New President Interview -- Part 32 – Diversity

 Diversity

Q:  “Diversity” is often used in both academia and in corporate institutions.  “Diversity” is intended to describe a methodology that creates ways to make the institution more reflective of the community. What is the College diversity policy?

A: Briefly we believe that having a diverse student body, faculty, and staff is essential for helping student face the world.  The College actively promotes diversity. The richness of the educational experience is enhanced by diversity and leads to understanding, tolerance, and an appreciation of the differences embodied in each of us.

Q:  That sounds very lofty.  Most of the time people think that having students of many races is diversity.  Having a 37% black, 35% Hispanic, and 18% white student population is someone’s idea of a diverse population. I know that is not your opinion. What is diversity?

A: Diversity means that one recognizes that no one person has a monopoly on the truth or a particular way of thinking.  People should be judged on the power of their intellect, the kindness of their heart, and the generosity of their spirit.  The forms that ask about racial diversity are silly.  Diversity has many layers because we belong to different communities simultaneously.   Examples of the basis or commonality for communities include: geographical proximity or groups based on religious, ethnic, physical, gender, intellectual, professional, or recreational interests.  Creating a diverse organization is difficult because it takes people out of their comfort zone. People tend to like those whom they share some sort of common interest or other commonality.  People can respect a person who is different as long as they conform.

Teams need several kinds of people.  Leaders don’t need people who always agree with them.  They need many points of view to create solutions that work. Diversity brings new information to the organization.  In a 2014 article Katherine W. Phillips says, “Being around people who are different from us makes us more creative, more diligent and harder-working.” [1]

One of reasons we teach the humanities is to demonstrate both the similarities and differences of the human spirit.  The human spirit is both the same and different in each one of us.  If one person has strict religious based dietary rules, you can’t say to them, “Don’t worry God with forgive you this one time if you eat x-food with me.” God may forgive, but perhaps the person will never forgive you or themselves for a weak moment?

There is an unresolved question, “Does diversity cause better results and innovation or is the correlation just a statistical anomaly?”  It is difficult to devise an experiment that would be conclusive.  I diverge a bit to a sport analogy about cause and effect.  Baseball keeps all kinds of statistics.   For example how do pitchers fair against right-handed or left-handed batters based on a pitcher’s dominate throwing arm?  Does a left-handed pitcher do better against left-handed batters?  Are there scientific proofs involving measurements and the physics of a thrown ball? Or is the correlation only an interesting data set?  The skeptic may ask, “Who cares?  The data are just counts of the results.”

In the 1950 book, Social pressures in informal groups: a study of human factors in housing [2] Leon Festinger, et al discuss the functioning of groups.  Small groups influence the behavior of their members.  People in close proximity form groups that support each other.  This is the basis of the science of social psychology.  Proximity may start friendships and they may continue after the geographic proximity ends.  Group behavior is influenced by the institutional culture, relevant laws, as well as interpersonal connections.  In the 1950’s they didn’t talk much about diversity and were concerned about what kept groups together.  This group cohesiveness leads us to understand how diversity enables groups to be smarter than the sum of the individuals.

Festinger describes a situation in the book (starting at page 8) about a 1946 housing project named Westgate.  They studied how residents made friendships.  These observations were so important in the field of social psychology, more than 25 years later they were still studied in undergraduate psychology courses.  The fact that these were new housing projects, the residents had no prior connections, and they were all MIT married engineering students, gave the researchers an opportunity to study friendship with many methodological controls.  One of their results was that proximity was important for the formation of personal friendships. Electronic communications breaks down the barriers of time and place and allow new kinds of friendships and continuation of proximity initiated relationships. Festinger did not predict the extent of the influence of increased electronic communications.  Friendships were not connected to diversity or the need to have diverse relationships.  While people who liked each other became friends, proximity was the best predictor of friendship.

