2.6 Other Issues
Finally, before moving onto the next major section of the MLE infoKit, it is worth noting some of the recurring themes that appear in the reviews and case studies written about MLE implementation. In a sense this is a 'taste of things to come' as these lead well into later sections (notably 'Understanding your organisation' and 'Embedding') and will be discussed in more depth there. However, they are worth raising now as they will soon arise in any initial discussions.
The most fundamental issue is that of change - namely the possible levels of change you will be requiring of the various units and stakeholders within your institutions should you wish to implement an MLE. Even at this beginning stage you might wish to ask whether you feel there are the structures in place to cope. As Mistry et al (2002, p. 15) state 'Change is uneven: it is continuous: its pace is increasing: [and] there are several causes and commentators [who] advise that it needs to be addressed continuously; and 'endured''. Change management is therefore a key issue that will need to be addressed (and is discussed in the next section) but Mistry et al (2002, p. 16) argue that 'there can be no such thing as 'change management' if, as is commonly held, the nature of change is 'unknown and unquantifiable' and 'seventy per cent of all change initiatives fail' (citing studies by Pugh, and Beer and Nohira). Boys (August 2002) also notes that 'Universities and colleges in the UK do not commonly have in place explicit management of change models or processes.' How to approach this is discussed in later sections, but for now the guidelines proposed by E. Mumford in her ETHICS system are worth considering.
Finally, there is the general problem of discussing something which will be, for the most part, in the abstract. This not only means a need to carefully balance what is desirable with what is possible, but, more importantly, it will require efforts to keep everyone on board and creative. Real-life examples (either local or elsewhere)should be studied as soon as possible.
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