CORPORATE CULTURE AND LOCAL LEADERSHIP IN THE UNIVERSIDAD TÉCNICA DE COTOPAXI

Abstract

There are two ways of understanding the corporate culture: as a resource within marketing strategies, or as an expression of the way of being of an organization, which sets, not only the positioning of its image among stakeholders or public but also the generation of leaderships, through which the organization influences public policies in a locality or country. This research is situated in the second viewpoint. In other words, this investigation identifies the aspects characterizing the corporate culture of the Universidad Técnica de Cotopaxi and how they determine the generation of local leaderships. It also explores the bonds with the corporate culture in the university context. Moreover, it describes the most relevant aspects of it inside the institution and analyzes experiences in the leadership formation among teachers, employees, and workers. Besides, it uses a qualitative approach and the descriptive method, which consists of focus group techniques and in-depth interviews. The presence of counter-hegemonic discourses, obtained as an outcome, is marked by certain myths, characterized in three categories: the humanistic sense in its interrelations and practices, the exercise of criticism as a political identity, and the institutional unit as an attitude of self-defense.