Challenging the Pervasiveness of Organizational Stupidity in Higher Education

In Short

• Researchers have developed the concept of organizational stupidity to explain why some organizations lack the ability or willingness to create and use knowledge resources.

• Indicators of organizational stupidity include a lack of reflexivity, failure to provide justifications for decisions and actions, and avoidance of substantive reasoning.

• The management practices of higher education institutions could be inadvertently reinforcing cultures of organizational stupidity.

• This article highlights the effects of organizational stupidity on colleges and universities and proposes steps that leaders can take to establish instead a culture of critical reflection, voice, and meaningful participation.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jay R. Dee

Jay R. Dee ([email protected]) is a Professor of Higher Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston. His research focuses on how organizational theories can inform leadership practices in higher education institutions.

Amy E. Collinsworth

Amy E. Collinsworth ([email protected]) is a Doctoral Candidate in the University of Massachusetts Boston Higher Education Program and the Graduate Program Manager and Assistant to the Department Chair in the Leadership in Education Department at UMass Boston. Her research interests include culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies, the connection between emotions and praxis for higher education practitioners who center equity, and graduate student socialization.