Conflict and collaboration in university organization and management: daily life and institutional culture

Abstract

The university is between a type of mechanistic organization and a type of organic organization. Sometimes the university organization and management is bureaucratic, but sometimes it seems to propose a more flexible structure, prioritizing the general objectives of the university itself in relation to the concrete responsibilities. We took as a case study a Spanish university (the University of Lleida) where we were able to carry out an intensive fieldwork, through a qualitative methodology that has involved several research techniques: participant observation, in-depth interviews and discussion groups. The participant observation and the informal interviews have been carried out in this last five years (2011-2016) based on previous works (5 in- depth interviews, 7 discussion groups and 3 triangular groups). The style of direction has been shown between "participatory" and "decisive (authoritarian)", typical of an organization, between mechanistic and organic, which is in a moment of change (after a period of maturity). Among other conclusions, the need for restructuring in some areas of Administration and Services Staff is highlighted; the need to improve coordination and communication between areas and services and the need to reduce bureaucracy, clarifying the relevant procedures. It also considers the professionalization of service leadership or high intermediate profiles, as well as the clarification of the managerial function in the management between the Teaching and Research Staff and the Administration and Services Staff, being attentive to the causes and structural conditions of the "demotivation" that are expressed among some members of the university community. It is in the section of daily life, where the staff is among the advantages and disadvantages of a relatively small university: conflicts that can be managed in an alternative and positive way and others conflicts that are not resolved.