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Applying Performance Management Principles to a

Learning Environment for Undergraduate Dissertations

Dr. Jacqueline Day and Dr. Milena Bobeva

Applying Performance Management Principles


A Learning Environment (LE) specifically

designed to manage dissertations

• A ‘dissertation’, is a common requirement of undergraduate and taught postgraduate degrees in business, law and humanities subjects.

• The case study discussed in the paper explains how for a HE provider the performance management regime was designed and then examines how it will be used in the longer term to nurture a community of practice for all involved in dissertations.



Business Performance Management (BPM)

A well accepted discipline that enables strategy to be executed in ways to meet organisational objectives.

Conventional View Evaluation enables targets to be set, against which the work of individuals or groups will be judged and so will positively influence the behaviour of individuals or functions to meet these targets.

(Athiyaman, 1997).



What is a Dissertation?

• An individual piece of work demonstrating understanding of the research process and critical understanding of a substantive knowledge domain

• Usually the most rewarding part of an undergraduate degree course

• Can be a factor in encouraging the individual to subsequently enrol for a higher degree



Challenges for the Student

From To Interaction within the institution External communication General knowledge Knowledge in-depth Knowledge consumer Knowledge provider Single truth Multiple/provisional truth Structured time allocation Self management of

time Delivery to a student group One-to-one with

supervisor Directed Autonomous learning Pupil Academic collaborator



Challenges for Educational Institutions

• The limited studies of sub-doctoral research carried out to date directed toward specific pedagogical issues and problems

• What has not really been looked at is a LE for dissertations that enables students to deliver improved quality outcomes reflecting higher levels of expectations about their learning experience and degree grades



Challenges for Educational Institutions

• Students increasingly consider themselves as ‘clients’ of an educational service and demand higher levels of value-for-money from the ‘provider’

• Vision for the LE - to develop something that supports the strategic objectives of the institution, including the need to improve the student learning experience and to better realise the research potential of the academic staff



The General Design of the LE

Took into consideration

1. The Existing Situation

2. The Design of the LE



Student Aspirations Institutional Aspirations

Sustain a high level of motivation for students Interaction between students and academic staff within a ‘community of scholars’

Good previous experience of research, such as dissertations, assignments and case studies.

The existence of a visible and accepted organisational strategy for undergraduate units to build up a knowledge base of investigations done by students.

Willingness to seek advice and guidance Availability of a group of lecturers as a shared resource

A supportive and nurturing relationship with the supervisor

Good fit between the supervisor’s personal interpretation of the dissertations and the organisation.

A degree of self-awareness of learning styles Provision of lecturer-led seminars using a panel of domain experts to guide the development of the conceptual framework.

Self-organisation and methodical approach to matters such as documentation.

The degree of flexibility in the organisational understanding of what constitutes a dissertation

The Existing Situation



The Existing Situation

Student Aspirations Institutional Aspirations

A positive attitude toward critical inquiry in relation to the topic

Knowledge of the supervision arrangements and process

A willingness to engage in informal peer assessment

The active use of code of practice for defining expectations and responsibilities of the parties.

Ability to self-direct their learning based on feedback and guidelines

More accurate and transparent feedback and assessment

Awareness of the purposes and limitations of different communication channels

Ability to use consistently different communication channels

A realistic understanding of time- scheduling and workloads

An accessible and responsive supervisor team, able to manage effectively students expectations



The Design of the LE

• Conceived as being constitute from several interlinked elements: – Student context – student knowledge, motivation,

understanding and skills– Learning context – the mode, content, scope of a

dissertation and its learning objectives – Supervisory context – the knowledge, motivation

understanding and skills of the tutor – Management context – the protocols, procedures

and methods for dissertations



General Design of the LE

Student Context Learning Context

Supervisory Context

Management Context

Integration services Performance Management

Individually controlled University controlled

Indirect intervention

Direct intervention



Developing the Performance Management

Framework

Three perspectives were considered:

1) The TQM philosophy

2) The best-practice adoption ideas of the European Foundation for Quality Management

3) The strategy-focused Balanced Score Card (BSC)



Developing the Performance Management Framework

• Step 1 - Select the Performance Framework• Step 2 - Customise the Performance Framework • Step 3 – Identify Stakeholders• Step 4 – Identify Critical Success Factors• Step 5 – Develop Performance Measures • Step 6 - Specify Performance Metrics• Step 7 - Implement Measurements of LE Performance



The Balanced Scorecard

• It is not

– A ‘balance’ in the traditional accounting sense of a balance sheet

– It will not give a quantitative indicator ‘score’ at the end

• It is

– A live document



The Balanced Scorecard Perspectives – Vision and Strategy

VISION and STRATEGY

Internal Business Process

Financial

Customer

Learning and GrowthSource: Kaplan and Norton 1996



Translate the strategy to operational terms

THE STRATEGY

Financial perspectiveIf we succeed, how will we look to our shareholders

Customer PerspectiveTo achieve my vision how must I look to my customers

Organisational LearningTo achieve my vision how must my organisation learn and improve

Internal PerspectiveTo satisfy my customer at which process must I excel



The BSC for the LE: Adapted from Kaplan & Norton (1996)

1. Studentcontext

4. Management

context

4. Management

context

5. Integration

Balanced Scorecard – Vision

and Strategy

3. Supervisorycontext

2. Learningcontext

Financial Perspective (B)To succeed financially how should we appear to senior

management

Processes Perspective (C)To satisfy our stakeholders

what administrative processes must we excel at?

Learning & Growth Perspective (D)To achieve our vision, how will we sustain our ability to change and improve our academic quality?

Customer Perspective (A)To achieve our vision, how

should we appear to our students?



Interpretation of the four perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard

• Customer Perspective - > Student Perspective• Financial Perspective - > Institutional Perspective• Processes Perspective - >Administrative Perspective • Learning and Growth Perspective - > Faculty Perspective



Implement Measurements of LE Performance

• Integration of LE with general information infrastructure Including university-wide content management and future multi-media package ‘Blackboard.’ Links to personal web pages for supervisors and those students with a common interest in a particular subject area essential.

• Dissertation event calendars, FAQs, examples, contacts, issues lists, announcements.



Implement Measurements of LE Performance

• Automated production of a balanced scorecard and appropriate ‘dashboard’ summaries

• Ability to provide a common view of all the KPIs and appropriate information ‘drill down’

• A feedback messaging facility - Enabling communication of commentaries and observations

about the performance measurement issue and problem



Conclusions and Reflections

• The BSC has proved its worth as a guide for managing improvements to a LE

– Some limitations in the context of this project– Developed for business shareholders, the financial

element fails to translate well in not-for- profit organisations, such as Higher Education Institutions

– Operationalisation of business strategy is not as easy to do as for a commercial organisation where corporate and departmental profit or turnover feature




• BSC underplays the value of human interactions, morale, motivations and relationships within a HEI – Best to shift the focus from financial capital to something that

complements the Learning and Growth perspective by fully recognising social capital

• Co-operation and collaboration enabled through the LE, leads to better acquisition and utilisation knowledge of research methods and management – Is supportive of the growth within the University of cross-

disciplinary sub-groups with an interest in research methods, the psychology of supervision or assessment strategies




• The longer-term significance of the performance system should be apparent in helping to improve the dissertation management, by linking back outcomes directly to actions

• Encouragement of a common sense of identity between the dissertation tutors and the tutees

• Should lead to better acquisition and utilisation knowledge of research methods and dissertation management

• Could also retain organisational memory of good ideas and help to avoid mistakes from any losses


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