Abstract
Individuals' perceptions of the culture and climate of the organizations in which they work influence their motivation and individual performance. Using a theoretical model of institutional culture, organizational climate, and faculty motivation, this study examines how faculty and academic administrators differ in their perceptions; whether these differences in perceptions are affected by institutional type; and to what extent faculty and administrators have different implicit models of their institutions (i.e., see different organizational variables as predictors of faculty motivation and involvement). The goals of this investigation are to shed additional light on the relationship between institutional variables and faculty performance, to examine the existence of differing implicit models, and to provide new insights for administrators in managing their postsecondary institutions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allaire, Yuan, and Firsiruto, Mihaela E. (1984). Is “organizational culture” culture bound?Human Resource Management 25: 72–90.
Austin, Ann E, and Gamson, Zelda F. (1983).Academic Workplace: New Demands, Heightened Tensions. (ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Research Report No. 10. Washington, DC: Association for the Study of Higher Education.
Bensimon, Estella M. (1987, November). The meaning of “good presidential leadership”: A Frame analysis. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Baltimore.
Birnbaum, Robert (1987, November). Individual preferences and organizational goals. Consistency and diversity in the futures desired by campus leaders. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Baltimore.
Blackburn, Robert T., Lawrence, Janet, and Associates (1990).Same Institution, Different Perceptions: Faculty and Administrators Report on the Work Environment. Publication of the National Center for Research to Improve Postsecondary Teaching and Learning. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan.
Blackburn, Robert T., Pitney, Judith A., Lawrence, Janet H., and Trautvetter, Lois (1989, March). Administrators' career backgrounds and their congruence with faculty beliefs and behaviors. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco.
Bowen, Howard R., and Schuster, Jack H. (1986).American Professors: A National Resource Imperiled. New York: Oxford University Press.
Cameron, Kim S., and Ettington, Deborah R. (1988). The conceptual framework of organizational culture. In John C Smart (ed.),Higher Education: Handbood of Theory and Research, vol. 6, pp. 356–396. New York: Agathon Press.
Cardozier, V. R. (1984). Upper-level colleges yesterday, today, and tomorrow.Educational Record 65(3): 30–35.
Chaffee, Ellen E., and Tierney, William G. (1988).Collegiate Culture and Leadership Strategies. New York: American Council on Education and Macmillan Publishing Co.
Clark, Burton, R. (1970).The Distinctive College: Antioch, Reed, and Swarthmore. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.
Clemans, William V. (1966).An Analytical and Empirical Examination of Some Properties of Ipsative Measures. Psychometric Monograph, Number 14. Richmond, VA: The William Byrd Press, Inc.
Corson, John J. (1960).Governance of Colleges and Universities. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Davis, Todd M., and Chissom, Brad (1981, October). Factor analysis (R-technique) of ipsatized data may be misleading.Psychological Reports 49(2): 643–647.
Howell, Joe A., and Edison, Donald R. (1985).The Idea of an Ideal Liberal Arts College. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
James, L. R., and Jones, A. P. (1974) Organizational climate: A review of theory and research.Psychological Bulletin 81:1096–1112.
Johnson, Charles E., Wood, Robert, and Blinkhorn, S. F. (1988, June). Spuriouser and spuriouser: The use of ipsative personality tests.Journal of Occupational Psychology 61(2): 153–162.
Jones, A. P., and James, L. R. (1979). Psychological climate: Dimensions and relationships of individual and aggregated work environment perceptions.Organizational Behavior and Performance 23:201–250.
Martines, Lauro (1985, Spring). Large and little school teaching: Reed College and UCLA.American Scholar 54: 194–203.
Moussavi, Farzad, Jones, Thomas W., and Cronan, Timothy P. (1990, April). Explaining psychological climate: Is perceptual agreement necessary?Journal of Social Psychology 130: 239–248.
Neumann, Anna (1987, November). Defining “good faculty leadership”: Interpretations of professors and presidents. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Baltimore.
Peterson, Marvin W., and Spencer, Melinda G. (1990). Assessing academic culture and climate. In William G. Tierney (ed.),Assessing Organizational Climate and Culture (New Directions in Institutional Research, No. 68), pp. 3–18. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Peterson, Marvin, W., Blackburn, Robert, Gamson, Zelda F., et al. (1978).Black Students on White Campuses: The Impacts of Increased Black Enrollments. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research.
Peterson, Marvin W., Cameron, Kim S., Mets, Lisa A., Jones, Phillip, and Ettington, Deborah R. (1986).The Organizational Context for Teaching and Learning: A Review of the Research Literature. Publication of the National Center for Research to Improve Postsecondary Teaching and Learning. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan.
Peterson, M. W., Cameron, K. S., Knapp, A., Spencer, M. G., and White, T H. (1991).Assessing the Organizational Context for Teaching and Learning: An Institutional Self-Study Manual. The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI: NCRIPTAL.
Rice, Eugene, and Austin, Ann E. (1988, March–April). High faculty morale: What exemplary colleges do right.Change 20: 50–58.
Schein, Edgar H. (1985).Organizational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Tamir, Pinchas, and Lunetta, Vincent N. (1977, November–December). A comparison of ipsative and normative procedures in the study of cognitive preferences.Journal of Educational Research 71(2): 86–93.
Thoreson, Richard W., Kardash, Carol Anne M., Leuthold, David A., and Morrow, Kelly A. (1990). Gender differences in the academic career.Research in Higher Education 31(2): 193–209.
Tichy, Noel (1983).Managing Strategic Change: Technical, Political, and Cultural Dynamics. New York: Wiley.
Tierney, William G. (1989).Curricular Landscapes, Democratic Vistas: Transformative Leadership in Higher Education. New York: Praeger.
White, Theodore H. (1990). Differences in faculty and administrator perceptions of their institutions: Implications for institutional performance. Unpublished doctoral preliminary examination. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The research reported in this paper is part of the Research Program on The Organizational Context for Teaching and Learning in the National Center for Research to Improve Postsecondary Teaching and Learning (NCRIPTAL). The research is supported by a grant from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education (ED), to the University of Michigan (grant number G008690010). The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the OERI/ED or the Regents of The University of Michigan, and no official endorsement should be inferred.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Peterson, M.W., White, T.H. Faculty and administrator perceptions of their environments: Different views or different models of organization?. Res High Educ 33, 177–204 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00973578
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00973578