24
Chapter-2: Literature Review In the previous chapter, details were provided regarding the background, objectives of the study, hypotheses, research process, sources of data, sample description, significance of the study, scope and limitations of the study, etc., In this chapter, an attempt has been made to provide literature review of research aspects such as:
• Change management processes and work culture45 • Strategic leadership and faculty attrition • Branding and performance of AP engineering colleges • Governance and efficiency of AP engineering colleges 2.1
Change Management Processes and Work Culture
This section starts with a glimpse into the factors for creating a positive work culture in rural and urban engineering colleges of AP, change management, resistance to change, future of change management, relevant examples, change equation, etc., The aim is to present this section as a curtain raiser for the subsequent chapters involving the analysis of the collected data on leadership in technical institutions and a study on strategy and academic change management.
This research study deals with change management processes and its impact on work culture and stake holder’s intrinsic motivation and performance of AP engineering colleges both in rural and urban areas. It
45
Sethi, Organizational Transformation through Business Process Reengineering, Pearson Education, 2006, PP 131-132
25
is
necessary to
find the
relation
between
work culture, change
management, and performance of the colleges. Engineering education in AP is facing several serious challenges46 viz., work culture, leadership styles and its impact on performance despite having experienced exponential growth. Growth of higher education and technical education in the state of AP therefore depends upon understanding these challenges and addressing them expeditiously.
IT and other industries are growing at a faster rate with businesses heavily dependent on technology and IT applications for their business growth and operations in AP. While the IT industry has felt a pressing need and urgency for acquiring and retaining competent talent, academia on the other side has also felt a strong desire in terms of producing the necessary quality talent47. Hence, a need for relevant academic change management processes, systems, positive work culture, and industryacademia partnership has been strongly felt to enhance the employability of engineering48 graduate workforce and make them industry ready. In this regard AP engineering colleges need to play a significant role in implementing some of the useful change management techniques.
S.Ramnarayan, TV Rao and Kuldeep Singh: work culture, Organization Development, Response Books, New Delhi 2003, PP 49-51
46
V.K.Narayanan, Managing Technology and Innovation for Competitive Advantage, Pearson Education, 2003, PP 96-98 48 Chatarajupalli Srinagesh, Vallath Nandakumar, Algorithmic approach, enhancing aptitude skills and global expectations from AP Engineering College students, Paper presented at International Conference, ACM ICPC, Competitive Learning Symposium, Orlando, Florida, May 29, 2011, http://news.amrita.edu/news/, accessed on 19th June 2011. 47
26
The immediacy of the social environment49 of the teachers in terms of their leadership team or supervisor's interaction and transparent work environment are found to have a profound impact on the behavior, feedback, effectiveness, and productivity results. The work culture of a college is found to be significantly affecting the intrinsic motivation and overall performance of the teachers. Primarily, the objectives of this section is to study the prevailing change management processes, work culture and related problems or issues in some of the AP engineering colleges, to investigate current change management processes, to examine the factors influencing50 work culture.
Secondly, it is also important to analyze various parameters and aspects related to change management processes and its impact on work culture, to critically investigate the impact of leadership actions on work culture and performance of faculty, staff, and students.
Resistance to change51 in AP engineering colleges: The rate of change in engineering colleges is generally slow due to high resistance from different stakeholders. The main factors are, failing in a changed environment due to unpredictable outcomes or uncertainty about it. More controls on performance, being controlled by toolset or technology. The
Prashant, 2004, Social Environment, Uncertainty during Organizational Change Types, Consequences and Management Strategies, Journal of business and psychology, 18(4), summer, PP 50-52. 50 Rajeshwara Rao, 2009, HRM practices and quality of work life in industries, GITAM journal of management, volume-7, number-4, PP 184-193 51 Mr. Dave, Rationale for resistance, change management, http://changingminds.org/disciplines/change_management/resistance_change/rationale_resis tance.htm, Accessed on 7th July2010 49
27
consequences of the delay are due to lack of proper implementation of new strategies and excessive turnaround time and cost in reengineering52.
Change management actions in AP engineering colleges: "The first and foremost obvious definition of academic change management53 refers to the making of changes in a planned and managed or systematic fashion." (PN Rao, 2002, p. 2) Change management is the art or science of making changes to a certain method or system in an orderly, systematic fashion, to make sense out of the organizational chaos that is permeating the college, its employees54, its suppliers, vendors and most importantly its students. The "change" that will take place to the college is internal. This means that the change will take place within the confines of the college and may not be outside the "walls" of the college. The reason for the change however might be completely externally oriented.
Colleges need to attract new students and new courses. Some changes take place when the new principal takes over the college and their personal interaction or philosophies lack in generating positive results. The backbone of academic change management is composed of a variety of hard and soft sciences drawn upon psychology55, sociology,
Divya, 2010, Student Response Systems, Learning from a distance, innovation in pedagogy, Clicking away the distance from Education, Technology for Education (T4E'10), IIT Bombay, PP 17-24. Jeoff Scott, Effective Change Management in technical education, http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0363.pdf, Accessed on 6th Jan2010 54 Florence Martin, 2010, Virtual Class rooms, Online assessment, Best Practices for Teaching in a Synchronous Virtual Classroom, Technology for Education (T4E'10), IIT Bombay, PP 45-47. 55 Hemanth Mehta, 2010, Distributed e-learning system, Online resources, Towards development of a Distributed e-learning system, Technology for Education (T4E'10), IIT Bombay, PP 71-74. 52
53
28
business administration, economics, systems engineering56 and the study of human and organizational behavior (Ramakanth, 2003, PP9-11).
How “Change” Affects AP Engineering Colleges: For many people, the prospect of academic change produces stress in the work units or workplace and on the employees; those have to deal with the emerging process. Willie Pietersen, of the Journal of Engineering Strategy, has this perception on the change process. “For many people the specter of change produces what’s sometimes called the FUD fear factor, uncertainty and doubt." Based on his research work, psychology works like this:
• To change is to suffer loss of several types or kinds. The team loses certainty, the comfort of the known and the familiarity. The team loses the sense of competency57, the financial security and the status the team enjoy in the existing order. And when change is being imposed upon, the team loses the sense of control.
• Because change involves the loss, people must be persuaded58 that the gains will be greater than the losses if they are to embrace positive change. To succeed, therefore, the driving forces in support of change must be greater than the restraining forces of fear, unpredictability, uncertainty and doubt.
Ellen, Human Factors and systems engineering, http://web.sys.virginia.edu/research/researchareas/human-factors.html, Accessed on 28th Aug2009 57 Ujvala, Competency : A Human Resource Approach for a Globalizing Scenario, http://www.ircc.iitb.ac.in/~webadm/update/archives/August_2003/business1.html, Accessed on 23rd May2010 58 Parker, 2010, Instructional design, student performance metrics, Student perceptions from an online and blended education course, Technology for Education (T4E'10), IIT Bombay, PP 95-102. 56
29
There are many differing thoughts about the actual systematic process of implementing change in the prototypical academic or college workplace. There are number of steps depending on the individual and their overall opinion and beliefs. John P. Kotter in his book, the heart of change, real life stories of how people changed their colleges, defines several steps that will drastically enhance59 the change actions in the college and help limit or lower the amount of stress or tension in the change model. They are as follows:
• Increase urgency and build the guiding team • Get the vision right60 and have proper channels to communicate for buy-In
• Generate short-term wins and empower ownership • Encourage self motivation and ensure acceptance towards changes undertaken
Academic change in an AP engineering college is one of the most stressful situations that a college has to deal with. How an engineering college deals with change can, in extreme cases, decide whether the college will continue to be profitable and forge ahead with new ideas and services or products and continue to renew their organizational life cycle61 or start the descent of the academic business.
Swati Das, 2010, Audio and Video based content, Performance metrics, Leveraging virtual class room for effective learning, Technology for Education (T4E'10), IIT Bombay, PP 103-108. 60 Carter, Vision, http://managementhelp.org/plan_dec/str_plan/stmnts.htm, Accessed on 23rd June2010 61 Sarah Cliffe, 2004, Change management, when change comes undone, HBS press, PP 36-98 59
30
Impact of change management on faculty members in AP engineering colleges in both rural and urban areas: “Gaining faculty and staff support and buy in are a critical first step in managing change, but leaders can’t stop there. Faculty has to continually be motivated to change their behavior62 throughout the change process. If compared with diet analogy, people may understand all the reasons why they have to lose weight, but without proper support and motivation, they might never muster the energy required to do so.”(Janarthan, 2002, p. 3). The future of change management63 in AP engineering colleges: The first misconception of any college team member or individual must come to terms with is that academic change will never end. No longer can a college afford to be placated in their current way of doing academic business. Colleges must always be looking for new and improved ways to enhance their productivity64, their customer service and their academic goals. Some examples of change management skills in AP engineering colleges: Here's an example of an academic change management idea: A guideline for assessing the likely success of a proposed change requires evaluating three key elements: the leadership capacity and attention span
Sandeep Patil, 2010, Blended learning, Discussion forums, Transforming Indian higher education through blended learning approach, Technology for Education (T4E'10), IIT Bombay, PP 147-153. 63 The future direction of change management http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-cm-direction.htm, Accessed on 22nd Jan2010 64 Manisha"Industry Academia Collaboration Model: The Design Challenges", Academic change management, Academic Research Papers (ARP) track at the 2011 IEEE-CS Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training, Honolulu, Hawaii. 62
31
for driving the change, the academic need for the change and the energy of affected people for and towards the change65.
An example of a change management strategy66: Initiates and drives change within the college through aligning efforts and resources towards organizational goals. Two important aspects in this regard: 1) Understand and initiate change 2) Manage and implement change.
Stage-1: Understand, be aware and adapt: Understands impact of the change on own area of work by asking clarifying questions and aligns oneself to it. Adapts to change by aligning own self and identifies positive aspects of changes and talks about them with team members
Stage-2: Address and anticipate: Understands and communicates the organization level change initiatives, and identifies opportunities for small change initiatives, encourages team to share their opinions and builds readiness for change. Anticipates the impact of change on own team, actively acts as an agent for change, gives inputs to ensure smooth management of the change process at team level and communicates “what’s in it for me” to create buy-in for change.
