| In 1988, the California legislature enacted A.B. 1725 which legislated the governance structure for the community college system. The Governance portion of the reform, often referred to as shared governance, has come to be seen as the embodiment of the implementation of A.B. 1725. Shared governance was mandated by the State with general parameters, while the responsibility for the development of policies for implementation rests with the local districts. The future health of the institutions themselves may all depend on how those responsible for leadership and those affected by the shared governance process within the district and at the colleges, comprehend, define, and implement shared governance.; This study utilized a questionnaire mailed to 76 leaders of one San Francisco Bay Area multi-college district that has implemented a shared governance model. The leaders were defined as trustees, administrators, academic senates, and the executive board of the faculty association. The survey measured the respondents' perceptions of the shared governance environment within their district including whether or not shared governance was the primary method of governance within the district. The data generated from the questionnaires was subjected to analysis by use of descriptive statistics, several ANOVA, a variety of regression models, and cross-tabulations.; The level of agreement within and among the four constituent groups was higher than anticipated. Statistically significant correlations were found among the groups' perception of how the organization responded to the six cultural elements delineated in the study. The data also showed that an overwhelming majority within and among the four constituent groups found shared governance to be the primary method of governance within the organization.; The study was organized with three main foci, i.e., to determine the perceptions of the individual respondent groups, to discover similarities and differences among the perceptions of the four groups, and finally to ascertain whether or not there was agreement on the governance model of the organization. The research revealed that these four groups held very similar perceptions about the district both within their individual groups and between leadership groups and agreed upon the governance structure at work within the organization. |
