Question

1. Articulate the aspects of the university environment to consider as they adopt and implement ERM.
2. Describe the differences between formal structural and collegial organizational models as they relate to goal setting, decision making, and leadership.
3. Analyze strategies utilized at one higher education institution to adopt ERM processes to fit the decentralized academic environment.

Answer 1

1.

The following drivers are increasing pressure to transform risk management for institutions in higher education:

• Fierce competition for faculty, students, staff, and financial resources.
• Pressure for increased productivity, responsiveness, and accountability while reducing costs.
• Increased external scrutiny from government, the public, governing boards, journalists, and taxpayers rights groups.
• Powerful new technologies that require significant investment of both financial and human capital resources,
• Rapidly increasing entrepreneurial ventures beyond the traditional educational venues that create stresses and strains on traditional administrative and financial infrastructures.
• Increased competition in the marketplace.

• Increased levels of litigation in general and internally, with ever-increasing levels of financial competition.

Strategies to address these drivers for change are introducing more complex risks for institutions of higher learning. Leaders are in need of techniques to manage the complex portfolios of risks they now face. Many are turning to ERM to help them establish a more robust risk mindset because it helps link institutional governance, risk management, and the strategic goals of the institution. Leaders are beginning to find that ERM is an effective method to manage all the risks that exist on a college or university campus.

The benefits of ERM for a university or college can help in management’s efforts to:

• Sustain its competitive advantage
• Solidify its integrity and reputation
• Respond effectively when a significant event occurs
• Avoid financial surprises
• Effectively manage all of its resources

2.

Collegial Model of Management

According to Bush (1995) and his collegial model, the aims emerge from a participative process whereby staff reach an agreement based on common values. The leader in a collegial model believes that school staff should always be a team in order to be effective and that everyone should be involved in all activities concerning the school practices. In this case, all teachers should have a common vision, set a mission and be aware of their role to ensure the success of the academic enterprise.

The elements of Collegial Model are the processes by which goals are determined by the nature of decision process and the leadership style. The collegial model is based on agreement goals among the members of an organization and presents lateral structures and all members have the right to participate in the decision process. As Kaily P. (2010) wrote ‘specific problems can be addressed by different committees which are appointed at the beginning of the school year. These committees consist of teachers according to their abilities and expertise. They undertake to address and solve problems that arise during the school year such as student discipline by formulating a code of conduct, violence at school- prevention and treatment, development activities for motivation in learning, learning difficulties and workarounds’ (Kaily P. E849 Web Activity 1, 2 November 2010). Furthermore, Palli C. (2010) ‘there is a shared leadership and a collective sense of responsibility among the staff at her school. At the beginning of the school year there was a delegation of roles and responsibilities. Also the teachers had the opportunity to select the committees they wanted to be members according to their interests’ (Palli C. E849 Web Activity 1, 3 November 2010).

The most positive aspect of the Collegial Model is the fact that goals have already been agreed, resulting to the possibility for the participant staff to concentrate and to achieve the goals set. Everybody’s ambitions, expertise and capabilities are taken into consideration and used in a way that promotes the welfare of the school unit. As Bennett has argued, knowledge is an important power resource. Sharing knowledge in a collaborative way requires a high degree of mutual trust and consensus (Study Guide p. 37).

Formal Model of Management

Looking into Bush (1995) the formal models of management aver that objectives are set at the institutional level. Goals are determined by senior staff and the support of other teachers is taken for granted. Therefore, the activities of schools are evaluated in the light of these official purposes. Furthermore, the organizational structure is regarded as objective reality. Individuals hold defined positions in the organization and working relationships are assumed to be strongly influenced by these official positions. Formal models treat structures as hierarchical with decision-making as a ‘top-down’ process.

In contrast to collegiality, the characteristics of the formal management models according to Bush (2003) ‘heads have authority because of their positions and are accountable for what they do to their sponsor they use any rational way to achieve goals€¦’ fits a lot to the Cypriot Educational System. Not only do public schools but also private ones have debt-reduction management programmes and everything must be centralized and economies of scale must be made. One is asked to annually report in advance how many students are registered for the following academic year that the number of teachers is reduced to the minimum to save resources. In bureaucracy, efficiency, discipline, control, reliability is more important. Promotion is on the basis of seniority (Bush 2003) more like a typical formal bureaucratic Cypriot school. However, after a long waiting at the age of 40-55 one finally leave from the low-paying Cypriot private school and is employed by a ‘highly-benefiting’ Cypriot public school. When he/she gets employed at public school, will only find out just a few days before the school year starts, revealing bureaucracy which is neither efficient nor reliable.

Sorry, I can't answer part 3.