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Cultural Perspectives of Academia: Toward a Model of Cultural Complexity

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Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research

Part of the book series: Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research ((HATR,volume 25))

Abstract

This chapter describes and analyzes studies of organizational culture in higher education through the perspectives of integration, differentiation, and fragmentation. Cultural analyses are reviewed that perceive culture as unitary at the organizational level-of-analysis, differentiated and conflict-driven, such as the cultures of academic disciplines and academic versus administrative subcultures, and cultural analyses that describe the ambiguity and enduring tensions within higher education organizations. These studies are compared to conceptualizations of colleges and universities as loosely-coupled systems, professional bureaucracies, and multiversities. Based on this literature review, a framework of cultural complexity is proposed. The implications of the framework and perspectives are explored, including whether better knowledge is a result of interdisciplinary scholarship, differentiated inquiry, or the pervasiveness of ambiguity and unclear goals.

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  1. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48103, USA

    Ryan E. Smerek

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  1. Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Memphis, Browning Hall 308, Memphis, 38152-3340, USA

    John C. Smart

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Smerek, R.E. (2010). Cultural Perspectives of Academia: Toward a Model of Cultural Complexity. In: Smart, J. (eds) Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, vol 25. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8598-6_10

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