Postindustrial Environments and Organizational Effectiveness in Colleges and Universities

Almost no one could have accurately predicted the turbulent changes that have characterized the world since the close of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s. Dramatic political rearrangements have shocked even the most astute analysts and observers, and the speed with which technological, organizational, and economic changes have occurred is mind-boggling. Peters' [53] title, Thriving on Chaos, once considered hyperbole, now seems an understatement. Of course, for years, authors have been predicting the emergence of a postindustrial era, characterized by high degrees of turbulent change, competitiveness, information overload, organizational decline, and uncertainty [4, 17, 38]. And there is no dearth of best-selling books touting prescriptions for coping with such conditions, centering on themes such as one-minute managing, intrapreneuring, matrix management, MBWA, quality circles, excellence, wellness, Theory Z, transformational leadership, and customer service [see 5, 28, 54, 73]. On the other hand, almost all of these prescriptions are (1) based on case studies of notable successes and/or notable failures, (2) not inclusive of college and university organizations, and (3) void of systematic, empirical analyses of the relationships between the managerial prescriptions being touted, the turbulent external environment being faced, and organizational effectiveness. Some excellent empirical investigations have been published of responses to environmental jolts [47], decision making in high velocity environments [29], and adaptation to conditions of decline [27, 72]. But