The role of government in community college governance cannot be underestimated: state, provincial, and territorial governments are the formal creators of public colleges and the bodies that can alter governance arrangements. Nonetheless, local contexts are not to be overlooked. Interpretations of legislation and government policy give rise to…

This paper reviews the literature on specific and multiple organizational cultures identified with the community college. The community college culture is seen as both fulfilling organizational purpose (a functional perspective) and expressing organizational behaviors (an interpretive perspective), including the beliefs, values, and ideologies of…

Part-time faculty members at community colleges are customarily understood from an institutional perspective that is based on traditional conceptions of the community college as a component of a tiered educational system. This conception places the community college in the role of either a junior college or a training school. However, the…

Examines the transformation of community colleges from local institutions to institutions participating in the global community. Describes a multi-case study of seven community colleges in United States and Canada, focusing on the dominant ideology associated with globalization, the involvement of people in other cultures, and the…

This study examined five community colleges in Arizona to better understand organizational and identity change at a time when community colleges continue to evolve in response to forces and pressures surrounding them. The study used qualitative research through unstructured interviews, questionnaires, and institutional information to explore areas…

This qualitative investigation identified a condition of frenetic change experienced by two colleges in British Columbia, Canada, accompanying their change from community colleges to university colleges. Explored how economic globalization influenced the formation and functioning of these institutions. (EV)

Examined government legislation and institutional collective agreements between colleges and faculty in two countries, Canada and the United States, for impediments to shared governance in community colleges. Concluded that except in one legal jurisdiction, shared governance is either impeded legally or not supported by government legislation. (EV)

This study examined shared governance in public, unionized community colleges and creates a national inventory of areas in which faculty participate in governance according to the language of collective-bargaining agreements. The findings suggest that community college faculty are engaged in shared governance in both the traditional academic areas…

This multiple case study of seven colleges examined institutional life and organizational context. It determined that community colleges in both Canada and the United States exhibited educational and work behaviors in the 1990s consistent with the globalization process; education was oriented to the marketplace, and the needs of business and…

This study consisted of document analysis of collective bargaining agreements of full-time faculty representing public community colleges in 22 states. Documents were analyzed and coded, and sixteen governance areas were identified, including budget, calendar, curriculum, discipline, evaluation, and tenure. In total, 237 contracts representing…

Faculty are the critical labor element in the pursuit of the economic goals of the community colleges, yet they are not central to institutional decision-making. Their views and values are not consistent with the goals and actions of their colleges. Instead, these goals and actions are aligned with business and industry, directed by government and…

The introduction of baccalaureate degree programming and credentialing expands the mission and may lead to the alteration of the institutional identity of the community college. This study examines baccalaureate-degree granting community colleges through the lenses of both globalization theory and institutional theory, in a multisite, two-nation…

Examines determinants of community college presidents' ability to influence organizational change, including methods of leadership succession, tolerance by college stakeholders, organizational history, and college power structure. Highlights the importance of presidents' relationships to governing boards, ability to maintain institutional…

Current conceptualizations of (Canadian) community college leadership associate leadership with hierarchical organizational structures. Today's community college leaders must respond to external changes and their effects and solve actual problems that have damaged these institutions. Managerial teams offer a less hierarchical, more democratic…

Examines three community colleges from the United States and four from Canada, using a qualitative multiple-case-study design to define changes in the colleges' institutional missions during the 1990s. Suggests that a new globally oriented vocationalism dominated the community college mission at the end of the twentieth century. (Contains 51…