Study On Organizational Characteristic Of University-Based Think Tank

First of all,on the basis of various think tanks and their development,this study put forward that think tanks independently engaged in the research of policy guidance,generating innovative ideas,from the perspective of an outsider to help the government and policy makers to self reflection and self criticism and assist to solve the real policy issues.Think tank in universities,therefore,it is not just an abstract function label,does not mean a key role,it has become a institutionalized carrier that policy research and advisory functions are established to make the policy research sustainable and systematic.Organization characteristics exist in the process of the formation,development and operation,and is characterized by the interaction of organizational elements.Secondly,this study takes the organization’s core elements which are system,personnel and culture as the breakthrough point,and empirical research on world famous university think tanks’ organizational characteristics is done.World famous university think tanks are established under the background of big changes in the international and national political and economic era.Sources of funding are diversified mainly including university supply,donation,government funding,project finance,as well as various institutions income,etc.To take generating high level research achievements,service for policy makers and policy influence as the important goal,this organization formed institutionalized features including mission requirements and problem oriented management structure and management which are essential to enhance the sustainable development.Research content generally focus on specific national strategic needs of the era,which has strong political orientation and practical applicability.Depending on talent advantage of research university and the needs of research problem of task oriented project,multidisciplinary teams are established to carry out the research.The personnel owns the role of educator,researcher,knowledge transformater,the amphibious person of academic and policy who has the social responsibility of intellectuals by criticizing the society to promote the progress of social.From a 452 resume content analysis,study found that most researchers are PhD and owning diversified job experience.So university think tank’s talent mobility and "revolving door" mechanism not only occur in the academic and government departments,other non-profit social organizations,think tanks,and international organizations(NGO),commercial organizations and the media also transfer a large number of personnel.Organizational culture is based on the knowledge and disciplines which has the character of ideological innovation,openness,multicultural integration,and to achieve the policy influence as the fundamental value pursuit.Besides,the study also found that in the process of university operation there is a phenomenon that instrumental rationality is payed more attention than value rationality.At the same time,this study analyze the reasons of organizational characteristics’ formation,on this basis,and put forward that different stakeholders’ s interaction logic between knowledge and power is the root reason of think tank and its organizational characteristic.However,in the process of university based think tank’s operation,there might lead to rational value decay,and to some extent this also cause the university based think tank’s organizational function labelization.Thirdly,to take Chinese 985 universities’ research institutions as a group,using content analysis to collect data from the organization’s official website and labeled mission vision,development orientation,research results and related text.The study found that there are 186 research institutions have many characteristics of a think tank in the operation,of which there are 96 research institutions clearly label himself as a "think tank" or will act as "think tank" or see "think tank" as important development goals.According to the construction practitioners of the think-tank,there are three types of think tank as university autonomy,government-industry-university-institute collaboration,and international cooperation.Some think tanks are transformed from the original academic institutions to policy suggestions,others are based on the national strategy and regional development needs and discipline research advantages to form a platform.Chinese university think tank face challenges of think tank concept rubricize,administrative power are dominant to promote think tank’s appearance,weak policy applied,related management,evaluation,talent introduction and incentive policy is not in place.Organization optimization can be considered from the following aspects: organizational system and mechanism innovation,construction of professional talent team;clear positioning of independent research,critical reflection and thinking innovation.This study presents university based think tank in research universities as a unique phenomenon.For developing the legitimacy of the resources and the external system environment,to play a function and achieve organizational development,these are the basic reasons of the formation of organization characteristics.Finally,this paper discusses the research limitations and deficiencies,and put forward the next step research projects.