University directive management from the complexity paradigm: another look and new proposals

This article derives from an inter-institutional research project whose main objective was to recognize the principles of the complexity paradigm in management practices of current university presidents. This work was developed through a qualitative methodological approach, since it is a study aimed at revealing issues related to the identification of management practices of presidents, the characterization of the principles that are implicit in these practices and the emergence of possible management styles in the light of the complexity paradigm, as contextual issues of university reality in two higher education institutions located in Antioquia, Colombia. Among the most representative conclusions, it was found that the principles of uncertainty, self-regulation, autonomy/dependence and resourcefulness are the most recurrent in the works of current university presidents. These represent, for the management of the institutions studied, an opportunity to rethink creatively the ways in which teaching, research and extension projects, programs and plans are being consolidated, so that other ways of managing knowledge can be valued, and with it manage knowledge and learning communities that have been established within their organizational daily life.