Institutional Strategies for Cost-Effectiveness, Responsiveness & Innovation

Sandra Dowie, MA, MBAOffice of the Provost, U of Alberta

sandra.dowie@ualberta.ca

This presentation is a result of a recent planning process…

• Conducted at the U of Alberta in the past year.

• Involving broadly-based representation.

• Concerning how services and support will be provided to instructors.

• Related to teaching, learning, and the use of educational technologies.

This session describes the planning process we used to…

• Develop strategies to foster innovation

• Increase alignment of services & support staff

• Reduce redundancy

• Improve the quality of support & services

Subcommittee on Teaching, Learning & Technology Innovation & Leadership

• Established by the UofA Committee on the Learning Environment (CLE).

• Thirteen members representing central service units & faculties.

• Co-chaired by Paul Sorenson, Vice-Provost (IT) & Olive Yonge, Vice-Provost (Academic Programs).

• Met 15 times between Nov. 2005 & May, 2006.

Subcommittee on Teaching, Learning & Technology Innovation & Leadership• A number of documents were provided to

inform members and foster new ways of thinking.

• Written summaries framed issues & recommendations – involved many drafts!

• Developed a report that described an integrated-distributed system of services & support.

Let’s explore some of the organizational theory we considered during our meetings.

The approaches we used were derived from the following fields…

• Educational administration

• Organizational development

• Change management

In addition to years of experience working in higher education!

Organizational design involves:

• The allocation of responsibility to units.

• Supervisory and lateral relationships.

• Accountabilities for units.

• Key reporting and coordination processes.

What is the best way to organize support and services for teaching, learning, & the use of technology?

What is the best way to organize a restaurant?

The primary influence on the structure of units within an organization is its overall strategy.

Improving the organizational approach for support & services can be based on…• Tinkering with existing units -- incremental

change that may not result in improvements

• Seeking solutions elsewhere – the needle-in-the-haystack approach

• The leadership of a few individuals – disruptive; not necessarily constructive change

• Collaborative, PATIENT planning – potential for transformational change

“Most managers find organization design decisions difficult. They recognize that there are no right answers, & that much depends on complicated trade-offs between different possible groupings, processes, & relationships.”

Goold & Campbell (2002), p. 16

We considered organizational design principles related to:

• Specialization

• Coordination

• Maintaining strong links

Specialization Principle – the need for unit autonomy

• Staff build in-depth knowledge & skills associated with unit’s primary responsibilities.

• Unit boundaries should foster abilities, products, & services that are most closely aligned with organizational priorities.

• Every structure is a compromise.

• No unit can maximize all dimensions of a skill.

The Coordination Principle:

• The need to coordinate activities counterbalances the need for autonomy.

• Those tasks & initiatives that most need to be coordinated should fall within the boundaries of a unit.

• Unit boundaries can be used to sustain valuable cultures.

Units need to link with each other to:• Share resources.

• Coordinate joint activities.

• Develop integrated, seamless processes.

• Contribute to the collective development of knowledge and skills of staff.

• Build a shared understanding of needs, priorities, and future directions.

Difficult links exist when…

• Those involved do not perceive the benefits of a coordinated effort.

• There are hard to reconcile conflicts of interest.

• There is a culture of secrecy or mutual distrust.

• Managers do not have the necessary abilities & attitudes.

• Covert or overt incentives for acting independently.

To establish strong links among units…• Communicate the vision for collective

activities.

• Specify intended relationships & processes.

• Establish frameworks for shared activities.

• Build mechanisms for horizontally linking units (e.g. task forces, integrators, interdepartmental teams).

• Combine units if difficult links persist.

Realize that the goal of a bureaucracy is to maximize its budget.

Organizational design dilemmas…

Aggregate one or more units

Maintain disaggregated units

Specialization

Increases scope, but tends to limit depth of expertise within a unit.

Tends to develop deeper expertise for a narrower scope of activities.

Coordination Activities are most readily coordinated within a unit.

Coordinating activities among several units is more difficult.

Organizational design dilemmas…

Aggregate one or more units

Maintain disaggregated units

Culture Creates a shared culture that may override.

