HYBRID ORGANIZATIONS AND THE UNIVERSITY: INSTITUTIONAL LOGICS, PUBLIC SPHERE AND PRACTICE

Abstract

The article conceptualizes the university as a hybrid organization that simultaneously operates in four fields of rationality – scientific, economic, public service and civil – and coordinates them through the demarcation of strategic and operational contours. The focus is on the mechanisms of harmonization of institutional logics under the conditions of networked publicity, growing accountability and the need for rapid adaptation. The theoretical basis is a combination of approaches of institutional logics, actor­network analysis and open systems theories, which allows to describe the nonlinear nature of organizational changes and the role of “weak signals” in the restructuring of practices. On this basis, the “Two contours – four fields” model is proposed, in which the strategic contour defines the mission, long­term goals, principles of coexistence of logics and rules of transparency, and the operational contour is responsible for daily processes, tools and two­circuit metrics. The model works through three interconnected mechanisms: regulatory coordination (transparency codes, ethical triggers, conflict management protocols), learning loops (public reviews, social audits, internal policy reviews) and selective coupling (targeted inter­logical connections for specific tasks). It is shown that semi­permeable boundaries between fields support productive tensions, prevent the dominance of one logic and promote innovation without loss of academic quality. The practical value lies in introducing an “integral impact passport” for each initiative that synchronizes scientific results, economic feasibility, public service and civic utility; as well as in developing interfaces between fields (joint councils, open budgets, decision repositories) that transform the public sphere into an operational decision­making loop. The proposed framework reduces the transaction costs of conflicts of logics, strengthens trust, accelerates organizational learning and ensures the sustainability of the university in polycentric ecosystems, preserving its identity as a place of knowledge production and an agent of social change.