SELF-EVALUATION OF RESEARCH AND ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE IN THE UNIVERSEDAD CENTRAL DE VENEZUELA: THE CASE OF INSTITUTE OF EDAPHOLOGY

摘要

In 1995 the project "Self-evaluation for the improvement of research in the Institute of Edaphology" (AMI/UCV-Edaphology), was initiated with the aim of determining the conceptual and axiological framework which has oriented the research of the Institute during the last ten years, to establish the productivity and quality of research in that period, and to estimate its social pertinence. Also, an attempt was made to validate institutional self-regulation procedures and to verify if, with the development of this project, it would be possible to motivate the research community to participate in self-evaluation processes in their respective research institutes. In this paper, diverse components are analysed, both formal and informal, conscious and unconscious, of the organisational culture of the UC V, such as the lack of a shared vision as to the mission of the organisation, the lack of administrative continuity, the existence of pressure groups with their own interests and the belief that consider it impossible to produce a minimun organisational change. All of them interfere with the second part of the process. The Institute of Edaphology successfully completed the first cycle of the self-evaluation process, which included the Institute's self-evaluation report, the visit and external peers report and the design of the 1997-2000 plan of action. However, it was impossible to continue with the second cycle. Also, the negative influence of cultural factors did not allow the development of new projects of self-evaluation in other research institutes. In conclusion, it is stressed that organisational culture is the primary source of resistance to change, and it should be evaluated in order to determine strategies to modify cultural patterns, as a condition for the UCV to reach its strategic goals.