For diversity to be a factor in the increasing of corporate well being and intelligence, people have to be willing to step away from a comfort zone.  On Face the Nation on August 30, 2015 Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal talked about assimilation of immigrants into American society.  His often repeated line, “Immigration without assimilation is an invasion” sounds like the cadence of a politician.  It is meaningless and is disconnected from learning through diversity.  In the College, we have written rules and policies that people are supposed to conform to.  We have a corporate culture that has the expression or interpretation of the rules.  However, diversity is a concept that can not be legislated.

Q: Getting to some cases—what is the interpretation of respect for those are different? What are some accommodations to allow for diversity?

A: Some aspects are controlled by state and federal laws. The  Illinois Human Rights Act   (775 ILCS 5/) states that all individuals within Illinois the have the right to freedom from discrimination based on his or her race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, order of protection status, marital status.  The law then elaborates on what this means.  Compliance is sometimes a delicate balance between the needs of the College and the individual.  For example no teacher may schedule a major exam on a religious holiday without making a reasonable accommodation to members of that religious group.   In my college years some professors were more accommodating than others.  One scheduled a final on a Saturday.  The class never even met on Saturdays.  He refused to reschedule a test on another day for the Sabbath observers in the class.  The class had many Sabbath observers. The professor said, “God will forgive you.” After complaining to the dean, the accommodation was to take the test on Saturday night after the Sabbath ended.   While technically that was an accommodation, even the non-Sabbath observers thought that was unjust.

Here at the College, we try to treat students, faculty, and staff with respect concerning their religious holidays while keeping in mind that we have to watch out for those taking advantage of an observance that is not theirs.  In high school a few non-Jewish students missed class on the Jewish holidays because they knew the teachers would not cover much material in class on those days. Here we require verification that a person is a legitimate observer.  The verification process is left to the discretion of the teacher or supervisor.

Q:  How do you deal with meetings that may happen on holidays or the Sabbath?

A:  With every group there are those who have time conflicts.  If no one objects, Saturday and Sunday meetings are allowed.  If a committee meeting has a regular time to meet each week and a member can’t attend because of a conflict, the members must decide how to deal with the situation.  For example for a routine meeting, a substitute may be sent.  Other times, the meeting is rescheduled.  I have heard of colleges scheduling graduations on Saturday.  Those Sabbath observers who wanted to participate in the ceremonies had to have an accommodation.  At the May 16, 2015 commencement at Binghamton University, State University of New York, Don Greenberg, of Teaneck, New Jersey, was selected by his classmates to deliver one of the student commencement addresses.  As an observant Jew, he could not use electricity on the Sabbath and so couldn’t use the microphone.  Speaking without a microphone was impractical.  Rescheduling the commencement would have caused too many hardships for everyone involved. [3]  Greenberg pre-recorded his speech three days earlier and stood at the podium while it played on the big screen to the audience. The speech included the reason for the recording.  He challenged graduates to pursue greatness as opposed to a pre-determined path.  His family stayed within walking distance because they do not ride or use a car on the Sabbath. [4]  This was an accommodation that was a proud moment for all involved.  The University’s office for diversity and inclusion let people know that this happened and showed how without compromising the Sabbath or the University’s needs, diverse needs can be met.

Here at the College we do not have a tradition of weekend commencement exercises.  Commencement is usually scheduled for the first Tuesday after the end of the spring semester classes.

Q:  What meetings would cause difficulty with religious accommodations? 

A: A major decision making meeting should take into account religious observances.  We do not schedule major meetings from Friday afternoon through Sunday. 

A while ago a major state university in another state was searching for a president.  The search committee was charged by the chancellor of the system to find someone who would lead the university on a new course.  The board of trustees had some major policy changes that would need to be implemented by the new president.  Programs were going to be changed, moved or consolidated.  New buildings were proposed or scheduled to be built and old ones re-purposed.  All of these activities would be under the supervision of the new president.  The university needed a president who had experience in the academic and community arenas.  The new president would need to build bridges and gain support from the faculty, staff, community and students so that the changes would help them all.  A president's responsibility includes providing leadership and vision for planning, operations, and compliance with local, state, federal, and accrediting body laws, rules, regulations, and legal interpretations.  The provost provides similar leadership for the academic programs and student services of the College. The provost works to create a climate which enhances student learning, stimulates creative approaches to teaching and learning, and motivates both staff and students to optimum levels of student success and community achievement.

