ERIC ED377795: Organizational and Technological Strategies for Higher Education in the Information Age. CAUSE Professional Paper Series, #13.

32 Pages·1994·0.7 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
HE 027 979
ED 377 795
Ernst, David J.; And Others
AUTHOR
Organizational and Technological Strategies for
TITLE
Higher Education in the Information Age. CAUSE
Professional Paper Series, #13.
CAUSE, Inc., Lansing, MI.
INSTITUTION
PUB DATE
94
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Access to Information; Accountability;
DESCRIPTORS
*Administrative Organization; *Change Strategies;
*College Administration; Educational Finance; *Higher
Education; *Information Management; Information
Systems; *Information Technology; Technical
Assistance
ABSTRACT
This paper examines five key trends impacting higher
education administration: (1) traditional funding sources are flat or
(2) public expectations and state mandates are calling
decreasing;
(3) consumer
for more reporting requirements and accountability;
expectations demand more sophisticated services requiring greater
structures will
access to date; (4) evolving organizational
significantly change traditional hierarchies; and (5) sophisticated
knowledge workers require expanded technical and consulting support.
Each trend is introduced with a question or issue that might occur to
of organizational
a campus chief executive, followed by an assessment
discussed
and technological implications, with economic implications
where appropriate. The paper seeks to demonstrate that, rather than
being part of the problem, information technology is part of the
solution. New strategies are proposed to deal with change, using
information technology tools to meet the challenges of administering
higher education in the information age. (Contains 50 references.)
(JDD)
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*
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
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O)
CAUSE
ce)''
the association for
Organizational and
managing and using
information resources
Technological Strategies
in higher education
for Higher Education
in the Information Age
by David J. Ernst, Richard N. Katz, and John R. Sack
EDUCATION
U S. DEPARTMENT OF
Research and Improvement
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COOPERS & LYBRAND
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(see pages 24-25)
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3
i'1.0
Organizational and Technological
Strategies for Higher Education
in the Information Age
by David J. Ernst, Richard N. Katz, and John R. Sack
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
1
1
2
2
TRENDS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS
Trend 1:
2
Traditional funding sources are flat or decreasing
Trend 2:
Public expectations and state mandates are calling
for more reporting requirements and accountability
5
Trend 3:
Consumer expectations demand more sophisticated
8
services requiring greater access to data
Evolving organization structures will significantly
Trend 4:
change traditional hierarchies
1 1
Trend 5:
Sophisticated knowledge workers require
15
expanded technical and consulting support
19
BUILDING TOMORROW'S ORGANIZATION
3
21
BIBLIOGRAPHY
24
CORPORATE SPONSOR PROFILE
Published by
CAUSE
-%tor#
the association for managing and using
information resources in higher education
Professional Paper Series, #13
4
About the Authors
David J. Ernst is a Managing Associate in the San Francisco office of
Coopers & Lybrand's Higher Education Consulting practice. His special-
ties are information technology management, strategic planning, and
business process reengineering. David joined the practice after twenty
years as a senior administrator and chief information officer at the San
Diego and San Francisco campuses of the University of California and at
Stanford University. He served on the CAUSE Board of Directors, was
chair of the 1992 CAUSE Annual Conference, and is a charter faculty
member of both the Director and Manager programs of the CAUSE
Mai gement Institute. He holds bachelor's degrees in political science
and rhetoric and a law degree from the University of California, Davis.
1111111,;a_
Richard N. Katz is Executive Director, Business Planning and Practices,
at the University of California Office of the President where he is
responsible for directing and suppci-ting the implementation of strategic
management initiatives in the business and finance area in the nine-
campus UC system. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of
Pittsburgh and an MBA from UCLA. He is a frequent conference
presenter, keynote speaker, and contributor to academic and proles-
sional journals on management and information technology subjects. He
>i
was a co-author of CAUSE Professional Paper #8, Sustaining Excellence
in the 21st Century: A Vision and Strategies for College and University
Administration.
John R. Sack, as Director of the Stanford Dom Center, is responsible for
support and operation of institutional information systems at Stanford
University, including administrative and library information systems. A
major goal for his organization is the implementation of accessible,
University-wide systems and services that deliver information in an open,
client/server environment, migrating from the current terminal-to-host
mainframe architecture. He holds a bachelor's degree in Fnglish and
philosophy from the University of Virginia, and a master's degree in
English from Stanford.
