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Conceptual Barriers to Creating Integrative Universities

Oakland University, Rochester, USA, awbrey{at}oakland.edu

Jon Awbrey

Oakland University, Rochester, USA, jawbrey{at}oakland.edu

Today’s society looks to universities for solutions to broad-based issues that require cross-disciplinary expertise. Yet, the organizational structure of our institutions remains locked in academic and administrative silos that have little genuine ability to communicate or to recognize the interdependence of knowledge. Why does the capacity to communicate between disciplines and units remain limited? How do formalizations of our experience create barriers? What kind of reflection would it take to subject our mental models of knowledge and learning to critical inquiry? This discussion highlights one of the most entrenched ‘group identity myths’ that underlie the structure of modern academic institutions, the ‘triviality of integration’ thesis.

Key Words: higher education • inquiry • learning organization • organizational development

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