Leadership and the EFQM Excellence Model in UK Higher Education

1. Leadership and the EFQM Excellence Model in UK Higher Education John Davies Mick Hides Susan Casey School of Management

2. Introduction - context • Massive change in UK HE • Pressures from stakeholders to be customer-focussed • “Mass” market for students • Knowledge transfer to business/community • Decreased funding (up to very recently) • Increased QA burden • Culture change needed to respond to the above

3. Introduction - implications • HE activities need to be conducted in a more business-like way • Leadership necessary to: • Create vision • Communicate policy • Deploy strategy • EFQM Excellence Model provides a framework for this

4. The Change in emphasis in governance in UK HE Administration Management Leadership?

5. Aim of the Paper To argue that leadership is needed to combine the collegiality ethos of Universities with the responsive, business-like approach demanded by customers

6. Research Questions • What is the extent of the challenge for Universities in the 21st Century? • Can an appropriate leadership style be adopted or developed by Universities that can harness both collegiality and responsiveness to customers? • Is the EFQM Excellence Model an appropriate mechanism for developing Leadership in Universities?

7. The Challenge for Universities • Historically stable environments, slow pace of change dictated by the Universities. Administration sufficient to maintain this. • 1980s/1990s financial pressures lead to need to manage (Dichotomy with concept of collegiality). • Increasing expectations from stakeholders and pace of change leading to need for Leadership.

8. Management v Leadership • Management – coping with complexity. • Leadership – coping with change.

9. Leadership & Constancy of Purpose “The behaviour of on organisation’s leaders creates a clarity and unity of purpose within the organisation and an environment in which the organisation and its people can excel” (EFQM, 2001).

10. Case Study - a School in the University of Salford- Leadership Issues • Fixed terms of office (Constancy of Purpose?) • Selection process (Person Specification?) • Training and Development (“Mandatory” Training wasn’t) • Support staff excluded from decision-making bodies • Staff misuse of the notion of collegiality

11. The Case Study-Self Assessment • Self-assessment highlighted leadership as a major area for improvement: • Traditional values still evident, focussed on controlling a stable situation. • Specific issue was the responsibility and authority for dealing with change. • Initiatives undertaken to start to address the EFQM Leadership criteria, e.g. Changes to Scheme of Governance to promote inclusivity. • However the majority of leadership policies are not decided at the School level.

12. Initial Findings • EFQM Excellence Model appears to have the potential to develop leadership within a collegial culture (fit with ethos of self-assessment?). • A participative and inclusive leadership style is most likely to be effective in this culture. • Using the model as a frame of reference can help in keeping pace with and driving change. • Need to identify and nurture leaders.

13. Conclusions • The challenge for Universities is to cope with increasing stakeholder demands and an increased pace of change within a collegial culture. • Universities can harness both collegiality and responsiveness to customers through a participative and inclusive leadership style. • The EFQM Excellence Model has helped to provide a framework for developing leadership within a University.

14. Stop Press! A UK Government Department for Education and Skills Higher Education strategy document released on 22 January 2003 suggests “a greater use of professional managers is necessary in HE”. Would this lead to further separation of the managerial functions from the academic functions?