The process of choosing a president requires a balance between information to be made public and information that is kept private.  A person who applies for such a job has to be careful with his current job because the current employer may view him/her as disloyal.  If not appointed to the new job, the candidate can lose respect and power and become ineffective in the current position.

To choose a new president, that state university appointed a “diverse” committee of faculty, alumni, staff, administrators, and a student representative.  The committee tried to include constituents and diverse types of personality styles to see if they could form a committee that represented the campus.  The president of the faculty senate, who is supposed to represent the faculty voice, was not invited to be a member of the committee.  The committee’s job was to discover and codify the campus thought as what qualities should be in a new president and then find candidates.  After a self-study to determine the needs and want of the campus, the committee advertised the position and received applications.  This campus interview was a time to get to know the candidate and listen to them as they explain their thought process and vision as to how they would be able to lead the university.  The on campus interviews included meetings with special groups and open sessions for the students and faculty. 

The committee met for several summer months and identified three candidates they wanted to interview. They vetted the candidates and choose three finalists to be invited for on campus interviews.  After one declined the interview, a fourth candidate was identified and invited.  The three candidates were scheduled from September through the second week in October.  Getting acceptable dates for the candidates took a lot of negotiations and planning.

The first candidate was scheduled for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.  The president of the faculty senate objected and was supported by a resolution of the senate executive. The person making the arrangements and scheduling said that was the only day the candidate was available.   This was a power play.  What is more important following the university guidelines for respectful and diverse campus and following the law for non-discrimination or the interviewing of a candidate?  Arguments about time and money are really about power.  People like to have power over their situation and over others.  A healthy relationship is where the parties are more interested in win-win situations than “I’m right, you’re wrong” dramas.

Scheduling another day proved impossible.  What possible accommodations could be made was a heated discussion.  One suggestion was to stream the interview and allow those who couldn’t be there to chime in with questions.  That did not work because if the faculty senate president couldn’t be there in person, he could not be there via teleconference either.   Since body language and other non-verbal communications convey messages beyond the words,   for someone is to be taken seriously, they have to look and feel the part.  Listening is an art and one needs to observe both how the candidate moves and looks as well as the words in his answers.  Does the candidate treat the faculty and other with the respect they deserve?  One does not need a candidate who agrees with everyone and every idea, but getting to acceptable answers is part of the job of a president.

The next offer was to allow the faculty senate president to submit written questions. This means the questions will definitely be asked, but the body language would not be viewed and there would be no follow-up questions.   In the end the compromise was -- written questions would be allowed; the faculty senate was allowed to teleconference additional questions on a future date; and the university administration agreed never to schedule an important university meeting on a day that limited participation because of a religious holiday.

In the end the first candidate was totally unacceptable. He had a great resume with all the appropriate education and experience.  The president of the faculty senate read between the lines.  The written questions made the candidate uneasy.  He was not a good listener and the committee could tell from his body language that he was not a good fit.  They had a hard time believing anything he said.  He did not get the job.  Another candidate not only had the right words, but was an active listener and before the end of his two days of interviews already was able to build relationships.  People believed him.  He was offered the job and now many years later the university is a better place because of him.

Q:  Thank you very much.

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Part thirty-two of imaginary interviews with the president of the College. After more than 30 interviews the president is no longer “new,” but since we are all works in progress I am continuing the series as if s/he were a “new president.” Please feel free to suggest new ideas for interviews and presidential comments. This article is for your information, amusement, and edification. Everything is true, but some details have not yet happened. Any connection to a real college or president is strictly coincidental.

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[1] Phillips, Katherine W. "How Diversity Works." Scientific American 311.4 (2014): pages 43-47. Retrieved from Ebsco Academic Search Complete.   27 Aug. 2015. The Ebsco citation for this article has the wrong author attribution.  Ebsco’s citation has “Paul Caleb” as the author. I verified authorship with the real author.  She gave me another source, the Scientific American web site: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter/.  The title there is:  "How Diversity Makes Us Smarter."  The author has no idea of a reason to change the title.  All of this causes problems for those of you who want to read the whole article that I used.

