“The University is a community of scholars engaged in the task of seeking truth”. Karl Jaspers, 1923 “I find the three major administrative problems on campus are sex for the students, athletics for the alumni and car parking for the faculty”. Clark Kerr President, University of California, 1958

1. AUA
Sashaying Along The Ice Floe !
Leading Change in Universities Today
3 July 2015
Peter McCaffery

2. “The University is a community of scholars engaged in the task of
seeking truth”.
Karl Jaspers, 1923
“I find the three major administrative problems on campus are sex
for the students, athletics for the alumni and car parking for the
faculty”.
Clark Kerr President,
University of California, 1958

3. UNIVERSITY COMMITTEES AS AN ART FORM
How University committees avoid making decisions:
John Kay’s “8 oars of indecision”
• Deferral - wait until next time
• Referral - to another committee
• Points of order - procedural objection
• The wider picture - we need to understand the context
better
• Evasion - we need still further detail
• Ambiguity - accept in principle, but not in practice
• Precedent - let’s not set one
• Denial - not for us to decide

4. EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE IN
UNIVERSITIES IS DEPENDENT ON:
• Knowing Your Environment
• Knowing Your Institution
• Knowing Your Department
• Knowing Yourself!

5. TRADITIONAL ROLE OF MODERN UNIVERSITY
• FINISHING SCHOOL: Last stage of general education
• PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL: Training of elite workers
• KNOWLEDGE FACTORY: Production of science, technology and
ideology
• CULTURAL INSTITUTION: Expression of our individual and
collective sense of being
• 21st Century: multiple roles – lifelong learning,
knowledge transfer, international
students . . . . . .

6. THE UNIVERSITY IDENTITY CRISIS
The University:
• Redundant as an “Idea”?
• Broken as a Monopoly
• Confronted with unprecedented change

7. NEW WAVE COMPETITORS
Mega Univs UKOU, AU Turkey, China TV
For-Profit Univs BPP, Kaplan, Phoenix
Corporate Univs BAE, Disney, Ford, Microsoft,
Motorola, Unipart
Private HE Training Orgs Apollo, DeVry, Laureate, Strayer
Waking Giants IBM, News Int., Pearson

8. Change Drivers
Government • HE as Public Interest/Public Direction
• Do “more” with “less” and maintain quality
(a negative economic imperative)
• Variable fees and the quasi-market
Employers • expectations of graduate competence
(a positive pedagogic imperative)
Students • diverse population
• desire for flexible provision
• Expectations as paying clients
Technology • potential for flexibility
• necessity to be IT “literate”

9. CONTINUING EXPANSION OF STUDENT
NUMBERS (UK AND WORLDWIDE)
WIDENING PARTICIPATION
 ‘fair access’/bursaries
HR
 retirement peak
 succession planning
 pay framework
 performance assessment
IT E-MANAGEMENT/E-LEARNING
 BIS E-strategy
RESOURCES AND ESTATES
DEVELOPMENT
 sustainable facilities and services
 project and programme management
SUSTAINABILITY AND CORPORATE
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
 serving broader political, social,
ethical and cultural agendas
GOVERNANCE
 Code and CUC Guidance
FUNDING
 variable fee
 fund-raising
 diversifying income sources
 full economic costing
MARKETING
 positioning of HEIs
 identity/’brand’ issues
COMPETITION IN UK
 alliances, collaborations and mergers
ENHANCING THE
STUDENT EXPERIENCE
 teaching, learning and
quality ‘customer service’
MANAGEMENT OF RESEARCH
 evolution of RAE/REF process
 research contracts & careers
 academic pipeline
INTERNATIONALISATION
 competition/collaboration
 European research area
 private universities
 Bologna process
BUSINESS, REGIONAL &
COMMUNITY INTERACTIONS
 ‘third stream’
 knowledge transfer, economic &
social regeneration
15 key strategic challenges
for UK HE institutions,
2015- 2018
EMBEDDING EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN ALL INSTITUTIONAL ACTIVITIES
EXTERNAL DRIVERS

10. Political
Fiduciary
BIS Ministers, PAC, HMT
DTI / OST
Funding
HEFCE BIS RCs/Operations
LEAs, NHS, TDA, charities, EU
, MoD, business
Sponsors
HEFCE, UUK, Guild HE, TDAs
HEFCE
Higher Education
Institutions
Council / Governors
Vice Chancellor
Senior Management
Faculties / Departments
Agency
HEFCE, HESA, QAA,
Ofsted, UCAS, NAO
Professional
GMC, ENB, Law Society,
ACCA, GDC, BPS, etc.
Students
(+ parents, schools)
DCFS UCAS
Staff
UCU; Unison; GMB
Employers
CBI, etc.
Business Community
RDAs, SSCs, LSs, (LSC) etc.
STAKEHOLDERS IN HE SECTOR

