Abstract

SILAS CASILLAS, Juan Carlos. Contributions of autopoiesis theory to the organizational analysis on higher education institutions. Perfiles educativos [online]. 2006, vol.28, n.114, pp.90-130. ISSN 0185-2698.

This article offers notions which make easier to understand how the autopoiesis theory can be helpful to analyze academic departments and the way in which those are involved in processes of structural coupling with their environment. It also shows how those coupling processes are related to the prestige the institutions have for the outside world. Its two purposes are: a) to acquaint the reader to basic concepts of the autopoiesis theory and its use in the organizational analysis of educational institutions; and b) to highlight the implementation of the structural coupling concept, an essential element in the social application of this theoretical approach, by means of a case study about six academic departments which are part of a private higher education institution with several campus and its main offices in the Northwest of Mexico. The results shown by this analysis offer satisfactory elements for both purposes, since they prove a clear relation between the autopoietic concepts and the organizational analysis in educational institutions.

Keywords : Higher education; Higher education institutions; Organizational analysis; Autopoiesis; Theory; Mexico; Academic departments.