1
INTRODUCTION
1
and time is of the essence. The momentum of change is
Three forces of changeorganizational, technologi-
sufficiently great that it is not enough simply to make
cal, and economicare under way and gaining momen-
wise choices; if we do not also make those choices
tum in higher education today. Each is prompting dis-
quickly we risk being overrun by change rather than
cussion, study, frustration, and, in some cases, fear.
being its agents, enablers, or facilitators. This brings to
Taken together, these change forces will alter the nature
mind Lee laccoca's admonition to "lead, follow, or get
of higher education. They have brought us face to face
out of the way," and is particularly sobering to those
with hard choices about how to harness and direct these
acculturated to the dictates, norms, and values of higher
alterations without becoming their victims.
education's unique shared governance model, who
rightly and necessarily operate in a time-consuming
A set of organizational forces has moved colleges
environment of discussion, intellectualization, consulta-
and universities along a path of greater decentralization,
tion, and consensus-building.
enabling departmental and personal empowerment.
Technological forces have pushed us toward distrib-
This paper examines five key trends impacting
uted, client/server, and cooperative processing environ-
higher education administration that were among those
ments. Economic forces are impacting both organiza-
identified in HEIRAlliance Executive Strategies Series
tions and technology and are challenging the very
Report #1, published by the Association of Research
existence of some institutions.
Libraries, CAUSE, and Educom in September of 1992.
Each trend is introduced with a question or issue that
Campus executivesand information technology
might occur to a campus chief executive, followed by an
(IT) professionals especiallyare beginning to compre-
assessment of organizational and technological implica-
hend the magnitude of institutional and environmental
tions, with economic implications discussed where ap-
change in the information age. In many higher education
propriate. In particular, this paper seeks to demonstrate
publications and gatherings, the operative words are
that, rather than being part of the problem, information
transformation, restructuring, reengineering, rethinking,
technology is part of the solution. New strategies are
innovation.
proposed to deal with change, using information tech-
nology tools to meet the challenges of administering
We live and work within a context of accelerating
higher education in the information age.
change and a season of choicesthere are right paths
and wrong paths, critical directions need to be chosen,
2/ ORGANIZATIONAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL STRATEGIES
FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE INFORMATION AGE
2 TRENDS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS
As the president sits in her office pondering the
the globe can and will affect the behaviors, values,
many
changes impacting the administration of her institution,
decisions, and priorities of the academy. While a global
she narrows the list to the five she believes are most
context may be the proper one for twenty-first-century
relevant and most shared by other colleges and univer-
higher education decision-making, it is a relatively new
sities. She knows that economic issues run through all of
planning context for most of us. Few of us have antici-
them, but each has its own set of organizational and
pated the organizational and technical requirements
technical implications. She decides to call a series of
and capabilities that will be expected of colleges and
universities in'a global and event-driven context.
meetings with. the provost, vice president for administra-
tive affairs, and vice provost for information resources to
address each of the five trends on her list. What follows Failing to identify such requirements or to develop
is a distillation of the points of view and approaches
these capabilities, there is a risk that college and univer-
discussed at these five "trends" meetings. sity leaders will tend to respond to events rather than to
plan for them. The failure to institutionalize strategic
planning as an element of "normal operations"' has led
TREND 1:
us to become, as some call us, adhocracies; that is,
Traditional funding sources are flat or
reactive institutions that grope from event to event,
decreasing
inventing homemade solutions to immediate pressures.
The immediacy of our problems predisposes us to em-
Whether institutions are public or private,
brace quick and easy solutionslike across-the-board
cutsin lieu of developing an understanding of the
large or small, the tunding available is falling
far behind the requirements. Some institutions
trade-offs between complex priorities set in the context
are responding by focusing more on
of strategic objectives. Who among us, for example, can
information technology, while others are
articulate our institution's vision and strategy of adminis-
questioning its effectiveness. Can information
tration?
technology help with this challenge?
