The academic middle manager shaping the landscape between policy

and practice:The Change Prism

Ton KallenbergLeiden University - The Netherlands

Paper Presentation BELMAS 2014Educational Policy and Practice: Can leaders shape the

landscape?Stratford upon Avon, England, 11-13 july 2014

1. Introduction

1.Introduction to the research

2.the academic middle manager

3.Research methods and results

4.Conclusions5.Questions & dialogue

Higher Education is dynamic and competitive...

changes on:regional level

national level

international level

increasing competition* for the student* for the researcher * for the teacher

changes in:cooperation with firms, schools and demographics (aging, cultural variety)legislation (step down government); performance-oriented financing; Quality assurance (not only used to improve but also for accountability and accreditation)system change of European HE - BaMa systemnot only in region but also European and global competitiveness

they expect excellence, high ranking, image, extras

result = expansion, mergers, formation of (thematic) consortia and other forms of (administrative) cooperation between HE-institutions.

This gives an impulse for strategic innovation ...

Not only initial education and research, but also:• post-initial education• applied scientific research• external financed projects• extra resources and differentiations• forms of alliances and coalitions• more focus in image

Strategic innovation is an intentional movement to obtain a fortified position of the institute relative to others.

So the problem statement resulting from this is ...

HE institutions have to innovate.

If not (or insufficiently):

they lose the competition (for students, research-grants, image, etc.), their role becomes smaller, programs will disappear (esp. Masters!)

But: HE institutions are large organizations with many clashes of interest ...

• tension of focus: centralization versus decentralization (central staff vs faculties)

• tension of functions: administrators (managerial efficiency) versus professionals (content quality)

• tension of initiative: top-down versus bottom-up (and vice-versa)

• tension of interest: education versus research

• tension of control: hierarchy versus collegiality

Result: Strategic innovations are difficult to implement

Innovation in large organizations often prove viscous and unmanageable, without real clarity of reasons.

In particular the translation of strategic ideas to operational level results in many clashes of interest.

“Changing a university is like moving a graveyard: not entire impossible, but don’t expect any cooperation from within.”

...is integrally responsible for program curricula, from strategy - including participation in decisions on institutional strategy and responsibility for School/faculty strategy - through to educational management - including control of education and research programs and student relations within the governing board’s parameters.

(Kallenberg, 2007)

who’s in the centre of the clashes of interest? the academic middle manager !

“You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you

don’t.”

“You’re in the line of fire whether you want it or

not”

The academic middle manager holds an paradoxical in-between position

possibilities:• unique ‘(tacit) knowledge’ basis (he knows

what’s happening in the organization)• integrates strategic information with

operational information (and vice versa)• is in position to speak and negotiate with

stakeholders in the organization on strategic, organizational and operational level.

in short: the prism effect of the academic middle manager is that he select, interprets and synthesizes information and uses this information in a custom way elsewhere in the organization.

constraints:• encapsulated in processes• imbalance in role expectations and freedom

of action• accountable, but no authorization• leadership is expected, but account with

reference to managerial targets, etc.

Yet it’s roles had hardly been researched.So it’s not clear which influence they have.Therefore this research!

Research Question: Which roles does an academic middle manager in HE perform during strategic innovations? Secondary questions: Which factors affect these roles?

Who’s the academic middle manager?

Conceptual Framework

Method

• literature research• survey (2009) - HE in the Netherlands:

14 universities + 44 universities of applied sciences

• 750 random selected mail-addresses: 304 respondents - 246 in dataset (33,37%)

• interviews

Average view of the respondents: mostly man (61,2%) of 50,96 year old and

the vast majority (81,2%) has a fulltime employment. Their education is at

academic level (51,4% MA / 39,6% PhD). They are faithful to their employer

(14,48 year on the same institute) and their salary is about 5.700 Euro (month).

They work for about 5 years as AMM (but 80,7% shorter than 7 years in this

function). 44,1% did an additional training on educational management. They

are satisfied with their job (7,9 on 10-scale).

