Research On University Organizational Culture

Researching and profiling university organizational culture are important in improving management, enforcing competitiveness for the goal of building the top universities in the world. The main purpose of the study was to identify what the current and preferred status of organizational culture at a university. Advices to transform the culture from current status to preferred one were given according to the further analysis of the difference between them as well. The study design mainly employed quantitative method, applying qualitative method as an assistant. First, the original Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument was modified to adapt the condition of universities in China after literature search and review. Then, the modified questionnaire was used as the measuring instrument. During the study, 250 current employees including teachers and administrators from Z University were recruited through stratified random sampling. The data were analyzed with SPSS 13.0.The result of this study revealed that Z University had the four cultures at the same time like other organizations. The dominant culture type exhibited by Z University was the Hierarchy culture, which had only small gap between the Market culture and itself, then the Adhocracy culture and the Clan culture. The dominant culture type exhibited at Z University in the preferred status was the Adhocracy culture, then the Clan culture, the Market culture and the Hierarchy culture in order.According to the result, leaders of universities and colleges should regard the preferred status as the goal in building organizational culture, and take steps based on the difference between the current status and the preferred status in six dimensions of organizational culture.