ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE OF HARBIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
Authors: Zehua Zhang ,   Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Trapitsyn S. Yu. ,   Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia
Published: July 2024

Introduction. The article presents the results of a study of current problems faced by Chinese universities in modern conditions. The article focuses on the organizational culture of the university, which, according to the authors, is an important element of its management. The following describes the characteristics of the cultural, social, and economic environments that shape the organizational culture of one of the top universities in China, Harbin Institute of Technology. This Institute is a member of the C9 League, which unites the top universities in the PRC and receives special consideration and funding from the national government. China is a politically, culturally, and geographically diversified nation that has had steady economic growth over the past four decades. At the same time, the majority of Chinese orga-nizations, including educational ones, face problems related to the conservatism of manage¬ment models and their inconsistency with modern requirements, which limits the development of innovation and slows down its pace. This situation is largely explained by the fact that Chinese society is strongly influenced by traditional Confucian values, which differ signifi¬cantly from the norms accepted in the West. These dominant values in the Chinese education system set the framework for possible behavior patterns of university leaders, restraining the development and implementation of management policies that ensure the flexibility and adaptability of Chinese universities, consequently limiting the ability to effectively address the emerging threats and challenges of our time. Materials and methods. The methodological basis of the study is the understanding of orga-nizational culture as an important tool for effective management practices. The study is based on a comparative analysis of concepts and models of business thinking, which allows us to establish trends in the mutual influence of Western and Eastern man¬agement ideologies and to discover their similarities and differences. At the same time, the emphasis is not so much on a critical analysis of theories, but on studying ways to integrate Chinese and Western management cultures based on the principle of complementarity, which ultimately leads to eliminating problems in the management practice of Chinese universities. The purpose of the study was to attempt, using the example of Harbin Institute of Technology, to analyze the influence of Chinese organizational culture on the management process of higher educational institutions in the PRC. The hypothesis of the study was the assumption that a modern educational organization in a democratic society cannot have an authoritarian-mechanistic organizational climate. Therefore, management innovations must be introduced to supplement China’s traditional cultural values. The study is based on methods of applied sociology and includes an assessment of the attitudes of the employees of Harbin Institute of Technology to such organizational values as: obedience, organizational identity, development and professional growth, organizational climate, motivation, leadership, adaptability, and decision making. In this case, the decisions of the university management were considered as a dependent variable, and organizational culture as an independent variable. The research design aims to obtain data to test the initial hypothesis and is descriptive in nature. Research results. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that it is the first attempt to assess the impact of the characteristics of Chinese organizational culture on educational manage¬ment. Harbin Institute of Technology, on the basis of which the study was conducted, has a rigid hierarchical organizational culture of an autarkic type, which hinders innovative development, demotivates employees, does not develop responsibility for ineffective manage¬ment, and complicates the promotion of Harbin Institute of Technology in world university rankings. The main attention of employees is focused on compliance with established rules and procedures, and management is intolerant of criticism, does not correspond to the strategic priorities of the country’s development and requires changes, the main of which should be the involvement of all employees in the management of the university, recognizing them as the main intangible asset. The research findings allow us to conclude that maintaining the existing organizational culture of Harbin Institute of Technology will eventually cause current issues to worsen and become more pronounced. Conclusions. The study findings prove that the organizational culture of Harbin Institute of Technology has a significant impact on the choice of management model by the university administration, preferred management strategies and tactics, and leadership style. The char-acteristic of the organizational culture of Harbin Institute of Technology, which determine the behavior patterns of management and the employees, are, on the one hand, the strong influence of traditional Confucian values, the priority of established rules and procedures, intolerance to criticism, and on the other hand, collectivism, mutual respect, tolerance, and the desire for social harmony, willingness to take responsibility, the need to show initiative and creativity. Diagnostics of the organizational culture of Harbin Institute of Technology showed that it is deficient in meeting modern requirements, lacking in motivation, and failing to reflect the needs of the employees for self-fulfillment and psychological comfort. According to the management and staff of the university, a significant part of the problems existing at the university is due to the contradictory cultural models, while most of them believe that it is not the one-sided cultivation of the traditional or Western model that is promising, but their reasonable combination. Thus, the urgent objective of the university management is to update the organizational culture, transition to a new, more democratic management model, which will require the use of innovative management technologies.