Moving on from the Osti Frock
Student Services –
Christchurch College of Education
Adrienne Roberts
Student Services Registrar
Linda Stewart
Database Administrator
Jeni Moir
Project Co-ordinator
Jill Borland
Liaison Manager
Abstract
This paper uses the metaphor of the Osti frock to describe and critique a change
management process within Student Services at Christchurch College of Education
as well as to position the changes within a broader context of change within the
tertiary sector.
We take a case study approach and elaborate on some of the realities of managing
change as participant researchers rather than as observers.
The human factor is critical in any change process and we evaluate the strategies
used to minimise any negative impact on staff as we move towards creating a high
quality professional service.
The presenters are the drivers of change and three out of four have less than two
years experience working in this Student Services team.
Our perception is that these strategies have carried Student Services staff with
the changes while at the same time dislocating traditional relationships between
Student Services and academic staff.
This paper shares a work in progress by telling some of our stories of how we are
moving forward in our efforts to better equip Student Services to deal with an ever
changing tertiary context and supporting staff to develop a more dynamic wardrobe!
‘Frock’ the outer garment, for indoor wear, of women and
children consisting of a bodice and a skirt; a gown, dress.
1538 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
Hence, ‘Osti frock’ a frock made of man made fibre, muted
pastels of distinctive style often worn with a ‘cardy’. Popular
choice for quiet, nice, accommodating ladies. 1960’s New
Zealand
The Osti frock is a useful metaphor to describe an office workplace in general and
our Student Services in particular, of the past. A time where very helpful, compliant
women on low pay worked very hard, following the rules set by others. It was a time
when the rate of change was low and work was less pressured. There was time to get
things right - funding came through counting heads and multiplying by a set of
figures and sending the paperwork in, enrolling students into courses could happen
when the results came in.
However, by 2001, Student Services at CCE was in difficulty. The growth in student
numbers, in the range of qualifications and in different delivery modes had not been
matched by growth in systems and processes to manage this hugely changing
tertiary environment. The staff, our Osti frockers, struggled to meet the increasing
demands and became adept at finding solutions to the immediate problem. This was a
group of women who largely felt powerless over their work flow and that their role
was to make good whatever academic staff delivered – including late results,
incomplete results, changes in dates, and generally a range of initiatives, unknown to
them and that had consequences for their workloads.
Goodwill, being nice, disintegrated under the pressure of achieving the deadlines of
projects such as graduation and enrolment. Staff turnover increased, conflict was
evident, and silo mentalities formed as a way of surviving – a ‘not in my job
description’ became pervasive.
This is the environment that the four of us have stepped into. First, came a new
manager with the task to make change in an area that was now visibly not coping. The
database administrator was already a team member; her frustration level was
enormous, yet her optimism had not quite diminished. Then came a Project
Coordinator and a new Liaison (promotions) Manager, neither of whom had worked in
a Student Services role.
The four of us have set out on a process of change management to ‘move on from the
Osti frock’, to create a Student Services team able to deliver a high quality
professional service, participate actively with our academic colleagues and be
adaptive to change.
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THE CHANGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS
The process undertaken can be described in a clinical way as;
Step one:
Observe the current environment, prepare for a review
–
consider
parameters,
underlying
principles,
foreshadow with staff
Step two:
Review – two day all staff professional development.
Seek stake holder feedback to publish at Review,
consider current environment and tasks, evaluate
current organisation match, consider service standards
and priorities for change
Step three:
individual interviews results of self review, and begin to
test out new organisational structure
Step four:
begin to put in place achievable priorities; improved
communication – regular staff meetings
Step five:
communicate new organisational structure, first to
Registrar, then to staff then to stakeholders. Win
additional resourcing and commitment to renovate
Step six:
put new resourcing and organisational structure in place;
set up project teams; publish to Directors through a
paper and to all CCE through staff newsletter
Step seven:
review and report project team outcomes – graduation,
calendar
Step eight:
consolidate team vision through ongoing staff
development; service agreements, staff meeting focus –
what does a high quality professional service mean?
Step nine:
Annual review 2003 – enrolment focus. Staff feedback
through questionnaire, stakeholder interviews, senior
staff three day review, two day all staff - what has
been achieved, what needs to change, what are the
priorities now
Step ten:
follow up new priorities, report progress.