As events overtake us, we are discovering the limits
of adhocracy as a planning and decision-making para-
Organizational Implications
digm. Some of us have begun to view our institutions'
administration in the context of our academic plans. It is
for this reason that we are now hearing with increasing
We live and work today in what some describe as
an "era of events." While the historical ideal of the
frequency about emerging productivity enhancement
academy as an ivory tower continues to influence our
strategies suc h as infrastructure investment, total quality
management (TQM), business process reengineering
vision of colleges and universities, our institutions have
become inextricably linked with the communities we
(13PR), research incubators, outsourcing, distance edu-
cation, and other strategic management initiatives and
serve. If the global village metaphor is an appropriate
one, then we !tidy assume that events occurring across
methodologies.
3
Technological Implications
as Michael Hammer suggests, don't automate it, obliter-
ate it2in order to free up time and money for new and
important goals. We're now leaving behind the mindset
To sustain the quality of our academic institutions,
that said that the services we have provided for the
we must begin to shift the focus of the information
technology function away from optimizing machine
longest time must be the most important ones, so when
cutting budgets, let's start by cutting the new initiatives.
efficiency and towards enhancing human productivity
We now know that some of the newest things we are
and effectiveness. Technology investments that help us
doing have the potential for the greatest payback to our
produce more and fancier reports must yield to invest-
institutions. Budget cutting has progressed from "last in,
ments in those technologies that enable faster transac-
first out" to "least valuable, first out."
tions and better decisions.
Old Strategy:
Old Strategy:
Build new systems
Budgetary feeding frenzy
New Strategy:
New Strategy:
Build information hifrastructure
Fixed resource reality
In the two decades past, much of our effort went
In the 70s and early 80s, for many of us every new
into building new applications, as we were completing
thing we took on seemed to come with new money.
the suite of applications that brought automation to
Everything we did was additive. In the 90s, it is clear that
nearly all campus busine s processes. Now we are more
we've got to rethink the way we accomplish our work
Figure 1
Imperative: Increase Administrative Productivity
Adhocratic
Planning Centric
Develop a vision
Cut expenses across the board
Identify academic priorities
Rethink mission/markets
Nurture internal growth sectors
Cut administration deeper
Redefine administration
Eliminate unnecessary work
Dismantle unproductive policy
Reengineer processes
Leverage the IT infrastructure
Attack paperwork
Tighten procedures and seek
Empower employees
Leverage the private market
scale through centralization
Embed procedural controls in
IT infrastructure
4/ ORGANIZATIONAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL STRATEGIES FOR HIGHER EDUCAT,ON IN THE INFORMATION AGE
organizations have perforce become more creative in
focused on leveraging such investments by distributing
providing improved service at reduced cost, we have
access to these legacy systems around the campus. The
recognized that (1) functions can be selectively out-
focus is no longer on capturing and storing information
sourced, and (2) "sourcing" is a continuum, from in-
as it has been for our transaction systems. We now
sourcing through partnering to outsourcing. Selectively,
recognize that information gains value as it moves
one might choose to outsource functions like printing, or
around the institution and is used by many people in
even just impact printing; many shops have "outsourced"
many contexts. The exchange of information between a
supplier and a consumer is facilitated by new net-
microfiche printing for years, without even calling it that.
Similarly, one might elect to use a third party to provide
working technologies. Leveraging the "installed base" of
assistance in an architectural transition, having it take
data and systems provides new value without building
over legacy systems maintenance, for example. On a
entirely new syst,..ms.
sliding scale from "insourcing" to "outsourcing," you
Old Strategy:
can elect to partner with a vendor to develop a system to
Avoid new technologies
your specifications, and then the vendor turns the system
over to you for maintenance, or, in a different outsourcing
New Strategy:
option, you treat the system as a purchased package and
Adopt new technologies
pay the vendor for maintenance.