Stage-3: Opportunities to generate change, roadmap: Identifies opportunities for change within the college, creates a business case for changes and builds critical support from key stakeholders to take it 65
Patro, G.C., Change Actions, Human Resource Management, Discovery Publishing House Delhi (1989), PP 49-72 66 David, Change management strategy, http://www.sasqag.org/pastmeetings/ChangeManagement_Strategy6.pdf , Accessed on 24th May2010
32
forward. Draws up a clear roadmap for change, anticipates potential barriers and creates supporting systems, processes and infrastructure for driving change
Change management ideas and tactics can help develop the relationships needed to maximize the effectiveness of a change67. There are a variety of schemes for describing this general process and each individual has a unique way of navigating them68.
Work culture and change management survey69 in AP engineering colleges refer to the 'perceptions that college members share, of fundamental elements of their college". Ramesh Rao (1992, P9) defined organizational climate as a relatively enduring characteristic of a college, which distinguishes it from other college, further it (a) embodies members collective perceptions about their college with respect to such dimensions as autonomy, trust70, cohesiveness, support, recognition, innovation and fairness; (b) is produced by member interactions (c) serves as a basis for interpreting the situation (d) reflects the prevalent norms and attitudes of the colleges culture, and (e) acts as a source of mentoring or influence for sharing behavior.
67 Effectiveness of change, http://www.personneldecisions.com.sg/offerings/org_effchg_chg_mgmt.asp , Accessed on 9th April2010 68 Wipro Team, Learning methodologies, http://www.mission10x.com/mission10x/Pages/LearnerCentricTeaching.aspx, Accessed on January 4, 2011 69 Literature survey guidelines, http://www2.cs.hut.fi/~pmrg/index.cgi?id=242, Accessed on 8th May2010 70 Pradip N Khandwalla: Change Management Actions, Corporate Creativity, TMH, 2003.
33
Durga Prasad (1992, P7) defined work culture in terms of perceptions that individuals have of how their local work unit is managed and how effectively they and their day-to-day colleagues work together on the job. Climate and culture are related but not the same. Engineering college climate is much more in the foreground of organizational members' perceptions, where as work culture is more in the background and defined by beliefs and values. College climate is affected by culture and peoples' perceptions define both but at different levels.
The character of an engineering college work environment71, particularly as perceived by a faculty member, has long been recognized as a potent influence on employee cognitions, attitudes and behavior (Ostroff,
1993).
Such
environment
influences
job
satisfaction72
organizational commitment, employee turnover, vocational adjustment and occupational stability (Holland, 1989; 8 O Reilly 9 et al, 1991). While much work has been done in the field of understanding organizational performance and the underlying objective determinants (e.g. contextual features such as structure, technology and size), little empirical work is found in the literature identifying discriminating influences that climate may have on performance.
According to the survey “moving ahead with work culture, leadership in college and change management and HR practices” being
71 Essentials of Business Communication, Positive Work Culture, Rajendra Pal, JS Korlahhi: Sultan Chand &
Sons, New Delhi Job satisfaction levels survey reports, http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/reports/TN0608TR01/TN0608TR01.pdf, Accessed on 7th Nov2010 72
34
done by Habiba Hussain, colleges have started relying largely on people as their core asset or strength. With changes occurring in all departments’ human resource development has not remained untouched.
There is unlimited potential in leadership and HR that can be encouraged, developed and nurtured in a proper environment73. It is very encouraging to find that, some of the colleges have initiated the best HR practices ensuring planned learning including roles and responsibilities. Constant involvement in HR practices will certainly help in marching ahead besides giving ample direction for others to emulate74.
Soumendu Biswas, Kailesh B.L. Srivastava and Vijai N. Giri (May2001, PP 67-68) did some research work on work culture, change management practices and leadership in Indian engineering colleges75. The study strives to chart out the linkages between college human resource management practices, their effect on individual or college members behavior and ultimately, the enhancement of college efficacy. The result indicated that, while human resource management can indeed, become an academic strategic partner, it needs to focus upon leadership, individual needs and requirements, especially those that are intrinsic in nature. In the context of the academic scenario, the study reveals that human resource management should also take into account the dominant
73 Myron Weiner, The Child and the State in India, Education Policies, Princeton University Press, 1991, PP 45-56 74 Pradip N Khandwalla: Lifelong Creativity—An Unending Fest, TMH, 2004 75 Organization performance, http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/oa_short_course.pdf, Accessed on July2010
35
social norms and values while formulating the policies and practices that can enhance college performance.
Rekha Dayal (June 2002, PP 56-57) conducted a research on determinants of college work culture, personnel effectiveness, implications for leadership, work culture, HRD. This research report describes the employee personal effectiveness and major contributors towards the success of change management in colleges. This also studied various determinants of personal effectiveness. It is derived from the thoughtful and informed application of learning and experience in the work place. It incorporates in many areas of team building, communication and presentation skills76.
Explaining the Change Equation in AP Engineering Colleges: Richard Beckhard first published their change equation in 1979 in “Organizational Transitions-Managing Complex Change”, and it's still useful today. It states that for change to happen successfully, the following statement must be true in AP engineering colleges: Dissatisfaction x Desirability x Practicality > Resistance to Change77
Change
formula: C=DxVxF
>
R,
Where,
C
is
change,
D
is
dissatisfaction, V is vision, F is first step, R is resistance. This seems to be a simple statement, but it's surprisingly powerful when used to structure
76 KR Lakshiminarayana: English for Technical Communication – vols. 1 and 2, SCITECH Publications (India)
Pvt. Ltd., T.Nagar, Chenna 600 017 Beckhard, Change equation, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_67.htm, Accessed on Jan2010 77
36
a case for change in colleges. Let's define each element, and look at why it is required.
•
Dissatisfaction in AP engineering colleges: Team has to feel dissatisfied with the current situation before a successful change can take place. Without dissatisfaction, no one will have motivation to
change.
Dissatisfaction
could
include
peer
pressures
or
workplace pressures. Dissatisfaction can stem from any factor that makes people uncomfortable with the current situation78.
•
Desirability in AP engineering colleges: The proposed solution must be attractive79, and people need to understand what it is. If a college team doesn't have a clear vision of what things will they like after the change, and why things will be better, then they probably won't be willing to work to deliver it. The clearer and more detailed you make this vision, the more likely it is that your team will want to agree with the change and move forward. Practicality: Team must be convinced that the change is realistic and executable.
•
Resistance to change in colleges includes people's beliefs80 in the limits of the change, stubbornness toward any change, and general inertia or lack of interest at the beginning.
78 Business Communication, Change Management, RK Madhukar, Vikas Pulishing House Pvt. Ltd.2006
79
Rao Subba P, Change Management Solutions and approaches, Personnel and Human Resource Management, Himalaya Publishing House, New Delhi (2000). 80 Pinto, 2010, Learner centric approach, group discussions, Measuring the Impact of a Learner-Centric Pedagogical Technique for a Core Competency of a Course, Technology for Education (T4E'10), IIT Bombay, PP 37-44.
37
The above literature review provides some details related to change management processes and its impact on work culture and stake holder’s intrinsic motivation and performance of AP engineering colleges. It is necessary to find the relation between work culture, change management and performance of the colleges. However, currently the details related to the impact of change management processes on work culture in AP engineering colleges are unavailable. The researcher felt that it is important to study the impact of change management processes on work culture in AP engineering colleges. Hence, the current research study is undertaken to fulfill this gap.
2.2
Strategic Leadership and Faculty Attrition
Having provided a research review of academic change management processes and work culture, an attempt has been made in this current study to discuss about research review of strategic leadership and its impact on faculty attrition. This present study starts with a glimpse into strategic leadership actions, faculty crunch in AP engineering colleges, retention
strategies,
talent
transformation,
evaluation
of
skills,
infrastructural constraints etc., This research study deals with the engineering colleges’ strategic leadership and faculty attrition81 and in turn the performance of the colleges. It is required to find the relation between leadership styles, faculty attrition, and performance of the colleges.
Anderson, Faculty Attrition in engineering colleges, http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0= ED115169&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED115169, Accessed on Nov2009 81
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Increase in number of engineering colleges, growth rate and retention of faculty are the major challenging areas from the AP engineering colleges perspective in the world of highly competitive global academic employment opportunities. If the faculty members attrition rate is high then AP engineering colleges growth cannot sustain beyond a certain period of time. Hence, the engineering colleges in AP have to keep the satisfaction level of its faculty members and staff on a higher level so as to contain attrition rate low which may be helpful in keeping the academic targets82 on focus. The social and working environment of the faculty members and staff in terms of their strategic leadership team or supervisor's interaction and transparency in day to day activities are found to have a profound impact on the behavior, feedback, effectiveness, productivity results and attrition. The strategic leadership of AP engineering colleges is found to be significantly affecting the faculty attrition and intrinsic motivation83 of the teachers. Some of the AP engineering college managements are not aware of various retention techniques to retain some of the good faculty members and staff. Some of the factors influencing faculty attrition are84, leadership actions, business ethics and credibility of the management, value system of management and faculty, challenges related to self esteem of
Pooja Garg and Renu Rastogi 'Climate Profile and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors’. Education Sector: HR Perspectives Vol II, ICFAI Books 2007, PP 56- 73. 83 Kannan, 2010, outcome based assessment, A Virtual laboratory for distance education, Technology for Education (T4E'10), IIT Bombay, PP 198-201. 84 Manisha, Manoj, "Industry Academia Collaboration Model: The Design Challenges", Academic change management, Academic Research Papers (ARP) track at the 2011 IEEE-CS Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training, Honolulu, Hawaii. 82
39
management
and
faculty,
internal
communication,
peer
pressure,
ineffective performance management system, lack of rewards and recognition initiatives, poor research facilities, discouraging higher education, poor infrastructural facilities, unhealthy work culture, lack of career development plans, poor branding, weak governance structure, inefficient management actions85. The focus of this section is to study the current problems or issues related to strategic leadership in some of the engineering colleges in the state of AP, to investigate current leadership actions and its impact on performance of faculty, students, to examine the factors influencing faculty attrition, to analyze various leadership parameters and its impact on performance management system, to critically investigate the impact of strategic leadership86 on faculty attrition. AP engineering colleges are learning organizations87 of the highest level. Thus, it is essential that they retain and recruit faculty that will maintain and push the growth of the college. Manisha (2009, PP 21-24) in addressing why staff attrition is an important organizational issue stated, “Engineering Education Association survey showed that four out of five professors view employee retention as a serious issue for organizational success”.
