Discourses of change ownership in higher education

Abstract

Purpose

This paper demonstrates how the positioning of self and others affects change in higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

The discourse of various educators was collected during various interviews and discussion groups. A positioning theory framework was used to analyse the data and derive conclusions.

Findings

It is shown that if individuals are understood in terms of their agendas in relation to the organisational context that they can be better led.

Research limitations/implications

The quantity and quality of data available has limited the integrity of conclusions drawn from this paper. Further research is proposed that will provide a more robust understanding.

Practical implications

An approach to understand how to deal with various stakeholders is presented for leaders. There is a need to deal with each person as an individual depending on how their personal agendas influence their priorities.

Originality/value

This paper introduces a social constructionist perspective to leading academics.

Citation

Boxer, L. (2005), "Discourses of change ownership in higher education", Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 13 No. 4, pp. 344-352. https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880510626601