Dee, J. (2006) "Institutional Autonomy and State-Level Accountability," in Tiemey, W. G. (Ed.) Governance and the Public Good, SUNY Press.
- institutional autonomy; -> unfettered exploration of new domains of knowledge
- draw a line between campus and state = they have separate interest, rather than a common interest.
- loose coupling = work together
- performance-based accountability; taxpayer backlash against institutional productivity.
- Substantive autonomy = set the programmatic mission and strategy of an institution
- Procedural autonomy = control over the general management of the institution (budget, personnel, contracts, capital) (Berdahl 1971)
- Virginia's HE Restructuring Act (2005); get autonomy, commit to achieve state goal
- both-and thinking; accountable AND autonomous, <-> either-or thinking,
- Loose coupling = theory to explain social structure, through an analysis of systematic patterns of interaction among organizational elements
- 8 elements; individuals, subunits, organizations, hierarchical levels, organization and environments, ideas, activities, intentions and actions
- coupling domain; content area (org-state = coupled in the resource exchange domain)
- coupling dimensions; quality of the relationship
- role of state; loose = coordinator, tight = regulator, decoupling = resource provider
- "dialectical conceptualization of loose coupling"
- loose coupling = fail in rapid change due to lack of responsiveness
- loose coupling = lack of accountability and attention to overall mission
- -> these are misunderstood of Weick's intended conceptualization of a dialectical relationship between accountability and autonomy.
- US accreditation = loose couple <-> other nations = tight couple
- performance funding = tight coupling -> need to develop relationship that ensure both institutional flexibility and responsiveness to public needs
- policy inducement; provide incentives for institutions, <-> policy mandates; tight coupling
- institutions; responsive to state priorities + retain how to choose response
- (-> be proactive?)
- capacity-building audits = focus on institutional improvement and the sharing of best practices (Dill 2011)
- -> role of the statewide board; facilitate and development and training of a network of academic auditors
- (high level of quality assurance capacity; preserved in individual? or team? or culture?)
- uniform test <-> institution resist; -> states allow institutions to decide uniform but locally developed test
- coupling; produced and reproduced through social cognitions -> need shared commitments; critical prerequisites for loosely coupled governance
- (once tight coupling developed, shared commitment achievable?)
- Loose coupling; depend on positive expectations, trust-base assurances
- violation of trust = jeopardize loose coupling <- asymmetric information
- Dill's 5 recommendation for loosely coupled governance
- policy inducement (x policy mandates)
- customized performance measurement (x one size fits all)
- capacity-building audits (x competitive rankings)
- campus-based assessment (x mandated measures)
- autonomy for academic program creation (x centralized approval processes)
