Institutional Strategies for
Cost-Effectiveness, Responsiveness
& Innovation
Sandra Dowie, MA, MBA
Office of the Provost, U of Alberta
[email protected]
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-inthe-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…
Culture
Aggregate one or more
units
Maintain disaggregated
units
Creates a shared
culture that may
override.
Each unit can develop a
unique culture that is
attuned to specific
client needs.
Innovation & Larger, aggregated
units tend to be less
change
flexible & adaptable.
Networks of specialized
units are often more
adaptable & innovative
due to their specialized
expertise.
Organizational design dilemmas…
Motivation
Aggregate one or more
units
Maintain disaggregated
units
Staff more readily
develop a stronger
sense of teamwork
with those working
within their unit.
Commitment is
strengthened by selfmanagement. 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.
Responsiveness
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
Can be highly
depth of expertise of a experimental.
field.
Benefit from frontline
Often have broader
experience.
range of expertise.
May have limited time &
R&D activities can be
resources for R&D.
more aligned with U
Need to network to
priorities.
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 & facultybased 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 integrateddistributed 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.