Title: Control freaks in a sharing world a bit of a dilemma
1Control freaks in a sharing world - a bit of a
dilemma?
Prof Mark Stiles Head of Learning Development
Innovation Staffordshire University
TENCompetence Open Workshop GMEX Jan 2007
2Outline
- Institutional strategy policy are challenged by
technological change - Innovation and Strategy - a quick look
- Some Personal Experiences - from Revolution to
Stalinism to Perestroika - More about Innovation
- More about Universities
- The new factors
- About control
- A framework for considering policy and strategy
3Embedding
- all policies, procedures, roles and
responsibilities pertaining to the use of
eLearning are fully integrated not just with
each other, but with those applying to normal
practice. - eLearning is part of the culture of the
institution, and is seen by all as part of normal
working practice, and as part of the normal
portfolio available to facilitate learning by
teachers and learners.
4The point of strategies
Everyone starts out with a eLearning strategy -
either stand-alone or embedded in another
strategy BUT Strategies tend to be about
introducing or extending eLearning
e-Environment not their normal operation - i.e.
they are Objectives driven Once objectives are
attained, the focus tends to move elsewhere
5The Strategy game
Build it and they will come (Field of Dreams)
6The Strategy game
Build it and they will come (Field of Dreams)
7The Strategy game
Let a thousand flowers bloom
8The Strategy game
Let a thousand flowers bloom
9The Strategy game
The philosophers have interpreted the world
the point is to change it (Karl Marx)
10The Strategy game
The philosophers have interpreted the world
the point is to change it (Karl Marx)
11The Strategy game
Seed change by funding innovative projects
12The Strategy game
Seed change by funding innovative projects
13In Reality
- All these approaches both succeed and fail(In
part)
14Staffordshire 1996 - 2002
- Transformational Strategy with
- first, seeding change projects by bid
- then, seeding change projects by departmental
plan
15And, by 2002
- Significant Cultural Change
- Many modules using e-learning for real
- Successful distance e-learning awards
- Good width of penetration across institution
- Strategies quite well joined-up
- Recognition and QAA success
- Staff getting rewards
16But...
- Problems with development approach
- Lateness, creep, false expectations
- Late delivery, academic workloads
- Support staff not always effectively or fully
involved - Localised impact
- Not a learning organisation
17and...
- Rate of change slowing
- Projects rather than Production
- Big holes in the admin net
- Support uneven
- SURF partners showed weaknesses in P2R2
- Planning insufficiently sharp
- Core support involved too late
- P2R2 not joined up
- eLearning not embedded University not Agile
18Staffordshire 2002 -2006
- eL-P3R2 - Focus on Policy, Procedure, Process,
Role and Responsibility - Included
- The integrative approach to course development
- Holistic quality assurance and course development
planning - Addressing vertical and horizontal
organisational coherence - SURF partnership working
19Reinforcing the Message
- The rules of engagement
- Vertical coherence
- Policy
- Horizontal coherence
- Operational Policies, Procedures, Roles and
Responsibilities - Changing behaviour influences culture
20eLearning Policy
- Designed to address/achieve
- flexible and independent learning informal and
individual learning. - equity of opportunity and alignment of student
support - provision of a learning environment encompassing
all of the learning experience - supporting the independent and lifelong learner
and continuing professional development - access to eResources from point of need
repurposing and reuse - robust quality assurance/enhancement with scope
for innovation and employment of professional
skills
21eLearning Policy
- Designed to address/achieve
- encouragement of research, scholarship and
development in eLearning - appropriate staff development, to ensure
understanding of others roles - practice, policy and strategy are responsive to
lessons learned and new opportunities removing
barriers that impede or restrict effective
eLearning. - resources and support are appropriate to
requirements and understood - pricing of eLearning is both competitive and
appropriate to the target populations.
22So now
- eLearning embedded in Strategies e.g.
Information, Learning Teaching and Assessment - eLearning Policy acts as change enabler
- Operational Policies, Processes and procedures
being aligned e.g. Quality Assurance, WBL - Goal - eLearning just part of normal practice e
disappears
23But
- Rate of increase of use is high but mainly
eSupported or mundane - Mainstream probably now less innovative than
before - P2R2 focus seen by some as Stalinist
- Enthusiasts and Innovators subverting policy
24Freedom vs. Control
- How to loosen the chains to encourage
innovation without losing control?
25Innovation
- the intentional introduction and application
within a role, group or organization of ideas,
processes, products or procedures, new to the
relevant unit of adoption, designed to
significantly benefit the individual, the group,
organization or wider society. (West and Farr,
1990) - What makes innovation happen and work is still
not well understood - Organisations struggle to sustain innovation long
term
26Innovation - Factors
- Characteristics of innovative corporations
- Clear vision of an innovative company and the
support needed to sustain it. - Visions tied to the realities of the marketplace.
- Total organization flat and project teams small.
