Organisational self-assessment in higher education: experimenting with the competing values model and behaviourally anchored rating scales

Abstract

Organisational self-assessment in higher education tends to employ criteria that represent an implicit and untested view of institutional effectiveness. However, the Competing Values Model (Quinn & Rohrbaugh, 1981, 1983) contains effectiveness criteria that may be relevant to higher educational organisations. This article describes a Hong Kong study that examined the applicability of those criteria to higher education organisations through the development of organisational effectiveness Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS). The analysis produced rating scales in four of the competing values model's nine effectiveness dimensions. The study raised issues relating to the assessment, and nature, of organisational effectiveness in higher education.