Responsible Universities in Context

AbstractIn this introductory chapter, the concept of the responsible university is introduced and put into context, first concerning other organisations and society at large, secondly in a historical perspective and thirdly related to policy initiatives across the globe. We also discuss how to implement this concept within the complex organisations that universities constitute. Lastly, we present some key features of the Nordic countries and introduce the empirical chapters of the book.

Managers' identities: Solid or affected by institutional logics and organizational amandments?

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Gender and the Marketisation of Higher Education: A Nordic Tale

This chapter investigates the gender differences in managerial practices across three Nordic countries: Finland, Norway, and Sweden. It analyses two aspects: (1) perceptions regarding competition, and (2) motivations for undertaking academic work. The chapter is based on an empirical dataset which was compiled from national surveys (conducted in 2015 and 2016) of senior academic staff (professors, associate professors, and academic leaders), which aimed to assess the perceived effects of recent government-led reforms which focused on performance management and managerial practices.

Does It Really Matter? Assessing the Performance Effects of Changes in Leadership and Management Structures in Nordic Higher Education

AbstractUniversities are public organisations, which operate in a highly institutionalised environment. They are heavily dependent on public resources. As such, universities are susceptible to shifts in governance arrangements but are also far from being passive recipients of reform agendas. They face demands from multiple internal constituencies (academics, administrators, students, managers) and from a variety of external stakeholders. This chapter explores the interplay between governance arrangements resulting from policy shifts and university dynamics. It sets the stage for the book, asking the following research questions: (1) what characterises changes in governance regimes in Nordic…

The Many Guises of Nordic Higher Education Mergers

In this final chapter, the volume’s editors reflect upon the empirical and theoretical contributions from the book. The chapter is structured according to a number of ‘dimensions’ which have appeared in the previous chapters. It is concluded that the historical contexts and path dependencies play crucial roles also in the case of mergers. Furthermore, the importance of key actors is highlighted, not least the role played by formal top leaders, but also informal brokers and change agents at the institutional level. In terms of future research, two lines of inquiry are identified. The first is to delve deeper into process-related issues, which is still an unexplored aspect of mergers, and the…

A World Full of Mergers: The Nordic Countries in a Global Context

In this introductory chapter to the volume, the editors present the findings from a literature review undertaken on the topic, and link classical organizational perspectives to the study of merger processes involving higher education institutions. The chapter provides a brief overview of developments across Nordic higher education by referring to Burton Clark’s famous ‘triangle of coordination’. The authors conclude by sketching out the rationale and aim of the comparative study, the ways in which the volume is organized and by providing a short summary of its individual contributions.

Towards a novel conceptual framework for understanding mergers in higher education

ABSTRACTThis paper tries to develop a conceptual framework for a comprehensive understanding of the merger process, which is regarded as a matter of institutionalization of organizational innovation. In the framework, a number of factors affecting merger process or institutionalization of merger are identified, such as those related to environmental issues, economic benefits, institutional compatibility and human agency. The framework hopefully narrows our knowledge gap on theorizing innovation process, in general, and university merger, in particular. It also has a potential to better assist decision-makers and managers in planning and implementing university mergers.

The Changing Roles of Academic Leaders: Decision-Making, Power, and Performance

AbstractMajor reforms in the Nordic countries have increased the formal autonomy of higher education institutions (HEIs) to make decisions over their own activities, both academic core tasks and managerial/administrative activities. The issue addressed in this chapter is how these changes have affected the role of the academic leader. Across the four countries, we see clear signs of change regarding academic leadership comprising a mix of institutional logics in the interviews: the professional, collegial traditional academic leadership, which is based on rotating systems, election among peers, and collegial decision-making, has been complemented with, and in some places replaced by, a mana…

Hybridity in Nordic Higher Education

This article builds on the concept of nested hybridity. It emphasizes professional practices and organizational design in studying hybridity of steering and management of professional public service organization. The article compares public sector dynamics in higher education in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The data consists of surveys and interviews on performance management in Nordic universities. Previous studies on hybridity of professional work and public organizations define hybridity as a multidimensional concept that occurs at different levels of social practices. While the multifaceted nature of hybridity is clear, demarcating between levels of hybridity and theoretical approaches …

Yliopistot uudistuvat, uudistuuko henkilöstöjohtaminen?

