A Qualitative Case Study Exploring the Nature of New Managerialism in UK Higher Education and Its Impact on Individual Academics' Experience of Doing Research

摘要

New Managerialism (NM) has been used as an analytical framework to help understand the changes within the UK Higher Education Sector. This project sought to extend that work by undertaking a case study of an English university. Using the theory of NM, the study combined organisational description, strategic document review and in-depth interviews to qualitatively explore the extent to which research management practices could be considered New Managerialist and their impact on individuals' experiences of doing research. This project discovered that management practices could be characterised by a hybridised version of NM. Impact on individuals related to key themes: research funding; performance measurement; academic freedom and control; fragmented organisation and mixed messages; research culture. It was found that individuals consciously engaged in 'informal' strategies to pursue their own research agendas within formal' management frameworks. An implementation gap between strategic plans and operational practices created space for individual autonomy, but led to tensions arising from conflicting values at the level of the organisation, department and individual. It was suggested that further investigation could lead to greater insight into how researchers make sense of their role and work environment and, from a management perspective, how best to motivate and support research work.