Published

2014-07-01

Research Culture in Higher Education: The Case of a Foreign Language Department in Mexico

Cultura de la investigación: el caso de un Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras en México

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15446/profile.v16n2.40819

Keywords:

Foreign languages, higher education, research culture (en)
Cultura de la investigación, educación superior, lenguas extranjeras (es)

Downloads

Authors

  • Edith Hernández Méndez Universidad de Quintana Roo
  • María del Rosario Reyes Cruz Universidad de Quintana Roo

The purpose of this paper was to examine and identify, through the lens of organizational theory and a current model of research culture in an academic setting, some characteristics of the research culture in the Department of Languages and Education at a public university in Southeast Mexico. Following the international tendencies and models in higher education, we see that the research culture observed in this university resembles more a market culture than other types of culture, although some traits of hierarchy culture provide cohesion in the organization.

El propósito de este artículo es examinar e identificar, mediante la teoría de las organizaciones y un modelo actual de cultura de investigación en contextos académicos, algunas características de la cultura de la investigación en el Departamento de Lengua y Educación de una universidad pública del sureste mexicano. Siguiendo tendencias y modelos internacionales de educación superior, la cultura que se observa en esta universidad se asemeja más a una de mercado que a cualquiera de otro tipo, aunque algunos rasgos de la cultura jerárquica permiten la cohesión en la organización.

References

Ahumada, L. A. (2001). Teoría y cambio en las organizaciones: un acercamiento desde los modelos de aprendizaje organizacional [Theory and change in organizations: an approach from organizational learning]. Valparaíso, CL: Universidad Católica de Valparaíso.

Blackmore, J., Brennan, M., & Zipin, L. (Eds.). (2010). Re-positioning university governance and academic work. Rotterdam, NL: Sense Publishers.

Brennan, J. (2006). The changing academic profession: The driving forces. In RIHE (Ed.), Reports of the changing academic profession project workshop on quality, relevance, and governance in the changing academia: International perspectives (pp. 37-44). Hiroshima, JP: Research Institute for Higher Education. Hiroshima University.

Cameron, K. (2008). A process for changing organizational culture. In T. G. Cummings, (Ed.), Handbook of organization development (pp. 429-446). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Cameron, K., & Ettington, D. R. (1988). The conceptual foundations of organizational culture. In J. C. Smart (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 356-396). New York, NY: Agathon.

Chavoya, M. L. (2001). Organización del trabajo y culturas académicas. Estudio de dos grupos de investigadores de la Universidad de Guadalajara [Organization of academic and work cultures: A study of the research groups at Universidad de Guadalajara]. Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa, 6(11), 79-93.

Clark, B. R. (1987). The academic life: Small worlds, different worlds. Princeton, NJ: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

De Haven, M. J., Wilson, G. R., & O’Connor-Kettlestrings, P. (1998). Creating a research culture: What can we learn from residencies that are successful in research. Educational Research and Methods, 30(7), 501-507.

Dundar, H., & Lewis, D. R. (1998). Determinants of research productivity in higher education. Research in Higher Education, 39(6), 607-630.

Encinas, F., & Busseniers, P. (2003). ELT in higher education in Mexico: Developing professionally. Paper presented at the Qualitative Research Conference, British Council, Mexico DF, Mexico.

Estévez, E. (2007). Entre lo que parecemos y lo que somos. Pensamiento de académicos y lógica institucional ante las políticas públicas para la formación disciplinar de profesores en México: Universidad de Sonora, 1980-2004 [What we seem and what we are. Academics’ thoughts and institutional logic towards public policies for the disciplinary development of professors in Mexico] (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Ciudad de México.

Galaz Fontes, J. (2002). Job satisfaction of Mexican faculty in a public state university: Institutional reality through the lens of the professoriate (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Claremont Graduate University, USA.

Galaz Fontes, J., & Gil Antón, M. (2009). La profesión académica en México: un oficio en proceso de reconfiguración [The academic profession in Mexico: A job in process of reconfiguration]. Revista Electrónica de Investigación Educativa, 11(2), 1-30.

Gil Antón, M. (1994). Los rasgos de la diversidad, un estudio sobre los académicos mexicanos [Diversity characteristics, a study of Mexican academics]. México, MX: UAM-Azcapotzalco.

