CAMERON DIMENSIONS OF EFFECTIVENESS IN HIGHER-EDUCATION IN THE UK - A CROSS-CULTURAL-COMPARISON

A number of dramatic changes have occurred in the higher education system since the Jarratt Report into efficiency and effectiveness in the United Kingdom. Building on Cameron's (1978, 1981, 1986) seminal work on organisational effectiveness (OE) in higher education, this paper describes a test of his approach in the U.K. in an effort to establish the groundwork of an organisational effectiveness perspective for policy decisions, organisational analysis and management, and further research. Overall, the findings indicate that the scales developed by Cameron in the U.S. demonstrate considerably higher levels of reliability in the U.K. than in Australia. The explanation appears to be related to cultural differences in that the U.S. and the U.K. have stronger enduring traditions linking reputation and resources (Bigelow 1980). These and results of more detailed analysis suggest the importance of further study to unravel both cultural specific interpretation and thicker descriptions of organisational issues to facilitate future policy and management decisions (Lysons 1990a, 1990b).