Administrative structures of higher education institutions - connection with the experience of professional agency of teaching staff

Abstract

In educational organizations, the teaching staff has traditionally had a lot of influence on the content of their work and the pedagogy. Within the last two decades, changes in educational organizations can be defined as the shift from this administrative loose coupling toward tight, more managerial coupling. This study utilizes a qualitatively driven mixed-method approach and seeks to determine the potential connection between the loosely, tightly, or simultaneously coupled administrative style and the experience of professional agency of teaching staff in Finnish higher education institutions. The data was gathered through semi-structured thematic interviews and a quantitative survey from 21 informants. The findings revealed that all three administrative styles had both benefits and challenges for the interviewee’s experience of professional agency but with the emphasis on challenges from the tightly coupled features. The results highlight the potential connection with the expert organization’s administrative style and the organization’s most valuable asset: a motivated and committed staff.