Nandi JK: Management Education: Retention Strategies Education Sector: HR Perspectives Vol. 2 , ICFAI Books 2006 (PP. 84-93) 86 Rod Magee, Impact of strategic leadership, http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/dclm/slp2ndEd.pdf, Accessed on 4th May2010. 87 Oliver, Learning organizations, http://www.adb.org/Documents/Information/KnowledgeSolutions/Building-a-Learning-Organization.pdf, Accessed on Feb2010. 85
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Pandit JK (1999, PP 9-12) after examining several research studies concluded “the cost of replacing key people runs between 70 percent and 200 percent of their annual salary related to engineering colleges. Hard costs can include internal training, advertising, search firms, interviewing and relocation expenses, and sign-on bonuses. And the softer, harder-tomeasure costs can include time spent on interviewing, orienting, and training (and the work put on hold to do it), lost customers (due to their loyalty to the former employees), and declining morale and productivity88 on the part of remaining coworkers”. Yet, it may not be out of context to say that faculty attrition is a problem that most of the AP engineering colleges are constantly faced with. A number of strategies have been developed to promote academic strategy and mentorship related to AP engineering colleges. But in most instances the strategies are treating the symptom but, not the problem. Unless, the problem becomes the focus for treatment, attrition will remain. Investigations into reasons for faculty attrition have found that leadership is a major, if not the primary reason for attrition in AP engineering colleges. Carruthers, (2009), stated “High employee turnover can
be
recognized
and
properly
attributed
to
poor
managerial
performance89, emotional intelligence and ineffective leadership”. Dobbs (2001) reported that most people decide to leave because of bad bosses.
Pete Ebilla, Productivity and efficiency, http://www.shmula.com/process-measures-productivity-andefficiency/319/, Accessed on May2010. 89 C.S.V.Murthy: Management Information System, Himalaya publishing House ,2006 88
41
The Saratoga Institute Dobbs and Branham (2004) found that poor supervisory behavior was the main reason why people quit. The length of an employee's stay is determined largely by his or her relationship with a principal or HOD (head of the department). Cropsey (2008) on why faculty prematurely leaves engineering schools concluded “career, professional advancement90, low salary, and conflicts with chairman, departmental leadership issues are leading reasons for faculty attrition”. Nanchari Lal (Aug 2006, PP 120) reported that one of the chief causes of high faculty turnover is HOD’s inability to lead and engage their teams in AP engineering colleges. Only 47 percent of respondents agreed that their immediate supervisor was capable of offering adequate support and development for their team. Smart (1990) found institutions following a more autocratic form of governance are more likely to experience greater faculty attrition. Scenarios of Smart’s finding can be seen in institutions of
higher
learning
where
the
unwillingness
of
senior
university
administers to acknowledge leadership problems also have high faculty attrition. For example, frequent leadership change in faculty should be a red flag and signal problems91 in AP engineering colleges. The normal term for a deanship is three to five years. It is clear that leadership is not an adjective one would use to describe what is happening in the faculty in AP engineering colleges. When the current
Srinivas PB and Dash Arun 'Professional Responsibility of the Teaching Community: The Human Side: Education Sector: HR Perspectives Vol II: ICFAI Books 2007 (PP. 76-85) 91 Tanuja Agarwala: Strategic HRM, Oxford, 2007 90
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dean took the helm with a five year mandate, attrition became a very obvious concern. Following his or her first year in the position of dean, seven faculty retired (some taking early retirement), 17 faculty left (including nine faculty hired by the current dean). This is needless to say how serious the problem of attrition is in AP engineering colleges. As per the University wide survey, during the term of the current dean, revealed severe discontent with the administration of the faculty92 and that many faculty members were considering leaving AP engineering colleges. Referring to the Accenture study results stated “employees who are planning to leave are most likely to do so for opportunities that allow them to use and develop their skills or for opportunities in AP engineering colleges with strong leadership”. In the first two years of the dean’s second term an additional six faculty members left the faculty. Each of these six faculty members had been hired by the current dean. The cost of not acknowledging the link between faculty attrition and leadership93 will work against the premise of a learning engineering college. As Cropsey (2008) noted, “Given the rising costs of faculty turnover94, it seems more profitable for engineering college to invest in faculty retention endeavors as opposed to more costly recruitment efforts”. Dobbs (2001) proposes that there is another obvious but effective way to encourage HODs (Head of department) to reduce turnover, that is, to map
Cheryl, Faculty administration, http://www.acenet.edu/resources/chairs/docs/Achterber_look.pdf, Accessed on 5th May2010 93 Sheila, Leadership and attrition, http://www.academicleadership.org/article/Attrition_A_Sign_of_Leadership_Problems, Accessed on 5th Feb2010 94 P.N.Rastogi, Managing Creativity, Macmillan India Ltd, 2003. 92
43
their compensation with performance. Reward them with bonuses for keeping turnover low. It's a tactic that sounds promising, but it has yet to receive widespread attention in AP engineering colleges. To follow Dobbs’s (2001) proposal would mean deans of AP engineering colleges would have to put their efforts into developing the human potential as opposed to promoting their ability to increase the bottom line at all costs. As noted by Branham (2004) and Desikamani (2005), leaders have to understand that they are there to serve employees’ needs, not the other way around. It would mean redirecting the leadership in a faculty to the reason why AP engineering colleges are learning organizations95. Impact of faculty attrition in AP96: Rajeshwara Rao (June2007, PP 19-21) research study says that one of the chief causes of high faculty turnover is HOD’s inability to lead and engage their teams in AP engineering colleges. Business or academic growth and retention of employees are the two problem areas from the industry perspective in the world of highly competitive world market. If the staff attrition rate is high then business growth cannot sustain beyond a certain period of time. Hence, the industry has to keep the satisfaction level of its employees on a higher level so as to contain attrition rate low which may be helpful in keeping the business targets on focus. Impact of talent transformation in reducing attrition: VR Babu, (August 2002, PP 12-16): Talent transformation is a very important step
95 Astha Dewan, 2010, Technology Change Management, Scope of Technology in higher education in India, Technology for Education (T4E'10), IIT Bombay, PP 242-243. 96 Preparing graduates for industry by Anuradha Verma, Manoj Manuja, FECS International conference, PP 9195, FECS 2008, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
44
wherein industry enables its new employees about a certain technology followed by life skill training supplemented by business, domain level training97. The global scenario on this front is changing very drastically. More and more industries are going for academia collaboration in some way or the other. The primary purpose of this exercise is to get production or business ready work force on day one98. To be employable and able to sustain in the industry, one needs to have a clear understanding of the basic concepts in terms of his technical competency and complementing soft skills. He doesn’t need to be a high scorer but needs to be able to blend him in the professional environment at the earliest. It is important how he acclimatizes with company vision, mission, values and policies. The alignment of his personal goals with the organization goals99 is a must. Apart from this, he needs to possess certain skills which are necessary for a professional. The skills a graduate would require for an industry100 and role of faculty:
• Learnability, analytical ability, technical skills • Communication skills, be a team player • Creativity and innovation, cross cultural sensitivity • Sensitive to organization needs, alignment of personal goals with organization goals, domain knowledge
Rao V S P, Human Resource Management, Excel Books, New Delhi, (2000), PP 71-80. 98 Pradip N Khandwalla: Corporate Creativity, TMH, 2006. 97
99 Saini Debi, Human Resource Management Perspectives for New Era, Response Books, New Delhi, 1999. 100
White: The Management of Technology & Innovation Thomson, 2007.
45
• Business
sense,
leadership
skills,
decision
making,
time
management, hard work, adaptability and farsightedness. Role of faculty in development of competencies and skills101 in AP engineering colleges: After identifying the skills in line with organization need, the next mammoth task is that of developing mechanism to enhance the required skill102 set in a graduate. There can be various ways for the same; some of them are listed below:
• Extensive reading: The graduate should acquaint himself with the general practices of an industry, its needs and how to equip himself to be part of this competitive world
• Undertake specialized courses for developing technical skills required in projects. Take course for specializations like team skills, analytical
skills,
problem
solving
technique,
personality
development, cross cultural sensitivity, confidence building skills, articulation skills, etc.
• Work on mock projects, preferably taken from extracts of live projects. Engage in good discussion forums at different levels. Start taking initiatives and responsibilities in his/her current role
101 102
Mello: Strategic HRM, Thomson, 2/e, 2007 Devi Laxmi, Statistical Methods in Social Research, Amol Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi (1998).
