager‐academics, managing a contemporary public service such as higher education may involve taking on the ideologies and values of ‘new managerialism’, and for some, embracing these. So management ideologies do seem to serve the interests of manager‐academics and help cement relations of power and dominance, even in contexts like universities which were not traditionally associated with the dominance of management.

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the ‘Developing Philosophy of Management—Crossing Frontiers’ Reason in Practice Conference at St Anne’s College, Oxford, June 26–29 2002 and thanks are due to participants in that session for their helpful comments.

Notes

* Graduate School of Education, Helen Wodehouse Building, 35 Berkeley Square, University of Bristol, BS8 1JA, UK. Email: [email protected]

The team consisted of Rosemary Deem (Director), Oliver Fulton (Co‐director), Sam Hillyard (Research Associate), Rachel Johnson (Senior Research Associate), Mike I. Reed (Co‐director) and Stephen Watson (Co‐director), with Heidi Edmundson as Project Administrator. The project was located in the Department of Educational Research and the Management School at Lancaster University.

The term manager‐academic refers to academics who take on management roles in higher education institutions, whether temporarily or permanently. Manager‐academic is preferred to academic manager since some career administrators such as finance directors also see themselves as academic managers.

Premature Retirement Compensation which gives added pensionable years to those retiring early.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rosemary Deem *

* Graduate School of Education, Helen Wodehouse Building, 35 Berkeley Square, University of Bristol, BS8 1JA, UK. Email: [email protected]