The Rosarista Identity
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Universidad del Rosario The Rosarista Identity. An Appraisal Towards the knowledge Society (1890 -1991) Trabajo de Grado Isabella Loaiza Saa Bogotá D.C. 2015 Universidad del Rosario The Rosarista Identity. An Appraisal Towards the knowledge Society (1890 -1991) Trabajo de Grado Isabella Loaiza Saa Tutor: Carlos Eduardo Maldonado Administración de Empresas Bogotá D.C. 2015 If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. Henry David Thoreau Table of Contents GLOSSARY --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 INTRODUCTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 CHAPTER 1: Organizational identity ------------------------------------------------------------------ 7 A dynamic perspective on Organizational Identity ------------------------------------------------ 9 Identity Construction Process ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 How Organizational Identity Differs From Related Concepts --------------------------------- 11 CHAPTER 2: The Rosarista Identity ------------------------------------------------------------------ 14 Rosarista Identity Traits: Definitions ---------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Methodological and Documentation Issues --------------------------------------------------------- 19 The Institutional Magazine ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20 Analysis of the Rosarista Identity -------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 Tradition and Thomism (1890-1929) ---------------------------------------------------------------- 34 Stasis (1930-1983) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 63 Incipient Research (1984 – 1991) --------------------------------------------------------------------- 87 CHAPTER 3: The Knowledge Society ----------------------------------------------------------------- 90 The University in the knowledge society ------------------------------------------------------------ 96 The massification of higher education --------------------------------------------------------------- 96 Digital learning environment -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 98 The entrepreneurial University ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 98 Challenges for the University in the Knowledge Society ---------------------------------------- 99 CHAPTER 4: Colombia and the knowledge society ---------------------------------------------- 102 Education for the knowledge society --------------------------------------------------------------- 102 Colombian Universities in the knowledge society ----------------------------------------------- 102 REFERENCES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 105 Table of Figures Figure 1. Ties between the Rosarista identity traits.. .................................................................... 15 Figure 2. Magazine Classification Tree Each main category was assigned a number from 1 to 12 ....................................................................................................................................................... 22 Figure 3. Association between magazine categories and OI traits. .............................................. 23 Figure 4. Stages of the Rosarista identity (1890 - 2014). ............................................................. 33 Figure 5. Rosarista identity and National Context Interaction Cycle. .......................................... 36 Figure 6. The Rosarista Presidents (1890-1929). .......................................................................... 48 Figure 7. Selected members of the Academia Colombiana and their relationship to the Colegio (1890 - 1929)................................................................................................................................. 50 Figure 8. Percentage of Academic Inbreeding (1890-1929) ......................................................... 54 Figure 9. Content of Institutional Magazine (1890 - 1929) .......................................................... 57 Figure 10. Trends of institutional magazine content Stasis vs Tradition and Thomism. .............. 65 Figure 11. The Rosarista Presidents (1930 - 1983)....................................................................... 75 Figure 12. Selected political legacies at the Colegio Mayor (1930 - 1983) ................................. 78 Figure 13. Content of Institutional Magazine (1930 - 1983). ....................................................... 80 Figure 14. Date of admission of woman to selected Colombia Universities and other milestones ....................................................................................................................................................... 83 Figure 15. Diversification of degrees in national universities. ..................................................... 85 Figure 16. Evolution of several content categories of the institutional magazine (1905 - 1991) . 88 GLOSSARY Organizational identity (OI): A historical and continual construction of a set of beliefs and meanings, expectations, thoughts, values and collective memories the members of an organization share. This identity helps members provide answers to questions such as “who are we?”, “how are we different from similar organizations?” and “how are we alike?”. Thomism: Philosophical school of thought that follows the work and legacy of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who was a philosopher and theologian. One of his major works is the Summa Theologica, which depicts medieval theology at its best and is considered to be very influential to the Catholic Church. Rosarista identity: The organizational identity of the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario, known today as Universidad del Rosario. Academic Inbreeding: It refers to the recruitment practice where universities hire their own PhD students after graduation, who subsequently remain at the institution to work for their entire careers. This work will use an expanded definition of this concept which will be explained in latter pages. 3 Resumen El presente trabajo describe la identidad organizacional de una antigua Universidad Colombiana – Universidad del Rosario – desde 1890 hasta 1991. Esta descripción detallada se realizó con el propósito de hacer preguntas y señalar algunos de los desafíos que esta universidad se encontrará al educar las nuevas generaciones de la nación para la sociedad del conocimiento. Este documento también describe brevemente las características más importantes de la sociedad del conocimiento, así como las características de las universidades que desarrollan sus actividades en ella. También, se hace una síntesis sobre el estado de desarrollo de la sociedad del conocimiento en Colombia. Finalmente, se extraen algunas conclusiones a acerca de las oportunidades de cambio que tendrá la identidad Rosarista para continuar siendo relevante en el siglo XXI. Palabras Clave Identidad Organizacional, evolución organizacional, sociedad del conocimiento, Colombia, universidad Abstract The present work describes the organizational identity of a longstanding Colombian university – Universidad del Rosario –from the 1890’s until 1991. Such detailed description is performed with the aim to pose questions and point to the challenges that this university will face in educating the nation’s new generations for a developing knowledge society. The document also briefly outlines the main features of the knowledge society the characteristics of the universities in such society and Colombia´s current state towards it. Finally, some conclusions are drawn on the opportunities of change that the Rosarista identity will have to address in the 21st Century in order to maintain its relevance. Key Words Organizational identity, organizational evolution, knowledge society, Colombia, university 4 INTRODUCTION “The prime strategy of an organization is the maintenance of its cultural identity in terms of prevailing values. A virtuous circle from the collective experience of success through stabilized values to cohesion and efficiency sustains the continuity of culture. But if the alternatives allowed for by the culture are unsuited to new problems, then the virtuous circle becomes a vicious circle impeding change.” (Gagliardi, 1986, pg.117) In many cases, change is the answer to survival and in the best case; it is an opportunity to excel. We believe that given Colombia´s current circumstances -to which we will come back- the University of Rosario may find itself in the best of cases, only if change aims for core transformation. This is the case of the University of Rosario, a 360 year old Colombian university, who claims that its organizational identity, the Rosarista identity, is a fundamental pillar in its educational project and it is a source of value added when compared to peer institutions. The only problem is that the meaning of being Rosarista that has lasted over 360 years no longer exists in 2014. In spite of the University´s discourse and its efforts to impress upon its students such identity, there are, so far, no institutional documents issued by the university’s government from the past forty years that contain such definition