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Este estudio realiza una caracterización de los directores de comunicación “dircom” o quien ejerce sus funciones en las universidades privadas de alta calidad en América Latina, con la pretensión de conocer el papel del profesional en las instituciones, su lugar en la estructura organizacional y aspectos relacionales con la institucionalización de su rol. La investigación se llevó a cabo con el uso de una encuesta de carácter cuantitativo aplicada al 67.3% de la muestra obtenida (n=137) de dircom de las universidades de alta calidad referidas en los sistemas de evaluación de calidad de los ministerios de educación o, para aquellos países que no cuentan con sistemas similares, a través de los últimos listados emitidos por rankings específicos de índole regional e internacional. De acuerdo con los resultados, el rol del profesional no está institucionalizado en las instituciones, aún sigue siendo una figura más operativa que decisoria, dependiendo su nivel de estudios y años de experiencia tiene más posibilidades de legitimar su rol y se evidencia una falta de estandarización de aspectos nominativos.
From a systemic approach and with the theory of the new institutionalism, this study characterizes the directors of communication "dircom" or those who exercise their functions in accredited and/or high-quality private universities in Latin America, with the aim of knowing the role of this professional in the institutions, their place in the organizational structure, the aspects related to the institutionalization of their role and the identification of the main challenges they face to achieve legitimacy.
This deductive investigation was carried out with the application of a quantitative questionnaire resolved by 67.3% (n=137) of the sample obtained, taking into account the availability and web accessibility of the contact details of the dircom of private and/or high-quality universities referenced in the different quality assessment systems of the education ministries of each country and, for those countries that do not have similar systems, through the latest lists issued by specific rankings of a nature regional and international.
The study and empirical research on the dircom make sense, due to the potential that this professional has in generating meaning, due to the impact of managing their relationships with the different institutional publics and due to their degree of power and influence in the decision-making bodies of the organization. The relevance of this work is also based on the literature review of this research, since the results show the need for empirical studies on professionals who lead communication processes in Higher Education Institutions in Latin America to learn about their professional development and their realities.
According to the results obtained, the dircom role is not institutionalized in the universities, since it is still a more operational figure than a decision-maker and, depending on their level of studies and years of experience in the area, they have more possibilities of achieving legitimacy. In addition to the classic communication processes, professionals are also increasingly in charge of other areas such as event organization, public relations and marketing.
Although there is a hierarchical recognition of the dircom in the HEIs, given by occupying management, leadership or communication direction positions, there is also a lack of standardization of nominative aspects of the role of the professional in the different institutions, finding substantial differences in countries such as Brazil and Mexico.
The limitations of the study were mainly due to the lack of access, availability and updating of the dircom contact details on the websites of the University of the study, for this reason, of approximately 400 universities referred as accredited or high quality in Latin America, 202 data were obtained for the sample.
This study does not generalize the characterization processes of the dircom in all HEIs in Latin America due to the diversity in the type of existing Universities (public, private, mixed), since they have differences in their forms of management, their decision-making possibilities in budgetary issues, their hierarchical structures, among others. It is also identified that professionals who manage communications in institutions must promote or improve their associative processes to contribute to the standardization of their role and hierarchical place, as well as the promotion of studies that help to better understand their role.