On Sept 20, 2015 Ebsco sent me a message saying that the indexing and citation for this article was corrected.

[2] Festinger, Leon; Stanley Schachter; Kurt W Back; Social pressures in informal groups: a study of human factors in housing.  Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1963, 1950.

[3] Don Greenberg was not the only Sabbath observant Jew to deliver a commencement speech.  Jacob Dorfman, was the School of Management’s selected student speaker.  His speech was not scheduled on the Sabbath.

[4] For more information see:  Religious News Service:  http://www.religionnews.com/2015/05/13/orthodox-jewish-commencement-speaker-finds-shabbat-workaround/  While the open microphone was the visible problem, his rabbi determined the actual problem was the sound board.  Every moment someone speaks lights go on or off on the sound board.   While the university was willing to find a solution to the lights, they were unable.  The story made the national news in the Washington Post and New York Times.  The commencement speech can be viewed on YouTube   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmXh2U7v2RA .   This was a proud moment for the student and the university. 

New President Interview -- Part 31 – Effective Communications

  Effective Communications

Q:  In interview 12, “Executive Communications”[1] you talked about the lines of communications in an organization help to keep customers, staff, and students more connected.  In a 2010 booklet from Towers Watson & Co., “Capitalizing on Effective Communication” [2] They report that effective communications with employees is a key indicator of employee satisfaction and institutional performance.  I have heard that “no answer” is worse than answering, “No.”  How does the College seek to improve office communications?[3]

A:  A good observation. In the College curriculum many courses teach students analysis and writing

skills.  In English and speech classes writing, grammar, and use of language are emphasized.  Rarely does one find an executive or professional in-service training to enhance professional communications.  Partly because we assume that faculty and staff already learned how to write.  The challenge is that they may have learned how to craft a sentence, but never learned why one needs to communicate. Towers Watson found that companies that invest in helping leaders, managers, and staff communicate better are more likely to deal with change.  Dealing with change is how an organization becomes nimble and able to adapt to new situations.   Communications is not just writing a good sentence, but also knowing when to write and what media should be used to spread the message.

In every organization there are managers and followers.  Places such as colleges may have the lines blurred between managers and followers.  A person may be a manager one moment and follower in another.  For example a professor is the manager and leader in the classroom.  In the college hierarchy s/he answers to a department chair and dean.  The professor may also be in charge or just a member of a committee, event or process.  Communications is about giving the right message to the right people.  A dean needs department reports so that s/he can keep the departments working, on track and have information for other reports.  The dean needs to co-ordinate efforts to prevent wasted effort and resources.  The deans need to create reports for the provost, vice-president, or other managers and administrators who supervise other College entities.  Sometimes the messages require courage to create and circulate.  Urgent messages require systems that save time, frustration or even limbs and lives.  It is better to tell people the sad or happy news than have them wondering what is going on or to hear a distorted report on the 10 PM news.

For example when severe weather is a problem, we communicate immediately via e-mail, phone, and text messages.  Examples of poor communications are:  the administrative office sends one message to the students and forgets to tell the departments involved to be prepared.  The students are then met with conflicting messages.  A friend in another city told me about the mayor of their city making an announcement about a city college that the faculty and students heard about from news reports, not official college messages. This behavior creates an atmosphere of mistrust. How do you think a professor feels when asked about a college event and needs to answer, “That’s the first I heard of it.”

Q: How does the College innovate? How do people learn about the best practices?

A: The best organizations are innovating and encourage entrepreneurial behaviors.  At the College we listen to the students and the community. We adapt our course offerings to change with the needs of the community.  Companies listen to customers and give that feedback to the employees.  In large organizations there are internal and external customers.  For example the information technology (IT) staff is in charge of keeping the computers and all technology up and running.  The rest of the College are their customers.  They need to listen to customer needs and not just supply the “latest” gadgets.  They need to give the College the tools to do their task.

The College is in the business of educating students and the employees need to understand everything they do could affect student learning.  If the rooms aren’t clean or the equipment does not perform, the prestige and trust of the College is lowered in the student or faculty eyes.  

