Organisational Cultures

The infoKit on 'Creating a Managed Learning Environment' pays a lot of attention to Understanding your Organisation and defines the following types of organisational culture:

Collegiate

• There is a dual structure of administrative and academic management which results in parallel committee structures which can act as a black hole for decision making.
• Unclear reporting lines and poor coordination, strong local cultures, agendas and identifiers.
• Academic status is perceived as higher than support or administrative functions.
• There are strong subject-specific allegiances with academics often feeling a stronger alliance to their subject area and external networks than the institutional mission.
• Decision making occurs through committees, which can be slow and lack cohesion.
• Activities tend to be driven from the ground, primarily linked to local interests.
• Classic structure of old universities particularly those with more of a research focus.

Bureaucratic

• Characterised by strong central management and top-down decision making.
• The hierarchy of control and decision making is clearly established in the administrative and management structures of the institutions.
• Management roles are clearly defined as career progressions, heads of department, deans etc are appointed through an interview process to tenured positions.
• Central management have strong control over the direction of the strategic priorities for the institution.
• Commonly found in FE colleges and new universities.

Innovative

• Institutions with flexible structures geared to respond and adapt quickly to external factors and influences.
• Strong culture of change and innovation with frequent changes in directions of activities and focus of interest.
• Often characterised by a matrix structure of responsibilities by both subject area and functional activity (where the latter will often be structured around the identified strategic priorities).
• Typically activities focused around particular projects and associated project teams.
• Characteristic of some new universities and colleges but also present within the old universities within the sub-structure of the institution through enterprise centres and research centres which are externally funded.

Enterprise

• More closely aligned to traditional businesses and industry approaches.
• Acutely aware of financial mechanism and processes and alert to external opportunities.
• Traditional management roles and structures with clear demarcation of responsibilities and hierarchical decision making processes.
• Clear business objectives and plans based on detailed market analysis and needs.
• More common in America, particularly in some of the newer institutions which are focused on distance education.

This definition by Professor Grainne Conole can be mapped onto the work of McNay (1995) to identify some features of each type of organisation that are useful to consider when trying to implement change:

Some of those who have effected change in the education sector have noted a few lessons related to the culture:

• Lessons from the school sector

• Lessons from the tertiary sector

• Lessons from the HE sector