11. Traditional HE New HE
Competition: other univs. Competition: everywhere
Student as apprentice
scholar
Learner as Customer (and
Producer)
Delivery in the classroom Delivery everywhere
Bricks and mortar
- Physical estates
Bits and bytes
- Virtual estates
Technology as an Expense Technology as Market
Differentiation
Institutional - centric Market – centric
Funding: Block grant Funding: student fees
Independent Supplier Shared Services

12. Traditional HE New HE
Terminal degree Lifelong learning
Take what is offered Courses on demand
Academic calendar Year round campus
Course as 3-4 year revenue Course as Business Plan
Mode 1 Knowledge Mode 2 Knowledge
Teacher as Director of
Learning
Teacher as Facilitator of Learning
Academic as “jack of all
trades”
Academic as specialist
Diversity as problem Diversity as strength

13. UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE
• Average size of Universities has doubled in 40 years
• Greater internal organisational complexity
• Greater external accountability
• More volatile competitive environment
• Challenge - To change or risk being overwhelmed

14. DISTINGUISHING FEATURES
OF UNIVERSITIES
• the autonomy of the individual scholar
• precedence of subject over institutional loyalty
• the strength of tradition
• the cult of the “expert”
Collegiality managerialism post-managerialism?

15. Control
of
Implementation
tight
A:
Collegium
B:
Bureaucracy
D:
Enterprise
C:
Corporation
tight
loose
MODELS OF UNIVERSITIES
AS ORGANISATIONS
Policy Definition
loose

16. EXEMPLARS OF STRUGGLING INNOVATORS (1)
HEIs Conversation theme ‘Message’
Regional University
South Australia
‘I’ve been parking my car under
that tree for 28 years or more’.
The latest change initiative
can just go hang. ‘Wake me
when its over’
Research University
Eastern Australia
‘You need the personality of a
Sherman tank to survive as head of
department here’.
It’s rough, it’s tough and
there is no end in sight. The
industrial model is just not
suited to an HE environment.

17. EXEMPLARS OF STRUGGLING INNOVATORS (2)
HEIs Conversation theme ‘Message’
Regional Research
University Northeastern
USA
‘He (the president) used to come
out of the ‘puzzle palace’ with a
guard of honour.’ ‘It was like
Moses coming off the mountain
with the tablets”
(The Strategic Plan).
Who knows what the
executive does or thinks –
you can’t get near them.
Collegiality? You gotta be
kidding.
Regional Research
University Eastern USA
The ‘meat-axe administrator’ and
his refrain: ‘We already did that
yesterday?’
‘They slough it off here, slough it
off there, slough it off everywhere’.
It’s a Darwinian jungle in this
state and we’re ahead of the
game.
Outsourcing is all the rage
here and could be next.

18. What is special about the climate and culture of your
University?
What is special about the climate and culture of your
Faculty or professional service department?

19. What do your colleagues want?
University Public/Private Sector
• Academic Freedom • “Job that gets best out of me”
• Autonomy • Role clarity
• Collegiality • Consultation
• Participation • Involvement in change
• Support • “Management that motivates”
• Recognition • “Recognition of my work”

20. CULTURAL INQUIRY - approach
• Think of an aspect of behaviour in your
Faculty/University-Wide Service (and/or the
University) that gets in the way of innovation.
• What is the “rule” that your Faculty/UWS (or the
University) has created to lead to that behaviour?

21. CULTURAL INQUIRY – engagement
• Appreciative Enquiry
• Liquid Café
• Open Space
• Rich pictures
• World Café
• (Framing and re-framing your institution)
• (Maintaining a multiple mind-set)

22. 4 Ways to read a university (and yourself)
Structural Human Resources
Hierarchical Egalitarian
Rules and control Staff as major resource
Conflict is illegitimate Conflict is avoided
Rational Analysis Meeting staff needs
Political Symbolic
Competition for power Shared meanings and beliefs
Bargaining and coalition-building Loose connections
Conflict is expected Conflict is unpredictable
Finding common ground Emphasis on values

