Understanding Corporate Governance Structural Changes: Case Study of the University of Botswana

Abstract

The governance of tertiary academic institutions has remained somewhat a virgin terrain. This paper visits this terrain seeking (using the University of Botswana) to bring to the fore variant traits of governance structures of such institutions. In October 2003, the Council of the University of Botswana appointed a task group to review the University Act, Statutes and governance structures. The task group dully completed the review and submitted a comprehensive report. This paper uses insights from critical theory (Held, 1980) and social construction theory (Berger and Luckman, 1967) to analyse and understand the impetus for changing governance structures and to draw lessons about the impetus for governance structure changes in similar public institutions. The paper uses the report as the primary source of data and adopts grounded theory (Strauss, 1987, Strauss and Corbin, 1994) as methodology for analysing the data and generating understanding. The paper�s conclusions and conjectures are therefore grounded in the data and should be theorized to other situations with caution. The paper concludes that the impetus for change in governance structures can be understood in terms of the perceived changes in the University�s external and internal environments. Developments at societal level led to loss of harmony between the University and its external environment, which further led to internal structures being reviewed and changed. The resulting changes disturbed the Universities internal environment hence the need for further review and changes.