This document summarizes a presentation about restructuring a large academic school. It discusses the restructuring of the University of East London which merged the schools of humanities and social sciences. It also describes the challenges of merging the schools, such as different policies and procedures between sites and managing communication. Finally, it presents a case study on the planned merger of three universities in Finland, including the Theatre Academy in Helsinki. The presentation addresses how to balance strategic development, transformation, and sustainability during organizational change.

1. Managing, Facilitating, Embracing Change:
A Story about Re-structuring a Large
Academic School
Anne K. Craven
Director of
Administration, Helsinki
Theatre Academy
anne.craven@teak.fi
04 April 2012
1 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

2. Focus of the Session:
Management of Restructuring/Mergers
Concerns and
opportunities:
• Strategy
• Operations
2 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

3. In This Session – Details
 Strategic Management of Change
 UEL: Merger of Law and Social Sciences
 Sharing experiences
 Lessons learned and applied? Seizing
Opportunities?
– The case of Helsinki Theatre Academy
3 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

4. Restructuring:
World of Change and
University Strategy
4 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

5. University Strategy Formulation and
Development in Times of Change 1
Hannagan (2002: 16): ‘Strategic
management is about a sense of
purpose, looking
ahead, planning, positioning, strategic
fit, leverage and stretching. … It is about the
purpose of the organisation, the direction it is
to take and the way it forms and prepares
itself to face competition.’
5 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

6. University Strategy Formulation and
Development in Times of Change 2
Lockwood and Davies (1985: 167)
Institutional planning seen as
‘the continuous and collective exercise of
foresight in the integrated process of taking
informed decisions affecting the future’.
6 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

7. Restructuring as a Strategic Response
to Challenges
 What challenges might trigger a restructuring
within a university?
7 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

8. Restructuring as a Strategic Response
to Challenges (‘Push’)
 Changes in higher education policy
 Changes of practice
 Competition
 Efficiency savings
 Supporting a failing department/school
8 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

9. Restructuring as a Strategic Opportunity
 What opportunities might trigger a
restructuring within a university?
9 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

10. Restructuring as a Strategic Opportunity
(‘Pull’)
 Interdisciplinary/joint research
 Interdisciplinary/joint courses
 Attracting more research/teaching income
 Other strategic opportunities
10 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

11. University Strategy Formulation and
Development in Times of Change 3
Ronald Barnett (2000: 6)
 ‘supercomplexity’
 a situation in which we are encountered not
only by a great number of data but are also
encountering a ‘multiplication of frameworks’
11 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

12. University of East London:
Regional University and
Strategic Development
12 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

13. University of East London
 Diversity of population:
– Cultures
– Ethnicities
– Languages
– Economic situation
– Social class
 Antipathy towards
university education?
13 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

14. University of East London 2
 Regional university
 Skills training
 Distance learning
 Regeneration: ‘Revitalised
stocks of social, cultural and
symbolic capital’ (Snee and
Lock 2000: 145)
 ‘Regeneration university’
(Snee and Lock 2000: 147–
148)
14 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

15. UEL Restructuring 2011
 New Vice-Chancellor; new strategy
 ‘Transformation for Excellence’
– Excellence in teaching, scholarship, research
– Talent management: attracting, sustaining and
developing talent
 Challenges for Transformation for Excellence
– Schools formed on outdated principles
– Structures hindering interdisciplinarity
15 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

16. UEL Restructuring: Key Changes
 Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) =>
Moving Humanities subjects to the new
School of Arts and Digital Industries (ADI)
 Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) =>
Moving Social Sciences to the School of
Law, forming the new School of Law and
Social Sciences (LSS)
 Also: Forming the new School of ACE
(Architecture, Computing and Engineering)
16 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

17. Restructuring: A Personal Experience
 Recruited to become Registrar of the School of
Law, end of February 2011
 Mergers decided upon in Spring 2011
 Joining the School of Law in early June 2011
 Mergers becoming official in August 2011
 Voluntary Redundancy Scheme running in 2011
 Maternity leave for a ‘shared’ admin member of staff
17 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

