The university student as customer,
supplier, actor, raw material and end
product: analysing university teaching and
learning processes using a soft systems
approach
14th Annual Conference
Irish Academy of Management
1st-2nd September 2011
National College of Ireland,
Dublin
Malcolm Brady
DCU Business School,
Dublin City University
Email: malcolm.brady@dcu.ie
Tel.: +353 1 7005188
Soft systems: CATWOE
• Customer
– victim or beneficiary of the transformation
• Actors
– Those who carry out the transformation
• Transformation Process
– Conversion of input to output
• Weltanschauung
– The world view that makes T meaningful in context
– (Paradigm/ premise under which you are examining)
• Owner
– Those who can stop the transformation
• Environment
– Elements outside the system, taken as given (ie. constraints)
Checkland, 1985
SIPOC
Supplier
Input
Process
Output
Building materials
Plans
House
Build House
Concrete products Company
Architect
Customer
-Clear site
-Dig foundations
-Pour floor slab
-Build walls
-Construct roof
-Install plumbing
-Install electrics
-Plaster walls
-Landscape
House-buyer
Pyzdek, 2003
SIPOC
Supplier
Input
Process
House details
Credit rating
Loan applicant
Credit rating agency
Output
Customer
Money
Mortgage Agreement
Create Mortgage
-Record details
-Check credit history
-Approve loan
-Arrange funds
-Prepare contract
-Sign contract
-Issue mortgage
House-buyer
Supplier
Input
Process
Programme
requirements
School
Output
Customer
Programme specifications
Module descriptors
Programme development
Lecturer
Potential Student
Programme Chair
world view: that there exists an accepted societal need
for specific knowledge transmission and that universities
are appropriate providers of such transmission
Supplier
Input
Process
Module descriptor
Domain knowledge
Programme
Chair
Output
Customer
Course materials
Assignment requirements
Exam paper
Course preparation
Student
Lecturer
world view: that the individual lecturer is the best person
to define the specific content and develop the course
Supplier
Input
Process
Customer
Appreciation of
course materials
Course
materials
Lecturer
Output
Lecture delivery
Student
(Lecturer)
Lecturer (and student)
world view: was that lecturers were the fount of knowledge
and students received a transmission of knowledge
from the lecturer, but this view now changing
Supplier
Input
Process
Course materials
Appreciation of course
materials
Student
Output
Customer
Consolidated learning
Study
Student
Student
world view: that students should largely be capable of
studying by themselves with relatively little formal direction
Supplier
Input
Process
Assignment requirements
Exam paper
Lecturer
Output
Customer
Assignment
Exam script
Examination
Lecturer
Student
world view: that students must be forced or coerced into
learning by having to complete some piece of work that
they must hand up for formal assessment, and that the
work must clearly have been carried out by themselves
alone and unaided
Supplier
Input
Process
Assignment
Exam script
Student
Output
Customer
Grade
Assessment
Student
Lecturer
world view: view that universities assess students on their
academic abilities and not on other abilities: social, interpersonal,
cultural, sporting, entrepreneurial and so on.
Secondly, that the assessment grade is a reasonable
representation of the academic ability of the student.
Thirdly, that assessment is primarily via the written word
or written symbols either in the form of questions or answers
Supplier
Input
Process
Output
Classification
Transcript
Grades
Lecturers
Progression and Award
Award Board
world view:
Customer
Student
Supplier
Input
Process
Classified
students
School
Output
Customer
Graduates
Graduation
Employers
President
world view: that the award itself certifies that the student has
completed a full programme of study and the resulting degree
confers status on the transformed student, the graduand.
Secondly, that universities are seen as elite institutions
Conclusion
• In many respects students are customers
– But students also play other roles
•
•
•
•
•
The supplier of inputs
The actual input itself
The process owner and the person who carries out transformation
The actual output itself
The Customer
• Lecturers also have a multiplicity of roles
• The set of T&L processes is highly integrated
• When considering a process we need to consider the role that
students and lecturers play
– and act accordingly
• We need to recognise certain activities as genuine processes in
their own right and give them appropriate time and attention eg.
assessment