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When the organization meets the institution …. Dr. Rómulo Pinheiro University of Oslo (HEDDA/HEIK), Agderforskning & RIS Center. University abstractions : systems & models Conceptions : Organization, Institution , Instrument & Strategic Actor Major Dillemas
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Whentheorganizationmeetstheinstitution… Dr. Rómulo Pinheiro Universityof Oslo (HEDDA/HEIK), Agderforskning & RIS Center
Universityabstractions: systems & models • Conceptions: Organization, Institution, Instrument & Strategic Actor • Major Dillemas • Implications for societalroles • Final considerations Contents
Help us to sharemeanings and to generaliseonthe basis ofcommonattributes. Abstractions
“The Oxbridge idyll, however, was not about distancing but about intimacy… It was about friendships, tradition, associations and loyalties… The English idea of a university was that it was cloistered and self-contained, its own milieu.” (Rothblatt 1997: 379) The Universityas a closed system
Democratization & massification • Stakeholder Society (Neave 2002) • The second “academic revolution” (Etzkowitz 2001) “Universities become entrepreneurial for a variety of different reasons… An institution may not be entrepreneurial overall but may have distinctive entrepreneurial enterprises within it.” (Shattock 2009: 204) The gradual movetowardsan open-system
The globally-oriented, research-intensive university The locally-embeddedregional university The entrepreneurialuniversity(glo-cal) (Pinheiro, Benneworth & Jones 2012) Stylised Models or Archetypes
Organization Institution Instrument Strategic Actor The University:
Multiversity Complextechnologies Loose-coupling Bottom-heavy Professional bureaucracy Organizedanarchy Multiplicityof sub-cultures The University as Organization
…a collectionofstandardizedrulesand operationalproceduresembodied in structuresofmeaning& resources (Olsen 2007) • Taken for granted, routine behavior: “logic of appropriateness” (March & Olsen 2006) • Institutions are validated by outsiders(e.g. state), but are protected by insidersor social participants The Universityas Institution
“…having been exposed to the ruptures of largely discontinued societal processes, universities exist with layer upon layer of quite divergent legacies, yet somehow they have also succeeded in preserving a strong element of continuity amidst all the change ... (Wittrock 1993: 304-5; see also Musselin 2007; Krücken 2003; Frank & Gabler 2006; Pinheiro 2012; Pinheiro et al. 2012) The resilienceoftheinstitution
A means to an end; a tool to reachcertainobjectives • The ‘logicofoutcomes’ (March & Olsen 2006) • Rise ofvalorization and thestakeholder society • Instrument to whom? The university as an Instrument
A more completeorganization(‘actorhood’) • Rationalization, centralization, integration, identity, funding.. • The rise ofstrategicplanning, strategicscience- & accountability- regimes Transforming theUniversityinto a Strategic Actor
InterweavedDillemas Adapted from Olsen (2007)
Goals & functions: integral part ofstrategic & operational plans • Integration: Tightercoupling; core & periphery; ‘open-up’ core • Heartland: Support from academics (localintrapreneurs) • Institutional logic: from ‘moral duty’ to ‘strategicopportunity’ • Resource-dependecies: Reducerelianceonthepublicpurse • Differentiation: Aids thesearch for a uniqueinstitutionalprofile Implications for universities’ societalroles
Divergingconceptionsofsocietalroles • Winners vs.loosers • Bufferingoftheacademiccore, e.g. via decoupling • Measuring & rewarding • Integrity & identity; preventcooptation • Legacies: ‘ivory-tower’ label That’s it then?
As universitiesgraduallychange & adoptnewshapes & forms, so willtheirattitudestowardssociety and theirrole in it • As guardiansoftheinstitution (sacredvalues & identity), most academics (Europe) willcontinue to resistinstrumentalization,rationalization & centralization • University leaders willneed to findnewwaysofbalancingresponsiveness (renewal) withrespect for diversity & autonomy (stability) Final considerations
ThankYou! r.t.pinheiro@uv.uio.no romulo.pinheiro@agderforskning.no