Sandra Dowie, MA, MBA

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Institutional Strategies for Cost-Effectiveness,
Responsiveness Innovation

• Sandra Dowie, MA, MBA
• Office of the Provost, U of Alberta

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This presentation is a result of a recent
planning process

• Conducted at the U of Alberta over the past two
  years.
• Involving broadly-based representation.
• Concerning how services and support will be
  provided to instructors.
• Related to teaching, learning, and the use of
  educational technologies.

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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

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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.

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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
  many drafts!
• Developed a report that described an
  integrated-distributed system of services
  support.

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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!

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Organizational design involves

• The allocation of responsibility to units.
• Supervisory and lateral relationships.
• Accountabilities for units.
• Key reporting and coordination processes.

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What is the best way to organize support and
services for teaching, learning, the use of
technology?
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What is the best way to organize a restaurant?
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The primary influence on the structure of units
within an organization is its overall strategy.

• There is no one best design!

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The organizational plan for support services is
often derived from

• Tinkering with existing units -- incremental
  change that may not result in change at all
• Seeking solutions elsewhere the
  needle-in-the-haystack approach
• The leadership of a few individuals -- disruptive
  change
• The collaborative, PATIENT planning --
  transformational change

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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

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Overview of the organizational design theory
applied to our process
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Review organizational design principles related
to

• Specialization
• Coordination
• Knowledge Competence
• Control Commitment
• Difficult links

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Specialization principle the need for autonomy

• Staff build in-depth knowledge skills
  associated with units 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.

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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.

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Knowledge competence principle

• Responsibilities should be allocated to
  person or team most able to achieve competent
  performance at a reasonable cost.

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Control Commitment Principle

• Units should be created in a way that fosters
  effective, low-cost management control strong
  staff commitment to organizational goals.

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Units need to link with each other to

• Share resources
• Coordinate joint activities
• Difficult links exist when
• Information does not flow freely among units.
• Units tend to work independently from each other
  rather than undertake joint projects etc.

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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.

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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.

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Realize that the goal of a bureaucracy is to
maximize its budget.
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Organizational design dilemmas
Aggregate one or more units Maintain disaggregated units
Specialization Increases scope, but limits 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.
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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.
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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.
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Tradeoffs between central vs. decentralized
support for course redesign at the UofA
Central service unit 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!
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Tradeoffs between central vs. decentralized
support for course redesign at the UofA
Central service unit Faculty-based staff
Innovation May have greater depth of expertise of a field. Often have broader range of expertise. RD activities can be more aligned with U priorities. Can be highly experimental. Benefit from frontline experience. May have limited time resources for RD. Need to network to develop skills.
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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.

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Integrated-Distributed System of Support
Services

• Deans are 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.

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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!

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Some of the items on the TLAT Council agenda for
2007-2008

• 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.

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The Centre for Teaching Learning will

• Facilitate collaboration among service units
  faculty-based staff.
• Incubate innovative approaches for improving
  teaching learning.
• Be situated in Telus Centre formerly a
  conference facility
• Remain relatively small.

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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 the system is essential.

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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 value of patience.

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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.ualbe
  rta.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.