Abstract
Organizations including universities are operating in an increasingly volatile environment and they are in a state of constant change. To survive and thrive in this ever‐changing environment, building the capacity to adapt is essential. The basic purpose of this research was to identify and propose basic dimensions that help to envisage the adaptive capacity of public universities. To study universities as complex adaptive systems, complexity theory and pragmatism were used complimentarily. In doing so, mixed research design (in particular, the sequential explanatory approach) was employed. Data were collected using questionnaire and interview from three sample universities’ academic staff, support staff and leaders. Meanwhile, the capacity of universities for institutional change was measured by employing composite indicators methodology supported by PLS‐PM analysis. Based on the conceptual model, the adaptive capacity of universities to change initiatives was found to be low, which limits their success in realising their visions through change. Consequently, the identified gaps and challenges in the studied universities strengthen the argument for the need to systematically assess universities’ adaptive capacity using a model and make appropriate intervention before struggling to introduce any change initiative.
ረቂቅ
ዩኒቨርሲቲዎችን ጨምሮ ሁሉም ድርጅቶች ወይም ተቋማት ፈጣንና ተላዋዋጭ በሆነ ተከታታይ ለውጥ ውስጥ ይገኛሉ፡፡ ለውጦችን ተቋቁሞ በስኬት ለመቀጠል የድርጅቶች የለውጥ አቅም አስፈላጊ ነው፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ዋና ዓላማ ዩኒቨርሲቲዎች ለውጥን ለመተግበር የሚያስችላቸውን ዓቅም ጠቋሚ መስፈርቶችን መለየትና መጠቆም ነው፡፡ ጥናቱ ዩኒቨርሲተዎችን እንደ ውስብስብ ተለማማጅ ስርዓት በመበየን የውስበስብነትና የተግባራዊ እውነታ ቲዮሪን ተጠቅሟል፡፡ በዚህም ድብልቅ ተከታታይ ማብራሪዊ የጥናት ዘዴን በመጠቀም ከናሙና ዩኒቨርሲቲዎች መምህራን፣ የድጋፍ ሰጭ ሰራተኞችንና መሪዋች መረጃዎች በፅሁፍና በቃለ መጠይቅ ተሰብስቧል፡፡ የዩኒቨርሲቲዎች የለውጥ አቅም በተውጣጡ ጠቋሚዎች በመለካት በፒ ኤል ኤስ ፒ ኤም በተሰኘ የመተንተኛ መንገድ ተፈትሸዋል፡፡ በዚህ ጠቋሚ ንድፍ መሰረት የዩኒቨርሲቲዎች የለውጥ አቅም ዝቅተኛ ነው፡፡ ይህም ዩኒቨርሲቲዎች ለውጦችን በመተግበር የሚያገኙትን ተቋማዊ ስኬት የሚገድብ ነው፡፡ በመሆኑም በጥናቱ የተለዩት ክፍተቶችና የለውጥ ተግዳሮቶች የዩኒቨርሲቲዎችን የለውጥ ዓቅም በተደራጀ ንድፍ መፈተሽ፣ መገምገምና እርምጃ መውሰድ እንደሚገባ የሚያረጋግጥ ነው፡፡ ከዚህ በተጨማሪም የትኛውንም ዓይነት ለውጥ ለመተግበር ከመሞከር በፊት የተቋሞችን የለውጥ አቅም በቀረበው ንድፍ መፈተሽ የለውጥ ሐሳቦችን ለማሳካት ጠቃሚ ነው ፡፡