18. Restructuring: LSS
 Split-site school: Docklands (Dox), Stratford
(Duncan House (DH))
 Travelling via DLR and Tube
 11 staff; 6 in DH, 5 in Dox
 One Dox staff in a shared helpdesk (2-3 ADI
staff, 1 LSS staff)
18 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

19. Restructuring: Challenges in LSS
 Physical changes: Distance/travelling btw. sites
– Day-to-day supervision of teams
 Communication in a larger School (c 2600 students, 100 staff)
 Different policies and procedures
– Different committees and forms
 IT issues
 Co-operation with the other Schools
– Helpdesk procedures esp. Drop Box
 Concerns over redundancies => change in workloads
 Concerns over the maternity leave
 Student experience
 Budget, REF, academic staff performance (Dean’s concerns)
19 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

20. Tackling Challenges in LSS Admin
 Distance/travelling btw. sites
– Day-to-day supervision of teams
20 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

21. Tackling Challenges in LSS Admin
 Communication in a larger School (c 2600
students, 100 staff)
21 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

22. Tackling Challenges in LSS Admin
 Different policies and procedures
– Different committees and forms
22 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

23. Tackling Challenges in LSS Admin
 IT issues
23 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

24. Tackling Challenges in LSS Admin
 Co-operation with the other Schools
– Helpdesk procedures esp. Drop Box
24 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

25. Tackling Challenges in LSS Admin
 Concerns over redundancies => change in
workloads
25 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

26. Tackling Challenges in LSS Admin
 Concerns over the maternity leave
26 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

27. Tackling Challenges in LSS Admin
 Student Experience
27 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

28. UEL Restructuring: A Summary
 Challenges:
– Workload issues
– Management issues
– Communication and
procedures
 Transformation > <
preservation of
brand/identity
 Cultivation of relationships
 Playing to one’s strengths
28 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

29. Strategy
Development, Transformation, Sustain
ability – A Balancing Act
 University/Collegiality  Corporate Enterprise?
29 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

30. Discussion: Restructuring/Mergers
 Sharing from own experiences
 What challenges did you face?
 What opportunities did you have?
 What did you do?
 Similarities with the case at UEL?
 Differences with the case at UEL?
 Lessons learned?
30 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

31. Case Study: Merger of three
Universities in Finland
 Theatre Academy Helsinki
 C. 400 students, 50
academic staff, 86 admin
staff
 ‘Stubborn’ defender of the
freedom of artistic
expression
 Commercial projects
 Collaborative research
 Creativity
31 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

32. Case Study: Merger of three
Universities in Finland
 TeaK, Sibelius-Academy, Fine Arts Academy (400/1400/300 students)
 Academies have sought a merger for years
– New Law on Universities, 2010; Government policy; example of
Aalto University
– Strength of interest within the institutions
 Benefits
– Visibility and credibility in international competition (‘interesting’)
– Finances: Government funding and efficiency savings in shared
services
 Challenges
– Different IT systems
– Different ways in organising workloads and roles (cf. the role of
technician)
– Concerns of staff (autonomy; change in roles; workloads)
 Time Frame: By January 2013 and after January 2013
32 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

33. Case Study: Merger of three
Universities in Finland
 From the viewpoint of Theatre Academy
Helsinki, what should the merger be like?
 Ideal strategy and steps to take?
 What should be done/taken into account?
 What questions still need answering?
 Own experiences?
33 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

34. UEL, TeaK: ‘Work in Progress’ –
Playing to Strengths
34 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

35. Concluding Remarks:
University Strategy Cycle and Change
 Self-Correction, Advancement, Achievement
 Draft?
University
Strategy
35 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven

36. Many Thanks!
Anne Craven
anne.craven@teak.fi
References:
 Barnett, R., 2000: Realizing the University in
an Age of Supercomplexity (Buckingham &
Philadelphia, PA: SRHE & OUP).
 Hannagan, T., 2002: Mastering Strategic
Management, Palgrave Master Series
(Business Series Editor: Richard Pettinger)
(Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave).
 Lockwood, G. and Davies, J. (chief
contributors), 1985: Universities: The
Management Challenge (Windsor: SRHE &
NFER-Nelson).
 http://www.uel.ac.uk/
 http://www.teak.fi
 http://www.siba.fi
 http://www.kuva.fi
36 04 April 2012 Anne K. Craven