The University of California Santa Barbara is an organization that revolves around students and faculty alike. Organizations, as a whole, can reflect two contrasting perspectives, Naturalist or Rationalist, that underlines and questions the ideas of structure and formality. A Naturalist organizations highlights informality because it is based on the flow of the members’ behavior and relationships among others. However, a Rationalist organization is formal because the organization’s fluidity is based on the members’ limits and structure. Thus, I am going to argue that overall the University of California Santa Barbara is a Rationalist organization, rather than Naturalist, because UCSB has created limits and structure for its students and faculty through providing an individualistic experience for all. But First, I will discuss Naturalists theories and how it does not convey UCSB as an organization because it is too informal, then I will lastly discuss Rationalism and how UCSB is able to reflect such theories of formal.
UCSB is not a Naturalist organization because it is too big and complex for Naturalist theories. Naturalist organizations is influenced by informal structure which is the behavior based on personal ties and relationships of the members (Sutton 1/20/11). For example, as seen in the Hawthorne experiments, six girls came together to work in a factory that was free from working with any supervisors and managers. As the girls became closer friends, their work within the factor increased and excelled regardless of outside factors that were beyond their control, i.e. wages, weather, sickness, etc. This experiment showed that the nature of the relationships between the girls was more important than the work itself (Homans...
... middle of paper ...
...cial life and school life; the combination of both is a distraction to the educational environment and takes away the organization’s efficiency towards learning. Formalization shows that UCSB members’ behavior should be predictable and separate from their personal lives.
UCSB is ultimately a Rationalist organization in lieu of a Naturalist organization. Naturalist organizations are apropos for smaller organizations that appear more familial, low-key and unrestrained. But because of its magnitude and size, UCSB is not a Naturalist organization. Majority of Rationalist beliefs are epitomized throughout UCSB and its students and faculty. UCSB’s structure is secure and its formalization is evident and lucid for its members to understand. As organization, UCSB must be formal in order to be successful because it is easier to direct and hold authority over its members.
When speaking of the University, common images that come to mind are the flashes of individual tests, individual essays and most importantly the individual diploma hanging on the wall. There is no notion of the community, and instead the learning process is focused on the individual’s obtainment of knowledge. In Robert Pirsig’s Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pirsig epitomizes this common notion of a University through his character Phaedrus. Though Phaedrus embodies this idea of learning for oneself, he is unable to reach definite conclusions, grow his ideas nor continue to be a valuable member of society. On the other hand, John Henry Newman in The Idea of the University argues that the best type of learning is learning with others.
Baldridge, J.V., Curtis, D.V., Ecker, G.P., & Riley, G.L. (1977). Alternative models of governance in higher education. In G.L. Riley and J.V. Baldridge. Governing academic organization. Berkeley, CA: McCutchan Publishing.
What stands out about American universities today? Is it the academic opportunities offered to students, experienced faculty, or strong sense of community? Or...perhaps they have lost their focus. It is not uncommon for universities to focus their efforts and budgets elsewhere; by building state of the art gyms, for example, remodeling luxury dorms, grooming campuses, or creating more management positions. College students and professors alike are subject to the nationally occurring changes in higher level education. Colleges are becoming commercialized and tuition is rising, but is the quality of education improving? In “Why We Should Fear University, Inc.”, Fredrik DeBoer is able to provide a personal take on the issue of corporate domination
In Canada there is a process to lawmaking that follows the rationalistic model — they are the functionalist view, conflict theory and the ‘moral entrepreneur’ thesis. In this essay, the rationalistic model, will at first, be explained then this paper will inform the reader to the functionalist view, the conflict perspective then the moral entrepreneur theory and what four different Canadian laws follow this theory. The essay will then, finally, explain which law is best understood with reference to the theory that it is linked to in comparison with others.
...was addressed was the effects of college students who chose to take the leisure time that they have and use it constructively by advancing their leadership skills during this off time and how it changes them. Sethi states that, “The main objective of the study was to find out the relationship between Leadership Behavior and Leisure Time Activities among college students”. What can be taken from this research and the above statement is that college students have leisure time, and those that decided to take that time and use it to their advantage have had the chance to become better leaders on campus and broaden their horizons during their college years. What is interesting about this research is that it shows that not all leisure time needs to be about school work, going home, or partying, the time can be used to prepare for your life after college and your career.
American Exceptionalism: The Cultural Problem of Anti-Americanism in the Competitive Market Trends of the Global Business Community
Loosely Coupled Systems. Weick (1976) takes a very similar view of this organizational theory but from a slightly different perspective. He writes of the higher education institution as a “loosely coupled system”, a system that differs markedly from the organization system of a private enterprise. The basic theory is that, unlike the militaristic ideal of the “tight ship” that many private organizations have adopted, loosely coupled systems have “softer” linkages between each unit of the organization.
The article entitled “A rationalist 's Mystical Moment” by Barbara Ehrenreich recants a “mystical” moment endured by the author who, a self-described rationalist descends from a long line of “hardcore atheists”. The author’s background is colorful as described by her biography in Wikipedia “… American writer and political activist who describes herself as "a myth buster by trade", and has been called "a veteran muckraker" by The New Yorker. During the 1980s and early 1990s she was a prominent figure in the Democratic Socialists of America. She is a widely read and award-winning columnist and essayist, and author of 21 books. Ehrenreich is perhaps best known for her 2001 book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Ehrenreich)
California State College and University System: key player in the California Master Plan for Higher Education; “allocated functions among the state’s public institutions precluded it from offering the doctorate, but it still secured sizable funding for research”; the California system revealed the changing system of the institutions during this period; more state universities started to “take over” state colleges and became one big state system in order to get more research funds (202)
Newman, John Henry. "The Idea of a University." The Presence of Others. 3rd ed. Ed. Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. 126 - 131.
When formulating a plan, it is important to remember that students do not exist in a vacuum. What is a problem behavior in one class may not be a problem in another; problem behavior from the home may never manifest in school. A key means of decreasing the frequency and intensity of problem behavior and reducing the need for more intrusive intervention procedures is enhancing a student's quality of life.
One example of organized anarchy can be found in university systems. Their framework has most of the elements found in a garbage can model organization. Institutional goals are vague, conflicting and rarely understood. Organizational processes are familiar, but not understood. The major participants in the organization, the faculty and students, wander in and out of the process, participating in organizational activities and decision-making opportunities only until they find something better to do with their time. (Giesecke, 1991) Individual schools within an organization have their separate goals and strategic plans independent of the university-wide goals.
The repetitive structure of a school day, in a way, provides me with a sense of security, an awareness of what to expect, but it can be monotonous and lack excitement. When you consider how much time students spend in school it is clear that the experience shapes their lives and can have a lasting effect. It is for this reason that it is crucial to have the correct balance of conformity and individuality for the benefit of both civilization and individuals.
Boje, D. M. , Luhman, J. T. , and Cunliffe, A. L. “ A Dialectic Perspective on the Organization
With social and emotional skills, a high-quality learning environment that has high-quality classroom structure and rules, commitment to the academic success of all students and high performance expectations, student learning is optimized. Attitudes towards learning, behaviour in and out of the classroom and academic performance have shown improvement with development from quality social and emotional learning that is supported through parent involvement and integrated throughout the entire curriculum.