- Managers encourage the parallel development of
several projects. - Learning and investigation cut across traditional
functional lines - Uses groups functioning outside traditional lines
of authority. - (from James Brian Quinn)
27Innovation Management and Culture
- What does the organisation WANT from innovation?
- e.g. effectiveness, quality, satisfaction - Reward behaviours that contribute to innovation -
remove barriers that impede it. - Specialisation, standardisation and
centralisation inhibit innovation. - Values such as rigidity, control, predictability,
stability and order inhibit innovation - In must be OK to fail and make errors
28Technical Innovation a problem approach
Centralised adoption of new technologies which
are then spread through the organisation Tends
to assume the innovation is inherently a good
idea people will make use of it failure of
take-up is their fault or an organisational
failing Doesnt help learn what new technologies
help and dont Technological innovation involves
competition and conflict no right answer one
size doesnt fit all has periods of stability
and change
29The Learning Organisation
- Anticipates and adapts to new pressures and
drivers - Can readily develop new products, processes, and
services - Learns from competitors and collaborators
- Effectively transfers knowledge around the
organisation - Learns from mistakes
- Uses employees at all levels at an organisational
level - Can implement strategic changes quickly
- Actively encourages continuous improvement in all
areas
30Communities Networks of Practice
- A natural CoP is largely informal and of people
with similar activities and interests - Organisations can have multiple CoPs and CoPs can
cross organisations - Innovation normally happens where different CoPs
meet (or usually dont) - So CoPs can actually act as a barrier to
innovation - NoPs are normally cross-organisational but still
have distinct (professional) cultures - NoPs work well with a field but not outside of
it, even within an organisation - Hence Professions - and their cultures - can be a
barrier to innovation.
31Communities Networks of Practice
- Management set up CoPs to structure and control
innovation - This appears to work but NOT for radical
innovation - Radical innovations depend on cross-field
synthesis - Managers need to draw CoPs together
- Created CoPs tend to focus on what the manager
is looking for instead of practice - Innovation tends to redefine professional tasks,
and result in partisan conflicts
32Universities Control Barriers
- Much is outside the control of the individual
tutor and learner - Much institutional structure and policy controls
tutor and learner behaviour - Academic culture and discourse are, in their own
way, conservative - Many students do not actually appreciate
learner-centredness(This is reinforced by the
business model of the student) - Moves away from the orthodox which reduce control
are often opposed by those who currently control
the process in question - Multiple external drivers for controlling
approaches
33Universities Management
- No single Institutional culture - consists of
multi-subcultures - Subcultures are typically in conflict and need to
understand each other for Institutional culture
to be addressed - A University can be typified as a Professional
bureaucracy - A decentralised mechanistic form which accords a
high degree of autonomy to individual
professionals. Characterized by individual and
functional specialization, with a concentration
of power and status in the authorized experts.
The individual experts may be highly innovative
within a specialist domain, but the difficulties
of coordination across functions and disciplines
impose severe limits on the innovative capability
of the organization as a whole. - (Mintzberg)
34The new factors
- SOAs and the e-Framework
- Systems such as ePortfolios
- Web 2.0
- All of these pose challenges for institutions
around ownership and control of processes,
systems and information
35Process ownership
- In education many processes are
inter-organisational and - Loose in structure
- Based on informal cooperation
- Have no explicit or implicit agreement on process
ownership - Process ownership has become very complex and can
involve - Process designer
- Process manager
- Process users
- Software designer
- Software procurer
- Software users
36What is ownership?
- Ownership includes
- possession - right to determine the uses of
assets - authority - a variable aspect of ownership
- control - roles and responsibilities - refine
ownership - of systems and their interoperation
- Ownership of a computer system involves
hardware, software, and processes, and is
probably divided among a number of parties. - Who owns the relationship between interoperating
systems? - Someone must have the right to alter or sever a
relationship. - Orchestration and Choreography are important here
- (based on Carney et al)
37What is ownership?
- Data Ownership
- an individual is empowered to make decisions, and
can act to address his needs - designs and controls own processes
- Data Stewardship
- - a facilitation role.
- uses a consistent process to achieve alignment
across organization - needs of all considered - Data Custodian
- - responsible for physical security of data -
creates and enforces data standards - (Schlenker)
38Web 2.0
- Tutors and learners will build their own toolsets
from - what is provided by the institution
- what they have on their own (personal) computer
- what is available on the Web.
- Learners will
- opt out of systems institutions and tutors
might prefer them to use for formal learning
activities - initiate sharing and community activities
outside of the formal learning experience using
tools they themselves have chosen. - engage with and draw on much wider and more
diverse communities.
39Web 2.0
- A varying spectrum of control and ownership
require thought about - how learning strategies will be articulated
- how they will be communicated to learners
- how learning will be managed and facilitated
- how learners can translate outputs from
self-generated activity - There is in effect a blurring between informal
and formal learning and the key to understanding
the future may be in understanding the nature of
this intermediate zone and how, why and what
activities and artefacts exist within (and pass
through) it.