Our approach is similar to any number of change management models that describe a
process of diagnosis, planning and action (Inkson and Kolb, 2002) or identify a
desired future, recognise need, problem diagnosis , develop alternatives, select,
implement and evaluate (Bartol et al, 2001)
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However, this list of steps does not convey the richness of the process, the
difficulties, the ‘wins’, the emotional roller coaster for the drivers of change and
the constancy of planning, implementing and review. It does not describe the sense
of ‘white water rafting’, (to use a well known change metaphor) on a challenging river
that you rather bravely decided to navigate only to discover that your maps are not
accurate and indeed at times, it feels like you are on an altogether different river
and the only option is to keep on paddling.
Fifteen months after the first review it is possible to discern amongst ‘the messy
terrain of change’ (Stein and Jick, 1992) some patterns that give an impression of a
cohesive plan gradually implemented. This is both true and an illusion. An illusion that
there was a neat ten step programme from the beginning, and yet true, as on
reflection, some fundamental beliefs have consistently shaped the range of
strategies used.
THE VALUES UNDERPINNING CHANGE
The success of any change management process is determined by how well the
‘people’ aspects are attended to. (Kanter et al, 1992; Kotter and Schlesinger; Senge,
1990; Nilakant and Ramnarayan, 1998; Bartol et al, 2001).
From the outset, our beliefs underpinned the selection of strategies and our
responses to unexpected events and reactions. Our shared beliefs were that people
are to be treated with respect, to be genuinely listened to, and to be seen as having
expert knowledge about their own work. These beliefs were a mix of our
backgrounds in teaching, counselling and social work, our academic study and
experiencing the negative consequences of poorly driven change processes. We
recognised that we had the opportunity to drive major change, were new to the roles
of change managers and wanted to do it as we saw it “right” by people. We also did
not have a vested interest in any particular outcome as we could not pretend to know
their work.
The first review invited staff to look at their work with the implied promise that to
look would be valued. It revealed a staff keen to provide a high quality service for
students within an environment that enabled them to feel in control and successful.
Staff wanted to do well and they wanted to have the resources to do well. Given the
opportunity to explore the work of student services, critique strengths and
weaknesses, find solutions, they enthusiastically engaged in the process. On the
surface the review was two days time out with flash folders and goodies.
Underneath there was a complex layering of expectations, cautious optimism, doubt
and anxiety. Beginning a change management process involves a subtle contract of
trust between manager and staff. This contract is initially very fragile and can only
strengthen as more evidence builds of the beliefs and values being consistently
observed in practice.
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The belief that people work best when they have some control over their work, have
some autonomy and are able to have a sense of achievement and ownership was also a
key principle for the nature of organisational change we supported. It is also well
supported in the literature. We wanted to encourage initiative and self direction and
believed that this came out of feeling in control over their work and having a
management style which was collaborative rather than authoritarian. These beliefs
were explicitly stated as part of the review documents distributed to staff.
The beliefs and values underpinning any change management process influence the
nature of the outcome. The degree of commonality of values between drivers of
change and staff will also have a significant influence on the process.
THE IMPORTANCE OF TIMING
The timing of the first review seven months into the new Student Services
Registrar’s position was very clever but completely by accident. The work flow in
student services is dominated by two key projects – graduation and enrolment. Both
projects require meeting very tight deadlines and are times of heavy work load,
tension and pressure.
Managers have to earn the respect of staff and an excellent way is to observe how
managers react under pressure, how quickly they learn new tasks and how they
position themselves in an environment marked by considerable external demands.
It is also excellent for a new manager to come to know their new team through
seeing them at their most raw. A great deal of evidence was able to be gathered
about the strengths and weaknesses of individual staff as well as the structure and
systems. Whilst we were new and needed to gather the knowledge about the job
content, our observation of staff was a much greater resource to support us in
managing the change process. Change is best launched from a strong knowledge base
about staff, team dynamics, and how they interpret and work with systems and
structures.
