Running

head: CASE ANALYSIS: SU

Case Analysis: Shorter University
Organizational Theory Case Analysis Paper
Samantha Garcia
SDAD 576: Leadership and Governance in Higher Education
Jacob L. Diaz, Ed. D.

CASE ANALYSIS: SU

Abstract
In this organizational theory case analysis the focus will be placed on Shorter
University. The organizational areas of political, cultural, and bureaucracy will be assessed
in detail analyzing stakeholders, power dynamics, influence of tradition, and influence of
modern beliefs. There will be a personal reflection on the effects and influences the case
had on me.

CASE ANALYSIS: SU

Case Analysis: Shorter University
Shorter University is a small liberal arts faith based Baptist institution in Rome, GA.
The town has a population of 36,000, while the institution manages to bump that up to
37,700 when classes are in session. The college was established in 1873 and, to this day, is
very strong in their Christian faith and values. In October 2011, Shorter introduced four
new faith statements. Controversy sparked with them banning premarital sex, adultery
and homosexuality". They are now apart of Shorters personal lifestyle statements which
is apart of the employee contract. Staff and faculty are forbidden from drug use, drinking in
public, and sex outside of a heterosexual marriage. The statement also requires that the
faculty and staff be active members of a church in Rome, GA.
Once the Board of Trustees approved the statement, uproar broke out over the
campus among students, staff, faculty, alumni, and the public. There were a number of
public demonstrations by the students protesting the vote.
Six years prior to the new lifestyle statement, Shorter and the Georgia Baptist
Convention went to the Georgia Supreme Court to determine who would control the
colleges board of trustees and its direction. Shorter lost and the new lifestyle statement is
part of the impact from that case. While faith statements or lifestyle requirements are not
unusual at Christian colleges, most are not so explicit in their banes. The case was focused
on institutional control while, at the time, many Baptist colleges were breaking away from
their state conventions over disputes on policies surrounding gay students and faculty.

CASE ANALYSIS: SU

Guiding Shorter's policies are now a board of trustees appointed by the church. The board
says the new faith statement is Shorters effort to be more intentionally Christian and is
apart of the movement to define what being Christian means for the college.
Beginning in 2008, the college has only hired Christians, a condition of its
membership in the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities. However the lifestyle
statement applies, not only to new hires, but to existing faculty as well. Criticism from
alumni and the public surrounds the fear that the college is becoming too close-minded.
However, the lifestyle statements only put into writing hiring practices that were already in
place.
Shorter receives significant financial support from the Baptist convention. At the
time, Shorter was guaranteed a $7.2 million convention endowment for campus projects
passed to the Board of Trustees. Another $2 million was issued in 2012 for operational
purposes.
Dowless, the university president, believes the new policies will boost enrollment
among students for those that want to know they are attending a Christian college that
adheres to Baptist beliefs. He claims that many faculty and alumni have been supportive of
the changes because they see it as an opportunity to create a close-knit community with
effective Christian role models for students, It is important to represent ourselves as
Bible-believing Christians.
A new strategic plan has been in development, focusing the college on becoming
more of an intentionally Christian university. This is defined as a belief in the inerrancy of
the Bible, promoting a Biblical worldview in the classroom and hiring faculty who are
believing Christians. They seek to move more towards Scripture so that they may make

