The Institution as Battlefield: Allies, Enemies, Non-aligned
Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs), like almost all organisations, are divided into different functional units. And, like almost all organisations, these units each have different images of the organisation, different priorities and different attitudes towards technologies. As a result, they often come into tension with one another leading to a pattern of alliances and conflicts. One way of thinking of the institutional response to emerging technologies is as the outcome of a struggle among different units within the institution.
To explore this idea, at the Chelsea programme meeting we identified a range of functional units or responsibilities within institutions and asked participants to identify those that were:
- allies: helping projects them to implement emergent technologies
- non-aligned: involved, but had a neutral stance towards the emergent technology projects
- Enemies who were obstructive or negative towards emergent technology projects
The full results are given in the table at the end, but the key results are as follows:
Allies
- Teaching and Learning Committee
- Careers Service
- IT for students & Staff
- Student Recruitment
- Staff Development Unit
- Alumni Office
Non-aligned
- Library
- Vice Chancellors Office
- Estates
- Human Resources
- Legal Department
- Student Union
Enemies
- Marketing
- IT for students and Staff
- IT for business applications
- Library
The most engaged functions (as allies, enemies or non-aligned) were the Library, IT for Students and Staff, Marketing, IT for Business Applications and Human Resources. The least engaged function was the Bursar/Chief Financial Officer/Finance Director.
These results are only indicative and include individuals from only a handful of institutions, but they do raise some interesting questions. Is it the case that the allies are mainly parts of the institution that deal with students, staff and ‘the outside world’ on a regular basis (such as Staff Development, Student Recruitment, Careers Service and Alumni)? Would emergent technologies develop more quickly if Finance Directors were more involved in their planning and deployment?
What about your institution? Does it fit this pattern? Who are your allies and enemies when it comes to emergent technologies?
James Cornford – IRET Team
| Function | Allies | Non Aligned | Enemies | All Mentions |
| Library | 2 | 5 | 3 | 10 |
| IT for students and staff | 4 | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| Marketing (responsible for the institutional brand, CVI, etc.) | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| IT for business applications | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| Human Resources | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| Vice Chancellor’s Office | 1 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
| Staff Development Unit | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Legal Department (with responsibility for Copyright, IPR, etc.) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Student Recruitment Section | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Teaching and Learning Committee | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Careers Service | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Data Protection/Freedom of Information Office | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Student Union | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| Estates | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Registrars/Student Progress Office | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Alumni Office | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| PVC for Teaching and Learning | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| PVC for Research | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| PVC for Business and Community Engagement | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Research Committee | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| University Press Office | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Equal Opportunities Office | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Bursar/CFO/Finance Director | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
photo credit: Aaron Michael Brown via Flickr