Managing university culture: an analysis of the relationship between institutional culture and management approaches

TLDR: In this article, the authors analyze the ability of university cultures to adapt to these changes and describe management approaches that mirror the specific culture of a university, and present a typology for interpreting university culture.

Abstract: Universities are complex social organizations with distinctive cultures. On the one hand, academic freedom and autonomy are inviolable values and, on the other hand, changing environmental conditions exert strong influence on the primary functions of universities. This paper analyzes the ability of university cultures to adapt to these changes and describes management approaches that mirror the specific culture of a university. Various methods for assessing culture are described, a typology for interpreting university culture is introduced, and management approaches are analyzed. For administrators as well as researchers this work helps to explain the implications of university culture for management processes. This integration steers university leadership in a new direction combining strategic and symbolic management actions.