Systemic Approach in the Study of the Current State of Knowledge in the Field of University Management

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Theoretical background: Analyzing the current set of publications relating to the issues of university management, one can distinguish a set of works relating to, among others, the quality of management at universities, the issues of sustainable development of universities, adapting teaching and research to the needs of industrial enterprises, concepts of university quality management, communication barriers at an academic university, and issues of human resource management in higher education. Regardless of the area of research, the work draws attention to the lack of consistency in the concepts which are used to understand the specific field of university management, the rigorous conceptual framework deficiency and valuable contribution to theory development is limited. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to organize the current research results related to the issues of university management. The work uses the integration of the concept of systematic literature review with a tool supporting systemic thinking, i.e. System Operator. The paper points to the benefits resulting from the use of a tool derived from the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) in shaping the image of the current state of knowledge, in a holistic approach. Research methods: The method of systematic literature review was used in the work. Research activities were divided into four stages, (1) determination of the purpose of the study, (2) selection of basic literature (n = 1,534), and selection of publications (n = 999) and development of a publication database, (3) biblimetric analysis, using content analysis and (4) development of a report using a tool supporting holistic thinking, i.e. System Operator. Main findings: As a result of the conducted research, six clusters relating to the issues of education and its evaluation (Cluster 1), management of human factors, including students, researchers and administrative staff (Cluster 2), shaping entrepreneurial attitudes, including knowledge and innovation management (Cluster 3), university management in the education system (Cluster 4), issues related to sustainable development and leadership policy (Cluster 5 and Cluster 6) were distinguished. As a result of content analysis, 16 thematic areas in general terms were distinguished in the scope of identifying research problems raised in the collection of the most frequently cited scientific publications. In the last one, as a result of the use of System Operator, the research problems raised in the analyzed set of publications were mapped in a comprehensive manner, i.e. determining the relations between individual elements of university management and university environment, as well as in terms of time, relating to the evaluation of past activities and strategies, research into current solutions, as well as works related to shaping the concept of future solutions in the field of university management.