Reaching out with social media, giant screens, signs, etc. are venues to present the message.  For example at the College we have outside message screens for the general public, inside screens for promoting events, and a presence on Facebook and Twitter.  These are ways to publish short messages.  We also have general websites and departmental websites for more information and documents.

For best practices faculty are encouraged to communicate with each other and with colleagues in other colleges with similar interests. Membership in professional organizations is encouraged and supported.

Q: In the Towers Watson booklet they talk about three aspects of communications — courage, innovation, and discipline.  This is not their original idea.  They were just making astute observations based on their organizational research.  This past weekend we celebrated Independence Day.  Is there a connection between the actions of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and excellence in communications?

A: Good observation.  Last week’s Torah portion, Balak, (Numbers 22:2- 25:9) also has a good example of powerful communications.  The story has Balak, King of Moab, hiring the prophet Bilaam to curse the Children of Israel.  Bilaam refused and gave a blessing that is linguistically and politically powerful, “How goodly are your tents O Jacob, your dwelling places O Israel.”[4]  In the Hebrew it is powerful Biblical poetry.  Bilaam spoke with courage and innovation.  He had the courage to go against his employer and say what was right.  He opened up his eyes to the situation and followed the word of God after his donkey spoke to him.

The signers of the Declaration of Independence also recognized the power of God in the creation of the world and granting certain unalienable rights – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Governments are instituted to guarantee these rights.  Governments make laws based on the just powers derived from the Creator and govern with the consent of the governed.   The signers were communicating with courage, innovation, and discipline — courage to break with King of England, innovation to write a type of document that had never been created, and discipline to believe in God and recognize a power beyond that of mortal of man. The message of the document is that the signers made sure the readers understand the effect of their words and thoughts. Their powerful words that included using the authority of the Creator gave a strong clear message to the people of colonies and England.  The colonists would no longer submit to the tyranny of the King.

While corporate communications don’t start a revolution, the communications do affect the employees and customers.  Communicators (really everyone in the organization) need to understand the organizational values and culture.  But that assumes those values are well articulated and appropriate to corporate mission.  The acculturation process is the material for a whole book. 

Q: Corporate communications is not a new field.   Arthur E. Phillips published the first public speaking textbook[5] specifically designed for business people.  His work was based on library research.  He examined the works of Aristotle, William Shakespeare, John Milton, Homer, Victor Hugo and Dante.  He didn’t do any research in contemporary businesses.  What is your take on early publication communications publications?

A: In 1936 Dale Carnegie published a book, How to win friends and influence People.  He offered courses and his company still exists today.  He also did not do any behavioral research.  Even without research, people claimed Carnegie books and courses changed and improved their lives for the better.  Today we are a bit more careful to do research on how people behave. However, we still depend on library research and personal experience.

In the late 1920’s, studies conducted by Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger in the Cicero, Illinois Western Electric Company Hawthorne Works plant, investigated the socio-psychological aspects of human behavior in organizations.  They wanted to discover how to improve production with physical changes to the plant environment. What they discovered has come to be called “The Hawthorne Effect.”  That is that whatever the experimenters changed helped production.  What the workers really wanted was to feel that they were important and that management cared. 

What Philips, Carnegie and Mayo/ Roethlisberger discovered was that communication is complex.  It is not just the words, but also caring about the people receiving the message.  People need to be empowered in the workplace and feel their efforts are accomplishing the corporate goals.

Q: Returning to the need to communicate correctly what are some of philosophical pressures to the process.  In other words how to people learn the “why” of communications?

A:  There is little doubt that the pace of data production is accelerating.  Back in the 1990’s a small company of 500 could produce more words in documents in one month than the sum total of all the words produced before the start of printing.  In the study of ancient texts scholars could dwell on the significance of every letter.  Today the amount of data could double in less than a year.  I use the word “data” when others may use “information” because the term “information” implies there is some order or context.  Data are pieces of that need organization and context and may become information.  Once in a useful format, one person’s information could become another’s data.  The data and information may include non-print items such as pictures and videos.  The ability for anyone to become an instant publisher using social media, blogs, and other electronic venues means that we are bombarded with too much data. We probably have a harder time making sense and creating knowledge than the scholars studying ancient texts.

