The school of allied health--a political model of university governance.

Curtailment of direct federal funding coupled with greater governmental demands for fiscal accountability in the 1970s has led to events such as allied health program moratoria and a closer scrutiny of the fundamental goals of allied health schools. Resulting organizational stress has also stimulated an emergence of interest groups in these schools. This paper attempts to place these events in a historical and sociological context by: (1) summarizing three governance models; (2) relating these models to the organizational maturation of allied health schools in light of predictions from contemporary management theory; (3) discussing the interrelationships between organizational structure, age of allied health schools, and characteristics of allied health administrators; (4) describing variables of organizational transition that affect organizational effectiveness; and (5) making recommendations to assist schools in organizational planning so they can adjust to the potential negative impact of organizational maturation, shrinking resources, and increasing accountability. A series of recommendations from the Baldridge political model of contemporary organizational research is presented. These recommendations may help facilitate conflict resolution in schools of allied health.