大学の組織・経営

アメリカにおける研究動向

抄録

　 Organization, governance, and management of higher education institutions are attracting attention as important fields of research in Japan. From this perspective, this paper traces the development of academic research focused on these topics in the United States. An analysis of a publication database in these fields shows that the number of publications jumped dramatically in the 1970 s and continues to increase. Another analysis reveals that the subject matter covered by the research changed significantly over three periods since the 1960s.

　 The first period, the 1960 s through the early 1970 s, can be characterized as the time when the university was discovered to be an organization. The rapid growth in the number of institutions in addition to student uprisings brought attention to the university as an organization. In the 1960 s, the literature focused more on the formal aspects of organization such as the legal structure of governance. Later, the focus shifted to more implicit or“private”aspects of organizations.

　 The second period, the late 1970 s through the 1980 s, is characterized by emerging interests in strategic management, marketing, and leadership issues. These interests reflected the crises many higher education institutions faced because of stagnant enrollments and an economic recession. There were, however, criticisms against such research trends for their lack of insight into latent organizational structure.

　 The third period, the 1990 s, showed again a significant shift of interest. Reflecting increasingly aggressive demands by the public for greater accountability and contributions to society, the university was being forced to change. Reseachers appeared no longer optimistic about university management’s ability to lead higher education institutions and instead concentrated on researching more flexible approaches. This resulted in a growing body of literature focused on reforms.

　 Based on this analysis, growing concerns about university management in Japan should not be responded to by research focused only on the conditions that allow for strong management.