Organizational Effectiveness Factors Affecting the Curriculum Management of the Community Colleges in the Northeastern Region

Abstract

Abstract

The purpose of this study were to 1) assess the levels of practices of organizational effectiveness related factors affecting the curriculum management of the community colleges in the Northeastern region; 2) to compare the impacts of the stated factors on the management of the three tracks of curriculum offered by the community colleges in the Northeast; and 3) propose recommendations for further improvement of the curriculum management under study. The data were collected by a self-rating questionnaire covering 15 variables representing three selected factors, i.e., organizational characteristics, environmental characteristics, and employee and practices characteristics respectively. The samples selected were those 360 respondents representing administrators, lecturers and employees, distinguished members of the councils of respective community colleges, and students enrolled in the academic year of 1/2015. There were 350 respondents returned the questionnaires, with the returning rate of 97.22 per cent. An open-ended questionnaire was also used to solicit the suggestions for improvement of the curriculum management from the selected nine focus group members. The statistical analyses employed included content analysis, frequencies, means, standard deviation, and stepwise multiple regression. The results revealed that the community colleges carried out activities related to all 15 variables under the 3 factors under study at a high level. Only 9 out of 15 variables, however, significantly exerted impacts on the overall management of curriculum, with 7 variables at .01 level and 2 variables at .05 level. Among these 9 effective variables, 3 variables represented organizational characteristics, 2 variables represented environmental characteristics, and 4 variables represented employee and practices characteristics respectively. There were 5 variables significantly impacted the management of curriculum for local development; while only 4 variables did so on the management of curriculum for employment and for certificate degree. The suggestions for further improvement of the curriculum management as collected from the focus group members included giving priority for more resource allocation to those activities reflecting effective factors, with proper monitoring and evaluating mechanism, in line with the continuous process of curriculum development.