Higher education institutions in educational partnerships with corporations: Impact on organizational systems

This study examined the impact on non-profit higher education institutions' organizational systems in a corporate partnership to provide regionally accredited graduate degree programs at the work site. The institutions and corporate partners studied were Clarke College in Iowa and John Deere, Babson College in Massachusetts and Lucent Technologies, and the University of Rhode Island and Pfizer Inc. Partnerships were managed from college divisions with experience dealing in alternative programming and formats.; The theoretical framework for this study was organizational systems and focused on the technical system, which involves the production of the “product”—the degree. The other systems—social, administrative, and strategic—were addressed to a lesser degree. This qualitative study consisted of three on-site case studies. Standardized open-ended interviews were conducted with faculty and administrators involved with the partnerships.; Findings from this study suggest that although there was impact to the technical system, the impact was minimal in areas such as academic standards, faculty role, pedagogy, and facilities, and that there was no impact to student services, curriculum development, academic services, financial aid, and information. The social system experienced significant impact at one institution in their values and norms. All institutions experienced minor impact to relationships, social climate, and rewards areas. The administrative system was the most impacted at all three institutions due to the lack of established procedures and policies for administrative operations for the partnership. There was no perceivable impact to the strategic system. Additional findings suggest that although there is some impact to the organizational system that does result in change, the changes were minor.; Six dimensions of impact emerged: overall, impact was moderately positive, faculty and administrators experience the partnerships differently, faculty are vital in maintaining the partnership, adult learning models emerge as the primary educational philosophy, the administrative system is most affected, and partnerships strengthened, rather than weakened, academic standards.; Using a systems approach to develop partnerships may assist institutions in maintaining partnerships that benefit both parities. Faculty and administrators found the partnership an opportunity to engage in innovation and venture into unknown territories. In doing so, their institutions reaped many benefits.