46
• Interact with seniors and get their inputs. Participate in debates, seminars, conferences, workshops103. If possible get some industry exposure by visiting nearby industries, plants, research facilities A learning map keeping in view the required skills104 should be prepared and milestones set to quantify the performance of the individual. Birendra Sesmal, (April 2005, PP 9-13): Role of faculty in evaluation of Skills105: After the individual has ramped up as per his skill map, it is essential to evaluate his performance as per certain matrix. This can take into view the industry needs and the current market trends. Certain key skills can be identified and parameters set for their salary and perks. The entire process of skill set definition and enhancement will be a gradual process with each milestone being approached one by one. The common scenario now-a-days in the industry is to focus towards recruiting a graduate and asking him to undertake an extensive training106 before the person joins the production desk. There are two stakeholders involved while achieving the required level of productionreadiness among graduates107. The first stake holder is the institute itself with faculty and infrastructure as sub-parts of it. The second stake holder is industry which plays a major role in achieving the needful. Need to take
Pareek Udai, Training Instruments in HRD and OD, 2nd Edition, Tata McGraw -Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi (1986). 104 Chatarajupalli Srinagesh, Vallath Nandakumar, Problem solving methods, analytical thinking capabilities of AP Engineering College students, Paper presented at International Conference, ACM ICPC, Competitive Learning Symposium, Orlando, Florida, May 29, 2011, http://news.amrita.edu/news/, accessed on 19th June 2011. 105 Rani. V, "Performance management through Innovation and work culture", HR Focus, Vol.75, 1998, PP 2329.Quarterly, Vol. 32 106 "Gauging Quality Technically" Dr. P Narasimha Reddy, The Hindu News Paper, Hyderabad, July, 03, 2006. 107 Dreher: Human Resource Strategy 1st edition, 2005 TMH 103
47
these two parameters one by one to explain their importance in accomplishing the target. AP
engineering
colleges
needs
to
formulate
the
initial
implementation plan to get industry ready professionals. These plans need to be everlasting as far as the building of individual’s career is concerned. The important purpose here is the curriculum students follow, the type of infrastructure students get in terms of laboratories, library and computer facilities etc. Above all these points, the type and quality of faculty members of the institution matter the most in deciding whether the students graduating out of the institute are quality products or not. Faculty members of AP engineering colleges play an important part in shaping the graduating students to the tune of what industry requires. The professors are the research guides for the graduate students who execute a couple of research projects in line with their curriculum requirements108. C.S.Venkataratnam
(May
2009,
PP
12-16)
suggested
certain
strategies to be followed by leadership teams for retention of technical faculty in AP engineering colleges. A professor who has not seen any industry and worked only around academic boundaries may not be able to input much except theoretical knowledge109 which may not be able to provide the student the real insight of the professional environment which is in store for them when they join industry. Therefore, one can conclude
Motwani, J and Kumar, A, "The Need for Implementing Total Quality Management in Education", International Journal of Education Management, Vol. 11, Issue 3, 1997, PP 21-22 109 A. Thothathri Raman, Knowledge Management, First Edition, Excel Books, New Delhi, 2004. 108
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here that if a professor is not exposed to the industry environment, he may be a misfit for his job from the industry prospective. Infrastructure of the AP engineering colleges plays a major role in proving the right platform to faculty members. The exposure on the latest hardware is sometimes very important from the performance prospective of the faculty members. Working on obsolete hardware is not going to help the faculty members and students as they will be required to work on latest technologies. Curriculum110 is the basic way which focuses on what students will be taught during their degree course in AP engineering colleges. The syllabi document containing few pages, if not updated regularly by the university or the institution, may cause havoc among the students when they face the professional challenges during their initial days in the industry. This problem can be optimally addressed by establishing a good relationship between industry and academia. The teaching-coaching-mentoring fraternity has a lot to contribute for the growth of AP engineering colleges through actions to build higher level of knowledge or competence and culture of nurturing fellow teachers and students to become global professionals. AP engineering college teams need to contribute and support towards greater effort to influence and shape the competencies of fellow teachers and students. Today there is a need to remember the blessings of
110 Sampath Kumar, Information analysis, data presentation, Leveraging Unstructured Data into Intelligent Information – Analysis & Evaluation, 2011, International conference proceedings of computer science and information technology http://www.icint.org/prog.htm, Vol.4, PP 07-11.
49
the teachers that influenced students thinking and shaped people’s journeys. It is also required to re-dedicate ourselves to the cause of education so that in our own ways we can influence and shape the competencies of those who are closely associated with AP engineering colleges. AP engineering colleges are linked with students as its customers and faculty members as its employees. The institution has to take care of both segments properly in order to become a good institution. The faculty members are linked with above two stake holders as described but there is a bonding between industry and the faculty members through research projects111. Benefits for different stakeholders: Faculty members get benefited from branding model in different ways as mentioned below:
• Plugging the gap to integrate learning with practical situations. Share practical experiences and case studies from industry. Enhancing professional skills to compete in today’s competitive global
market
place,
teamwork,
project
management,
cross
functional networking, effective communications112, etc
• Create a project bank for third year and final year students. Increase employability by providing technical and soft skills. Publish industry suggested courseware on the web. Mobilizing the
Kumar, M; and Kodwani A, "How to Utilize Faculty Time", Indian Management, 12th December 2003, All India Management Association, New Delhi, PP 64-70. 112 P. David Jawahar Ramesh Venkatraman, Perspectives of HR and IT Management First Edition, Excel Books, New Delhi, 2007. 111
50
students to download courseware from the web. Conducting special lectures for students. Participate in tech-festivals, seminars, contests, debates
• Faculty members get benefited from this model. Sharing Industry oriented-courseware113.
Faculty
conclaves,
faculty
enablement
program to polish the faculty members’ technical, domain as well as soft skills. Encourage sabbaticals in the industry to enhance interaction with the subject matter experts. Institution gets benefited from this collaboration. Share best-in-class standards (a) Mutual collaboration among institutions (b) Strong collaboration between industry and academia.
• Strengthen relationship with institutes: To work with education bodies or universities to align the industry requirements with the institution’s curriculum. Subsequently, industry gets benefited from the
collaboration114.
The
Collaboration
brings
in
extensive
improvement in recruiting business ready graduates and helps industry reduce the cost115 on training thus helping society in uplifting the employability quotient of the graduates.
113 Cai Guoqiang, Comparison of teaching and research, academic strategic actions, Educational Practice to Overall Quality, 2011, International conference proceedings of computer science and information technology http://www.icint.org/prog.htm, Vol.4, PP 265-267. 114 Thomas W. Zimmerer, Norman M. Scarborough, Essentials of Entrepreneurship And Small Business Management, Fourth Edition, Pearson, New Delhi, 2006 115 Pritam Singh and Asha Bhandarker, Strategy, Changes, People management, Organization culture, Change Maestros, Sage India, PP 250-288, 403-404
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The above analysis asserts the need of a strong partnership and collaboration between industry and academia if one wants “productionready” graduate passing out of the institution joining any industry. This collaboration will help all the four stake holders namely graduating students, faculty members, institution and the industry in general. The above literature reviews providing some high level information and details regarding academic leadership and faculty attrition in AP engineering colleges. However, currently the details related to the impact of strategic leadership on faculty attrition are missing from AP engineering colleges. It is important to study various factors related to leadership roles and responsibilities and related aspects that are causing the faculty attrition. The researcher felt that it is important to study the impact of strategic leadership on faculty attrition in AP engineering colleges. Hence the current research study is undertaken to fulfill this gap.
2.3
Branding and Performance of AP Engineering Colleges
Having done the research review of change management processes and work culture, strategic leadership and its impact on faculty attrition, an attempt has been made in this section to discuss about research review of impact of branding on performance116 of AP engineering colleges. AP engineering college branding is a symbol of stakeholders trust. In this context, various stakeholders are students, faculty members, staff, parents, investors, industry partners and society at large.
116
Government of India Ministry of HRD Report, (Department of Higher Education), Planning, Monitoring and Statistics Bureau New Delhi -2008
52
This section starts with a glimpse into perspectives on engineering colleges branding strategy117, impact of branding on performance, industry- academia interface, etc. This research study deals with the engineering colleges internal and external branding and its impact on stake holder’s intrinsic motivation and performance of the colleges. It is relevant to find the relation between branding and performance of colleges. College brand management118 is the application of popular marketing techniques to a specific subject area, college, services, product line, and brand. Jagadamba (January, 2003, PP 13-17): Education evangelists or marketers see a brand as an implied promise that the level of quality people have come to expect from a brand will continue with future purchases of the same service or product related to AP engineering colleges. This may increase sales by making a comparison with competing products more favorable. It may also enable the producer to charge more for the service or product. The value of the brand is determined by the amount of perceived profit it generates for the AP engineering colleges managements. Sometimes alumni students act like brand ambassadors of AP engineering colleges. All of these enhancements may improve the profitability of a brand, and thus, "brand managers" often carry line management
Paul Hemp, 2005, Strategy and change management, When your strategy stalls, what will you do? HBS press, PP 101-152 118University staff, 50 Best Branding Ideas, How colleges and universities are successfully creating and communicating their brands http://www.universitybusiness.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1179, Accessed on 6th May2010 117
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accountability for a brand's profitability, in contrast to marketing staff manager roles, which are allocated budgets from above, to manage and execute. In this regard, brand management119 is often viewed in colleges as a broader and more strategic role than marketing alone. The branding of AP engineering colleges is found to be significantly affecting the students’ placements, attracting talent, and intrinsic motivation of the faculty members and staff. Some of the factors influencing branding and performance are:
• Effective internal and external communication. Industry academia interface. Success rate in terms of placements for students. Attracting qualified staff.
• Close collaboration with policy making bodies. Academic ranking of colleges. Visibility in terms of popularity and global acceptance. Faculty attrition. Attracting bright and talented students120. Funding opportunities by external agencies. The objective of the present section is to study the current problems related to internal and external branding in some of the engineering colleges in AP, to understand its impact on the overall performance121 of colleges, to analyze various parameters and aspects related to branding and performance management system, to critically investigate the roles
Brand Management, http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/sahiba_kaur85-127035-brandmanagement-market-positioning-values-entertainment-ppt-powerpoint/, Accessed on 3rd Jan2010 120 Usha Mahalingam, 2010, Technology based evaluation, delivery, assessment, A frame work for technology based evaluation, Technology for Education (T4E'10), IIT Bombay, PP 252-253. 121 R.P.Banerjee:Ethics in Business and Management, Himalaya,2003. 119
54
and responsibilities of various stakeholders related to branding of colleges. Impact of Branding: India's top 50 engineering colleges-2011: Based on Rakesh, Rediff report122, June 2011, ranking or branding the top Indian engineering colleges is a difficult task. While it is relatively easy to create clusters of colleges, it is differentiating within clusters that became the most difficult exercise. So for the first time in the country, Rediff team has used balanced scorecard methodology and other academic parameters to arrive at the ranking of the top 50 colleges. This is an indication of external branding. Branding or Ranking methodology: Rediff team has scanned the last five year rankings of about 241 colleges and normalized their ranks, by assigning differential weights to subjective and objective ranking. Such a process is used to develop clusters of engineering institutions. The research standing of individual institutions was further used to refine the clusters and remove the odd college out. Individual clusters were ranked serially. In each of these clusters the differences in cut-off marks and related qualifying points in each defined criterion, wherever possible (like in case of IITs and AIEEE institutes and some states) were used to arrive at individual ranks.
122Top
fifty engineering colleges in India, http://www.rediff.com/getahead/slide-show/slide-show-1-careerindias-top-50-engineering-colleges-2011/20110609.htm, accessed on 9th June2011.