Old Strategy:
In the 70s and early 80s, new technologies were the
Automate manual processes
most expensive and risky technologies. So to save time
and money we avoided trying anything that departed
New Strategy:
dramatically from our installed base. In recent years,
Reengineer business processes
new technologies are increasingly cheaper than the
technologies they replace. And in some cases new
technologyif it isn't "bleeding edge"can be less
In the 70s and 80s we would "harden" our manual
business processes into systems that would "automate"
risky than what it
replaces; that difference is often
the manual function. We made the business more effi-
reflected in the maintenance prices vendors charge for
cient. But in the 90snow that most of our manual
hardware that is old, versus hardware that is newer. And
processes have been automatedthe message is that we
a simple fact often overlooked by our colleagues, who
can save the institution the most money by rethinking, or
wonder why our services don't automatically get cheaper
reengineering, the business process into an effective one
each year when they read about our industry's price/
before turning it into an efficient process in software.
performance improvements, is that you can't get the
price/performance advantages of our industry's wares if
Old Strategy:
you don't actually replace your poor price/performance
Reduce service points, hours, and
equipment with something having a better price/pe, for-
selection
mance ratio.
New Strategy:
Old Strategy:
Provide services throughout and
All-or-nothing outsourcing
beyond the campus, around the clock
New Strategy:
"Cellular" outsourcing and leasing
Our first reaction when budgets are reduced is to
lock for services io cut, or reduce the number of loca-
tions we provide service, or the hours during which a
When the concept of outsourcing emerged as a
service window of phone is open. No doubt these
business strategy, it tended to be viewed as an al I-or-
approaches save money. Yet we may be able to use our
noth i ng proposition in which information systems func-
systems in ways that appear to our customers to be
tions were potentially provided by an external company
service enhancements, while we know that the new
under contract. But in the last few years as in-house IS
9
5
TREND 2:
service actually saves money. In the banking business,
Public expectations and state
the automated teller machine was an example of this
mandates are calling for more
kind of approach. Especiall., when we are dealing with
reporting requirements and
the most peripatetic of our customersfaculty and stu-
accountability.
dents, who after all are engaged in producing and
consuming the very stuff we say we managethey may
feel better served by us if we trade off some of our paper-
Every time we turn around it seems there's a
based and expensive processes for electronic ones that
new investigation or state or federal audit
are available aroundand beyondthe campus, around
going on. Before long most of the staff will be
the clock.
devoted to creating reports! The need for
increased accountability raises fundamental
Old Strategy:
questions about the nature of our priorities and
Marginally-scalable mainframes
about how our performance is monitored and
communicated to the constituents we serve.
New Strategy:
Maximally-scalable workstations
Organizational implications
A major reason many campuses are pursuing cli-
ent/server technologies so vigorously is the scalability of
For the post World War II period, American col-
the desktop environment: Why is this important? Be-
leges and universities have operated in a positive growth
cause the information economy requires so much more
environment stimulated by: (1) the G.I. Bill; (2) the baby
access by so many more people, it is important to bring
boom; (3) the dramatic increases in federal and private
desktop equipment into the picture. Since the number of
sponsorship of university research; (4) growth in student
is that portion of the
users is growing so rapidly,
it
financial aid; and (5) the growth in many states' tax
technical environment that must scale in easy and
bases. These demographic trends, plus public policies
affordable increments.
towards and investments in higher education, have
made U.S. postsecondary education the envy of the
Old Strategy:
world. In many ways these policies and investments
Utopian: evangelize, revolutionize
served to create a seller's market for postsecondary
instruction and sponsored research. Beginning in the
New Strategy:
late 1980s, and for the foreseeable future, structural
Realistic: consolidate, institutionalize
changes to the U.S. economychanges shaped by
burgeoning government defic its, the baby bust, and the
Many of us in the last decade got caught up in our
emergence of an information economythreaten to
own rhetoric and too readily believed our own press.
alter, at best, and possibly erode this legacy of invest-
Our sweeping visions of the 80s don't fit the times now;
ment and support.
the visions are not wrong so much as they exceed our
real ability to plan, fund, implement, and deliver. The
The effects of these more recent trends are exacer-
radical visions required revolution, and we can see how
bated by a perceived inability of colleges and universi-
slowly that comes to the faculty. Our approach now
ties to manage their resources responsibly, to control
should be more to look at what successes we have had,
their costs, to balance research priorities with teaching,
and to try to package them, to leverage them, to get our
and to meet the educational needs of young people
best real products in the hands of more people in our
joining the work place in the twenty-first century. The
ultimate effect of the concurrent rise in tuition and
institutions.
decrease in the availability of college-eligible students
will be an increase in public scrutiny of colleges and
universities. In what some characterize as an emerging
14