This document summarizes a presentation about restructuring a large academic school. It discusses the restructuring of the University of East London which merged the schools of humanities and social sciences. It also describes the challenges of merging the schools, such as different policies and procedures between sites and managing communication. Finally, it presents a case study on the planned merger of three universities in Finland, including the Theatre Academy in Helsinki. The presentation addresses how to balance strategic development, transformation, and sustainability during organizational change.
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414 - Managing, Facilitating and Embracing
1. Managing, Facilitating, Embracing Change:
A Story about Re-structuring a Large
Academic School
Anne K. Craven
Director of
Administration, Helsinki
Theatre Academy
anne.craven@teak.fi
04 April 2012
1 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
2. Focus of the Session:
Management of Restructuring/Mergers
Concerns and
opportunities:
• Strategy
• Operations
2 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
3. In This Session – Details
Strategic Management of Change
UEL: Merger of Law and Social Sciences
Sharing experiences
Lessons learned and applied? Seizing
Opportunities?
– The case of Helsinki Theatre Academy
3 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
4. Restructuring:
World of Change and
University Strategy
4 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
5. University Strategy Formulation and
Development in Times of Change 1
Hannagan (2002: 16): ‘Strategic
management is about a sense of
purpose, looking
ahead, planning, positioning, strategic
fit, leverage and stretching. … It is about the
purpose of the organisation, the direction it is
to take and the way it forms and prepares
itself to face competition.’
5 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
6. University Strategy Formulation and
Development in Times of Change 2
Lockwood and Davies (1985: 167)
Institutional planning seen as
‘the continuous and collective exercise of
foresight in the integrated process of taking
informed decisions affecting the future’.
6 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
7. Restructuring as a Strategic Response
to Challenges
What challenges might trigger a restructuring
within a university?
7 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
8. Restructuring as a Strategic Response
to Challenges (‘Push’)
Changes in higher education policy
Changes of practice
Competition
Efficiency savings
Supporting a failing department/school
8 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
9. Restructuring as a Strategic Opportunity
What opportunities might trigger a
restructuring within a university?
9 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
10. Restructuring as a Strategic Opportunity
(‘Pull’)
Interdisciplinary/joint research
Interdisciplinary/joint courses
Attracting more research/teaching income
Other strategic opportunities
10 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
11. University Strategy Formulation and
Development in Times of Change 3
Ronald Barnett (2000: 6)
‘supercomplexity’
a situation in which we are encountered not
only by a great number of data but are also
encountering a ‘multiplication of frameworks’
11 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
12. University of East London:
Regional University and
Strategic Development
12 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
13. University of East London
Diversity of population:
– Cultures
– Ethnicities
– Languages
– Economic situation
– Social class
Antipathy towards
university education?
13 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
14. University of East London 2
Regional university
Skills training
Distance learning
Regeneration: ‘Revitalised
stocks of social, cultural and
symbolic capital’ (Snee and
Lock 2000: 145)
‘Regeneration university’
(Snee and Lock 2000: 147–
148)
14 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
15. UEL Restructuring 2011
New Vice-Chancellor; new strategy
‘Transformation for Excellence’
– Excellence in teaching, scholarship, research
– Talent management: attracting, sustaining and
developing talent
Challenges for Transformation for Excellence
– Schools formed on outdated principles
– Structures hindering interdisciplinarity
15 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
16. UEL Restructuring: Key Changes
Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) =>
Moving Humanities subjects to the new
School of Arts and Digital Industries (ADI)
Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) =>
Moving Social Sciences to the School of
Law, forming the new School of Law and
Social Sciences (LSS)
Also: Forming the new School of ACE
(Architecture, Computing and Engineering)
16 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
17. Restructuring: A Personal Experience
Recruited to become Registrar of the School of
Law, end of February 2011
Mergers decided upon in Spring 2011
Joining the School of Law in early June 2011
Mergers becoming official in August 2011
Voluntary Redundancy Scheme running in 2011
Maternity leave for a ‘shared’ admin member of staff
17 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
18. Restructuring: LSS
Split-site school: Docklands (Dox), Stratford
(Duncan House (DH))
Travelling via DLR and Tube
11 staff; 6 in DH, 5 in Dox
One Dox staff in a shared helpdesk (2-3 ADI
staff, 1 LSS staff)
18 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
19. Restructuring: Challenges in LSS
Physical changes: Distance/travelling btw. sites
– Day-to-day supervision of teams
Communication in a larger School (c 2600 students, 100 staff)
Different policies and procedures
– Different committees and forms
IT issues
Co-operation with the other Schools
– Helpdesk procedures esp. Drop Box
Concerns over redundancies => change in workloads
Concerns over the maternity leave
Student experience
Budget, REF, academic staff performance (Dean’s concerns)
19 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
20. Tackling Challenges in LSS Admin
Distance/travelling btw. sites
– Day-to-day supervision of teams
20 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
21. Tackling Challenges in LSS Admin
Communication in a larger School (c 2600
students, 100 staff)
21 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
22. Tackling Challenges in LSS Admin
Different policies and procedures
– Different committees and forms
22 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
28. UEL Restructuring: A Summary
Challenges:
– Workload issues
– Management issues
– Communication and
procedures
Transformation > <
preservation of
brand/identity
Cultivation of relationships
Playing to one’s strengths
28 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
29. Strategy
Development, Transformation, Sustain
ability – A Balancing Act
University/Collegiality Corporate Enterprise?
29 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
30. Discussion: Restructuring/Mergers
Sharing from own experiences
What challenges did you face?
What opportunities did you have?
What did you do?
Similarities with the case at UEL?
Differences with the case at UEL?
Lessons learned?
30 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
31. Case Study: Merger of three
Universities in Finland
Theatre Academy Helsinki
C. 400 students, 50
academic staff, 86 admin
staff
‘Stubborn’ defender of the
freedom of artistic
expression
Commercial projects
Collaborative research
Creativity
31 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
32. Case Study: Merger of three
Universities in Finland
TeaK, Sibelius-Academy, Fine Arts Academy (400/1400/300 students)
Academies have sought a merger for years
– New Law on Universities, 2010; Government policy; example of
Aalto University
– Strength of interest within the institutions
Benefits
– Visibility and credibility in international competition (‘interesting’)
– Finances: Government funding and efficiency savings in shared
services
Challenges
– Different IT systems
– Different ways in organising workloads and roles (cf. the role of
technician)
– Concerns of staff (autonomy; change in roles; workloads)
Time Frame: By January 2013 and after January 2013
32 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
33. Case Study: Merger of three
Universities in Finland
From the viewpoint of Theatre Academy
Helsinki, what should the merger be like?
Ideal strategy and steps to take?
What should be done/taken into account?
What questions still need answering?
Own experiences?
33 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
34. UEL, TeaK: ‘Work in Progress’ –
Playing to Strengths
34 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
35. Concluding Remarks:
University Strategy Cycle and Change
Self-Correction, Advancement, Achievement
Draft?
University
Strategy
35 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven
36. Many Thanks!
Anne Craven
anne.craven@teak.fi
References:
Barnett, R., 2000: Realizing the University in
an Age of Supercomplexity (Buckingham &
Philadelphia, PA: SRHE & OUP).
Hannagan, T., 2002: Mastering Strategic
Management, Palgrave Master Series
(Business Series Editor: Richard Pettinger)
(Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave).
Lockwood, G. and Davies, J. (chief
contributors), 1985: Universities: The
Management Challenge (Windsor: SRHE &
NFER-Nelson).
http://www.uel.ac.uk/
http://www.teak.fi
http://www.siba.fi
http://www.kuva.fi
36 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven