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As the semester ends, it seems fitting to provide an update on Striving for Excellence (SFE), our campus-wide restructuring effort, initiated at the commencement of this semester and published in the Campus Chronicle on Sept. 12, 1997. Organizational restructuring has taken many forms on campuses throughout the country. As a reminder, on this campus SFE encompasses a broad range of change activities designed to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of academic support services and recapturing savings where possible. Some activities are largely aimed at changing the campus culture, at deploying new technology, at redesigning services, or at internal reorganization. Yet, on our campus all restructuring activities are synonymous with innovative change and are guided by the recognition of the ongoing imperative for change, the first of the guiding principles set forth in Strategic Action.
Under SFE, the campus Committee for Organizational Restructuring (CCOR) was charged with identifying particular academic support processes and areas on the campus which would most benefit from restructuring. During the course of the past three months, the Campus Committee for Organizational Restructuring, chaired by Deputy Chancellor Williams, has been working toward identifying such processes and areas. Once identified by CCOR, they will be forwarded to the Chancellor's Executive Advisory Council with a recommendation for their consideration and approval.
Subsequently, project teams consisting of individuals from selected processes and areas will review how current services are provided and make recommendations for enhancing the quality of services. Suggestions for changing process may include changes in organizational structures, behaviors, compensation and reward systems, as well as relationships with constituencies. I recognize that our campus has been and continues to engage in innovative and imaginative change projects, especially those of Continuous Quality Improvement; SFE is intended to orchestrate current and future restructuring projects by providing a common framework for reporting and recognizing our achievements.
Additionally, Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) is a structured organizational process for involving personnel in planning and executing a continuous stream of improvements in order to provide quality academic support services that meet or exceed expectations. Under the broader rubric of CHANGE, restructuring projects will complement CQI. The work of CQI has created a quality culture on the campus, restructuring work will allow us to move to the next level-a quantum jump-moving processes under redesign to a new level service and savings. CQI will then continue to improve the changed processes. In a sense, SFE restructuring will allow us to move from continuous quality improvement to quantum quality innovation projects. However, both continuous improvement and innovation are essential; we could think of the pattern as improve, then innovate, then improve again. In this model continuous improvement and restructuring do not contradict each other; they are but two ways of accomplishing quality change. Yet, for all change initiatives, quality is ultimately the objective.
In the coming months a number of new change restructuring projects will be spawned and follow the structure detailed in SFE. They may cut across a number of departmental areas and have a variety of goals as their guide for change. At the beginning of the spring semester the Campus Committee for Organizational Restructuring will contact individuals across the campus to enlist their support as project team members for processes that are approved for review. In the next month there will be a web site located off the campus front door (www.umass.edu) which will contain all information related to SFE.
For those of you currently involved in change projects, I ask you to continue your hard work toward improving the quality of the University. Whether it is continuous or quantum, improvement or innovation, I believe that all projects promote a flexible, agile, and adaptable organization, as well as a learning organization which will better position us for the changing and challenging environment that lies ahead.
David K. Scott
Chancellor
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Copyright © 1998
University of Massachusetts, Amherst. |
