Unfreezing Higher Education Institutions? Understanding the Introduction of Quality Management in Teaching and Learning in Germany

Autor/inn/en	Seyfried, Markus; Ansmann, Moritz
Titel	Unfreezing Higher Education Institutions? Understanding the Introduction of Quality Management in Teaching and Learning in Germany
Quelle	In: Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research, 75 (2018) 6, S.1061-1076 (16 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0018-1560
DOI	10.1007/s10734-017-0185-2
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Higher Education; Educational Quality; Quality Assurance; Mixed Methods Research; Instruction; Learning; Interviews; National Surveys; Germany + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Quality of education; Bildungsqualität; Qualitätssicherung; Teaching process; Unterrichtsprozess; Lernen; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Deutschland
Abstract	Quality management (QM) in teaching and learning has strongly "infected" the higher education sector and spread around the world. It has almost everywhere become an integral part of higher education reforms. While existing research on QM mainly focuses on the national level from a macro-perspective, its introduction at the institutional level is only rarely analyzed. The present article addresses this research gap. Coming from the perspective of organization studies, it examines the factors that were crucial for the introduction of QM at higher education institutions in Germany. As the introduction of QM can be considered to be a process of organizational change, the article refers to Kurt Lewin's seminal concept of "unfreezing" organizations as a theoretical starting point. Methodologically, a mixed methods approach is applied by combining qualitative data derived from interviews with institutional quality managers and quantitative data gathered from a nationwide survey. The results show that the introduction of QM is initiated by either internal or external processes. Furthermore, some institutions follow a rather voluntary approach of unfreezing, while others show modes of forced unfreezing. Consequently, the way how QM was introduced has important implications for its implementation. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01