audit process presentation msc515 mastin & avdjiev last

Northwestern Alumni Relations Innovation Case

Process Audit by Tatiana Avdjiev and Jay Mastin

Office of Alumni Relations

• Existing structure:

• Six teams reporting to Cathy Stembridge, Executive Director

• Each team has own hierarchy, programs and services

Office of Alumni Relations

• Existing structure:

• Six teams reporting to Cathy Stembridge, Executive Director

• Each team has own hierarchy, programs and services

• Proposed structure:

• Cross-functional team

• Change focus from separate traditional programing to one new program with a common goal

• Meet the needs of alumni with new/potential job loss and other stressful factors of the economy

Existing structure

Catherine StembridgeExecutive Director

Northwestern Alumni Association

Kate BleekerProgram Assistant II

Aspasia ApostolakisDirector

Career & Student Services

Kathleen QuinlanDirector

Operations & Strategy

Emily HigginsDepartment Assistant

OpenProgram Assistant I

Amanda Sloan Director

Matt Herek Assistant Director

Young Alumni

Katie Wesner Associate Director Student Services/

Programs Homecoming

Jenni GlickAssistant Director

Lauren Herpe Assistant Director

Jonathan Cummings Program Assistant II

NU Club of Chicago

Jay MastinSenior Director

Alumni Education & Travel

Lacy SchneiderAlumni EducationAssistant Director

A Day With NUAlumnae

Abby Jansen Travel

Associate Director

Whitney Smith Travel

Information Coordinator

Crystal Warren Education

Assistant DirectorAlumni Education Faculty Speakers

Susie Atkinson Director

Special Events

Elizabeth Kos Associate Director

Betsy Brown

Coordinator

Carolyn SparksDirector

Alumni Recognition and Events

Kevin LoleCoordinator

Jenny Sturrock Assistant Director

Claire Burke Program Assistant II

Existing structure

Proposed structure

Young Alumni

Programs Homecoming

NU Club of Chicago

Abby Jansen Travel

Associate Director

Special Events

Betsy Brown

Coordinaror

Turquoise shaded areas represent members of the Super Team

Proposed structure

Young Alumni

Programs Homecoming

NU Club of Chicago

Abby Jansen Travel

Associate Director

Special Events

Betsy Brown

Coordinaror

Young Alumni

Programs Homecoming

NU Club of Chicago

Turquoise shaded areas represent members of the Super Team

The New Super Team

• New cross-functional includes 13 of 24 staff members from six separate teams

• No organizational hierarchy

• Creates a “Vision Statement”

• Creates an innovative process

• Offers diverse perspective and ideas

Northwestern Explores - Work Well, Live Smart: The Economy, Your Career & Your Life

• In order to share the Vision Statement and program idea, need to engage:

• Alumni leaders and volunteers (actual customers) to “buy in” and support the idea for successful implementation

• Leaders (deans, administration, faculty and directors of development) from each of the schools within Northwestern University to support idea and confirm faculty and alumni speakers

• All the other teams within the Office of Alumni Relations and Development (OARD) for feedback and engagement of development process

• “Go to” speakers – all possible faculty and alumni speakers from each school at Northwestern

Theories & Concepts in the development process

• Cross-functional teams – combining members of existing teams into a Super Team that would address the economic crisis

• Interpretive barriers – avoid organizational barriers and overcome different thought worlds

• Architectural innovation – using existing components to create a new product/model of operation

Cross-functional teams

• Superordinate goals

• Rules and procedures

• Physical proximity and accessibility

• Cooperation—increased interaction and communication

Interpretive barriers

• Technology-market linking—overcome interpretive and organizational barriers

• Different “thought worlds” successfully brought together

Architectural innovation

• Seemingly small changes result in large effects

• Changes in organizational communication

Analysis of Communication in the Product Development

• Superordinate Goals were clear and contributed to positive outcome

• Flat hierarchy contributed to easy accessibility

• Members were in close proximity

• Effective Cross-functional cooperation

• Every member involved in drafting & owning Vision Statement

Strengths—Cross Functional Teams

• Procedures and rules undefined at beginning

• Each team had own set of norms and took time to adjust to new sets of “SuperTeam”

• This delayed the development and implementation process significantly

• However, the issue corrected itself and allowed divergent thoughts to be articulated in the process.

Weaknesses—Cross Functional Teams

• “Process-market linking” allowed new insights & old premises to be reconsidered

• Managers did not create organizational barriers of predictable behavior patterns

• Instead, they contributed to changing normal routines

• Different “thought worlds” of individual teams were easily overcome

Interpretive Barriers

Analysis of Structure of the Product Development

• Used existing resources in a new architecture

• Built new knowledge in team reconfiguration and interactions

• Created new communication channels

• Major weakness: takes time and resources to recognize what is useful and what is not

Architectural Innovation

Recommendations—Short Term

• Use the cross-functional team idea in future programs

• Keep the same flat hierarchy structure for member accessibility and active participation.

• Define Superordinate goals

• Set rules and procedures early in the process to avoid delays and confusion.

• Identify the type of innovative structure desired, by determining its components

Recommendations—Long Term

• Consider radical innovation in using this model in larger organizational structures and dimensions.

• Implement the same “no hierarchy” idea in a permanent team

• Use diversity in selecting team members

• Allow adequate amount of time for restructuring and adjustments to the process.

Future challenges to overcome

• Outside of the Alumni Relations office, this innovative process could be quite difficult or unattainable.

• The office is part of a very hierarchical institution—Northwestern University.

• This affects accessibility

• Goals outside the office may not be superordinate for all members of a cross-functional team without right leadership or mandate.

• Radical innovation difficult because of the office’s position within the university.

Process AuditNorthwestern Alumni Relations

Tatiana Avdjiev & Jay MastinMSC 515, Spring 2010Professor Paul LeonardiNorthwestern University

audit process presentation msc515 mastin & avdjiev last

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