Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Building capacity for systemic change : episodes of learning in the first year of a grant-funded change project at a land grant university

Public Deposited

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/f4752k38x

Descriptions

Attribute NameValues
Creator
Abstract
  • Demands for increasingly more responsive education systems have caused some higher education institutions to reconsider their original missions and envision new futures. This is particularly true with land grant institutions whose mandate it is to be the people's university. The purpose of this study was to explore the first year of a change project at a land grant institution to determine first attempts to prepare for and catalyze systemic change. The literature review supported the position that change was seldom enduring in higher education organizations, and to effect systemic change an organization needed to embrace the concept of learning. This study sought to make sense of organizational change through the experience of an innovative vision-driven, participant-centered change process. Data were analyzed using multiple sources including interviews, fieldnotes, project documents and participant observation. Three themes emerged from the analysis representative of participant experience: Learning How to Change; Developing a Change Design; and Collaboration and the Paradox of Partnership. The themes represented primary areas of learning for participants in the first year of the project. Stories of participant learning were expressed through key events experienced during the 12-month inquiry. Outcomes of this study reflected the centrality of learning in the beginning months of the change project. Change agents needed opportunities to learn how to change before enlisting others in the process. Active learning, reflection, and the value discovered through an expanded capacity for change created deeper ownership in the project for many participants. These aspects of the change process were also identified as attributes of a learning organization. Another significant research outcome addressed partnering efforts in the project's initial months. First attempts to build collaborative relationships with the State's community colleges were ineffective due to low levels of trust and highly competitive cultures.
Resource Type
Date Available
Date Issued
Degree Level
Degree Name
Degree Field
Degree Grantor
Commencement Year
Advisor
Academic Affiliation
Non-Academic Affiliation
Subject
Rights Statement
Publisher
Peer Reviewed
Language
Digitization Specifications
  • File scanned at 300 ppi (Monochrome, 24-bit Color) using ScandAll PRO 1.8.1 on a Fi-6770A in PDF format. CVista PdfCompressor 4.0 was used for pdf compression and textual OCR.
Replaces

Relationships

Parents:

This work has no parents.

In Collection:

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details McMurrayJaniceK1997.pdf 2017-08-09 Public Download