Transcript Leadership in Higher Education

Leadership and the EFQM
Excellence Model in UK Higher
Education
John Davies
Mick Hides
Susan Casey
School of Management
Introduction - context
• Massive change in UK HE
– Pressures from stakeholders to be customerfocussed
– “Mass” market for students
– Knowledge transfer to business/community
– Decreased funding (up to very recently)
– Increased QA burden
• Culture change needed to respond to the above
Introduction - implications
• HE activities need to be conducted in a
more business-like way
• Leadership necessary to:
– Create vision
– Communicate policy
– Deploy strategy
• EFQM Excellence Model provides a
framework for this
The Change in emphasis in governance in UK HE
Administration
Management
Leadership?
Aim of the Paper
To argue that leadership is needed to combine the
collegiality ethos of Universities with the
responsive, business-like approach demanded by
customers
Research Questions
• What is the extent of the challenge for Universities
in the 21st Century?
• Can an appropriate leadership style be adopted or
developed by Universities that can harness both
collegiality and responsiveness to customers?
• Is the EFQM Excellence Model an appropriate
mechanism for developing Leadership in
Universities?
The Challenge for Universities
• Historically stable environments, slow pace of
change dictated by the Universities.
Administration sufficient to maintain this.
• 1980s/1990s financial pressures lead to need to
manage (Dichotomy with concept of collegiality).
• Increasing expectations from stakeholders and
pace of change leading to need for Leadership.
Management v Leadership
• Management – coping with
complexity.
• Leadership – coping with change.
Leadership & Constancy of Purpose
“The behaviour of on organisation’s leaders
creates a clarity and unity of purpose within the
organisation and an environment in which the
organisation and its people can excel”
(EFQM, 2001).
Case Study - a School in the
University of Salford
- Leadership Issues
• Fixed terms of office (Constancy of Purpose?)
• Selection process (Person Specification?)
• Training and Development (“Mandatory” Training
wasn’t)
• Support staff excluded from decision-making
bodies
• Staff misuse of the notion of collegiality
The Case Study-Self Assessment
• Self-assessment highlighted leadership as a major area for
improvement:
– Traditional values still evident, focussed on controlling
a stable situation.
– Specific issue was the responsibility and authority for
dealing with change.
• Initiatives undertaken to start to address the EFQM
Leadership criteria, e.g. Changes to Scheme of Governance
to promote inclusivity.
• However the majority of leadership policies are not
decided at the School level.
Initial Findings
• EFQM Excellence Model appears to have the
potential to develop leadership within a collegial
culture (fit with ethos of self-assessment?).
• A participative and inclusive leadership style is
most likely to be effective in this culture.
• Using the model as a frame of reference can help
in keeping pace with and driving change.
• Need to identify and nurture leaders.
Conclusions
• The challenge for Universities is to cope with
increasing stakeholder demands and an increased
pace of change within a collegial culture.
• Universities can harness both collegiality and
responsiveness to customers through a
participative and inclusive leadership style.
• The EFQM Excellence Model has helped to
provide a framework for developing
leadership within a University.
Stop Press!
A UK Government Department for
Education and Skills Higher
Education strategy document released
on 22 January 2003 suggests “a
greater use of professional managers
is necessary in HE”.
Would this lead to further separation
of the managerial functions from the
academic functions?