Attached.

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Introduction
Krücken and Meier (2006) have described the process of turning universities and
colleges into organizational actors as the path which higher education has taken towards a
more rational and accountable form of governance in recent years. Birnbaum (1988) claimed
“learning how colleges and universities work requires seeing them as organizations.” study
them as organizations, means groups of people filling roles and working together toward the
achievement of common objectives within a formal social structure (Birnbaum,1988).
Organizational theorists have developed approaches to examine an organization's internal and
external environment, strategy and goals, use of technology, decision making, power and
political realities, conflicts and contradictions, controlling processes and ideology, ability to
learn and change, and climate and culture, among other approaches (Hatch, 1997).
There is a clear transition of higher education institutions that have leaned towards an
organizational model, and institutional theorists explain this transition in the context of a
continuing rational transformation in the general society (Ramirez, 2012). Therefore, these
institutions continue to rationalized as autonomous organizational actors. They are seen to
have committed themselves to achieve set goals, both in improving accessibility and their
economic relevance. This transition is encouraged by both national and transnational policies.
These institutions in the capacity of organizational actors, therefore, have a degree of
sovereignty and autonomy that they did not have as academic institutions previously.
The higher education system is an entity of the society that set with several challenges
especially as a result of the diverse contexts in which they currently exist in (Morgan, 2006).
The challenges of these academic institutions are how they are seen to be poorly structured
and ran (Manning, 2013). However, the paradox in this conclusion is that they are still seen
to be thriving and highly effective (Keller, 1983). As a result of these challenges, an
organization of the institutions is significant. The issues around the organization of

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universities and colleges are critical in overcoming the challenges they face. Colleges and
universities ought to see as systems and organizations for them to be understood. It is vital to
organize higher education so that each person in this organization has a role to perform in
order to achieve a particular set objection (Besse, 1973).
The essential characteristics of such higher educational organization include them
having a particular identity and a rational approach to management and making changes
within the organization (Brunsson & Sahlin-Anderson 2000). These characteristics help in the
alignment of the institution to the needs of the society. The institution ideally approaches this
by having a statement of its goals and a clear strategy on how these goals hope to achieve.
Since the authority to create such institutions belongs to the state through the creation
of statutes, the decision making left with the trustees, the president, deans, and the Provost.
Therefore, it is crucial for them to be organized to ensure the proper structure is maintained
(Birnbaum, R. 1988). The role of president, provost, and dean in any organization is crucial
in creating an administrative structure to run the university or college (Gross and Grambsch,
1975). Their role in organizing higher education is to create an administrative structure that
coordinates and directs the primary goals of higher education (Etzioni, 1964). Therefore, in
this paper, I will discuss the different roles of the president, provost and the dean at the apex
of the structure of institutions then relate their roles to the institutions four frames which are
bureaucratic, collegial, political, and symbolic/cultural.
Characteristics and Responsibilities of a President.
The president of higher education institutions including universities, colleges, and
community colleges have some responsibilities in ensuring there is proper development of
these institutions. One of the most critical roles is their responsibility to develop a
comprehensive and responsible budget and manage the institution’s finances. The president
establishes a system of fundraising for the budget. Besides, a president is expected to report

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to the board on a quarterly and annual basis for accountability. Authority provides by the
Board to the president to manage the institution by adopting the adopt administrative policies
and procedures set out by the board. The president may choose to delegate the authority
further by hiring administrative staff (Sal B., 2012)
An essential characteristic of the president is that they must have leadership virtues
especially being able to communicate to the diverse classes of people within the institution
(Jeffery S., 1982). The president should be able to navigate the different perspectives in the
best interests of the institutions considering the different races, genders, ages and classes of
people within the institution. Another characteristic is that the president must be adequately
educated to be able to relate appropriately to their fellow educators in the institution. Most of
the institutions require that the president teaches at least one class each semester. In addition
to teaching experience, the president should have business experience to be able to operate
the institution effectively (Jeffery S, 1982).
Characteristics and Responsibilities of Provosts
Provosts also referred to the Academic Vice Presidents, are mainly responsible for
decisions that involve academics, students, faculty and the governance of the institution. A
provost is also involved in the development of information technology infrastructure to
improve the research facilities in the school. It is his responsibility to oversee the
administrative policies that involve the enrolment of new students, the payment of tuition and
student fees, student aid and scholarships and other related academic responsibilities.
The provost is also responsible for the task with consultation and in helping the
chancellor in making decisions in senior administrative appointments. The provost is
expected to ensure that there are proper and equal employment opportunities within the
faculty ensuring that diversity upheld. In colleges and community colleges, they serve under
the Council of Provosts that makes recommendations to the administration and the Academic

