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Abstract:

Quality judgments in terms of academic standards of excellence required by external stakeholders such as labour markets and steering hierarchies obviously exert strong pressure on universities. Do they generate an “iron cage” effect imposing a passive and uniform conformity on global standards?

The paper examines the organization of higher education and research set-ups with a strong lens. What does academic quality actually mean when observed in the field? How do universities and their subunits – professional schools, colleges, etc – achieve what they claim and call quality?

A methodological and analytical framework is tested. It is derived from a comparative study program of nine universities located in five major countries in the USA, in Western Europe and China.  It identifies the interdependencies existing between how they position and manage themselves with respect to quality dimensions and internal organizational measures.

The paper contributes to a broader organizational study agenda: how local orders face and deal with market and hierarchy dynamics in a global world of apparently increasing standardization under pressure from soft power. It questions the effect of the “iron cage” hypothesis. It lists a series of changing patterns or dynamics between types of universities in terms of quality sensitivity, fabrication and content. Diversity and standardization in fact coexist.

Selected works:

-Paradeise C. and J.C. Thoenig, “Organizational Governance and the Production of Academic Quality: Lessons from Two Top U.S. Research Universities”, Minerva, 2014, vol. 52, n° 4: 381-417;
-Paradeise C. and J.C. Thoenig, “In Search of Academic Quality London”, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015;
-Thoenig J.C.  and C. Paradeise, “Strategic Capacity and Organizational Capabilities. A Challenge for Universities”, Minerva, 2016, vol. 54, n° 3: 293-324.

Short bio:

Prof. Thoenig is a sociologist and political scientist. Senior research director (em.) at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Paris), honorary professor of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale (Lausanne), associate Dean of INSEAD (Fontainebleau), co-founder of EGOS (European Group for Organisational Studies), board member of the Mattei Dogan Foundation, consultant for the European Commission (Brussels). Current research interests: public management, policy implementation and evaluation, EU education and research policies and achievements. He is a French and Swiss citizen located in Paris.