Paradoxes in academic work and career building in hybrid universities

The project aims to identify, examine, and analyze paradoxes associated with academic work and careers that stem from tensions between conflicting logics, practices, and values characteristic of hybrid universities. The project surveys the experiences and perspectives of research and teaching staff regarding the operational environments within various disciplines at universities in Finland, Portugal, and the United States. Data collection involves conducting interviews and utilizing arts-based methods.

Current universities are often described as hybrid organizations, in the sense that they incorporate diverse logics, practices, and value systems into their operations at multiple levels. Hybridity thus refers to the simultaneous presence of these different logics within universities and, more concretely, within academic work and career systems. Organizational research on universities has shown that these two realities frequently clash. The coexistence of neoliberalism and professionalism can be described as a paradox. This project examines the tensions between these two logics through the lens of paradox. As a metatheory, paradox offers a useful perspective on the unique dynamics of the academic world.