responding to the challenges of a competitive tertiary environment: swinburne … · 2019-03-22 ·...
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Responding to the challenges of a competitive tertiary environment: Swinburne as case study
Andrew DempsterAugust 2016
% of transformations that were very or extremely successful
Reinforcing with formal
mechanisms
Foster under-standing
and conviction
Developing talent
and skills
Role-modelling
andleadership x 4.1
Transformations where leaders did not role-model the change
16
Transformations where leaders role-modeled the change
66 68Transformations with compelling “change story”
18Transformations with no “change story” x 3.7
Transformations where the company invested a great deal in developing leaders through the transformation
63
26Transformations where the company did not investIn developing leaders x 2.4
% of transformations that were very or extremely successful
% of transformations that were very or extremely successful
% of transformations that were very or extremely successful,
Transformations where change was reinforced using targets and incentives
77
18x 4.2
Transformations where no targets or incentives were used to reinforce the change
Source: McKinsey & Company
What makes change successful?
Challenging times: the last 5 years
Implementation of demand-driven system for undergraduate places from 2011
Implementation of contestability in vocational education, followed in 2012 by a $300 million funding cut when State government costs blew out
Slump in international student market, 2010-2011
TAFE funding in crisisApril 8, 2014
Victoria’s higher-education sector has slumped deeply into the red, with the financial watchdog revealing half of the state’s TAFEs are running at a loss after savage government funding cuts.
A leaked assessment by the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office has found seven out of 14 public TAFEs are in deficit, including two in doubt “as a going concern”.
The briefing document shows state government operating contributions for the sector plunged by $119 million, or 159 per cent, in 2013.
$0
$250
$500
$750
$1,000
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
$M
Total operating revenue ($M)
Total operating expenditure ($M)
Financial Outlook
Some universities can cut back office costs more easily than others (1)
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000
Ratio
of P
rofe
ssio
nal t
o Ac
adem
ic S
taff
(FTE
)
Total full time equivalent staff
Ratio of Professional to Academic Staff for each University, 2015
Heavy ‘back office’
Light ‘back office’
Source: Commonwealth Department of Education, Staff Data Collection 2015
Some universities can cut back office costs more easily than others (2)
0.971.04
1.09
1.45
1.64
1.942.01
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000
Ratio
of P
rofe
ssio
nal t
o Ac
adem
ic S
taff
(FTE
)
Total full time equivalent staff
Ratio of Professional to Academic Staff for each University, 2015
Heavy ‘back office’
Light ‘back office’
Source: Commonwealth Department of Education, Staff Data Collection 2015
Swinburne Online
Launched Swinburne Online in 2011
Joint venture with Seek Limited
Creation of new delivery model with high degree of operational freedom
QA and accreditation through Academic Senate
Launched high quality online VET courses in late 2015
Campus consolidation
Decision in July 2012 to consolidate delivery at three Melbourne campuses – exiting Lilydale and Prahran
Prahran campus leased to Melbourne Polytechnic from January 2014
Lilydale campus sold to Box Hill Institute in December 2015
Building program
Shared services model
Key services selected for realignment into a shared services model, from January 2014
Student AdministrationFinanceMarketing and CommunicationsResearch Administration
Implementation of new student system (Technology One)
Research
Creation of consistent set of research expectations
Framework is university-wide; expectations are discipline specific
% research allocation in Workload Model tied to performance on:
research income (all categories)
publications (ERA eligible outputs, weighted for quality)
research impact (scale of 1 to 5, judged by peers, moderated)
PhD supervision
Informs: workload decisions, promotion, recruitment, performance management
New university-wide Academic Workload Model
Move from 6 historical Academic Workload Models to a single, transparent university-wide model
Greater fairness and consistency for staff, within and between Faculties
Improved reporting for each Faculty, School, Department and university as a whole
Better able to ensure that research time is allocated to reflect research performance
Can ensure that ongoing and fixed term staff have full teaching workloads before we engage sessional teaching staff
Teaching and Learning
Large scale course refresh
Identification and teach out of loss-making units
Pricing review
Introduction of formal set of Teaching Expectations
Reflections on change
% of transformations that were very or extremely successful
Reinforcing with formal
mechanisms
Foster under-standing
and conviction
Developing talent
and skills
Role-modelling
andleadership x 4.1
Transformations where leaders did not role-model the change
16
Transformations where leaders role-modeled the change
66 68Transformations with compelling “change story”
18Transformations with no “change story” x 3.7
Transformations where the company invested a great deal in developing leaders through the transformation
63
26Transformations where the company did not investIn developing leaders x 2.4
% of transformations that were very or extremely successful
% of transformations that were very or extremely successful
% of transformations that were very or extremely successful,
Transformations where change was reinforced using targets and incentives
77
18x 4.2
Transformations where no targets or incentives were used to reinforce the change
Source: McKinsey & Company
What makes change successful?
18
Reinforcing with formal
mechanisms
Foster under-standing
and conviction
Developing talent
and skills
Role-modelling
andleadership
• Change supported by leadership communications
• Leaders actively participate in developing change proposals
• Special meetings to brief leaders in advance of change processes
• Annual Senior Leaders Group conference and regular meetings (150 people)
• Regular e-newsletter for People Leaders (400 people)
• Formal 3-day Leadership Development Program for top 150 leaders
• Building our Service Culturetraining program rolled out for all staff in a service role
• Special program for academic staff to build teaching capability
• Increased investment in professional development for non-academic staff
• Supported by change to university budget to create greater financial accountability by organisational unit
• Improved university-wide reporting (both outcomes delivered by shared services as well as academic areas)
• Shared scorecard for University Executive linked to university-wide targets
• Focus on ensuring that each proposed change is supported by coherent change narrative
• Proposed changes supported by evidence and, where possible, release of raw data
• Links to university vision• Emphasis on face-to-face
communication, staff forums, workshops
• Regular Town Halls hosted by Vice-Chancellor, all campuses
Reflections on change at universities (1)
Obtaining staff engagement
University change projects face a higher degree of difficulty as a key audience make a living out of being critical!
As a former Dean once told me, many academic staff feel more connected to their discipline (engineering, design, law) than to their employer – the university.
This means an ‘off the shelf’ approach to change management can put change at risk by not achieving the necessary staff engagement.
Rallying cries need to go beyond the organisational objectives to appeal at a more personal level.
Reflections on change at universities (2)
Evidence
In university contexts in particular, it is not enough to state facts: you need to show evidence to support it.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, conversations about change at universities need to be unerringly evidence-based.
Reflections on change at universities (3)
Leadership
Successful change requires support right throughout the organisation, from the executive team to front line staff members
In times of change, people depend on their local line managers for information, advice and support
To the extent possible, universities need to:
involve local leaders in developing change initiatives; and
equip them with the information and tools they need to lead in times of change.
