| This study is designed to explore the effect of academic unit restructuring on the behavior of department chairs and faculty in selected California community colleges.;Since the early 1970's, there has been an observable restructuring of the administrative organization of academic units from the traditional mode described above to academic units that are cross-disciplinary in nature and generally larger in academic and intellectual scope. In the divisional structure some disciplines with similar problems/phenomena and commonly related subject matter are conceptually, though not clearly, linked together with an appointed administrative head. An example of such regroupings is found in departments such as science, math, chemistry and biology being grouped under a division which may be labeled Science, Math and Technology.;The study exploratory in nature seeks to determine the impact of academic unit restructuring on the behavior of department chairs and faculty. More specifically, the study examines the effect, if any, of academic unit restructuring on (1) the nature of official responsibilities delegated to the chairs by college administration, (2) flow of official communication to and from the chairs, and (3) the scope and domain of faculty participation in decision-making as it pertains to academic and personnel matters. It draws on a wide range of information pertaining to the nature of academic units in colleges and universities, to determine how academic unit restructuring affects the role, behavior and function of academic units chairs and faculty working in select community colleges.;The first part of the study focuses on the introduction and statement of the problem. It accounts for the importance of the study as well as selected information on Departmentalization. The second part of the study addresses the historical development of the academic department as an instrument for organizing curricula and the teaching of faculty. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of author.) UMI.;Traditionally, community colleges have organized their instructional programs around academic units that generally include a single subject area or discipline. Characteristically, these units consist of instructors trained to teach the same or closely related subjects, for example, English, foreign languages, life sciences, mathematics, and social sciences. This administrative arrangement reflects the long-standing conception of teaching units as being composed of a cluster of related subjects within a single discipline. |