55
Table 2.0.1 India's top 50 engineering colleges-2011 Sl. No. College Name
2010 Grade Ranks in 2011
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41
AAA+ AAA+ AAA+ AAA+ AAA+ AAA AAA AAA --AAA+ AAA+ AAA AA A+ AA+ AAA AAA+ --AAA AAA+ AAA --AAA AAA+ AAA AAA+ AAA+ AAA+ AA A+ AAA+ AAA+ AA AAA+ AA AAA AAA AAA AA+ AAA AA
IIT-Bombay IIT-Delhi IIT-Madras IIT-Kanpur IIT-Kharagpur IIT-Roorkey IIT_Guwahati IIT-BHU, Varanasi BITS-Pilani Jadavpur University Anna University, Chennai NIT-Tirucharapalli NIT-Rourkela BIT-Mesra ISM-Dhanbad VIT University-Vellore Thapar University, Patiala NIT- Warangal NIT-Surathkal NSIT-New Delhi IIIT-Hyderabad ICT Mumbai(UDCT) NIT-Calicut Delhi Technological University MNNIT-Allahabad DA-IICT- Ahmadabad JNTU-Hyderabad PSG Tech, Coimbatore VNIT-Nagpur NIT-Jamshedpur College of Engineering, Pune HBTI, Kanpur NIT-Kurukshetra Thaigarajar CoE, madurai NIT-Durgapur Amrita University, Coimbatore PEC UOT, Chandigarh MIT- Manipal Nirma UOT- Ahmadabad IIIT- Allahabad SVNIT- Suratkal
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41
56
42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
VJTI-Mumbai PEC Inst of Tech, Bangalore Sir MV Inst. Of Tech, Bangalore MANIT, Bhopal NIT, Hamirpur ITM- GITAM, Vishakhapatnam SGSITS, Indore MNIT, Jaipur SSN COE, Chennai
--AAA+ AA+ AA A+ AA --AAA AAA
42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
Above table indicates that only four institutions from AP are part of top fifty engineering colleges of India, which is about eight percent. If one looks at these four colleges out of existing 702 engineering colleges in AP as on Dec 2010, it is only about 0.5 percent. This analysis clearly describes the impact of branding of AP engineering colleges on performance and acceptance by stakeholders at a national level and international level. This is also one of the key academic ranking factors by global academic institutions. Today it is very important for stakeholders to look at global acceptance and parameters related to visibility. Branding: Top 50 engineering colleges in AP: Research report by Zahid of Inspire and Ignite team, June 2011123, indicates top fifty engineering colleges in AP based on a set criterion. Ranking process is based on some academic parameters including some details provided by AP central counseling authority for engineering admission. IIT Hyderabad, NIT Warangal and IIIT Hyderabad are not added to this list because they come under different category.
Top fifty engineering colleges in AP, http://www.inspirenignite.com/top-engineering-colleges-in-andhrapradesh-2/, accessed on 9th June 2011 123
57
Table 2.0.2 Top Fifty Engineering colleges in AP-2011 Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34
Institute / College A U College of Engineering JNTU College of Engineering O U College of Engineering JNTU College of Engineering Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology S V U College of Engineering JNTU College of Engineering Vasavi College of Engineering Gayathri Vidya Parishad College of Engineering Srinidhi Institute of Sciences and Technology M V S R Engineering College V N R Vignan Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology R V R and J C College of Engineering Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering and Technology JNTU College of Engineering Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology Sri Vidya Niketan Engineering College V R Siddhartha Engineering College Kakatiya Institute of Technology and Sciences CVR College of Engineering Anil Neerukonda Institute of Technology and Sciences S R K R Engineering College G P R Engineering College JNTU College of Engineering J B Institute of Engineering and Technology B V Raju Institute of Technology Prasad V Potluri Siddhartha Institute of Technology Bapatla Engineering College G M R Institute of Technology JNTU College of Engineering M V G R College of Engineering Lakireddy Balireddy College of Engineering Vidyajyothi Institute of Technology Rajiv Gandhi Memorial College of
Place Visakhapatnam Hyderabad Hyderabad Kakinada Gandipet, RR Dist Tirupathi Anantapur Langarhouse, RR Dist. Visakhapatnam Ghatkesar, RR Dist. Nadergul, RR Dist. Bachupally, RR Dist. Guntur Miyapur, RR Dist. Pulivendula, Kadapa Gandipet, RR Dist. Rangampeta Vijayawada Warangal Ibrahimpatan, RR Dist. Bheemunipatnam Bhimavaram Kurnool Vizianagaram Yenkapally, RR Dist. Narsapur, Medak Vijayawada Bapatla Rajam Karimnagar Vizianagaram Mylavaram Moinabad, RR Dist. Nandyal
58
35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
Engineering and Technology Sri Indu College of Engineering and Technology Gurunanak Institute of Technology Sir C R R College of Engineering Vignan Institute of Information Technology Gudlavalleru Engineering College C V S R College of Engineering Godavari Institute of Engineering and Technology Institute of Aeronautical Engineering Pydah College of Engineering and Technology Vasireddy Venkatadri Institute of Technology Raghu Engineering College Pragati Engineering College Mahaveer Institute of Sciences and Technology T K R College of Engineering and Technology Madanapally Institute of Technology and Sciences Arora’s Technological Research Institute
Impact
of
College
Branding
on
Ibrahimpatan, RR Dist. Ibrahimpatan, RR Dist. Eluru Visakhapatnam Gudlavalleru Ghatkesar, RR Dist. Rajahmundry Dundigal, RR Dist. Visakhapatnam Guntur Bheemunipatnam Peddapuram Bandlaguda, Hyd Mirpet, RR Dist. Madanapalle Parvathapur, RR Dist.
Performance124:
The
design
challenges in AP Engineering colleges: AP state has become a global hub for IT services export and has witnessed exponential growth of employment opportunities125. Hence, a need for college branding or ranking and industry-academia partnership has been strongly felt to enhance the employability of engineering graduate workforce and make them industry ready.
124 Manisha, Manoj Manuja, Impact of branding on performance, Industry Academia Collaboration Model: the Design Challenges, Academic change management, Academic Research Papers (ARP) track at the 2011 IEEECS Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training, Honolulu, Hawaii. 125 S.S. Khanka, Entrepreneurial Development, S. Chand and Company Limited, New Delhi, 2007.
59
This research analysis discusses the critical design challenges significant for any industry-academia collaboration and branding in AP engineering colleges. Here, there is a need to discuss the design options for such a model, its evaluation strategy, branding and performance parameters, and how it addresses the primary challenges faced by both the stakeholders i.e. industry and academia, in a measurable, scalable and sustainable manner. Industries are largely dependent on competent human talent. The rate of growth of this industry in AP state is phenomenal. To sustain this high growth rate, more and more emphasis is put on acquiring and retaining competent people and branding. Companies compete with each other to recruit the best talent from branded engineering institutions. Here comes the problem of non-availability of employable talent126, though country has over 3000 engineering institutions graduating 1.2 million engineers every year. NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies, India) 2005 survey on employability of Engineering Graduates pointed out that only 25% of the graduating engineers are employable127. The rest of the graduating pool is either unemployed or underemployed. The problem exists in the two dimensions of quality and quantity. The quality gap exists between the competencies of fresh engineering graduates and the competencies essential for the IT industry.
Paul Hemp, 2005, Strategy and change management, When your strategy stalls, what will you do? HBS press, PP 101-152 127 S.R. Bhowmik, M. Bhowmik, Entrepreneurship-A tool for Economic Growth And A key to Business Success, New Age International Publishers, First Edition, (formerly Wiley Eastern Limited), New Delhi, 2007 126
60
And the quantity gap is prevalent between the needs of a high growth industry and the employable pool of graduates. The need is to enhance the branding, quality and quantity of the graduating engineers from AP engineering colleges. The "quality" refers to areas such as "Technical Skills", "Soft Skills", "Process Awareness" and "English Language
Proficiency". These
are
the
typical
competency
dimensions expected in any industry. The "quantity" refers to the number of "employable" and "industry-ready" engineering graduates. Clearly, the need is to bring in a systemic change128 in the way engineering education is imparted to the students in the engineering institutions in AP state. This is possible when both industry and academia come forward and collaborate to bring in the desired change129. Design
Options
for
Branding
and
Industry
Academia
Collaboration Model in AP: Prabhu Chawla (Feb, 2004, PP 09-12): The problem of perceived gap between the supply of talent at the institution level and the demand from industry can be addressed through several ways: While some companies have in-house training infrastructure, this option may not be viable for many small and medium size organizations because of large investments. This training program can be outsourced to companies in the education and training sector. However, this option will
Barack Obama,2008, Change management, Change we can believe in, Canongate, PP 151-165 129 R.C.Sekhar: Ethical Choices in Business, Industry-Academia Linkages, Response Books, 2002. 128
61
be a short-term solution for a company and will not bring about a radical change in the engineering education system130. Establishing Corporate Universities: In such cases, while it requires large investments, the impact of the corporate university will be limited to the intake of that university and it cannot bring about systemic change in the entire education system. Moreover, running a full scale university may not be the industry’s core business. Instead, it would prefer to play the role of a catalyst131 in bringing a systemic change from branded colleges. Industry-Academia and Branding: The academic ranking model is on its way in bringing in a large systemic change in AP engineering education by collaborating with global branded engineering institutions. The mission was to impact 500 institutions, 2000 faculty, 50,000 students through this partnership132 for enhancing the employability and industryreadiness. The entire team, processes and systems has achieved more by impacting 520 engineering institutions, 5000+ faculty members, and close to 100,000 students trained. Initiated in 2004, the scope of the model was engineering institutions in the country. Later on, this model has been taken to other countries such as Malaysia, China and Mexico. The major stakeholders in this model are the institution management, the faculty, the students and the IT industry.
130
Laura P Hartman, Change Agents, “Perspectives in Business Ethics”, 2nd ed. Tata McGraw Hill. C K Prahlad, 2004, Implementation plan of change management, leadership in a changed world, HBS press, PP 141-162 132 John Hamm, 2004, Practical leadership, learning to learn, Developing leaders, HBS press, PP 83-120 131
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The competency dimensions (technical, soft kills, process awareness and English language proficiency) are addressed in four-steps: Packaging the content for delivery, capturing the process to help the faculty to roll this out to their students, enabling the institution faculty through the faculty development programs, and faculty subsequently deploying133 the learning’s to the students. Apart from these training programs134, innovative approaches to encourage problem solving are included in the model in the form of programming contests, learning portals and webinars. To achieve the objectives, following strategies are used. One is the bottom-up approach wherein the team works with branded engineering institutions directly to enhance their faculty and students135. The other is the top-down approach wherein the team work with bodies governing the engineering education system in this country such as AICTE (All India Council of Engineering Education, Apex governing body for engineering institutions), MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) and industry bodies such as NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies) to influence the policies and engineering curriculum, or from the University level which has many affiliated institutions. The Design Challenges: Any attempt to design such a large scale collaboration model is likely to face the following challenges:
133 E.C. Subba Rao, An eye for excellence, fifty innovative years of IIT, Kharagpur, Harper Collins 2009, Faculty achievements PP 23-24, 157-158. 134 C.S.V.Murthy: Management Information System, Innovations in Training Methods, Himalaya Publishing House, 2006. 135 Prem Chadha: Feedback Analysis, Performance Management, Macmillan India, New Delhi, 2006.