Yliopistojen henkilöstöjohtaminen on linkittynyt historiallisista syistä valtionhallinnon henkilöstöjohtamiseen. Tämän lisäksi yliopistolainsäädäntö on luonut vahvan juridisen kehikon henkilöstön pätevyyksille, tehtäväkausille ja tehtäville. Siirtymä byrokraattisesta henkilöstöhallinnosta kohti (strategista) henkilöstövoimavarojen johtamista on vasta tapahtumassa yliopistoissa. Tämä sisältää monia mahdollisuuksia mutta myös uhkia akateemisen työn ja työympäristöjen kehittämiselle. Tässä artikkelissa luomme katsauksen siihen miltä yliopistojen henkilöstöpolitikka näyttää vuonna 2016 ja kuinka yliopiston henkilöstöä johdetaan. Artikkelin aineistona toimii opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön tilaa…

Governing Performance in the Nordic Universities: Where Are We Heading and What Have We Learned?

AbstractIn this final chapter, we revisit the overall aims of the volume and discuss the findings and implications for theory, policy, and practice. The general aim of the project has been to study the effects of the changing conditions of the environment under which Nordic higher education institutions operated during the period 2003–2013. A conceptual framework inspired by a typology developed by Johan P. Olsen was applied, focusing on various aspects of governance of universities and also stressing the ability of universities—as institutions—to resist, adapt, and respond to change initiatives from external and internal actors. Based on rich sources of data, including statistics, intervie…

Taking women on boards: a comparative analysis of public policies in higher education

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Mergers in higher education

ABSTRACTIn this special issue of the European Journal of Higher Education, a number of experienced scholars provide a broad picture of the most recent round of mergers involving higher education institutions in Europe and beyond. In doing so, they address issues pertaining to the different phases described above and from various theoretical perspectives and in the light of particular historical trajectories and institutional conditions. The primary aim is to provide both an empirical account of recent developments as well as an initial foundation for more sophisticated and robust conceptual models used to illuminate on the complex phenomenon surrounding mergers in higher education, and, in …

Strategic mergers in the public sector: comparing universities and hospitals

Raising the summit or flattening the agora? The elitist turn in science policy in Northern Europe

ABSTRACTThis contribution focuses on how one hegemonic idea – excellence – which has significant impact on science and higher education policy was translated in two Nordic countries: Norway and Sweden. Building on key concepts emanating from political science and organizational sociology, the article assesses how excellence was locally translated by policy makers, leading to the rise of a series of policy measures aimed at fostering excellence in science across the board. In doing this, we investigate a key empirical dimension: the policy mechanisms or instruments launched at national levels (two Nordic countries) in the form of centers of excellence.

Responses to the Global Financial Crisis - Lessons From the Public Sector in the Nordic Countries

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Nordic Higher Education in Flux: System Evolution and Reform Trajectories

AbstractThis chapter provides a brief description of how the four national systems included in this study—Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden—are currently organised and structured. In doing so, it illuminates several specific features such as the types and sizes of the institutions, enrolment patterns, performance measures, and funding. In addition, the chapter gives a snapshot of how higher education systems have evolved historically by shedding light on policy dynamics from the late 1990s to 2013, the baseline period for the FINNUT comparative study, the research project that provides the basis for this edited volume. This is followed by a section describing the aim, methods, theoretica…

Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Towards a Nordic Model of the Responsible University?

AbstractThis concluding chapter takes stock of the major elements, both empirical and conceptual, that underpin the case chapters presented in the book. The chapter is organised in three distinct sections. First, addressing a largely scientific audience, the chapter attempts to make conceptual sense of the findings from an organisational theory perspective. Second, it shifts focus to the wider community of practitioners (policy makers, advisers, university managers and administrators, etc.) by shedding light on the practical implications of the volume’s core findings for both policy and practice. Third, the chapter once again addresses an academic audience by sketching out the road ahead re…

Organizational Persistence in Highly Institutionalized Environments: Unpacking the Relation Between Identity and Resilience

AbstractDespite growing academic interest in understanding the conditions under which resilient organizations adapt to challenging circumstances, little attention to date has been paid to the role played by ‘soft’ factors such as identity as an enabler or property of resilient behaviour. In this chapter, we propose that different forms of legitimacy contribute to the framing of acceptable identities affecting the endurance of central elements over time, thus shaping resilience. By splitting up forms of legitimacy and by analysing elements of organizational identity separately, we provide a novel framework that enables a deeper understanding of identity formation processes in complex environ…