Fads and Fancies: The Use of New Management Tools in UK Universities

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, British universities have often looked to business for ideas that might help them cope with growing financial and competitive pressures, increasing expectations of quality and new forms of accountability. The impact of this “new managerialism” has been researched in broad terms, especially looking at the inter-relationship between academic staff and university managers. By contrast, very little has been written about one, highly practical expression of the new managerialism, namely the use of new management tools. This paper brings together separate studies of three such tools: the balanced scorecard, knowledge management and lean thinking. In each case, issues of motivation, leadership and implementation are considered, leading to an overall set of factors that influence the use of such tools in higher education and a model for wider consideration.