63
• Is the branding model scalable? Is it sustainable? • Is the branding model measurable? (i) Scalability and Branding: The major challenge is to collaborate with 3000+ engineering institutions spread across the country. The scale of the problem is huge. Industry needs to work with a significant number of these institutions to make an impact. The offerings of this model should be designed with scalability as one of the key criteria. In order to address this challenge, a strong system involving the following processes has been put in place:
• Creating awareness in partner institutions about the industry expectations. Involving the top management of institutions for getting the desired commitment and resources in form a IndustryAcademia conclave136 and agreement sign-off. Action planning at management and faculty level. Faculty enablement Programs. Student training programs in respective institutions followed by corporate reviewed assessments
• Integrated project completion and evaluation. Performance data collection, analysis and strategy updates All the above processes are implemented and tracked through a digital platform available on public domain with separate logins for institution
136 Sampath Kumar, Information analysis, data presentation, Leveraging Unstructured Data into Intelligent Information – Analysis & Evaluation, 2011, International conference proceedings of computer science and information technology http://www.icint.org/prog.htm, Vol.4, PP 07-11.
64
management, faculty, students and corporate team.
This platform
provides resources and knowledge artifacts related to various offerings like technical skills, soft skills, English language proficiency etc. in a consolidated manner. These knowledge artifacts primarily constitute study material supported by project specifications, design templates, evaluation criteria and case studies. The integrated platform has helped all stakeholders at different levels in not only retrieving the pertinent information and course material from a single source, but also collaborate with each other in a systematic manner137. And, the team decided to enhance the quality of students by enhancing the quality138 of faculty. (ii) Sustainability and Branding: Any program offering that is created for such a model has to address the challenge of sustainability, i.e., the institutions should be able to carry on with the program with less dependency on industry, or without its intervention after the initial establishment. The team can then hope to bring in the systemic change139. To achieve this, in Industry-Academia, the team focused on Deemed Universities,
autonomous
engineering
institutions
(which
have
the
empowerment to define their own customized curriculum) to co-create industry electives140. (iii) Measurability of Branding: The involvement of multiple stakeholders i.e. industry, institutions, faculty members and students, poses a major
137
Venkataratnam, C.S.: Organizational Development, Industrial Academia Relations, Oxford University Press, 2006. 138 Ram Charan, 2008, Innovation, Change process, strategies, Game Changer, Crown business, PP 69-95 139 Stephen covey, 2008, Strategy and change management, The Leader in me, Free Press, PP 90-164 140 Higher Education in India: Issues, Concerns and New Directions- UGC 2003
65
challenge in terms of measuring the effectiveness and impact of the implemented model. The primary issues being, “what to measure?” and “how to measure?” Branding, key measurements and stakeholder feedback: Bhanu Pratap (March, 2003, PP 19-22): For all major offerings such as faculty enablement programs, student training programs, programming contests and Webinars, structured feedback is taken from the participants. The feedback includes a rating on a scale of one to four for the content, design, support and other aspects of the program. Apart from the ratings, areas of improvement and suggestions are also captured. The feedback is consolidated and action items are derived for our centers of excellence to work on141. Apart from feedback for the individual offerings, the teams conduct
a
perception
measurement142
survey
for
the
institution
management, faculty and students every year to get detailed feedback on the impact of our model. Branding and Performance Measurement: While the feedback and surveys give us an idea about the stakeholder perception, the impact of the model is more strongly measured by checking the performance of those students who have undergone our training program143 at the institutions. A sizable percentage of students undergoing our training program at their institutions join our organization. These fresh graduates undergo a
Feedback Analysis, Human Capital Measurement An Introduction, Sangeetha K: Icfai Books 2007 John Adair, 2008, Leadership actions, review process, Leadership Development Activities, Jaico India, PP 67-97 143 Chatarajupalli Srinagesh, Vallath Nandakumar, soft skills, team work, industry expectations from AP Engineering College students, Paper presented at International Conference, ACM ICPC, Competitive Learning Symposium, Orlando, Florida, May 29, 2011, http://news.amrita.edu/news/, accessed on 19th June 2011. 141 142
66
training program at an organization, and their training performance is compared against the performance of those fresh gradates who have not undergone our training programs at their institutions. This comparison gives a clear indication of the impact this model is generating on technical, domain and soft skills of graduating engineers. Evaluation Factors for Branding: The factors have been grouped under three categories namely ‘Student Level Factors’, ‘Institution, Faculty Level Factors’ and ‘Business Impact’. i) Student Level Factors: Since the evaluation strategy takes note of certain student factors during the implementation of the model at their respective
institutions
(i.e.
before
joining
the
organization),
some
parameters are tracked after the students have joined the organization. The major parameters measured before the student joins the industry are academic results144 and the recruitment performance. ii) Faculty Level Factors: Faculty members are the major interface in this industry academia collaboration model. Hence the team has devised some evaluating parameters for the faculty members. These include evaluating their preparedness for the program through various feedback
channels,
evaluating
their
enablement
through
“faculty
enablement programs145” and most importantly their satisfaction level by conducting online surveys.
Cost Analysis, Outcome Budget- 2007-2008 Ministry of HRD Government of India Usha Mahalingam, 2010, Technology based evaluation, delivery, assessment, A frame work for technology based evaluation, Technology for Education (T4E'10), IIT Bombay, PP 252-253. 144 145
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iii) Institution Level Factors: Partnered institutes are evaluated on various parameters like how many students and faculty members from the institute are participating in the program, response of the institute on various
events
like
webinars,
programming
contests
and
faculty
development programs conducted. Advocacy factor for recommending the model to other institutes is also an important evaluation parameter measured via online survey. Measuring the impact: A huge parameter impacting the business is availability of production ready graduates. The training cost is a very important factor in determining the impact of this collaboration model on the business. The performance of fresh graduates is tracked after they join the organization and again compared to the ones who did not undergo the offerings of the suggested model. It forms a strong evaluation and feedback mechanism for the model146. Benefits or Strengths147 of Branding: The branding program has really helped improving the employability of students whether the recruiting company is corporate or any other company. Faculty members have experienced a notable difference in their facilitations skills after having undergone the faculty enablement program offered by corporate sector which has extensive coverage of practical scenarios and case studies.
146 Markus H and Kitayama S (1991), “Governance, Culture and the Self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion and Motivation, Psychological Review, Vol.98, PP 224-53. 147 Daniel Goleman, 2004, Leadership Styles, Emotional Intelligence, Primal Leadership, HBS Press, PP 21-61
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AP engineering colleges adapting the branding model: The institutions have adapted this model to create avenues for rest of the students of core-discipline to get benefited from similar programs from core-industries148. Co-creating and co-designing of industry electives in AP engineering colleges: With an increased interest in both Industry and Institutes to work together to produce competent talent, one of the collaboration opportunities that has been gaining interest is about introducing Industry relevant topics as electives. Industry Electives facilitate access to career paths for students, including enhancing employability. The methodology used in understanding the major decision points with institutions to accelerate such industry electives rollout is now sought after by other industries. Transferability of the model: Unique factors that make this model highly applicable in AP state context are: •
Quality gap between the competencies of fresh engineering graduates and the competencies149 essential for the industry.
•
Quantity gap between the needs of a high growth industry and the employable pool of graduates. Any industry-academia collaboration model designed for branding
and bringing in a systemic change in educational system is likely to face certain inherent challenges150 i.e. of measurability, scalability and sustainability. However, the success of Industry-Academia program has
148 Rupashree B. & Shivganesh B., "Governance Policies: Prospects For Indian Organiza tions", 14th International Employment Relations Association Conference friendly Employment Policies and Practices: An East-West Perspective on Wor k-life Balance , Confe rence Proce edings, 19-23 June 2006, Hong Kong. 149 Florence Martin, 2010, Online Teaching, Interactive Learning, Synchronous Technologies for Online Teaching, Technology for Education (T4E'10), IIT Bombay, PP 1-4. 150 Sarvesh Gulati, 2009, Inherent Challenges, Corporate Soft Skills, Rupa and Co, PP 144-145.
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shown that it is possible to address these challenges if the team has strong systems and processes focus, effective change management, strategic leadership, sense of ownership, and continuous dialogue from both the industry and academia representatives. The above literature reviews providing some information and details regarding branding and performance of AP engineering colleges. However the details related to the impact of branding on performance are missing from AP engineering colleges. It is important to study various factors related to internal and external branding and its impact on performance of AP engineering colleges. The researcher felt that it is important to study the impact of branding on performance of AP engineering colleges. Hence the current research study is undertaken to fulfill this gap.
2.4
Governance and Efficiency of AP Engineering Colleges
Having done the research review of impact of change management processes on work culture, strategic leadership and its impact on faculty attrition, impact of branding on performance, an attempt has been made in this section to discuss about research review of governance and its impact on efficiency. This section starts with a glimpse into various governance factors151 and its impact on efficiency, leadership actions, roles and responsibilities of management team members. This research study deals with the engineering college governance, efficiency and its
151 Sukhadeo Thorat (Chairman, UGC) Higher Education In India, Emerging Issues, Related To Access, Inclusiveness And Quality
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impact on performance, and survival in global competition152 of technical education. Existing governance and efficiency of AP engineering colleges is found to be significantly affecting the intrinsic motivation of the teachers and overall performance of various stakeholders. Academic processes and systems are significantly important and to be critically reviewed only then results or outcome need to be measured. Some of the AP engineering colleges are facing problems or issues with poor governance and low efficiency. This is due to,
• Lack of vision, mission and values of leadership teams • Inadequate process manuals and poor maintenance of records • Unrealistic rules and regulations, weak performance management153 system
• Lack of credibility, improper management of funds, inability to implement pay scales as per the norms
• Poor infrastructural facilities, lack of longevity plans of promoters, problems related to transparency and integrity
• Lack of synergy and conflicting interests of board of directors • Miscommunication between college promoters, board, principal, HODs. The objective of this section is to study and understand the current problems related to governance in some of the engineering colleges in AP, and their efficiency, to investigate current problems and its impact on the
152 153
Gopinath, 2009, Competition, team work, results, Simply Fly, Harper Collins, India, Pages 298-299 Khanna, 2007, Performance Management, Billions of Entrepreneurs, Penguin Books, India, PP 126-127
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overall performance of colleges, to critically investigate the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders. Current situation of governance, rules, regulations, academic policies in AP engineering colleges: As per AICTE inspection report154, only 3% of the engineering colleges in AP follow governance, rules, regulations, academic policies: Times of India News Network, 14th June 2011. Below details clearly indicate governance and its impact on AP engineering colleges. Hyderabad, AP: The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), in a recent inspection of the 1,800 engineering, MCA and MBA colleges in the state has revealed that 75 engineering colleges in AP state do not have a permanent campus or land to set up their institutions. It stated that 20 colleges have several cases slapped against them for not honoring set values or AICTE guidelines. The council, however, has not cancelled the affiliations of any of the institutions taking into consideration the future of AP engineering students studying there. AICTE has asked the erring AP engineering colleges’ managements to rectify the short falls or discrepancies before June 17. AICTE sent an order to colleges on Monday, 13th June 2011 stating that there would be surprise inspections in the coming month to check whether the facilities are being made available for students. The
154 http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?pageid=3&pagesize=&edid=&edlabel=TOIH&mydateHid=1406-2011&pubname=&edname=&publabel=TOI, Accessed on 14th June 2011.