CASE ANALYSIS: SU

decisions that honor Jesus Christ and provide a positive academic experience for all at the
university.
Political
There are a number of political agendas playing out at Shorter University. Interests
of various groups are present; some being heard others being ignored. From the start of the
institution it was based in the Baptist church. The universities attempt to sever ties was
unsuccessful in the Georgia Supreme Court case leaving the hungry church to reign power
and influence over the colleges functioning. The universities intention to separate from the
church was a political and power move to allow the college to be in control of its direction.
However post court, the Baptist Convention was able to appoint all of the Board of Trustees
members that are, bureaucratically, the owners of the university. Through this action the
church turned itself and the board into the power elites: the most prominent and
influential stakeholders for the university (Manning, 2013). This created a dynamic
between church and board where the board essentially still answered to the church for the
almighty dollar. It seems too convenient that at the time Shorters Board of Trustees votes
to have the lifestyle requirements, the Baptist Convention endows nearly $9 million to the
university. With the conjugation of power and authority, any dollar the convention can
provide to the board, the board is diligent to do what will please the convention. This affect
on decision-making leaves the other stakeholders of Shorter in the dark, unheard, and
abandoned. However, not all stakeholders were completely upheaved by the boards
decision.
While some of the strengths the power elite plays to seem dark, they do allow for
the university to do a powerful analysis and clarification on what the institutions vision,

CASE ANALYSIS: SU

mission, and goals are (Manning, 2013). This provides clarity to what the institution has
intentionally set forth historically, culturally, and traditionally. It can provide clarification
to all stakeholders at the institution including faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni,
donors, and the public (Manning, 2013). Through the clarification of its values Shorter
displayed in the lifestyle requirements, they have given way to allowing the university to
build processes for change. This often happens at all colleges and universities; change is
inevitable. However, change is often not met with as much public backlash due to the
nature of the change Shorter chose to proceed with.
The issue with clarification and direct intentions of getting the university back on
track leaves Shorter lost in trying to provide its stakeholders any sense of empowerment.
When the political powers take control into their own hands, as the convention and board
have done, it can disempower the underrepresented and those with less access to power
(Manning, 2013). This causes unrest and dissatisfaction from the various
underrepresented stakeholders. Alumni and students were upset when the lifestyle
requirements were released. It caused confusion, anger, and distrust in the institution to
rise. While the Baptist Convention does provide a larger amount of funding to the
university, current and former students are also donating their money. Shorter would not
function without their support. It is in the interest of the institution to be aware of the
values they are serving in their student and alumni populations.
Another frazzled stakeholder is, of course, the staff and faculty of Shorter. Dowless,
the president, claims that many of the staff and faculty were for the change however the
decision left the entire staff in a state of having diminished morale and [lacking a] healthy
work environment (Manning, 2013). No matter if a staff or faculty member was for or

CASE ANALYSIS: SU

against the change, the dissonance in employee-to-employee, employee-to-employer,

employee-to-student, made a profound impact on the day-to-day of the college. There were
many employees that refused to sign because it did not align with their Christian beliefs.
While this is a good opportunity for employees to reevaluate their employment and then
choose their best course of action, the change caused much shift in the staff and faculty.
Through the reassessment of their vision, mission, and goals as an institution,
Dowless believes that this will increase their enrollment with students. However, the
disenfranchised population - public, student, alumni, faculty, and staff does not allow the
small town college to reach too far beyond its gates. The typical nature of colleges and
universities to attract is not only through university outreach but predominately through
word of mouth. When the world-of-mouth turns sour or imploringly supportive, given the
views of the individual, the distinction in Shorters very conservative values can neither
help nor hurt the university. They have guaranteed themselves to exclude LGBTQ
community, people who are not as religious, and any others that do not agree with their
values. Again, this is neither good nor bad, however it allows the college to keep a closed
circuit of conservative Baptists in their institution.
Cultural

When change is endured the culture of an institution adds a significant dynamic to

the shift. Depending on the direction of change whether it is in-line with the current culture
of the institution or moving the opposite direction, the influence it has over the university
will vary. If it is a change that is in-line then there will likely be a small amount of upset.
However, when the change goes against the grain of the current culture it is likely there
will be a large amount of backlash. In the case of Shorter University, the lifestyle

CASE ANALYSIS: SU

requirements were a balance between in-line and against the grain of their culture at the
time.

