Changes in the organisational culture at Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
Keywords:
organizational culture, competing values framework, pedagogics, subject matter, university of applied sciencesAbstract
Refereed article
We studied the teachers’ view on organizational culture and its possible changes. We applied the Competing Values Framework developed by Robert Quinn and John Rohrbaugh (1983) in analyzing changes of the organizational culture. The data was collected by group discussions. The teachers participating in these discussions (N = 30) represented all the faculties of Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (UAS). The data was analyzed using content analysis. We identified that the organizational culture was mainly focused on internal operations. The adhocracy culture that emphasizes creativity and dynamicity and the market culture that emphasizes competitiveness and stability are worthy alternatives in developing the organizational culture of Helsinki Metropolia UAS. In this case the strength of the institution is in a flexible inner organization and in the developing of the external activities to meet the requirements of the market economy. The qualities of a teachers’ expertise are those of a developer and a producer as well as an efficient networker. The operations are actively directed outwards from the organization but balance between stability and dynamicity remains. The developing of the institution’s internal operations requires fore mostly that the teachers’ pedagogical skills are improved. Instead strong subject matter knowledge gives capability to direct activities outwards from the institution.