Gil Antón, M. (2000). Los académicos en los noventa: ¿actores, sujetos, espectadores o rehenes? [The academics in the 90’s: Actors, subjects, spectators, or hostages?] Revista Electrónica de Investigación Educativa, 2(1). Retrieved from http://redie.uabc.mx/vol2no1/contenido-gil.html

Grediaga, K. (2001). Retos y condiciones de desarrollo: la profesión académica en México en la última década [Challenges and conditions for development: The academic profession in Mexico during the last decade]. Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa, 6(11), 95-117.

Hatch, M. (1993). The dynamics of organizational culture. Academy of Management Review, 18(4), 657-693.

Layzell, D. (1999). Higher education’s changing environment: Faculty productivity and the reward structure. In W. G. Tierney (Ed.), Faculty productivity: Facts, fictions, and issues (pp. 3-37). New York, NY: Falmer.

Martin, J., & Meyerson, D. (1988). Organizational cultures and the denial, channeling, and acknowledgement of ambiguity. In L. Pondy, R. Boland, & H. Thomas (Eds.), Managing ambiguity and change (pp. 93-125). New York, NY: Wiley.

Meek, V. L., & Davies, D. (2009). Policy dynamics in higher education and research: Concepts and observations. In L. Meek, U. Teichler, & M. Kearney (Eds.), Higher education research and innovation (pp. 41-82). Paris, FR: UNESCO.

Montero, V. (2011). The construction of professional identity pathways of the participation of full time faculty members in university restructuring in Mexico (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of California, Riverside, USA.

O’Reilly, C. A., & Chatman, J. A. (1996). Culture as social control: Corporations, cults, and commitment. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (pp. 157-200). Connecticut, USA: JAI Press.

Padilla, L. (2003). Faculty academic socialization: Strengthening the academic profession in Mexico. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Claremont Graduate University, USA.

Parra, M. (2002). La profesión académica: perspectivas comparadas [The academic profession: Compared perspectives] (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). CENDES, Caracas, Venezuela.

Pratt, M., Margaritis, D., & Coy, D. (1999). Developing a research culture in a university faculty. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 21(1), 43-55.

Quinn, R. E., & Rohrbaugh, J. (1983). A spatial model of effectiveness criteria: Towards a competing values approach to organizational analysis. Management Science, 29(3), 363-377.

Ramírez-Romero, J. L. (Ed). (2007). Las investigaciones sobre la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras en México [Research in foreign language teaching and learning in Mexico]. Ciudad de México, MX: Plaza y Valdés.

Ramírez-Romero, J. L. (Ed). (2010). Las investigaciones sobre la enseñanza de las lenguas extranjeras en México: una segunda mirada. [Research in foreign language teaching in Mexico: A second glance]. Ciudad de México, MX: Cengage Learning.

Ramírez-Romero, J. L. (Ed). (2013). Una década de búsqueda: las investigaciones sobre la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras en México (2000-2011) [A decade of searching: Research in foreign language teaching and learning in Mexico]. Ciudad de México, MX: Pearson, UNAM, & Universidad de Colima.

Rhoades, G. (2000). The changing role of faculty. In J. Losco & B. Fife (Eds.), Higher education in transition: The challenges of the new millennium (pp. 29-50). Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.

Salazar-Clemeña, R. M., & Almonte-Acosta S. A. (2007). Developing research culture in Philippine higher education institutions: Perspectives of university faculty. Paper presented at the Regional Seminar “Competition, Cooperation, and Change in the Academic Profession: Shaping Higher Education’s Contribution to Knowledge and Research,” Hangzhou, China. Paris, FR: UNESCO Forum. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001578/157869e.pdf

Schein, E. H. (1984). Coming to a new awareness of organizational culture. Sloan Management Review, 25, 3-16.

Schein, E. H. (1985). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

Schein, E. H. (1991). What is culture? In P. Frost, L. Morre, M. Louis, C. Lundberg, & J. Martin (Eds.), Reframing organizational culture (pp. 243-253). San Francisco, CA: Sage.

Schein, E. H. (1996). Culture: The missing concept in organizational studies. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41(2), 229-240.

Schuster, J. H., & Finkelstein, M. J. (2006). The American faculty: The restructuring of academic work and careers. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University.

Universidad de Quintana Roo. (2013). Plan estratégico de desarrollo institucional (2013-2016) [Plan of Institutional Development, 2013-2016]. Quintana Roo, MX: Author.

Dimensions

PlumX

Article abstract page views

1730

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

How to Cite

Hernández Méndez, E., & Reyes Cruz, M. del R. (2014). Research Culture in Higher Education: The Case of a Foreign Language Department in Mexico. Profile: Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 16(2), 135-150. https://doi.org/10.15446/profile.v16n2.40819