Each unit can develop a unique culture that is attuned to specific client needs.

Innovation & change

Larger, aggregated units tend to be less flexible & adaptable.

Networks of specialized units are often more adaptable & innovative due to their specialized expertise.

Organizational design dilemmas…

Aggregate one or more units

Maintain disaggregated units

Motivation Staff more readily develop a stronger sense of teamwork with those working within their unit.

Commitment is strengthened by self-management. Fosters an entrepreneurial culture.

Activity:

• Map an institution’s core support groups including: – Teaching support, information services,

computer & network services, distance education, e-learning services, etc.

• Consider several of the design questions.

UofA’s integrated distributed system of support & services

Tradeoffs between central vs. decentralized support for course redesign at the UofA:

Central service units

Faculty-based staff

Connection with clients

Need to develop relationships.

Easier to establish closer working relationships with faculty.

Culture Understanding of institutional goals & strategies.

Understanding of clients’ needs & context.

Responsive-ness

Can be problematic – needs to be closely managed.

Clients appreciate availability of local staff – capacity can be limited here too!

Tradeoffs between central vs. decentralized support for course redesign at the UofA:

Central service units

Faculty-based staff

Innovation May have greater depth of expertise of a field.

Often have broader range of expertise.

R&D activities can be more aligned with U priorities.

Can be highly experimental.

Benefit from frontline experience.

May have limited time & resources for R&D.

Need to network to develop skills.

Integrated-Distributed System of Support & Services

• Staff in central teaching & technology will concentrate on providing standardized services.

• Central units might offer professional development services to faculty-based staff.

• Faculty-based instructional design & technical staff will concentrate on providing customized support to instructors.

• Faculty-based staff are valued as an integral part of the support system.

Integrated-Distributed System of Support & Services

• The University is asked to place a priority on funding support staff positions.

• The Teaching, Learning, & Technology (TLAT) Council will provide policy, planning, & implementation recommendations to the Provost.

• Faculty-based TLAT committees will guide local activities & link to the TLAT Council.

• A Centre for Teaching & Learning (CTL) will promote innovation & collaboration.

The TLAT Council…

• Is composed of academic administrators designated by their Deans.

• Develops recommendations for the Provost re: teaching learning and the use of technology.

• Enhances the flow of communications among faculties & with central administration.

• Transmits approved policies to their faculties.

• Recommends priorities & initiatives for Centre for Teaching & Learning (CTL) – this is a temporary name!

Some of the items on the TLAT Council agenda for 2007:

• Policy for intellectual property

• Job description for Director of CTL

• Vision, goals, & operational strategies for CTL.

• Improving professional development services for educators.

• Enhancing learning outcomes in large enrolment courses.

The Centre for Teaching & Learning will…

• Facilitate collaboration among service units & faculty-based staff.

• Incubate innovative approaches for improving teaching & learning.

• Be situated in the Telus Building.

• Remain relatively small.

How we are resolving difficult links…

• The TLAT Council provides a ground for debate, information sharing, and forward thinking.

• The Centre for Teaching & Learning will focus on facilitation rather than being service provider.

• The critical role of faculty-based staff is both respected and promoted.

• A new generation of managers is more open to the integrated-distributed system.

• Ongoing discussion about implementing the integrated-distributed system is essential.

Key lessons for me…• The value of patience.

• Writing with feedback & revisions is a way to build consensus with committees.

• We need to be flexible in how we employ planning practices from the private sector.

• The importance of responding to diverse perspectives.

• The value of patience.

Resources

• This presentation will be available at: http://www.vpit.ualberta.ca/

• The Report to the Committee on the Learning Environment is available at: http://www.vpit.ualberta.ca/elearning/

• Goold, M. & Campbell, A. (2002). Designing effective organizations: How to create structured networks. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• Daft, R.L. (2004). Organizational Theory & Design. Mason, Ohio: South-Western.

Overview of some of the organizational design theory applied to our process…

Activity:

• Map an institution’s departments & service units. Show how they link with each other.– Teaching & technology support within

departments/faculties.– Computer & network services– E-Learning and/or distance education services– Libraries

• Discuss some of the questions on the handout.