ERIC Number: EJ1292512
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 8
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0009-1383
EISSN: N/A
Is Metric-Centered Leadership Generating New Silos?
Torres, Vasti; Renn, Kristen A.
Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, v53 n2 p49-56 2021
The need to improve institutional performance seems clear considering equity gaps and the high costs associated with higher education. Although the idea of holding higher education institutions accountable for their students' success is laudable, it is also pushing many institutions to make decisions based on meeting externally imposed metrics. Because metrics are often embedded into systems of institutional rankings, hierarchy, and competition, they also drive institutions to perpetuate inequity in and through higher education. These pressures have evolved into "metric-centered leadership" that has created unintended organizational consequences and now presents different types of problems in moving the student success agenda forward. This article will focus on organizational changes that are emerging as a response to the convergence between internal and external pressure to meet accountability metrics. A key change that has been observed is an expansion from two recognizable silos--academic and student affairs--that have persisted for decades to four functional silos that influence student success. This article begins by describing the four current silos--academic affairs, teaching faculty, student affairs, and student success services--and how they function with different values, theoretical underpinnings, beliefs about students, and behaviors in relation to student success. Then the authors describe how the proliferation of silos makes the need to create an institutional culture of collaboration both more difficult and increasingly critical to helping students succeed. Finally, strategies for achieving collaboration for student success are outlined.
Descriptors: Higher Education, College Administration, Organizational Change, Accountability, Administrative Organization, Academic Achievement, Educational Cooperation, College Faculty, Student Personnel Services, Academic Support Services
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A