USING OPPORTUNITIES TO STRENGTHEN RELATIONSHIPS
A change management process inevitably tests relationships as it introduces
uncertainty. Uncertainty produces a range of emotions such as fear, anxiety, anger,
frustration, self doubt, and despair, all experienced to varying degrees. If the
relationships are strong, both amongst staff and between managers and staff,
uncertainty can be contained.
Stephen Covey (1992) talks of the need to consider the bank balance with staff –
the deposits and the withdrawals. A change management process can quickly deplete
reserves. We were deliberate in building up the deposits in planning for the review.
Attention to the details of venue, external facilitator, catered lunches
demonstrated to staff that they were important. The fact that this was the very
first time that Student Services had been closed for two days for professional
development added a ‘few more dollars in the bank’.
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However, the ‘bank balance’ is constantly changing and it was some of the actions in
the previous seven months that actually had a greater impact than the intentional
relationship building.
Having a drink at a local bar after graduation and celebrating a huge event achieved,
sharing the unseen ‘glitches’ amidst a lot of laughter was significant and a first for
this team; a first to be shouted a drink by the College and a first to debrief. Taking
a half day to acknowledge hard work, the Council congratulations being conveyed to
staff, a chocolate cake from the Registrar were all tangible ways for staff to see
their efforts were noticed and valued.
A year later, the lunch on the final day of our second annual Review was a surprise
and much was made of the mystery trip to the venue. We also had a mystery task to
complete involving all staff and the laughter and fun together made a huge
difference to the memories of the review.
It is a humbling reminder that the apparent small and trivial can be hugely
significant and often forgotten by managers. It shapes attitudes towards change
and the willingness of staff to tolerate the inevitable hurdles and delays.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ANTICIPATING NEGATIVE REACTIONS
Response to change is varied. For the drivers of change, it can be very exciting. We
found change energising; putting plans and ideas into action, problem solving,
developing new systems and ways of working. We had a great deal of autonomy and
freedom to generate plans that were supported by senior managers of the College.
Amongst staff, we found that there were some ready to ‘jump the wall’, an image
Hilary Langford uses to describe the stages of a change process, and the response
of those enthusiastic to try the new ways. We also found fear of change – fear of
the unknown, and anxiety whether there would be any say about the nature of
change.
Within an environment of down sizing, fear can derail the change process. However,
we were fortunate that it was highly probable we would be increasing staff. There
was a sense of Student Services being under resourced amongst the wider College
community. However, we also wanted staff to widen their perspective and be open to
new possibilities- new organisational structures, new systems, new approaches.
We employed a number of strategies to encourage and reassure staff as well as
minimise negativity and pessimism ‘over the morning tea table’.
A key strategy used in the first Review was the use of an external facilitator, an exCollege staff member who was known and respected in the College community.
Through her work developing new performance management systems for the General
staff, she had already significant credibility and trust. Whilst a considerable cost, it
reaped huge benefits in taking the focus off the drivers of change and enabling
them to participate alongside staff.
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The workshop plan was thorough so that the agenda for the two days was
distributed in advance and followed. There were reassurances about the security of
their jobs and that all change was negotiable.
For the second annual Review a year later, it was thought at first, that we did not
need to be so carefully planned, it could be a low budget venture and indeed we could
take a few risks with a team now more used to working together. However, some of
the drivers were more cautious and argued to change the plan from a high powered
start, (an HR facilitated presentation on customer service), to a focus on the results
of the staff feedback sought earlier. This was absolutely the best decision and
meant that staff input was genuinely valued. The temptation is to rush ahead, to
assume staff commitment and believe that once over the ground was enough. In
practice, the listening and going over what can appear the same issues are important
and can both convince staff of commitment to espoused beliefs and values about
collaboration as well as being able to gauge more accurately where each staff
member sits in relation to change.
The choice of language is a significant indicator of how staff view their world. We
actively used the language of change. In the second review, we presented some of
the theory around change. In both cases this opened up new conversations amongst
staff, gave permission for a range of responses and a means of interpreting
behaviours.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A TEAM GOAL
The rationale for change needs to be convincing. In our case, there was the
strategic use of crisis1. The feedback from stakeholders was telling us that we
needed to make changes. We had just experienced the pressure of graduation and
enrolment where it was plain that systems and resources were insufficient to
manage the task without a lot of us feeling very stressed and frustrated.
It was a perfect moment!
