The Scientific Work Domain in the US University Management Structure

Abstract

The study aimed to identify what place scientific activity occupies in the management structure of US universities. This study used the exploratory research methodology approach with some features of a narrative review which was used to collect qualitative data. The study found that scientific work plays an important role in the US university management structure. In many universities, scientific work is at the core of the institution’s mission, with research and scholarship being key components of the university’s academic programme. The study found several management structures that are common in the universities of the OECD countries such as the shared/stakeholder-involved governance/management structure, the state-supervised structure of university management, the collegial governance/management structure, the managerial (corporate) governance structure, and the trustee board governance/management structure. The typical university management structure, USA universities included, was found to be a four-layer hierarchical team-based management structure with some matrix structure features. The domain of scientific work is seen as an institution-level activity which is supervised by the Governance Board and the relevant management team. As the research work reshapes the mission of the US universities, the curriculum and management structure via the diversification of research goals, the university management structure is transforming from a hierarchical type of research and education organisation into a matrix one. This type of structure within the structure of the university consists of a professional research manager-led autonomous quasi-firm because research is becoming interdisciplinary which involves several internal, external, or cross-institutional research units to address the heterogeneous university short-term and long-term goals and missions. The universities are comprising corporate models of management and are adopting more complicated organisational structures, including innovation and technology transfer units with research-purpose managerial positions. These positions are supposed to promote university research to address societal purposes and create “profitable products” so that universities could make money. The attempt to promote research as an income source for the universities increased the proportion and the role of the scientific work domain in the management structure of the US university and, at the same time, allocated it into a separate (more or less autonomous) unit of the structure.