23. LEADING CHANGE: SOME GUIDING PRINCIPLES
• Leadership is not vested in a single great figure; it exists throughout the
University
• Leadership is as much about groups and teams as it is to do with
individuals
• Leaders are, by and large made, not born
• The institutional context and leadership approach are as important as
personal attributes
• Effective managers can also be effective leaders and vice versa
• “Leaders do the right thing, managers do things right” – Peter Drucker

24. PROMPTS FOR LEADING AND MANAGING ..
BEWARE THE “BUSY PERSON SYNDROME”:
INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOURS
procrastinators
30%
distracted
40%
disengaged
20%
purposeful
action-takers
10%
High
FOCUS
Low
Low High
ENERGY

25. FOUNDATIONS FOR MANAGING YOURSELF
• We never see the world as it is, only as we are.
• “I wish some power the gift would gi’e us, to see ourselves as
others see us”.
- Robbie Burns
• “Be not another’s if thou canst be thyself”.
- Paracelsus
• Our “concept of self” is neither fixed nor permanent
- self-ideal; self-image; self-esteem
• We always have choices

26. YOUR VALUES, MOTIVES AND BEHAVIOURS
1 OPEN 2 BLIND
3 HIDDEN 4 UNKNOWN
Known to
Self
Not Known
to Self
Known to
others
Not Known
to others
The Johari Window

27. Sources of assessment:
0 Clinical psychological profile
1 Myers-Briggs personality type indicator
2 Thomas-Kilman conflict mode instrument
3 Visionary leader behavior questionnaire
4 Visionary leader behavior 360 degree feedback
- review by peers, your direct reports and your line manager
0
1
2
3
4

28. HOW WELL DO YOU FIT YOUR ROLE?
I feel motivated to
do my job properly
and help the
university to
succeed
I understand the
university’s overall
objectives and how I fit in
I have relationships of
openness and of trust
with my line manager
and my team
I am clear about the things
which people value and
believe are important
I know what rules do
matter in the
university
I am certain
about my
personal limits
of authority
I have the skills
and experience
needed to make
sound judgements
and do my job
0
1
3
2
I have reliable
information about
my department’s
performance
0 On target
1 Nearly there
2 Someway off
3 Long way off

29. AUTHORITY
- hierarchical relations resources
- the right to decide
-legitimacy
-criteria
THE
PERCEPTIONS
VALUES
&
INTERESTS
WITHIN YOUR
UNIVERSITY
EXPERTISE
- scarcity/substitutability
- credibility
- authenticated
- relevance
THE MAIN SOURCES OF ORGANISATIONAL POWER
RESOURCE CONTROL
- control over valued
resources
physical/symbolic
- gamekeeping/allocation
criteria
- credibility
INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
- ‘charisma’
- advocacy
- assertiveness
- networking

30. How powerful am I?
Am I using all my political resources?
1. What are your political resources? Make an Inventory
2. What is your network of power? Make an Analysis

31. SUCCESSFUL UNIVERSITY INNOVATORS
Common Traits in managing change:
• No Magic Pill
• Distributed Leadership – a quality tapped at all levels
• “Art of Conversation”: a core process
• Harnessing collegiality as an aspiration
• Building on existing good practice (avoiding deficit models)
• “Learners “as well as “Knowers” – advocates of an inquiry
approach

32. LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE 1
RECOGNISING POPULAR MYTHS ABOUT THE
MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE FOR WHAT THEY ARE
• Change can only occur if it is driven from the top
• People are resistant to change
• People are rational and will react to logical and rational
requests for change
• New processes and systems will create the new necessary
behaviours
• Big changes require big actions
• If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
• Cultural change is a slow and painful long-term affair

33. LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE 2
RECOGNISING THE FUNDAMENTALS IN THE
SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE
• Change must presage a new model for the future
• People must have a reason. Change will not succeed unless
there is a dis-satisfaction with the old
• Major change can be painful – resistance is normal
• Change is “lumpy”: people, systems and processes change
at different rates and in different ways
• Change is an ongoing process, not an event
• Change is unique to each institution. Celebrate your
individual landmarks of success
33

34. LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE 3
PAVING THE WAY
• Begin the conversation
• Open up your creative self and encourage others to do
likewise
• Prepare to give up power – backstage leadership
• Identify, nurture and support networks and champions
• Surface and test mental models held by colleagues
• Defuse defensive routines and be open about your own
• Establish genuine shared values and agree associated
behaviours
• Model expected behaviours

35. 35
Any
questions?