Further we were able to capture this desire for better things into a goal that
engaged us all. We wanted to provide a better service to students. Providing a
better service implied that we needed to be less stressed and better resourced.
This goal evolved to become ‘providing a high quality professional service’. In a neat
way it encapsulated both a worthy goal and means of meeting our needs. It was
relatively safe, yet challenging about our practices and did not threaten any
particular group within Student Services. It was also achievable in a variety of ways
and each person was able to contribute.
Strategic use of crisis – this is explained in a later section. It is an excellent way to maximise people’s
readiness to change when it is inescapable that something is not working.
1
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The goal was not an accident. The planning from the start identified the need to
improve the level of service. Over the course of the year, the goal took shape from
a bundle of intentions around priorities to a short, concise statement of providing a
high quality, professional service.
THE STRATEGIC USE OF CRISIS
There needs to be a momentum for change. It also needs to be a momentum rooted
within the team’s experience. Whilst as managers we were concerned about our
readiness for 2004 funding changes, this would not have captured the staff at that
time. There was enough evidence within the team’s experience coupled with the very
blunt feedback from stakeholders that motivated staff towards change.
We have also used to good effect the opportunity that mistakes provide, or the
‘engineered breakdown’.( Goss, Pascale, Athos, 1993) The poor condition of some
academic records required for the first Course Completion report was the impetus
for a major project on student information management systems, the SIMS project.
Across College ‘breakdowns’ have enabled us to take a more pro active role in setting
out what we need and formalising procedures. Our own efforts to document
processes have given an excellent opportunity to review and change processes to be
more coherent and consistent.
CREATING NEW PARTNERSHIPS
The divide between academic and general staff is a feature of academic institutions.
Issues of inferiority and superiority, ignorance about each others’ work, and
significant differences in pay all contribute to a divide. Some academic staff are
rude and dismissive about administrative good practice. The increasing compliance
requirements have affected the traditional autonomy of academic work – the need
to report results to a time frame, to restrict extensions to a time limit, to describe
course outcomes, to make assessment explicit.
Student Services at Christchurch College of Education had a covert culture of
resentment and cynicism as a way of managing the demands made upon them by
academic staff. It was felt that the hierarchy of academic work over general staff
work meant that their ability to require of academics was limited. One of the
strongest first impressions of the new Student Services Registrar was a “you can
stand up for us” expectation. They felt strongly that their efforts to do a good job
were compromised by the often poor practice of academics. There was a certain glee
about some of the early exchanges to insist on time lines being kept.
The desire for partnership and collaborative practices has developed over the year.
It has been supported by having ex-academic staff in leadership roles in Student
Services willing to challenge and question practices. It has also been supported by
external requirements that give the drivers of change both a strong rationale and a
distancing from the requested change.
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REPORT CARD TO DATE
This is an incomplete story. Whilst it is true to say that change is ongoing, another
year should see the results of our efforts to transform Student Services from the
ad hoc practices of the past to more efficient and effective processes.
The tangible results are through the number of processes and systems up for
question, and the change in relationships. Reviewing and documenting processes is
everyday activity – does it work? Can we do it better? Staff are more positive and
there is a more energised atmosphere. Staff take more self-responsibility for their
work and are aware of how their work impacts on others. Communication has
improved, become more open, and team and staff meetings become routine.
Project planning has become established and normalised. It was important to have a
key success such as graduation 2002 to unite staff in seeing concrete benefits in
terms of reduced workload pressures. It was also important to have a project that
went far from smoothly and see the way in which staff initiated review and improved
procedures in a pro active way.
FINAL COMMENTS
To return to our original Osti frock metaphor, Student Services staff now wear a
very different wardrobe. The language and behaviours are markedly different, with
each other and with their academic colleagues. It is a much more challenging team to
lead and manage.
Writing a paper encourages reassessment of the process undertaken so far. It
allows the recognition of real and visible achievements. Writing also makes solid that
which is dynamic and elusive, therefore raising questions about accuracy of
perception. As the four drivers of change, we brought a unique mix of neither
outsider consultant or insider change agent. We brought an unusual combination of
institutional knowledge, fresh perspective, naivety, optimism and shared commitment
to a respectful change management process.
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