What matters most for German faculty management: Identifying contextual factors of faculty organization

Abstract

The organizational perspective and a stronger orientation towards management principles have become increasingly important for universities. To make the right decisions, managers must consider relevant contextual factors. This study aims to examine the contextual factors of the organizational structure and organizational effectiveness using a qualitative content analysis of expert interviews with 16 German faculty managers. We found that they perceive information technology (IT), the higher education law, budget, and competition as important contextual factors. IT and competition have a considerable impact on organizational effectiveness and the organizational structure, while law and budget are only associated with the organizational structure in the interviewees' perception. We derive hypotheses from the interview material about the impact of these contextual factors on organizational structure dimensions. Referring to the organizational peculiarities of universities, we show that the identified factors foster the implementation of New Public Management (NPM). An analysis of the general organizational literature on contextual factors likewise shows that IT is most crucial. A comparison to the interview results points out recommendations for action and research. © Proceedings of the 24th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems: Information Systems (IS) for the Future, PACIS 2020. All rights reserved.