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council has decided to allow additional intake only for the 50 colleges that fulfill the norms or requirements. AICTE officials observed that this was the first round of inspections after the new guidelines handbook on quality improvement was introduced. AICTE has become much stricter than it was in the previous years with checking and inspections. The AP engineering college managements were given about six months to rectify the discrepancies. As per senior AICTE official from the state, many of them have not complied by the rules. Many of the AP engineering colleges included in the list have been functioning in the state for more than four years. While the AICTE shifted the blame on to affiliating universities, officials of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad, observed that the council has been giving approval to some colleges which do not fulfill even the minimum requirements. In spite of several recommendations from the state government, AICTE kept giving approval to some of the colleges without any rhyme or reason, stated by a JNTU official. Admitting the flaws, college managements observed that not even a single college in the state can be given the credit of fulfilling all the AICTE requirements.
Educationalists
further
noted
that
the
quality
of
professional education in the state has been deteriorating. The colleges are obligated to provide their students the required facilities and skills enhancing opportunities. Prof M Anjaneyalu, member, expert committee for quality improvement, ministry of education stated that the technical institutions have not been maintaining the standards and records since
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the past several years. It is also observed that unlike other states, including Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, which followed a quality improvement model, AP has been implementing a quantity improvement model of education. Governance in AP engineering colleges is the activity (Ramnathan, May 2002, PP 35-36) of governing and overall administration. It relates to decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify results and performance. It consists either of a separate process or of a specific part of management or leadership processes. Sometimes people set up a separate team to administer these processes and systems. The organization of internal governance in AP engineering colleges college is generally composed of a dedicated governing board (governance team, board of directors), the college head (Principal or Director) with a team of administrative champions and staff, faculty senates, academic deans, department chairs, and usually some form of organization for students representation also. AP engineering colleges have become increasingly interdependent with external entities or governing bodies, institutions are accountable to external organizational relationships such as local and central teams, equally in managing education business and corporate relationships. The nature of the managing relationships characterize whether governance is local or corporate and academic oriented or defined more by a collegial shared form of governance.
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In the case of AP engineering colleges, governance relates to consistent155 management, (Dheerendra, June 2003, PP 46-47) cohesive policies, guidance, processes and decision-rights for a given area of responsibility. For example, managing at a corporate level might involve evolving policies on privacy, on internal investment, and on the use of data. But governance is the kinetic exercise of management power and policy, while governance process is the instrument (usually collective) that does it. The term government is also used more abstractly as a synonym for governance, as in the global motto, "Peace, Order and Good Government".
In 2002, the Higher Education Program and Policy Council of the Federation of Teachers also published a statement in support of the shared governance
156of
engineering colleges. The policy statement is a
response to the fact that many governing boards have adopted the "mantra of academic business” (Federation of Teachers 2002). The FT (Federation of Teachers, 2002) iterates purpose by which AP engineering colleges
achieve
democratic
organizational
processes
between
administration and faculty, believing shared governance is under attack in six ways:
• Outsourcing of subject matter experts, particularly related to learning technologies.
Marisa Ramirez, Consistency of college management, http://www.uh.edu/newsevents/stories/2010articles/May2010/5102010CMCDRecognition.php, Accessed on 6th May2010 156 Policy council, Shared Governance in Colleges and Universities, http://facultysenate.tamu.edu/Quick%20Links/Shared%20Governance%20in%20Colleges%20 and%20Universities.pdf, Accessed on 5th May2010 155
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• Redirecting teaching to part time and temporary faculty. • Re-orienting curriculum to business oriented coursework. • Buying and selling of courseware for commercial exploitation. • For profit teaching and research. With the formation of a “commercial consortia with other universities and private investors." Meaning, as many have begun to view education of business, they are not necessarily in the business of education157. With the complexity of AP engineering college internal structures, the external relationships between institutions and local, state, and national bodies are evidently equally differentiated given the different forms of governance structures. External governing relationships depend much on institutions, governing policy, and any other formal or informal organizational obligations. Generally, institutions are recognized as autonomous actors with varying degrees of interdependence with, and legislated commitments to the external stakeholders, local and national stakeholders. Janardhan BN (January, 2004, PP 14-17): Good governance in AP
engineering
colleges
implies
a
high
level
of
organizational
effectiveness in relation to policy formulation and the policies actually pursued, especially in the conduct of economic policy and its contribution to growth, stability and popular welfare. Good governance also implies accountability, transparency, participation, openness and the rule of law.
157 Leela Margaret, Governance, Efficiency "Talent management, work-life balance and retention strategies", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vo.20 No.7, 2008, PP 792-806.
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It does not necessarily presuppose a value judgment, for example, a healthy respect for civil and political liberties, although good governing team tends to be a prerequisite for political legitimacy. Governance is the physical exercise involving management of rules, power and policy. "Good governance in AP engineering college is epitomized by predictable, open and enlightened policy making, a bureaucracy imbued with professional ethos acting in furtherance of the public good, the rule of law, transparent processes, and a strong civil society participating in public affairs. Poor governance (on the other hand) in AP engineering colleges is characterized by arbitrary policy making, unaccountable bureaucracies, unenforced or unjust legal systems, the abuse of executive power, a civil society unengaged in public life, and widespread corruption." "Efforts to create an enabling environment and to build capacities will be wasted if the governance context is not favorable to stakeholders in AP engineering colleges. Ultimately, better governance in AP engineering colleges requires periodical renewal. This means a concerted attack on corruption from the highest to lowest level. This can be done by setting a good example, by strengthening accountability, by encouraging public debate, and by nurturing a free press in AP engineering colleges. There is a need to bring greater clarity to the concept of governance which requires special attention in AP engineering colleges. It will be an approach that fills analytical gaps left by seniors or predecessors. Using a governance
approach,
one
emphasizes
"the
creative
potential
of
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organizational dynamics, especially with the ability of leaders to rise above the existing structure of the ordinary, to change the rules of the game and to inspire others to put in efforts to move AP engineering colleges forward in new and productive directions". Governance in AP engineering colleges is a conceptual approach that, when fully elaborated, (Gaurav Rastogi, Aug 2000, PP 49-51) can frame
a
comparative
analysis
of
macro-politics
or
organizational
dynamics. Governance concerns "big" questions of a "constitutional" nature that establish the rules of political conduct. Governance involves creative intervention by political actors to change structures that inhibit the expression of human potential. Governance is a rational concept, emphasizing the nature of interactions between state and social actors, and among social actors themselves. Governance in AP engineering colleges refers to particular types of relationships among stakeholders: that is, those which are socially sanctioned rather than arbitrary. It is clear that the concept of governance has over the years gained momentum and a wider meaning. Apart from being an instrument of public affairs management, or a gauge of organizational development, governance has become a useful mechanism to enhance the legitimacy of the public realm. It has also become an analytical framework or approach to organizational dynamics in AP engineering colleges. In AP engineering colleges, the terms "governance" and "good governance" are being increasingly used in development of
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academic literature. Bad governance is being increasingly regarded as one of the root causes of all evil within a college. Good
governance
in
AP
engineering
colleges
has
several
characteristics. It is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law. It assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision making. It is also responsive to the present and future needs of stakeholders in AP engineering colleges. Jitendra Babu (January, 2006, PP 09-12): Governance in AP engineering colleges involves interaction between the formal teams or work groups and those in civil society. Governance refers to a process whereby elements in society wield power, authority and influence and enact policies and decisions concerning public life and social uplifting." The policy addresses unions and faculty senates, believing that they contribute to the maintenance of shared governance in the institutions as well as the role of accrediting agencies to support management standards. Leadership team needs to emphasize the affirmation of the goals, objectives and purpose for shared governance in AP engineering colleges. Most AP engineering colleges have a ‘Vision’. The 'Vision' of a college158 is an ambitious, bold goal that it identifies as a desirable objective to strive for. A Vision exists to indicate the reason for the
158
158 Susan, Vision of an academic institution, http://humanresources.about.com/cs/strategicplanning1/a/strategicplan.htm, Accessed on 3rd Feb2010
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college’s existence. Ideally, it would seek to mobilize the college towards a common end through the creation of a motivated, energized set of people. The Vision and mission would provide answers to several questions in AP engineering colleges. “What are the teams trying to achieve as a whole?” And the values need to answer the questions. “How will the team achieve this vision, mission that the college team have for us?” There is no doubt that our personal value system continue to guide us correctly in most situations. However, the college is the sum total of all of us and the team would like to equip each team member so that he or she is the best ambassador of the college’s values and ethics. The academic business conduct provides guidelines and ethical standards159. This is to ensure that each member is armed to take ethical decisions that uphold the team value system. When a college has a set of values, it makes a commitment to the way it will act in a given situation. The values act as guiding principles for each team member in the college. The team believes that, one can foster a positive work environment that encourages ethical practices and is firmly rooted in the values one can cherish. Together, the team has the power to make this a reality. Each member in AP engineering colleges has a personal responsibility to ensure this happens. Some of the significant values to be practiced in AP engineering colleges are customer value,
James Fieser, Ethical standards, http://www.utm.edu/staff/jfieser/vita/research/Busbook.htm, Accessed on 6th Feb2009
159
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delight, leadership by example, integrity, transparency, fairness and pursuit of excellence160.