In the organizational/business world managers are dealing with information streams that did not exist when they first entered the work force.   Managers need to create streams of information that help workers do their jobs.  This requires a corporate mission that is translated to everyday activities.  There are companies that send all the new employees to “boot camp” for 1 or more weeks where they learn the corporate culture, how the company is organized, and how they fit into corporate excellence.

I heard a story from faculty member in another university who was hired two weeks before the semester started based on her resume and a short phone interview.  She never even visited the campus before being hired.  She learned some of the procedures from the departmental secretary.  She was invited to a pre-semester meeting, but most of her colleagues didn’t bother to attend.  About April of the spring semester she got an urgent e-mail asking why she never filled out a form for graduating seniors.  She never had a request for the form, never knew which students in her classes were graduating seniors, and in her previous experience never heard of this type of form.  No one from the department or university indicated such a form was required.   

This is a case of poor communications in contrast to the business “boot camp.”  This professor was denied the information tools to do her job and then was reprimanded for not knowing the procedures existed.

In short we need to communicate so that the organization stays on course and follows the mission.  That also assumes the mission is carefully worded with the wisdom of experience.  Grandiose mission messages that include unreachable goals are not helpful to the creation of a clear message. The upper management must set the example and everyone needs to feel they are part of the success.  Nothing demoralizes staff like conflicting or confusing messages.  A chancellor or president who says one thing to the faculty and another to the press quickly loses credibility. 

On one hand we must keep in mind those ancient texts and how important every word is to the understanding of the message and balance that with the ability to create messages quickly and easily.  Tell the reader what they need to know and don’t give unrelated ideas.

Four communication types include business and professional communication, managerial communication, organizational communication, and business/corporate communication.  Professional communications include how we connect to others in our profession or business roles.  Methods of communication include list servs, professional publications, and professional meetings.  Managerial communications include telling workers what they need to know about the organization and keeping people on the track to complete the goals.  These methods include policy documents, e-mail communications, and face-to-face meetings.  Business communications include the process oriented messages that we send to get the jobs done.  These are the e-mails, personal contacts, and phone calls used to keep each other informed.

Q: Any final words?

A:  In 1953 B.F. Skinner published Science and human behavior [6] where introduces the idea of operate conditioning.  We can shape behavior by giving praise and reward for desired behaviors and punishing undesired ones.  I take this idea further.  We must use behaviors to set good examples.  Communications are not just the words.  Context, action, body language, and delivery give strong clues to believability and credibility. Context includes correct grammar, spelling and other language features.  A high concept movie may be great entertainment, but it will not be confused with business communication.

Q:  Thank you very much.

Part thirty-one of imaginary interviews with the president of the College. After more than 30 interviews the president is no longer “new,” but since we are all works in progress I am continuing the series as if s/he were a “new president.” Please feel free to suggest new ideas for interviews and presidential comments. This article is for your information, amusement, and edification. Everything is true, but some events have not yet happened. Any connection to a real college or president is strictly coincidental.

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[1] Stuhlman, Daniel  D.  “Executive Communications.”  Kol Safran, October 25, 2012. Retrieved on July 3, 2015 from:  http://kol-safran.blogspot.com/2012/10/executive-communications.html .

[2]  Capitalizing on Effective Communication: How Courage, Innovation and Discipline Drive Business Results in Challenging Times  (2009/2010 Communication ROI Study Report).  [Arlington, VA] :Towers Watson & Co.,   c2010.  Retrieved  from:  http://www.towerswatson.com/DownloadMedia.aspx?media={70A3EAFB-0BDE-4359-B8FF-38FEC2E43853}

[3] This article is not meant to be a comprehensive guide to organizational communications issues.  To learn more read the book, Workplace Communication for the 21st Century  edited by  Jason S. Wrench.  v. 1. Internal workplace communication — v. 2. External workplace communication.   Santa Barbara, California : Praeger, 2013.