From To

Character Professionalism Managerialism

Focus Intern oriented and control Management of external relations

Ambition Leaders with own academic career

Leaders with managerial driving forces

Appointment Temporarily part time position

Permanent full time position

Focus on Learning of studentsAcademic valuesProfessional autonomy

Efficiency of studentsEfficiency / effectivityCommon output

Control Democratic governance model

Hierarchic professional model / integral management

Trends in the perception on the roles of the academic middle manager

Results (1): Roles of the academic middle manager

(Kallenberg, 2013)

Results (2): Roles of the academic middle managergeneral:• roles Quinn & Rohrbauch do not fit on the

population academic middle managers in the Netherlands

• academic middle managers fulfill four types of activities that fit on the quadrants

• the Diplomat role is the strongest completed role

subgroups:• no difference in role fulfillment between men

and women • difference in role fulfillment between

universities and universities of applied sciences

• small difference in role fulfillment between directors (Diplomat) and managers (Constructor, Guide, Guard)

• Academic middle managers with direct contact with the board fulfill the role Diplomat in a stronger way

Guard Guide Diplomat Constructor

Complexity (context) ⬆ ⬆ ,16

Dynamic ⬆ ⬆ ,20 ⬆ ,18

Unpredictability ⬇ ⬆ ,18

⬆ ,22

Decision-making ⬆ ⬆ ,20

Informal structure ⬆ ⬇ ,20

⬇ ,23 ⬇ ,23

Complexity (structure)Identity

Unwritten rules

External orientation

Autonomy ⬆ ⬆ ,35 ⬆ ,17

Engagement ⬆ ⬆ ,22 ⬆ ,31 ⬆ ,31

Authority

Vision on education ⬆ ⬆ ,22 ⬆ ,34

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Results (3): Effect of organizational and position related variables on the fulfillment of roles

Examples of strategic innovation

starting new concepts: f.i. new programs, merging, formation of (thematic) consortia

improving existing concepts: f.i. better guidance of students to improve the efficiency / output

fit existing concepts: renew the dated educational concept (f.i. introduction PBL)

stop existing concepts: f.i. repel of differentiations, specialisations, etc.

0,9%

42,2% 26,5%

30,4%

Results (4) Strategic innovations

AMM’s universities: especially examples of revitalizeAMM’s univ applied sciences: esp. examples of transformmen: steady examples of the three types women: esp. examples of transform

On the base of logistic regression analysis:

Revitalize Transform Explore

Gender women -,725** man 1,047**

Age ⬆ ,165**

Guard ⬆ ,544** ⬇ -,514*

Diplomat ⬇ -,702** ⬆ 1,503***

Complexity (context) ⬇ -,631**

Informal structure ⬆ ,328** ⬇ -,344*

Identity ⬇ -,364** ⬆ ,373*

External orientation ⬆ ,887**

Educational vision ⬆ ,563*

Conclusions:• Academic middle managers fulfill four types of roles in (Dutch)

higher education: Guard, Guide, Diplomat, Constructor

• Cultural variables do not have influence on role fulfilling.(other organizational variables just a small influence)

• The Diplomat role is influenced by autonomy and engagement• The Constructor role is influenced by engagement and vision on

Education • The Guard and Guide role are confined influenced

• The prism effect arises for the most in the role of Diplomat(In this role he selects, interprets and synthesizes information and uses this information in a custom way elsewhere in the organization.)

• Do you want to have strategic innovation (“explore”)? Find a Diplomat for the job !

Conclusions: Meaning of the research

Opportunities in educational organizations (for instance):• use of the role-instrument in combination with the examples - to

determine “the right man in the right place” (f.i. job interviews).• accommodate the influencing factors in such a way that the academic

middle manager performs better. • outline management development programs which are aimed at the

enhancing of the specific tools of academic middle managers

Thanks to this research, knowledge is created:• who are the academic middle manager, how

they are positioned, and what they do,• which factors influence the roles of academic

middle managers,• about the relationship between the rolefulfilling

and their preference for types of strategic innovations (towards examples).

Thank you for your attention:

You are invited to download the presentation on:www.slidesharenet.com/tonkallenbergThe paper will be available on:https://leidenuniv.academia.edu/TonKallenberg