"to move forward, we had to change": a case study of organizational change sustainability in higher education
This dissertation explores the impact of organizational change on communities within an organization and the long-term sustainability of the effects of change. Four overarching research goals guide the research: To gain knowledge in how policy implementation drives organizational change; to better understand how policies, people, and practices are related within the university community; to illustrate the progress of change within an institution of higher education from the original point of inception through implementation and onto sustainability; and to accurately depict a single institution's journey of policy implementation and change through large scale student enrollment growth. The dissertation does that by addressing three research questions: how do institutional policies influence organizational change, how does change through policy implementation influence a university's people, practices, and future policies, and what factors influence a university's ability to achieve sustainable change. The study's design takes the form of a qualitative case study exploring one institution's organizational change through significant enrollment growth. Grounded in the work of Burton Clark (2004), the study uses five key elements to determine the relative sustainability of the change's impact on the university, and how that influences the policies, practices, and people which the institution comprises. The five elements are a diversified funding base, strengthened steering core, extended outreach periphery, stimulated academic heartland, and integrated entrepreneurial culture.
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