Competing Perspectives on Accountability, Authority and Autonomy as Sources of Organizational Change

This dissertation research is a study of the dynamics of continuous change in Florida's public higher education system between 1998 and 2009. There are three subsidiary questions used to explore these events in greater detail: What is the impetus for changes in the structure of Florida's education system? What are the key dynamics of social change outlining this period of history of governance in the higher education system? How have these changes affected the ability of the individuals and boards responsible for education to be effective, legitimate, accountable, autonomous and authoritative? Since the Florida Legislature abolished the Board of Regents (the board statutorily directed to oversee the public state university system) in 2000, three separate entities were at one point or another charged with the task of overseeing the system before the Board of Governors and university boards of trustees were constitutionally created in 2002. Since that time, the myriad stakeholder groups have struggled to clearly define their own powers within the confines of constitutional and statutory law. Moreover, these groups have been unsuccessful in defining their own powers in such a way where agreement with other stakeholder groups is achieved. Through the use of semi-structured interviews, the perspectives of representatives of the various stakeholder groups on the historical changes of the system during this time period, their feelings about the changes and the results of these changes on the relationships between the stakeholder groups will be explored. Additionally, historical information outlining the events that have taken place in Florida will be obtained through the review and examination of documents, such as state laws, proposed and approved legislation, task force meeting minutes, relevant court cases and news articles. This study will employ grounded analysis and pattern matching as tools to inductively identify emergent patterns and relationships as identified by the examination of the behaviors and reactions of those individuals intimately involved in this issue.