Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Organizational culture, values, and routines in Iranian medical schools

  • Published:
Higher Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In Iran, restructuring of medical education and the health care delivery system in 1985 resulted in a rapid shift from elite to mass education, ultimately leading to an increase in the number of medical schools, faculties, and programs and as well as some complications. This study aimed to investigate views on academic culture, values, and routines held by faculty members. A nation-wide survey conducted in six public medical schools in Iran. The research findings show weak organizational culture and values, together with routine behaviors sensed as a negative and low satisfaction with academic leadership. The research evidence suggests bureaucracy, politicization, conservativeness, and centralization as common features of medical schools in Iran and also suggests suitable supervisory skills to tackle the tension between governmental management and academic leadership with cultural changes, the creation of new values, and adoption more efficient routines.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahmady, S., Changiz, T., Masiello, I., & Brommels, M. (2007). Organizational role stress among medical school faculty members in Iran: Dealing with role conflict. BMC Medical Education. doi:10.1186/1472-6920-7-14.

  • Asadi-Lari, M., Sayyari, A. A., Akbari, M. E., & Gary, D. (2004). Public health improvement in Iran- lessons from the last 20 years. Public Health, 118(6), 395–402. doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2004.05.011.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azizi, F. (1985). The rise in admission of medical students. Journal of Faculty of Medicine, 9, 63–64. Persian.

    Google Scholar 

  • Azizi, F. (1997). The reform of medical education in Iran. Medical Education, 31, 159–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berquist, W. H., & Bergquist, W. H. (1992). The four cultures of the academy: Insights and strategies for improving leadership in collegiate organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bikmoradi, A., Brommels, M., Shoghli, A., Sohrabi, Z., & Masiello, I. (2008). Requirements for effective academic leadership: A nominal group technique exercise in Iran. BMC Medical Education. doi:10.1186/1472-6920-8-24.

  • Birnbaum, R. (1988). How colleges work: The cybernetics of academic organization and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bland, C. J., Starnaman, S., Hembroff, L., Hembroff, P., Henry, R., & Richards, R. W. (1999). Leadership behaviors for successful university-community collaboration to change curricula. Academic Medicine, 74(11), 1227–1237. doi:10.1097/00001888-199911000-00018.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, B. R. (1983). The higher education system: Academic organization in cross-national perspective. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craigie, F. C. (1998). Weaving spirituality into organizational life: Suggestions for processes and programs. Health Progress (Saint Louis, Mo.), 79(2), 25–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craigie, F. C., & Hobbs, R. F. (2004). Exploring the organizational culture of exemplary community health center practices. Family Medicine, 36(10), 733–738.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dastmalchian, A., Javidan, M., & Alam, K. (2001). Effective leadership and culture in Iran: An empirical study. Applied Psychology, 50(4), 532–558. doi:10.1111/1464-0597.00072.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dill, D. D. (1982). The management of academic culture: Notes on the management of meaning and social integration. Higher Education, 11, 303–320. doi:10.1007/BF00155621.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dimaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48, 147–160. doi:10.2307/2095101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. S., & Pentland, B. T. (2003). Reconceptualizing organizational routines as a source of flexibility and change. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48, 94–118. doi:10.2307/3556620.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harman, G., & Harman, K. (2003). Institutional mergers in higher education: Lessons from international experience. Tertiary Education and Management, 9, 29–44. doi:10.1023/A:1022261409801.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henry, L. G., & Henry, J. D. (1999). Reclaiming soul in health care. Chicago: Health Forum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. B. (2003). The motivation to work. New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (1984). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (1996). Cultures and organizations, software of the mind: Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huczynski, A., & Buchanan, D. (2001). Organizational behaviour: : An introductory text. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchison, B., Abelson, J., & Lavis, J. (2001). Primary care in Canada: So much innovation, so little change. Health Affairs, 20(3), 116–131. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.20.3.116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Javidan, M., & Dastmalchian, A. (2003). Culture and leadership in Iran: The land of individual achievers, strong family ties, and powerful elite. Academy of Management Executive, 17(4), 127–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leaming, D. R. (2007). Academic leadership: A practical guide to chairing the department. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levitt, B., & March, J. G. (1998). Organizational learning. Annual Review of Sociology, 14, 319–340. doi:10.1146/annurev.so.14.080188.001535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marandi, A. (1996). Integrating medical education and health services: The Iranian experience. Medical Education, 30(1), 4–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marandi, A. (2001). The integration of medical education and health care system in the Islamic Republic of Iran: A historical overview. Indian Journal of Medical Education, 1, 8–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massen, P. A. M. (1996). The concept of culture and higher education. Tertiary Education and Management, 1(2), 153–159. doi:10.1007/BF02354009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Millet, J. (1962). The academic community: An essay on organization. New York: Mc Graw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohammadi, A., Mojtahedzadeh, R., & Motarjemi, R. (2003). Iranian medical schools: Introduction and educational ranking. Tehran: Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, R. R., & Winter, S. G. (1982). An evolutionary theory of economic change. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Reilly, C., Chatman, J., & Caldwell, D. (1991). People and organizational culture: A profile comparison approach to assessing person-organization fit. Academy of Management Journal, 34, 487–516. doi:10.2307/256404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramsden, P. (2000). Learning to lead in higher education. London and New York: Routledge and Taylor & Francis Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schein, E. H. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, T., Mannion, R., Davies, H., & Marshal, M. (2003). The qualitative measurement of organizational culture in health care: A review of the available instruments. HSR: Health Services Research, 38(3), 923–943. doi:10.1111/1475-6773.00154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sporn, B. (1996). Managing university culture: An analysis of the relationship between institutional culture and management approaches. Higher Education, 32, 41–61. doi:10.1007/BF00139217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strack, G. (2002). Spirituality and effective leadership in health care: Is there a connection? Frontiers of Health Services Management, 18(4), 3–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teichler, U. (1988). Changing patterns of the higher education system: The experience of three decades. London, Bristol, and Pennsylvania: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Välimaa, J. (1998). Culture and identity in higher education research. Higher Education, 36(2), 119–138. doi:10.1023/A:1003248918874.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walton, H. (2001). Global demands on medical education; the case of Iran. Indian Journal of Medical Education, 1(2), 14–17.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to all faculty members who participated in the survey, to the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education for funding, assistance and support, and to the Management Development and Administrative Reform Center. We also thank the National Public Health Management Center at Tabriz Medical University for financial and administrative support, and all of the people who provided the facilities necessary for preparation of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Medical Management Centre, Karolinska Institutet, Berzelius Vag 3, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden

    Ali Bikmoradi, Mats Brommels & Italo Masiello

  2. Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

    Ali Bikmoradi

  3. National Public Health Management Centre, Tabriz, Iran

    Ali Bikmoradi

  4. Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Mats Brommels

  5. Department of Social Medicine, Zanjan Medical University of Sciences, Zanjan, Iran

    Alireza Shoghli

  6. Division of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Davoud Khorasani Zavareh

Authors
  1. Ali Bikmoradi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mats Brommels
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alireza Shoghli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Davoud Khorasani Zavareh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Italo Masiello
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ali Bikmoradi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bikmoradi, A., Brommels, M., Shoghli, A. et al. Organizational culture, values, and routines in Iranian medical schools. High Educ 57, 417–427 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-008-9152-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-008-9152-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation