This study, part ofs larger study of academic governance, investigated the effect of institutional size and complexity on professional autonomy in academic institutions.' Autonomy was defined as the ability to set goals and to structure the organization to maximize professional concerns; size was meaSured'by the number of faculty members and students in the institution. Data were gathered from 241 colleges and universities in the United States,-and from more than 9,200 individual faculty members istrators, through a questionnaire. Responses to the questionnaire were examined with regard to patterns. of decision makings departmental control over faculty selection, courses, tenure, and budgets; and peer evaluation. The data-showed a serong_ttend toward greatet faculty autonomy in larger institutions. It is-hypothesized-that thiS was so becauSe the larger institutionShad_More CoMplek tasks and. were divided into more specialiied.Units composed of More highly trained experts whose expertise gave them power to detand the autonomy they desired. The larger Schools had leSs centralization of decision making, fewer bureaucratic regulations covering profesSional tasks, more departmental and individual autonomy, more evaluation by peeks, and greater protection from outside demands.

(1980). Policy Making and Effective Leadership: A National Study of Academic Management. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 225-228.

Recent review and criticism of the role of size as a variable in the study of organizations prompts a reconsideration of the casual role attributed to size in the study of colleges and universities. Literature relating institutional size to faculty autonomy is reviewed and critiqued. Secondary analyses using multiple regression techniques are conducted on data from the Stanford Project on Academic Governance. Results show that the causal role of size in the determination of faculty autonomy in colleges and universities is modest, when other variables are controlled. Methodological difficulties in the study of size in colleges and universities are discussed.

Contrary to the views of several contemporary observers, American higher education is not becoming more homogeneous but more diverse. Institutions of higher education vary widely in their organizational structure, goals, and governance patterns. To compare these diverse institutions systematically, the Stanford Project on Academic Governance established a typology with eight broad categories. These categories vary systematically on many features: environmental relations, professional task, and institutional complexity. The different categories of institutions, reflecting diverse organizational features, have different professional autonomy for the faculty.