THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE OF THE UNIVERSITY AS A TOOL TO INCREASE ITS COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

Abstract

The research article is devoted to studying the university’s organizational culture. To survive and be competitive in the face of strong national and international competition, the university has to be unique as compared to other universities. One of the strategic sources for forming a university’s competitive advantages is to change its organizational culture. It is the university’s development that makes it possible to form new value attitudes, both among teachers and students. The article observes a study of the organizational culture in National Research Mordovia State University. To analyse the surface level of the organizational culture of the university, we have investigated the attitude of teachers and students to the key elements of the organizational environment of the university (tradition, corporate style, encouragement and punishment etc.). The analysis of the subsurface level of the organizational culture has been carried out with the help of adapted versions of K. Cameron and R. Quinn’s questionnaires. Basic value judgments are identified by means of G. Hofstede’s method. The respondents of the questionnaires have numbered 847, including 100 research and teaching staff and 747 students. The results of studying the teachers’ and students’ views on organizational culture provide the general idea of key values, culture orientations, which identify the whole of this culture. The study shows the fragmentary perception of culture elements by the representatives of different departments, which sometimes leads to a diametrically opposite assessment of the parameters of this culture. In this regard, it is necessary to implement a number of training programs aimed at developing the communication system, organizational values, psychological comfort, and corporate image. At the same time, it seems reasonable to consider the development process of the selected components through achieving certain goals, which must ensure the quality of all organizational processes within the university, and, consequently, increase its competitive advantages.