Don Houston

Academic Staff Workloads and Job Satisfaction: Expectations and Values in Academe.

University academic staff do complex work in an increasingly demanding environment. Traditionally, universities have defined the role of academic staff according to the three domains of teaching, research, and service, with primary emphasis placed upon the teaching and research aspects and secondary emphasis upon service or administration. Recent dialogue regarding the place of universities in a “knowledge society” has not necessarily reflected upon the impact on the workloads of faculty given increased expectations for measurable outputs, responsiveness to societal and student needs, and overall performance accountability. University faculty motivated by core academic and disciplinary interests are said to be increasingly challenged by increased accountability and workloads. Research on academic workloads have examined the intensification of academic work as well as the balance between research and teaching, particularly as governments have adopted performance funding for research budget components for higher education. Other studies have investigated the impact of the increasing demands on staff stress and work‐life balance. This study examines one universitys approach to these issues, using triangulation of three sources of data on workloads developments and outcomes. Our results are compared to international research findings, and suggestions are offered for future research and development activities based on this comparison and critique.

Rethinking quality and improvement in higher education

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically review dominant conceptions of and approaches to quality in higher education. It suggests an alternative approach with potential to shift the focus of quality activities from accountability and control to improvement.Design/methodology/approach – The applicability and limits of quality concepts and models are critically reviewed against key systems concepts of purpose, boundaries and environments. The limited transferability and utility of such models and the tensions between control and improvement are discussed.Findings – The language and tools of industry‐born quality models are an imperfect fit to higher education. Authentic quality improvement is more likely to result from approaches to systemic intervention that encourage exploration of questions of purpose and of the meaning of improvement in context than from the imposition of definitions and methodologies from elsewhere.Research limitations/implications – Evidence to support the utility of syst...

TQM and Higher Education: A Critical Systems Perspective on Fitness for Purpose

ABSTRACT Total Quality Management (TQM) is a poor fit with higher education and can only be made to fit by major reshaping either of TQM to a more appropriate methodology (and hence not TQM), or of higher education to an image of organisation that fits TQM. The paper revisits longstanding concerns about multiple aspects of TQM from a critical systems perspective. The discussion points to the importance of purpose, language, values and boundary judgements and images of organisations in the determining the transferability of concepts and methods for quality between organisational types. The language, concepts and tools of TQM, while superficially attractive, on closer examination do not match the substance of higher education. It is likely be far more fruitful to explore the development of locally appropriate systemic approaches to improving quality in and of higher education.

Systemic problem structuring applied to community involvement in water conservation

Many advocates of problem structuring approaches mix methods to enhance the flexibility and responsiveness of OR practice. A number of ‘multi-methodology’ approaches have been developed to support practitioners in doing this, and one of these is systemic intervention. A distinguishing feature of systemic intervention is boundary critique: a theory and set of methodological ideas for exploring the inclusion, exclusion and marginalization of both people and issues. This paper argues that boundary critique can enhance the choice and process of application of problem structuring methods. An application of boundary critique is presented to illustrate the argument, focusing on community participation in the management of ongoing water shortages in a small seaside town in New Zealand. The theory of boundary critique helped to reframe peoples understanding of a 30-year conflict between the District Council and community. This led to the design of a participative problem structuring workshop, and a way forward was identified that both the District Council and community could accept. Feedback from the workshop participants suggested that the intervention generated valuable results for all the parties involved. The paper concludes with some brief reflections on how the research agenda on boundary critique and problem structuring methods can be progressed into the future.

Achievements and consequences of two decades of quality assurance in higher education a personal view from the edge

ABSTRACT While the past two decades have seen significant expansion and harmonisation of quality assurance mechanisms in higher education, there is limited evidence of positive effects on the quality of core processes of teaching and learning. The paradox of the separation of assurance from improvement is explored. A shift in focus from surveillance to systemic approaches to improvement is proposed.

