Operationalization of the concept of “university management effectiveness”

Introduction. This article operationalizes the concept of “university management effectiveness”. The relevance of the research has both theoretical and applied character. The theoretical aspect of the research is manifested in the absence of a methodologically grounded notion of university management effectiveness. The practical aspect consists in the presence of sustainable but theoretically unsubstantiated practices of applying the category of “efficiency” in university management. Consequently, there is an unrealized demand for the solution of the posed problem in the society. The purpose of the study is defined as the development of a theoretical model of the concept of “effective university management”. Methods. The methodological basis of the study is the theory of public managerialism. The choice of this methodology is justified by the fact that the modern model of higher education management in Russia is entirely built on managerialist principles. In this regard, the category of operationalization can be performed only in reliance on the substantive properties of the managerialist theory. Managerialism acts as an explanatory tool of how the mechanism of quantitative indicators functions in the management practices of higher education. In addition, the process of analyzing the declared concept – “university management efficiency” – is carried out using the operationalist approach developed by P. Lazarsfeld. Results. “Effective university management” is the achievement of the goals of an educational organization, ensured by a sufficient amount and optimal consumption of the used resources, and confirmed by the academic community that the achieved results are meaningful for the society. The obtained definition is derived from the consistent operationalization of the following categories: “management effectiveness”, “university”, “types of universities”, “university goals”, “resources for achieving goals”, “subjectivity of the academic community”.