Between a rock and a hard place: Academic institutional change and the problem of collective action

This paper argues that some of the currenttrends affecting academe impede on keyinstitutional structures, or sets ofinterrelated norms for academic conduct, whichare necessary for sustaining collective actionamong academics. In this sense academics andacademic units may find themselves `between arock and a hard place', that is with newpressures for relevance, stakeholderintegration and commercialisation on one side,and on the other a number of withering socialconditions for actually doing good on these newrequirements from the point of view ofknowledge creation. The paper identifies andreviews four specific changes in this regard:secrecy and withholding behaviour, new notionsof `users', managerialism, and external PhDsponsorship. These changes are then related tothree forms of problematic institutionalchanges: (1) a fragmentation of the academicconstituency, (2) a bi-lateralization ofinformation sharing, and (3)deprofessionalization. Finally, a number ofpossible meta-institutional norms are suggestedfor academic conduct, which may ameliorateinstitutional fragmentation and stimulate acoherent professionalization of academiclife.