Collegial Entrepreneurialism

Abstract

In recent decades, Australian universities have corporatized. Encouraged by government policies, universities adopted modernization practices that have been widely questioned. ‘Collegial entrepreneurialism’ is an approach that builds on collegial processes to protect academic values from the excesses of modernization. This paper examines the perceptions of business academics about the impacts of modernization in autonomous graduate schools of business. The research was undertaken prior to the most recent wave of higher education reform under which most of these schools disappeared. Their experience of three consequences of modernization, ‘hard’ managerialism, academic consumerism and fragmentation of work, provides insight into whether collegiality and academic values can exist within an entrepreneurial academic unit. Results indicate that overt manifestations of modernization are not threatening to ‘collegial entrepreneurialism’. However, in the absence of academic leadership, the more covert influences of consumerism and fragmentation pose a threat to the survival of ‘collegial entrepreneurialism’.

Key words:

• Universities
• modernization
• collegiality
• entrepreneurialism

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the participants at the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM) XII Annual Conference, Brisbane, Australia, March 2008 for their helpful comments. This work forms part of a PhD being undertaken at the University of Sydney. Finally, thank you to Fiona Crawford and Sara Haddad of the University of Sydney for their editorial assistance.

Notes

1 The research was undertaken by Suzanne Ryan in fulfillment of a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney, submitted in late 2008.