The problem and the solution. This article offers a theoretical framework for viewing the case studies of change in universities presented in subsequent articles. Two dramatically different strategies for effecting change in higher education are presented—organization development (OD) and top management-driven change. How effective is OD-based change in universities? Does top management-driven change offer a more appropriate explanation of change than OD? In this article, readers are asked to consider the different assumptions, purposes, and means for change represented in these two change approaches when reading the case studies that follow.
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