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Using a competing values framework to examine university culture

The presented dissertation reports the findings of an exploratory study that mapped the perceptions of stakeholders on the changing nature of the organisational culture, in terms of the corporatisation of higher education, in a single faculty from a large Australian university. The study used a mixed-method, case study approach and it tested the usefulness of an organisational culture measuring instrument based on the Competing Values Framework (Quinn & McGrath, 1985; Quinn & Rohrbaugh, 1981, 1983). The presented work argues that the institution of higher education can be viewed as being rudimentarily comprised of having two symbiotic cultural parts - a collegial and a mercantile part and that these parts form the corporation that is an institution of higher education. The generated hypothesis is that when the values of these two competing cultures are in a particular configuration of influence with each other, a university has its best opportunity to effectively attend to its core functions. The research found that the relationship between the collegial and the mercantile parts in the study site's culture had shifted in favour of a mercantile culture and further research is needed to determine if that means the organisation is operating at an optimal effectiveness.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/265456
Date January 2006
CreatorsSanderson, Donald Mark
PublisherQueensland University of Technology
Source SetsAustraliasian Digital Theses Program
Detected LanguageEnglish
RightsCopyright Donald Mark Sanderson

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