DEVELOPING CLIMATES FOR RENEWAL IN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE: A CASE STUDY OF DISSIPATIVE SELF-ORGANIZATION

Abstract

To sustain relevance in the twenty-first century, community college programs must evolve in cadence with the shifting needs of information-age learners. Focusing on a rural community college in the Southeastern United States, this case study explored relationships among organizational climate conditions and the college's capacity to recognize and respond to changes in learner needs. Data collection techniques included participant-observation, document analysis, and interviews. A theoretical framework stemming from both dissipative self-organizing systems and organizational climate structured the interpretation of the qualitative data. Four salient themes emerged - identifying organizational structure, empowerment, communication/interdependence, and shared vision - as organizational climate conditions that set the stage for effective information processing and efficient organizational renewal. The findings point to the dissipative self-organization paradigm as a useful framework for interpreting organizational renewal in rural community colleges facing severe environmental turbulence.