If you are looking for a how-to article a good one, “10 Essential[s] of Effective Communications.”  may be found at this link: http://successvalues.com/effective-communication/

 

[4] Numbers 24:5.  Original: מה טובו אהליך יעקב משכנתיך ישראל.

[5] Phillips, Arthur Edward.  Effective Speaking : an exposition of the laws of effectiveness in the choice of material in speech …   Chicago: The Newton Company, 1908.

[6] Full citation for the edition that I used:  Skinner, Burrhas Frederic. Science and human behavior.  New York : Free Press,  [1965, 1953].

New President Interview -- Part 30 What is Leadership?

New President Interview -- Part 30 What is Leadership?

Q: The word “leadership” is commonly used in business and politics, but you seem to have a different understanding of the concept. Are leaders and managers the same people?  

A: Not every good manager is a leader and not every good leader is a manager.  If you refer

back to my definition of management quoted in part 29 of this series, management is business process.  Everyone in the organization can have management tasks and roles.  Likewise everyone can have leadership roles.  This is based on a concept from the Mishnah of Sayings of the Fathers (2:6), “In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man.” [1] This can be interpreted to guide everyone to take a leadership role and accomplish the task at hand.  One does not have to be the “official” leader to step “up to the plate.”

The educational process seeks to teach students to expand their understanding of themselves and the world.  In this process they need to become experts in something.  If they become experts in understanding themselves, this is a satisfactory accomplishment.  After looking into themselves and discovering their strengths and weaknesses, they can find how they fit into the world.  

An official leader is one appointed, elected or otherwise authorized by the organization. This person sets the goals and is the force to encourage the members to do their tasks.  A manager is the person who deploys and manages the time, human and financial assets needed to achieve objectives, and measures the results.  This may be the same person and it may be two or more different people.  For example the CEO may set the goals and philosophy of the organization while the president is the manager who allocates resources to accomplish the goals. 

“Leadership” is not limited to leading people.  A student learns how to lead his or her life. Taking that “first step” is a leadership role.   Taking charge of a process is a leadership role. This thought seems contradictory to some.  They say the definition of “leadership” means that people follow you.  Before you can lead others, you must learn how to lead yourself.

Q: What does it take to be a good leader?

I can tell you some of the qualities of a good leader, but I can’t give you an exact answer.  Leaders need to authority to take chances and make mistakes and learn for the betterment of the organization.  If one is always afraid of losing one’s job, prestige, or reputation, you can’t find the path to greatness.  If one is making foolish mistakes and not listening to the good advice of others, no one will believe or follow you.  Leaders have to balance risk and prudence.  Good leaders know when to listen and when to talk. Good leaders know how to use the talents of the people around them. 

Q:  The education process has many dichotomies and conflicting goals. What is the difference between education and training? 

A: Education is the process of teaching students to be productive citizens and part of society.  One challenge is that everyone is a member of multiple societies.  The society may be based on geography, ethnicity, belief systems, gender, profession, religion, or anything else that makes individuals into members of a group.  Education is helping the student to understand the role one plays in society.  That means one has to understand the language, history, sociology, law and other aspects of society.  One needs the tools such as reading, writing, mathematics, and science to master living in society.  Education inspires students to be curious, to think, to learn about the world around them, to plan and to act when the situations change. 

Training is task oriented learning.  One gets training to operate a machine or know the office procedures.  Education provides the context for fitting the machine into the world.  Education is cumulative and never ends; the tasks learned in training will some day be obsolete.

Part of the schooling process at the K-12 schools and college level is vocational.  Many employers want graduates who are ready to work and master the job.  The educator wants students to become life-long learners who are able to understand the world and meet new challenges. Teaching the thinking process is part of the teacher’s goals from the youngest to the most senior of students.  Each step of the learning process prepares one for the next.

