Research questions, research material and the structure of the research

The change in management discourse and the process of trust development in the case of a merger between two university organisations is investigated in this longitudinal study. The following research question is posed:

l How does management change unfold and how does trust develop in the transforming university organisation?

The empirically oriented sub-question is:

l How does the trust development process unfold in the management discourses in the rector’s speeches in the context of the merger?

In this study, I use the rector’s annual university opening ceremony speeches during 1998-2014 as primary research material in order to find answers to the research question. The rector is a senior manager at a university and represents the organisational management. In this study communication, particularly the use of language, in both speeches and written texts, is considered one of the main tools used by managers to implement change. (demers 2007, 193)

The primary empirical data also consist of an interview with the rector. The interview was made on November 2014, as the rector was ending his rectorship by the end of 2014. The interview provides a retrospective view of the research period. The empirical data covers the period when one actor carried out the task of rector in a changing university organisation.

The secondary data consists of written documents, history, plans and reports concerning the case organisation and university reform in Finland.

In Figure 2 the overall structure, research setting and approach, aim, and research question of this study are presented.

My study consists of eight chapters. In the first chapter the research context, and objectives of the stud are introduced, as well as the theoretical, methodologi-cal and conceptual premises. At the end of Chapter 1, the research questions, re-search material and key contribution are presented.

In Chapter 2 titled ‘Management Change and Organisational Transformation’

I present the theoretical premises of the study. I discuss management change in the Finnish university context and in relation to the international development of universities. Further, I present theoretical types of logic for university manage-ment, which forms the basis for the categories in the empirical analysis. I discuss strategy and managerial leadership in Chapter 2. At the end of Chapter 2, I dis-cuss theoretical organisational transformation with a merger as the situation of the organisational change and presenting a structuration theory perspective of organisational change.

The third chapter presents the theoretical premises concerning the trust development process. I define the concept of trust and trust at organisational level. I discuss organisational trustworthiness and the impact of trust in an organisation. Further, I define organisational trust in the context of this study in Chapter 3.

In the methodology in Chapter 4, I present the context of this research as a qualitative case study. I also discuss the methodological premises including the critical discourse analysis and the process view approach. I further present the case organisation in the context of a major period of university reform in Finland.

Additionally, I discuss the process view of trust development in detail by combin-ing two trust models. At the end of Chapter 4 I discuss the data and the analysis of the data in the case study.

In Chapter 5 titled ‘Analysis of Management Change discourses in a Transforming University Organisation’ I identify and present four management discourses: bureaucracy, professionalism, democracy and managerialism. I an-swer the research question: ‘How does management change unfold?’ and the empirical oriented sub-question: ‘How does the trust development process un-fold within management discourses in the rector’s speeches in the context of a merger?’

In Chapter 6 I answer the research question: ‘How does trust develop in the transforming university organisation?’ and I discuss strategy and reasons for the merger. I present the trust development process between two universities apply-ing two trust models. Lastly in Chapter 6 I discuss the rector’s role as a manager in the trust development process.

Chapter 7 consists of a discussion of the research. I also present the trust management model as a result of this empirical study. Furthermore, I summarise the findings of the management change discourse and trust development process which are discussed in this study. The trust development process entails continu-ity – it has to be worked upon continuously.

In Chapter 8 I present the summary, the contribution and implications of the study. I discuss the limitations and evaluation of the study and end with some concluding remarks.

In Figure 2, I illustrate the three levels of analysis consisting of the micro-level (texts), organisational (meso) micro-level and macro-micro-level. In this study, as I apply CdA it enables me to expose how management discourse is related to external

change forces at a macro-level, reflected in the organisational level management discourse. Through an integrated analysis at different levels, it is possible to elu-cidate how the management discourses change over the course of time but still remain alive. I am able to describe the concrete managerial activity behind the merger process and trust development in the case university organisation.

Figure 2: Structure of the study

MACRO LEVEL

Emergence, hegemony, re-contextualisation, operationalization

Trust development process within management Change discourses and inter-organisational level relationships between two universities Strategy discourse

Re-contextualisation of university organisation; Positioning

MICRO LEVEL

To describe management change and trust development process in a transforming university organisation

Chapter 1