| The research presented in this study is an intrinsic case study on one specific school, a film institute affiliated with a community college in Arizona that has utilized a unique, innovative model of administration, which the researcher has termed minimalist administration. Under this model, the community college staffed the film institute with limited personnel (serving as combined administrators-instructors), who serviced the students' and college's administration needs, as well as provided the academic educational instruction to the students. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of this model as it applied to the administration of this specific film institute.;The case study was conducted through a series of interviews with individuals from the three constituent groups most affected by this minimalist administration model: the community college, the students, and the full-time administrator-instructors employed under this model. After the collection of data and completion of transcripts, all material was analyzed for common themes that emerged within the individual categories, as well as across all three constituent categories.;The results challenged the literature which indicated that efficiencies in organizational structures are best achieved by a well-staffed bureaucracy and a division of labor in which tasks are divided among many in an organization and not the responsibility of a single individual. Support for this model, however, was not universal for multiple reasons: in particular, the lack of support from within the traditional education environment, as well as the highly specific leadership skills needed, and the high personal price paid by the administrator-instructors working under this innovative, avant garde model. |