Sukumaran and Ganesh (Nov, 2003, PP 08-17): The concept of good governance for AP engineering education predominantly refers to the internal structure, college and management of various activities. In AP engineering colleges’, internal governance161 is generally composed of a governing board (board of directors), the head of institution with a team of administrative champions and staff, faculty senates, academic deans, department
chairs162,
and
usually
a
mixture
of
faculty,
student
representations.
Managing structures themselves have become increasingly complex to establish a means of organizing an equally complicated system of intraorganizational, inter-organizational and governmental relationships in AP engineering colleges. Whether college and university education, adult education, technical and vocational education, the complexities of managing education in today's world proves true at all levels of private and
public
education.
Universities
have
become
increasingly
interdependent with external agencies. AP engineering colleges are accountable to external organizational relationships163 such as local, state, national governments, equally in managing business and corporate
Annual Status of Education Report, ASER2010, Jan2011, Higher Education in AP, PP 55-63 Pierre, Does better governance foster efficiency? An aggregate frontier analysis http://www.springerlink.com/content/gjaupx85p35jptwp/, Accessed on 3rd May2010 162Governance, Analytical Report, Human Resource Management Review, Vol.4, 1994, PP 117-129 163Glenn B Voss, Organizational relationships, http://orgsci.journal.informs.org/cgi/content/abstract/11/3/330, Accessed on 4th Nov2010 160 161
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relationships. The nature of managing relationships characterize whether governance is corporate and business oriented or defined more by a collegial shared form of governance164. "Governance" in this sense as discussed by Kezar and Eckel (2004: 371-398) at the macro level of policy decision making in engineering colleges. Governance is a multilevel concept including several different bodies and processes with different decision making functions in AP engineering colleges.
Participation and teamwork: Manish Goyal (January, 2004, PP 1315): Participation by leadership team, teaching and non-teaching staff is a key
cornerstone
of
good
governance
in
AP
engineering
colleges.
Participation could be either direct or through legitimate intermediate institutions or representatives. It is important to point out that representative democracy does not necessarily mean that the concerns of the most vulnerable in AP engineering colleges would be taken into consideration in decision making. Participation needs to be informed and organized. Rule of law or regulations: Good governance in AP engineering colleges requires fair legal frameworks that are implemented or enforced impartially. It also requires full protection of human rights, particularly those of minorities or vulnerable teams. Impartial enforcement of laws requires an independent judiciary and an impartial and incorruptible team of champions.
164
Myron Weiner, The Child and the State in India, Education Planner, Princeton University Press, 1991, PP 69-75
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Transparency
and
decision
making
based
on
data
points:
Transparency in AP engineering colleges means that decisions taken and their realistic implementations are done in a manner that follows rules and regulations. It also means that information is freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions and their implications or results. Timely responsiveness: Good governance requires that institutions and processes try to serve all stakeholders within a reasonable timeframe. Key challenge is the gap between expectations and acceptance among stakeholders in AP engineering colleges. Consensus among stakeholders: There are several stakeholders and as many viewpoints in AP engineering colleges. Good governance requires mediation of the different interests in college to reach a broad consensus on what is in the best interest of the whole community and how this can be achieved. Equity, diversity and inclusiveness: AP engineering colleges well being depends on ensuring that all its members feel that they have a stake in it and do not feel excluded from the mainstream of day to day governance
activities.
This
requires
all
teams
and
workgroups,
particularly the most vulnerable, have opportunities to improve or maintain their well being. Effectiveness
and efficiency:
Good governance
means,
the
processes, systems and AP engineering colleges together produce results that meet the needs of society while making the best use of talent pool or
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resources at their disposal. The concept of efficiency in the context of good governance and appropriate administration also covers the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment. Accountability and responsibility in AP engineering colleges: Accountability is a key requirement of good governance. Not only government engineering colleges’ but also the private colleges and civil society organizations must be accountable to the public and to their institutional stakeholders. Accountability would be depending on whether decisions or actions taken are internal or external to an organization or institution. In general AP engineering colleges are accountable to those who will be affected by its decisions or actions. Accountability need to be enforced with transparency, integrity, fairness and the rule of law. Good governance in AP engineering colleges is an ideal which is difficult to achieve in its totality. Very few AP engineering colleges have come close to achieving good governance in its totality. However, to ensure sustainable human development, actions must be taken to work towards this ideal with the aim of making it a reality. Engineering education in the state of AP (Sudheendra Nath, July 2001, PP 123-125) is realizing that, there is a need to focus on most important aspects like strategic academic leadership and academic change management processes and good governance. Providing a competitive and healthy work culture, recruiting qualified faculty and staff, implementing realistic performance management system, effective internal and external communication, practicing academic discipline in the campus are very important to be the
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best in class and in meeting the global competition and benchmarking standards. Samba Murthy (July, 2003, PP 33-36): Whenever one thinks of good governance and leadership in AP engineering colleges, there is a need to recollect the memories of University of Cambridge started in the year 1209, some 802 years ago. One thing great about this institution is that it is being funded by alumnus students year after year. Branding and governance is all about stakeholder delight & value, meritocracy, integrity, transparency, very high success rate of placement record year after year, creating preferred work place, processes and systems, credibility, respect, ability to provide well defined career path to both faculty and students. Some of the engineering colleges in AP did not invest in governance, efficient mechanisms, strategies (Swathi and Rohini, March 2003, PP 3234) and in quality academic research projects that are essential to attract industry partnerships which benefit both the faculty and students in enhancing their skills that are useful for the industry. Encouraging doctoral and post-doctoral education among staff, providing research facilities to both staff and students and building credibility with stakeholders in the industry, government and other universities, ability to meet industry expectations, ability to retain and attract talent are key challenges in this area. It is required to examine the impact of strategic leadership and governance in technical institutions in enhancing the quality processes in various operational and managerial areas. As per the
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assessment, institutions which do not have strategic leadership and good governance have failed in managerial and operational areas. Rani and Murugan (January, 2009, PP 03-07): One of the critical challenges facing by AP engineering colleges today is the way colleges are functioning in day to day operations in terms of efficiency of the pedagogical processes and systems. Key actions and fairness on the part of the board of directors and a healthy governance structure is playing an important role in terms of sustainability, effectiveness and branding of colleges, as we compare with best engineering colleges in AP or India or even in the world. Driving the students to aim for greater achievements in their field of interest, special attention to the under achievers and low performers are some of the challenges in AP engineering colleges. Individual counseling is required to know 360 degrees view of the students. In order to raise the aspirations of students and to make them to dream big, we need to focus on instilling creative ideas and driving innovative thinking in them. Faculty members need to become role models to students in terms of subject knowledge, high impact presentations, thought leadership, project management, research work, self discipline, values and ethics. Leadership by example is to be demonstrated by college governing body, board of directors, principal, HODs, Professors, teaching and non teaching staff.
With the complexity of organization structure or internal structures, the external relationships between AP engineering colleges and local, state, and national governments are evidently equally differentiated given
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the different forms of governments in the national system. An external governing relationship165 depends much on institutions, government policy, and any other formal or informal organizational obligations. Generally institutions are recognized as autonomous entities with varying degrees of interdependence, legislated commitments to the external stakeholders, local and national government. Hence governance and efficiency is playing a key role in AP engineering colleges.
Though the above literature survey, research work providing the importance of challenges in governance, and efficiency etc., the previous work does not emphasize about the significance, feedback measurement system166, measurable impact of interdependent parameters or variables, performance, stakeholders analysis167, outcomes of the colleges. Hence the proposed research assignment by the researcher is relevant and important.
The above literature review providing some information and details regarding governance and efficiency of AP engineering colleges. However the details related to the impact of governance on efficiency are missing from AP engineering colleges. The available literature related to the current study covers myriads of information, which the researchers find it interesting to pursue research work. In spite of available details and
165 E.C. Subba Rao, An eye for excellence, fifty innovative years of IIT, Kharagpur, Harper Collins 2009, Academic Governance PP 25-27 166 Feedback measurement analysis, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1754606/, Accessed on 6th may, 2010 167 Kammi Schemeer, Stakeholders analysis guidelines, http://www.lachsr.org/documents/policytoolkitforstrengtheninghealthsectorreformpartii-EN.pdf, Accessed on 8th Jan2010
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information in this current area of research, certain aspects covered under earlier studies are not included. The present research work by the researcher is designed based on the gaps identified through the literature survey and data interpretation.
2.5
Gaps Identified in Review of Literature
The literature review has helped the researcher to identify number of research gaps in the domain of the present research.
The literature
review reveals that there are very few studies in AP which explore strategic leadership actions, change management processes and systems in engineering colleges and their possible outcomes. The important research gaps in relation to the present study are summarized as below: Change management processes and relevant work culture: There is a research gap to explore the impact of change management processes and systems on enabling positive work culture in AP engineering colleges. Previous studies had identified a few attributes related to people side of change management processes. However, there is still a large gap in the exploration of determinant attributes and their influence on work culture in AP engineering colleges. Some of the major findings or data points which were missing from the previous research work were, 1) the impacts of meritocracy practices by management team on enhancing team work among faculty members in AP engineering colleges, 2) the correlation between performance of faculty members and their pay scales in AP engineering colleges. Hence the present study.
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Strategic academic leadership and faculty attrition: Previous studies have not reported comprehensive study and data points related to the impact of strategic leadership on faculty attrition in AP engineering colleges. Some of the major findings or data points which were missing from the previous research work were, 1) the impact on syllabi coverage due to faculty members’ attrition in private engineering colleges of AP, 2) the impact of faculty development programs on the rate of student’s placements in AP engineering colleges. Hence the present study. Branding and performance: There is a research gap to explore the impact of internal and external branding on overall performance of AP engineering colleges. Previous studies had identified a few attributes related to branding. However, there is still a large gap in the exploration of determinant attributes and their influence related to branding and performance of AP engineering colleges. Some of the major findings or data points which were missing from the previous research work were the impact of industry interface on attracting the students of rural engineering colleges of AP. Hence the present study. Governance and efficiency: Previous studies have not reported comprehensive study and data points related to the impact of governance on efficiency in AP engineering colleges. Some of the major findings or data points which were missing from the previous research work were the impact of infrastructural facilities on performance of the faculty members in urban engineering colleges of AP. Hence the present study.
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In the light of aforesaid research gaps, this dissertation endeavors to address these notified gaps in the context of rural, urban, government and private engineering colleges of AP state.
