14th Annual Conference Irish Academy of Management 1st-2nd September 2011 National College of Ireland, Dublin Malcolm Br

1. The university student as customer, supplier, actor, raw material and end product: analysing university teaching and learning processes using a soft systems approach 14th Annual Conference Irish Academy of Management 1st-2nd September 2011 National College of Ireland, Dublin Malcolm Brady DCU Business School, Dublin City University Email: malcolm.brady@dcu.ie Tel.: +353 1 7005188

2. Soft systems: CATWOE • Customer • victim or beneficiary of the transformation • Actors • Those who carry out the transformation • Transformation Process • Conversion of input to output • Weltanschauung • The world view that makes T meaningful in context • (Paradigm/ premise under which you are examining) • Owner • Those who can stop the transformation • Environment • Elements outside the system, taken as given (ie. constraints) Checkland, 1985

3. SIPOC Supplier Input Process Output Customer Building materials Plans House Build House House-buyer Concrete products Company Architect • Clear site • Dig foundations • Pour floor slab • Build walls • Construct roof • Install plumbing • Install electrics • Plaster walls • Landscape Pyzdek, 2003

4. Supplier Input Process Output Customer SIPOC House details Credit rating Money Mortgage Agreement Create Mortgage House-buyer Loan applicant Credit rating agency • Record details • Check credit history • Approve loan • Arrange funds • Prepare contract • Sign contract • Issue mortgage

5. Programme requirements Programme specifications Module descriptors Programme development School Lecturer Potential Student Supplier Input Process Output Customer Programme Chair world view: that there exists an accepted societal need for specific knowledge transmission and that universities are appropriate providers of such transmission

6. Module descriptor Domain knowledge Course materials Assignment requirements Exam paper Programme Chair Course preparation Student Supplier Input Process Output Customer Lecturer world view: that the individual lecturer is the best person to define the specific content and develop the course

7. Supplier Input Process Output Customer Appreciation of course materials Course materials Lecturer Lecture delivery Student (Lecturer) Lecturer (and student) world view: was that lecturers were the fount of knowledge and students received a transmission of knowledge from the lecturer, but this view now changing

8. Supplier Input Process Output Customer Course materials Appreciation of course materials Consolidated learning Student Study Student Student world view: that students should largely be capable of studying by themselves with relatively little formal direction

9. Supplier Input Process Output Customer Assignment requirements Exam paper Assignment Exam script Examination Lecturer Lecturer Student world view: that students must be forced or coerced into learning by having to complete some piece of work that they must hand up for formal assessment, and that the work must clearly have been carried out by themselves alone and unaided

10. Assignment Exam script Grade Student Assessment Student Supplier Input Process Output Customer Lecturer world view: view that universities assess students on their academic abilities and not on other abilities: social, interpersonal, cultural, sporting, entrepreneurial and so on. Secondly, that the assessment grade is a reasonable representation of the academic ability of the student. Thirdly, that assessment is primarily via the written word or written symbols either in the form of questions or answers

11. Supplier Input Process Output Customer Classification Transcript Grades Lecturers Progression and Award Student Award Board world view:

12. Classified students Graduates Supplier Input Process Output Customer School Graduation Employers President world view: that the award itself certifies that the student has completed a full programme of study and the resulting degree confers status on the transformed student, the graduand. Secondly, that universities are seen as elite institutions

13. Conclusion • In many respects students are customers • But students also play other roles • The supplier of inputs • The actual input itself • The process owner and the person who carries out transformation • The actual output itself • The Customer • Lecturers also have a multiplicity of roles • The set of T&L processes is highly integrated • When considering a process we need to consider the role that students and lecturers play • and act accordingly • We need to recognise certain activities as genuine processes in their own right and give them appropriate time and attention eg. assessment