Modelo Analítico de Processo Estratégico: Aplicação no Episódio de Criação da Escola de Artes, Comunicação e Humanidades (EACH) da USP

The aim of the paper is to understand the strategic process of creating a new unit in a public university, through an analytical model developed by the author. The study is based on the strategic management of university organizations, focusing on the process of strategies formation in this kind of organization. This is a case study that focused on the analysis of the creation and implementation event of the School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities (EACH) at the University of São Paulo (USP), from its Strategic Institutional Project, during the period going from 2002 to 2009. Data were collected from the following sources: organizational data, non-participating observations and interviews based on narratives with fifteen managers and professors. The analysis shows that the strategy was developed from an initial intention – access expansion while maintaining USP quality – from which actions were triggered by managers involving officers from various USP’s units, which was a successful way to manage culture and to promote the dissemination of meaning of the new strategy in the university. Among the key findings, we can quote the importance of the managers’ role in conducting the intended strategy, featuring a kind of political and symbolic leadership