Page 54 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.73, # 1, 2016, pp. 52-63

Therefore, we offer a comprehensive range of international and intercultural
educational opportunities for University faculty, staff, and students alike” (Global
Penn State, 2016).
The international program offices (or coordinators) functioning within each
college manage similar activities independently from the UOGP. For instance, an
associate dean for international programs at Smeal College of Business oversees
global opportunities to internationalize the education for Smeal students. ―This
encompasses managing existing and creating new international business courses,
study abroad programs, international internships, and other occasions to
internationalize the curriculum‖ (Smeal College of Business, 2016). In this case,
referring to ―…(2) occasions when any one of several means will produce the same
end;…(7) actual causal independence;…(10) decentralization;…‖ (Weick, 1976, p.
5), we may argue that these offices are loosely coupled with UOGP.
The arguments systemized by Weick (1976) as ―Potential Functions and
Dysfunctions of Loose Coupling‖ (p. 6) allows us to provide more detailed
explanation on this loosely coupled system. The first function based on less
probability of organization’s respond to each little change in the environment is
completely applicable in our case. So, any changes in administrative staff of
International Programs in the College of Education will have almost no influence on
UOGP and Penn State‘s global affairs in general. In other words, being a loosely
coupled system, Penn State‘s administration mechanism in global affairs is very
stable and less sensitive to little changes that occur within colleges.
Weick‘s (1976) third function focuses on ―localized adaptation‖ and eligibility
to ―modify a local unique contingency without affecting the whole system‖ (pp. 6-7)
in a loosely coupled system. Additionally, such adaptations are supposed to be
efficient and substantial. Application of this function shows that the international
programs offices within colleges or colleges themselves are very flexible in terms of
easily adjusting to local environment. For instance, the new strategic plan approved
by the College of the Liberal Arts includes a special Global experience section, and
this quote from that plan introduces the priorities of the particular College.
“In the next five years, we seek to increase participation in study abroad to
700 students per year, and to secure participation in either internship abroad or
study abroad experiences by at least three-quarters of our 2000 graduates. To do
this we are increasing financial support for global experiences...We are also
planning to hire a coordinator of global experiences in the Career Enrichment
Network who will facilitate global experiences for our undergraduates both on
campus and abroad” (College of the Liberal Arts, 2016).

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