管理时尚:高等教育管理的偶然与必然

On the Accidentality and Inevitability of “Management Fads”in Higher Education

高等教育管理时尚论甫一抛出,就引发高等教育领域的极度不适。管理时尚作为一个被供需关系塑造的管理技术传播过程,高等教育管理时尚的发生由来自"社会-心理"和"技术-经济"因素共同促成,其根本是没有解决管理移植和管理创新之间的矛盾。管理时尚实际反映的并不是高等教育与企业管理之间因差异交互产生的组织冲突,而是管理理论在组织传播和接受过程中由操作性因素导致的方法失灵。因此,组织差异性只能对管理时尚的发生作偶然性解释,其背后是管理理论丛林和管理变革周期律的必然性结果。高等教育管理时尚表明,管理理论成果移植应用依赖于高校管理的价值目标和组织情境,高等教育管理缺乏知识母体和理论定力是管理时尚此起彼伏的内在根源,化解高等教育管理时尚最终需要在"高等教育管理的理论"与"管理的高等教育理论"张力之间建构新的学科通路。

"Management Fads"is a term coined by Robert Birnbaum( 2000) to describe the rise and fall of management innovations in higher education. Fads or trends are determined by consumer demand and market supply,and shaped by social-psychological as well as technological-economic factors at the same time. In fact,the hype of new fads in higher education management was largely caused by operational failures in the innovation transfer process-e. g. failure to consider the institutional mission and organizational features of higher education institutions( HEIs)-rather than organizational differences between enterprises and HEIs. To be more specific,organizational differences can only explain the accidentality of management fads in higher education,while Management Theory Jungle and Innovation Life Cycle models can be used to explain its inevitability. The rise and fall of management fads in higher education also indicates the lack of theoretical frameworks and knowledge innovations in this field of study. To move beyond the hype,it is therefore necessary for us to blaze a brand new path of higher education management research by integrating both "theories of higher education management"and"management theories in higher education".