The Board of Trustees was doing what it thought would move the university in the

direction of the historic and intentionally Christian mindset. However, the issue with this
seemingly mild move for a Baptist school is that the modern culture surrounding LGBTQ is
nowhere near the traditional Baptist beliefs. Having brought in students, faculty, staff, and
alumni over the years that may identify more with the modern view of LGBTQ issues,
meaning acceptance no matter your sexual preference, the shift to a conservative position
left these people confused about the culture that originally bought into. As it was outlined
in the summary, Shorter had been hiring only Christian-lined value employees since 2008,
making the cultural shift starting then but not explicitly stating the expectations the
institution places on their employees.

When the board put into effect their intentions for being more Christian the

university took a shift from being rooted in an anthropological culture to finding

themselves as a more corporate culture. The boards action forced stakeholders to adhere
to strict guidelines giving them a clear view of what they should do and how they should
do it (Manning, 2013). This shift is what caused unrest in the Shorter community.

Despite the outrage from various stakeholders the corporate culture has the

potential to turn into the anthropological culture of Shorter. This will allow the
stakeholders to make meaning within the day-to-day of [institutional] life (Manning,
2013). As Dowless hoped that the effort to be intentionally Christian would be evident for
onlookers the shift allows for possible connections to [the] community (Manning, 2013).
This is likely to happen because the assumption can be made that the small town that they

CASE ANALYSIS: SU

are in is also predominantly Baptist. However, the issues with anthropological culture
remain in Shorters likelihood to be out of step with current higher education issues [, such
as globalization] (Manning, 2013).
Bureaucracy

While it was stated previously that Shorter University is more political than

bureaucratic, the institution is structured bureaucratically so that it may push the political
agenda. Bureaucracies are helpful because they are rationally ordered [] for the
achievement of stated goals (Manning, 2013). Since Shorters board implemented the
lifestyle statement/requirements it has explicitly stated and directed the institution in one
direction. However the weaknesses of bureaucracy appear to be the only factors
highlighted in the case study.

From the nature of the extreme conservative view the board enforced it has taken

on the agenda that it is the ideal type of [institution and has] eliminate[ed] other possible
forms (Manning, 2013). This does not allow for the institution to get into a healthy state of
reevaluation. With their shift, they have inherited the tradition to be unmoving in their
values, no matter the benefit of a repositioning change.

They have also created an environment that discourages innovation because their

imposition of order and rationality will take charge (Manning, 2013). The issue here rolls
back to one of the weaknesses created by the political aspects is that it diminishes morale
and creates an unhealthy work environment where stakeholders do not feel valued by the
institution.

CASE ANALYSIS: SU

10

Reflection

I chose this case because it annoyed me to think that there are still extremes to

conservatives in higher education. It should not be a surprise to me because for everything

in this world there are two extremes however my issue remains in the fact that this is an
institution of higher learning.

While I understand students need to feel connected to their institution and that is

often through religion I do not see the point in an institution being so conservative that it
actually does a disservice to the students. An extreme conservative view like this, aims to
instill that all sinners are going to hell unless they choose to be saved. This breeds
confusion for young people because they have not been exposed to other perspectives
where in those opportunities they could learn acceptance. However, the confusion breeds
distrust and distrust breeds hate. In my opinion, and I am not religious, hate is the greatest
sin of all and is the one extremists carry around with them but deny its presence. Living in
this ignorance is incredibly sad to me. If institutions of higher learning are supposed to give
students a global perspective and acceptance for all that are different from them, than why
is Shorter University considered a valued institution of higher learning?

Shorters mission statement wants to send their students out into the world with a

global view and live actively in the global community. With the lifestyle requirements they
have instituted they are not inherently providing this opportunity to their students. I
believe that the only way a student from their university will gain a global perspective
while attending their institution is by going against the grain of the institution and
developing a less extreme view on the topics raised in the lifestyle statement or at least
questioning the stance of the college.

CASE ANALYSIS: SU

11

I hope that the students that attend Shorter University gain a global perspective, are

outstanding members of their community, and, above all, love and accept the beauty that is
in the diversity of our world.

CASE ANALYSIS: SU

12

Reference

Manning, Kathleen. (2013). Organizational Theory in Higher Education. New York, NY:
Routledge.