Knowledge, power and meanings shaping quality assurance in higher education: a systemic critique

Internationally, quality assurance schemes persist despite long-standing dissatisfaction and critique of their impact and outcomes. Adopting a critical systems perspective, the article explores the relationships between the knowledge, power and meanings that stakeholder groups bring to the design and implementation of quality assurance systems. The analysis shows that such systems are designed to serve the external accountability purposes of government and agencies outside the university who are responsible for designing the systems. Academics inside the university are affected by quality assurance systems but uninvolved in their design. The knowledge and power distance and differences of meaning between the system designers and academics result in quality assurance systems that are unable to contribute to the improvement of teaching and research in the university. The article proposes interconnected but clearly differentiated definitions of quality assurance and quality improvement that can inform systems design aimed at more than meeting external accountability demands.

Exploring Quality in a University Department: Perspectives and Meanings

Abstract This paper examines the potential of critical systems thinking enacted through ‘total systems intervention’ to explore quality and to promote improvement in a university academic department. Critical systems approaches, building on commitments to the systems idea, sociological awareness, methodological pluralism and human improvement, can help to structure problems as a precursor to problem solving. Total systems intervention was used initially to structure the ‘quality problem’ for an academic unit within a university in New Zealand from the perspective of internal stakeholders. For staff and student participants, the quality problem mainly related to better promoting learning. Analysis and reflection on the problem and local context drawing on systems methodologies identified underlying tensions and issues and shaped specific interventions for improvements in learning. A systemic perspective on quality and critical systems approaches are likely to be of value in encouraging debate and promoting different interventions to improve quality. They offer a diversity of methods to help improve complex socio‐psychological systems like a university department.

Developing a Quality Management System for a Postgraduate Education Programme: A Case Study.

Abstract This case study reports a student based action research project into quality management within a postgraduate education programme. The initial intention was to develop a quality manual for the programme based on a generic quality system standard. As the project progressed, many of the initial assumptions made about the programme came into question. The programme is complex and interconnected to the wider university system. Many of the processes within it are poorly defined or underdeveloped and responsibilities unclear. The role of the student varies depending on time, the particular process and other circumstances. This complexity made development of a comprehensive manual difficult. The project effort was re‐focused towards postgraduate orientation as a process within the programme that the project team could effect. A quantity of new and existing material was compiled and presented for inclusion in a compendium for postgraduate students. The project raised awareness of the complexity of proces...

Best practices in New Zealand organizations for rewarding and recognizing employee innovations and achievements

Managers and Human Resource professionals are constantly seeking answers to the issue of how best to reward and recognize (R&R) the innovations and achievements of their employees. Whilst there is a raft of international information the need for New Zealand-based research and answers has been identified. The focus of this study is on current activities in ‘Best Practice Organizations’ in order that best practices in this important area can be identified and shared with other New Zealand organizations. This study involved the collection and analysis of quantitative data via an electronic email survey sent to organizations belonging to the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation (NZBEF), members of the Centre for Organizational Excellence Research (COER) and the Business Process Improvement Resource (BPlR.com). Based on survey responses eight organizations considered to be best practice were chosen to further identify key learnings. This was undertaken by means of a qualitative process using a structured interview.

Systems Perspectives on External Quality Assurance: Implications for micro‐states

Abstract Quality assurance in higher education is a mess: the ‘problem’ of quality is embedded in complex sets of interacting issues that are of concern to many and varied stakeholders. Developing higher education systems that have responded to issues of quality through a ‘best practice’ model of external quality assurance has produced mixed results. Systemic analysis using systems concepts and critical systems thinking is used to explain the divergent conclusions about transferability of external quality assurance models. Selected reports of external quality assurance models from developing countries are reviewed. The paper also examines the model adopted in the Maldivian higher education system, which is characterised by its small size and scale of operation. Small, emerging higher education systems contemplating the adoption of ‘best practice’ prescriptions for external quality assurance activities should consider carefully the fit of those prescriptions to the local environment, rather than taking for granted the appropriateness of generic models.