Organizational Perspectives on Contemporary Crises in U.S. Higher Education: A Conceptual Analysis Based on Manning's Organizational Theory

Abstract

American colleges and universities confront a period of sustained institutional strain in which fiscal contraction, legislative encroachment and eroding public trust converge upon governance structures ill equipped to absorb them simultaneously, a condition this paper examined under the title "Organizational Perspectives on Contemporary Crises in U.S. Higher Education: A Conceptual Analysis Based on Manning's Organizational Theory." The paper aimed to examine the financial, political and cultural dimensions of these crises, to analyse how Manning's bureaucratic, political and cultural frames account for institutional responses, and to establish the theoretical relevance of Manning's organisational theory for interpreting the interaction among these pressures. The analysis adopted Manning's organisational theory as its guiding framework, selected for its capacity to accommodate the layered character of institutional behaviour without reducing crisis to a single explanatory variable. A systematic review methodology, guided by PRISMA principles, was employed, drawing on verifiable peer-reviewed journals, working papers and scholarly monographs. The paper indicated that financial retrenchment, exemplified by widespread college closures and programme eliminations, political interference, evident in escalating legislative hostility and direct governance intervention, and declining institutional confidence operate as concurrent and mutually reinforcing conditions rather than isolated episodes. The paper concluded that Manning's multi-frame theory offers indispensable interpretive capacity for understanding these compounding pressures. It recommended governance-sensitive financial monitoring, stronger procedural safeguards around trustee and presidential appointments, and the adoption of multi-frame organisational analysis in institutional crisis response.