This paper provides insight into distributed leadership by contrasting the oppositional messages found in the literature, and by examining differences in the rhetoric and reality associated with its application. Specifically, the treatment of power and accountability within the distributed leadership theoretical framework is difficult to…

Within the changing tertiary environment, research activity and performance are coming under greater pressure and scrutiny. External policy and funding directives are resulting in revised institutional objectives, requiring variations to organisational structures and processes. These changes have an impact on the relationship between the…

This article addresses two questions relating to research: (1) what is the best environment in which to carry out research and (2) what is the best way to manage employment in order to maintain this environment? It focuses on research management in UK higher education, but attempts to generalise beyond a specifically national context. The article…

How should universities manage their research function? Today, research-based knowledge is viewed widely as fundamental to economic advancement. As a result, universities everywhere are facing pressure to rethink their research activities. A general model of the research process is presented here. Linkages are drawn between that process, other…

This article examines the deregulation of the overseas student sector that took place in Australia during the mid-1980s. It focuses specifically upon the short-term English- language courses that were sold to students from the People's Republic of China. The article suggests that the Hawke government's policy of encouraging Australian language…

Where are university administrators placed in texts that are centred around universities? There appears to be either a total confusion in terminology about administration or a complete disregard for administrators' work but in most cases administrative staff in universities are largely invisible. This paper explores a range of texts (academic,…

This paper argues that research assessment is of increasing importance as an instrument of New Public Management and within the context of efforts to establish a European Research Area. Specifically, it compares the procedures of research assessment in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany in an attempt to distil basic design…

This paper describes our experience of managing a two-year research project that involved University staff from two different disciplines and three industry partners. It describes the benefits we gained from the involvement of multiple parties, such as the ability to call upon diverse expertise, the capacity to study a complex issue and the…