Shcherbina V. V., Popova E. P. (2019), “University as a specific type of organization, its functions and relationships with the external environment”, Research Result. Sociology and management, Vol. 5(4), pp. 184-199.

Текст статьи на сайте журнала URL: http://rrsociology.ru/media/sociology/2019/4/184-199.pdf (дата обращения 13.01.2020)

Abstract

The relevance of the analyzed problem is associated with the need to determine the guidelines for the organizational development of universities. The source of organizational development is a dynamic external environment. The article analyzes the problems of the relationship of universities with the external environment. The authors consider various approaches to the interpretation of the organizational specifics of the university. Recreating organizational specifics, special attention is paid to the resulting product of the university. It is on the definition of the resulting product and its customers that the choice of optimal adaptation methods and, consequently, the guidelines for organizational development depends. Next, the forms of interaction of the organization with the external environment are analyzed. The authors do not doubt that the university can be considered as a specific type of formal organization. However, its specificity (activities, type of personnel, environmental characteristics, etc.) does not imply the development of flexible structures. Taking into account the tasks of the university – the training of specialists and the development of science – the possibility of using forms and methods of adaptation associated with customer orientation as the main factor in changing the content of educational programs is being questioned. Considering customers on the resultant product of the university’s activities, the authors believe that the university’s orientation toward the production of educational services and the client (consumer of these services) contradicts the fulfillment of the university’s most important social functions – the training of qualified specialists and the development of science.