Institutional Strategies for Cost-Effectiveness, Responsiveness & Innovation

1. Institutional Strategies for Cost-Effectiveness, Responsiveness & Innovation Sandra Dowie, MA, MBA Office of the Provost, U of Alberta sandra.dowie@ualberta.ca

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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.

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

7. 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!

8. Organizational design involves: • The allocation of responsibility to units. • Supervisory and lateral relationships. • Accountabilities for units. • Key reporting and coordination processes.

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

10. What is the best way to organize a restaurant?

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

12. 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

13. “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

14. We considered organizational design principles related to: • Specialization • Coordination • Maintaining strong links

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. Realizethat the goal of a bureaucracy is to maximize its budget.

21. Organizational design dilemmas…

22. Organizational design dilemmas…

23. Organizational design dilemmas…

24. 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.

25. UofA’s integrated distributed system of support & services

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

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

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. 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!

32. 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.

33. 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.

34. 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.

35. 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.

36. 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.

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

38. 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.