Organizational Decline: Facets and Path to Revival for Punjab’s Public Colleges

The rise and fall of institutions have been a focus of interest for decades. Still, the majority of the existing literature has examined the reasons for the downfall of the privately held corporate sector. The current study explores the causes of organizational decline in the public sector, particularly in an educational organization. An exploratory sequential design w used. A semi-structured interview protocol collects qualitative data using purposive sampling from 39 respondents including nine principals and 30 teachers from public colleges. In the second phase, a questionnaire based on the qualitative results is designed to collect quantitative data to support the results. In this phase, data were collected from 408 participants through a multistage sampling technique. Researchers traced out three dimensions of decline. Relevant authorities remained blinded from noticing the early signs of decline, and even when the decline became observable, the system remained disengaged and took no appropriate action. Hence, public colleges are in severe crisis. Findings underscore the insight that political involvements, substandard promotion criteria, inappropriate training, poor accountability, disengaged leadership, stagnant attitude of teachers, lack of discipline, moral corruption, non-conducive environment and monotony in managerial and classroom practices were the major causes behind the deterioration and stigmatization of public colleges.