40Web 2.0
- Practitioners will need to
- cope with a very diverse range of approaches
taken by learners - guard against making stereotypical assumptions
- consider how their chosen learning strategies may
be interpreted by learners - Institutions will have to consider what (and at
what level) they need to control and/or influence
and what might be let go or exploited. - This impacts on quality assurance, academic
planning, course design and development, and the
core process. - Institutions need to be sure that that an
appropriate approach to ownership is being taken
in any given context.
41A Decision-making Framework
- The world will consist of
- Institutional systems
- External systems both web and organisational
- Private toolkits
- And interoperating mixtures of these!
- It will require a cultural shift in how IT
management view risk and control the use of
systems by tutors and learners. - Some form of decision making tool is need to
inform strategy and policy and hence influence
and guide practice.
42A Decision-making Framework
A possible spectrum of control Control - to
exercise restraint or direction over dominate
command. to hold in check curb Manage - to take
charge or care of. to dominate or influence.
to handle, direct, govern, or control in action
or use Facilitate - to make easier or less
difficult help forward (an action, a process,
etc.). to assist the progress of Enable - to
make able give power, means, competence, or
ability to authorise to make possible or
easy Recognise - to identify from knowledge of
appearance or characteristics. to perceive as
existing or true realise
43A Decision-making Framework
Possible loci of activity Institution Initiated
at a corporate, departmental, or course
management level Tutor Initiated as part of
the learning process and conduct of course
delivery Learner Initiated either completely
independently, or as part of the learners own
learning strategy Using these in a
decision-making grid, it should be possible to
position processes and systems and to reflect on
the validity of the positioning. Once
positioning is decided, strategy and policy can
be examined to see if they reflect the
organisational needs arising
44A possible framework?
45 Thank you for your time - and
patience m.j.stiles_at_staffs.ac.uk www.staffs.ac.uk
/COSE/cosenew/reportsandpapers.html
46Sources used
- Stiles M. J., Embedding E-learning in a Higher
Education Institution, in "Virtuality and
Education. A Reader.", eds Hoang Nguyen, T. and
Preston, D.S., Rodopi, 2006 - Read B., Archer L. and Leathwood C, Challenging
Cultures? Student Conceptions of Belonging and
Isolation at a Post-1992 University, Studies in
Higher Education Vol 28 (3), 2003, pp 261 -
277 - Ahmed P.K., Benchmarking innovation best
practice, Benchmarking An International Journal,
Vol 5 (1), Number 1, 1998, pp. 45-58 - Martins E.C. and Terblanche F., Building
organisational culture that stimulates creativity
and innovation, European Journal of Innovation
Management Vol 6 (1) 2003 pp. 64-74 - Luck J., Jones D., McConachie J., Danaher P. A.
Challenging enterprises and subcultures
Interrogating best practice in Central
Queensland Universitys course management
systems. Paper presented at the Teaching and
Learning Showcase, Central Queensland University,
Rockhampton, Qld. (2004, February 18) - Allen J. P., Information systems as technological
innovation, Information Technology People, Vol
13(3) pp 210 221, 2000 - Hornsby J. S., Kuratko D. F., Montagno R. V.,
Naffziger D. W., Implement Entrepreneurial
Thinking in Established Organizations, SAM
Advanced Management Journal, Vol 58, 1993 - Larsen, M.H. and Klischewski, R., Process
ownership challenges in IT-enabled transformation
of interorganizational business processes,
Proceedings of the 37th Annual Hawaii
International Conference on System Sciences,
2004, pp 11-. - Marquardt M. J., Building the Learning
Organization A Systems Approach to Quantum
Improvement, McGraw-Hill, 1996 - Lam, A. "Organizational Innovation" In The Oxford
Handbook of Innovation, ed. Fagerberg J., Mowery
D. C., and Nelson R. R., Oxford Oxford
University Press, 2005. - Carney, D., Anderson W., and Place P., Topics in
Interoperability - Concepts of Ownership and Their Significance in
Systems of Systems, Integration of
Software-Intensive Systems Initiative Carnegie
Mellon University, 2005 - West, M.A., Farr, J.L., "Innovation at work", in
West, M.A., Farr, J.L. (Eds),Innovation and
Creativity at Work Psychological and
Organizational Strategies, Wiley, Chichester,
pp.3-13, 1990 - Quinn J. B., "Managing Innovation Controlled
Chaos" Harvard Business Review, May-June 1985,
pp. 73-84 - Mintzberg, H. The Structuring of Organization,
Englewood Cliffs NJ Prentice Hall 1979 - Schlenker, S. IDMA Focuses on Data Ownership.
The Data Administration Newsletter.
http//www.tdan.com/i025ht04.htm (2003). - Swan J, Scarborough, H and Robertson M, The
Construction of Communities of Practice in the
Management of Innovation, Management Learning,
Vol 33(4) 477-496, 2002 - Stiles M. J., Death of the VLE? A challenge to
a new orthodoxy, Serials (In Press)