Institutional culture and power relations in universities: A sociological study of academic hierarchy and micro-politics

Abstract

In this study, which aims to examine the effects of power relations and micro-politics on institutional culture in universities within a sociological framework, power relations and hierarchical problems within the framework of institutional culture in higher education institutions are examined. Research on organizational conflict and institutional culture has mostly been conducted in non-academic environments, however, universities and academic departments are also environments with their own institutional culture, institutional identity and where intellectual conflicts occur. Institutional culture is thought to be among the sources of conflicts in academic life and its prevalence is an inevitable fact. Identifying the sources of conflict in academic organizations can also have positive effects such as increasing group harmony. However, while the origins of academic conflicts are generally based on personal factors between individuals, structural elements that form institutional culture such as departmental goals also play a role. Although there are many hypotheses regarding the potential of institutional culture to encourage departmental conflict, definitive empirical evidence is quite scarce in these cases.

Keywords

• Academic life
• Power relations
• Hierarchy
• Institutional culture

Üniversitelerde kurum kültürü ve güç ilişkileri: Akademik hiyerarşi ve mikro-politikaların sosyolojik bir incelemesi

Abstract

Üniversitelerdeki güç ilişkilerinin ve mikro-politikaların kurum kültürü üzerindeki etkilerinin sosyolojik bir çerçevede incelenmesinin amaçlandığı bu çalışmada, yükseköğretim kurumlarında kurum kültürü çerçevesinde güç ilişkileri ve hiyerarşik problemler incelenmiştir. Örgütsel çatışma ve kurum kültürü üzerine yapılan araştırmalar çoğunlukla akademik olmayan ortamlarda gerçekleştirilmiştir, ancak üniversite ve akademik bölümler de kendine has kurum kültürüne, kurum kimliğine sahip olan ve entelektüel çatışmaların yaşandığı ortamlardır. Akademik yaşamda çatışmaların kaynakları arasında kurum kültürünün olduğu düşünülmektedir ve yaygınlığının kaçınılmazlığı bir gerçektir. Akademik örgütlerde çatışmanın kaynaklarının tanımlanmasının grup uyumunu artırma gibi olumlu etkileri de olabilmektedir. Ancak, akademik çatışmaların kökenleri genellikle bireyler arasındaki kişisel faktörlere dayandırılmakla birlikte, bölüm hedefleri gibi kurum kültürünü oluşturan yapısal unsurların da rolü vardır. Kurum kültürünün bölüm çatışmasını teşvik etme potansiyeline dair birçok hipotez bulunsa da bu durumlarda kesin ampirik kanıtlar oldukça azdır.

Keywords

• Akademik yaşam
• Güç ilişkileri
• Hiyerarşi
• Kurum kültürü

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