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Senate regarding institutional issues. They are involved actively with the college Senate
faculty in constant discussions and reviews of the college by laws.
One of the essential characteristics of a provost is discipline in order to earn the
respect of faculty to enable proper decision making even during disagreements. To
effectively perform their responsibilities, the Provosts must have the following
characteristics. They must be able to be fair in dealing with both academic and social issues
involving the institution.
Characteristics and Responsibilities of Dean
Deans are academic officials in higher education institutions and they are ranked
below the president or chancellor and the provost or chief academic officer. They preside
over colleges and schools and divisions of different disciplines in the institution. Deans are
responsible both as scholars and administrators. They are responsible for hiring various
department chairs and they oversee the management of the different units in each school.
The deans have the decision-making responsibilities in different areas of the
institutions including the educational curriculum, student affairs, finances and alumni
relations. They have the responsibilities related to fundraising and hiring of part-time faculty
within their particular school.
Among the characteristics of a proper dean is that they are required to be proper
scholars alongside their managerial and leadership skills. One of the main responsibility of
deans is communicating with the faculty and this may lead to numerous disagreements.
Therefore, deans must practice patience to be able to operate in an environment within which
their authority faces constant challenge and the humility to accept correction.
First: Structural/Bureaucratic Frame
The bureaucratic model is basically an institution where the important decisions are
made at the strategic apex and the day to day operational decisions are made by delegated

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authority below the apex and by standardized procedures. Such bureaucratic models have
large support staff and they have an organized structure that has many different layers of
authority from the apex and within the different operating levels (Bolman & Deal, 2013). In
the higher education system, this structure goes from the board, to the president, to the
provosts then to the different deans who pass it along to the faculty.
In relation to higher learning institutions, the role of the president and the provosts are
considered to be the apex of the institution. These two positions are involved in the major
decision making with the consultation of the different boards of the organization (Bolman &
Deal, 2013). The president and provosts then delegate their authority to the deans of the
various schools and colleges alongside other members of the administrative faculty that they
hire. These delegated members then make the day to day decisions following the procedures
set by the boards in the various institutions.
One of the major challenges of the bureaucratic model is that those who are involved
in the day to day operations tire quickly due to the repetitive nature of higher education tasks.
They end up lacking motivation. On the other hand, allowing them too much freedom to be
creative may affect the overall goals of the institutions, considering they are very structured
system (Birnbaum, 1988).
Just like most bureaucracies, there is constant tension between the faculty and those at
the apex, for example, there are always disagreements between the faculty and the dean of
academics and in extension, the president and the provosts. Because different schools and
units require different needs and resources, the decision made at the apex may not meet the
needs of the individual units (Bolman & Deal, 2013).
As organizations grow, the number of sub-units increase and they become more
complex. As they continue to become complex, they become isolated, making college
interaction as basically non-existent. Administrators end up spending less time with their

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faculty and only leave them wit a rigid structure to follow. The People’s community college
is an example of such a bureaucratic structure in the higher education system (Birnbaum,
1988). At the apex is the board and the president, followed by the provosts in the
administration. Their authority is then delegated to the deans of the different school who are
then responsible for the faculty in their individual schools.
This vertical line of administration creates an organizational structure that is rigid. It
affects how offices communicate to each other, who is responsible for gathering and relaying
information and therefore the people have a systematic division of labour (Cyet & March,
1963). Therefore, the president of the institution together with the board are responsible in
creating the institutions rules and relaying them to the faculty through the dean. The
traditional bureaucratic structure achieves its legitimization by ensuring that activities are
coordinated by accepting orders from above with no question. However, this becomes a
problem in the system considering that the different institutions may have their different
needs and not all the rules can be uniform (Birnbaum, 1988).
The university and colleges system have eventually leaned towards the professional
bureaucracy structure (Mintzberg, 1979). The structure by Mintzberg creates different sectors
that add further dimension to the conventional structure of staff organization, while still
maintaining the top-down pyramid. This is mostly due to the preference by educators to
work in an environment where they can be able to practice their autonomy and use their
experience and personal judgement to decide what is best for their students (Mintzberg,
1979). Under the typical system of machine bureaucracy, the faculty end up being production
workers that only rely on test scores to determine how well an institution is performing.
To understand professional Bureaucracy in the higher education system, Harvard
university provides proper insight into the workings of this structure. It does have the core
apex that is involved in major decision making and a techno-structure for administration.

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However, each individual dean is allowed to have its own local approach to how it teaches
and evaluates its students and there is no one particular set method of analysis. There are also
very few levels between the apex and the professors and educators creating a more
decentralized type of structure (Mintzberg, 1979).
The professionals are allowed to freely apply their expertise without having too much
formal interference from the structure. It is expected that they have control from a code of
conduct that they received from their professional training and indoctrination (Birnbaum, R.
1988). This is beneficial because they are able to make autonomous decisions and apply their
personal experience since every group of students is different.
However, this brings about the challenge of lack of coordination and lack of quality
control. For example, the tenured deans under this structure are not subject to formal
sanctions and therefore, the university is forced to look for alter...