A participação docente na gestão de uma Instituição de Ensino Superior e sua relação com o comprometimento institucional

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to verify how professors of a private higher education institution perceived their participation in the University Counsel (CONSU) and how they saw the relationship of this participation to their institutional commitment. The specific objectives of this research were: a) to identify the types of decisions made in the CONSU; b) to identify the participation forms of the professors in the CONSU; and c) to verify if the professors´ participation in the CONSU affected their institutional commitment during the period 2005-2006. The choice of the CONSU as object of this study was due to the understanding that it is the responsible for the superior decision making process within the university institution. Nine members of CONSU participated in the research, being seven of them course coordinators and two professors elected by their peers. For the development of the study we chose the case study with a qualitative approach. As instruments of data collection were chosen a semi-structured interview guide and a document analysis of both the meetings minutes realized in 2005 and 2006 and the institutional bylaws and statutes. The data collection was done directly by the researcher and the data were analyzed according to the procedures of analyzes of qualitative data. Among the main results which were found, due to the existence of a superior counsel in the institution, stands out a management based on the collegiate model. Through her bylaws and statutes, she delegates decision making power to the participants of her superior administrative counsel. The information from the meetings minutes and the speeches from the interviews revealed that, in practice, only academic and pedagogical issues were decided by this board and it lacked decision making power on the financial management of the institution. In spite of not deciding on financial issues, all members of CONSU perceived as important the academic decisions they made, since they had effective reflection in the courses quality of the institution. The academicians who were members of the Superior Counsel manifested an affective commitment as support basis of their participation in the management of the institution. In their perception, to be part of this deliberative board made them feel more engaged with the institution. Participation in management led the academicians to a greater commitment to the institution and to the perception that participation in CONSU means the attribution of trust, opportunity and recognition as consequence of the work developed, leading to satisfaction and motivation in the work environment.