Q: Last week I read an article, “It’s time for every student to learn to code,” by Alice Steinglass. [2]

A: I saw the article. Learning computer programming can be a way to understand logic, consequences of actions, project management, and how the world works.  I spent many years as a computer programmer.  It taught me many skills that are applicable to other areas.  One peeve I have with surveys and questionnaires with multiple choice answers is that creators don’t always have an option for “other” or “none of the above.”  In computer programs with options every option must have a consequence.  If the program asks for numeric, input, the decision tree must include provisions when 1, 0 and negative numbers are input or the program may crash.

Too often we see students and adults who have limited understanding as to the consequences of an action or decision. This process of action leads to a consequence is part of the scientific method. Too often I read about people with such a strong belief system, that strong evidence to the contrary is just not believed.

Q: Any final words?

I am never sure of the right course for people who are supposed to leaders. Politicians are elected to leadership roles. College presidents, deans and administrators are appointed, hopefully based on their abilities, experience, and strength of character, but everyone has to walk a fine line between failure to thrive, reckless decisions, and progress that will put the organization “on the map.” Without a systemic program of total quality management, someone will always feel the president or other leader is stepping on toes or making reckless decisions.

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Part thirty of imaginary interviews with the president of the College. After more than 20 interviews the president is no longer “new,” but since we are all works in progress I am continuing the series as if s/he were a “new president.” Please feel free to suggest new ideas for interviews and presidential comments. This article is for your information, amusement, and edification. Everything is true, but some events have not yet happened. Any connection to a real college or president is strictly coincidental.

Notes:

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[1] The original Hebrew: מקום שאין אנשים השתדל להיות איש..

[2] In : Eschoolnews  May 14th, 2015    http://www.eschoolnews.com/2015/05/14/learn-code-639/

New President Interview -- Part 29

Is TQM Connected to a College Education?

May 17, 2015 (new material added May 26, 2015)

Q: Recently I read about a game from the 1990’s called "Guns and Butter." [fn 1] In the game players pretend they are in charge of a country’s economy and have to decide the investment balance between armaments, food and infrastructure. If the player spends too much on arms, the people starve. If the people starve, they won’t be able to support an army. How does this balance play out in the college? What is the connection with Total Quality Management (TQM)?

A: “Guns and butter” is an economic theory that is based on a concept of how to best build a strong nation. Does the nation build arms or feed its people? Dictatorships frequently choose to build a strong army and use external threats as a justification for actions against the good and prosperity of the people. Dictators make excuses for not spending resources to create a nation that is strong in the promotion of peace, intelligence, and happiness. For example look what happened to the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. After the war Germany and Japan with the external threats removed, they built strong economies.

In an organization such as a college or business “guns” are the quick fixes and “butter” is the investment in infrastructure. Infrastructure includes the physical resources such as buildings and tools, training of personnel, and business processes that promote the smooth running of the organization. Also needed are control systems for resource management such as procurement, spending, inventory, income, scheduling, time management, and personnel. An organization that presents a strong public face, but has weak products and support will not succeed. Support systems have to encourage staff and faculty by having the tools so that they avoid wasting time on tasks not connected to their jobs. Since these words seem to be circular reasoning, let me give examples. One should not have to waste time searching for proper procedures and policies. The staff in charge of equipment set up should keep equipment running so that faculty members don’t waste time asking for help. The building should be maintained for optimal classroom use. A directory of people, places and responsibilities should be available to all faculty and staff. One should not need an information network to figure out who does what.

Every organization has economic pressures. No college can exist without paying attention to the financial bottom line. However, the accountants in a distant office can not be allowed to rule the classroom. Some academic programs may lose money, but they are worth keeping. Reasons to keep a money losing program include the program supports a community need or is important as a component or precursor of another program. For example: Imagine a small program with 30 students that is the only school in the area teaching that discipline. If there are no other schools to enable students to be prepared and trained, then that profession or industry may suffer. The community needs the program. Another program such as a MBA program may be one of 20 in the area. If that MBA program closes because it is not financially viable, the community will not suffer.

Q: What kinds of quick fixes should be avoided?

A: A quick fix is anything that looks good, but does not solve the problem. Of course in building maintenance sometimes the quick fix is good enough. That kind of quick fix may last until a better solution can be devised. For example if a pipe breaks a quick fix may be to use pipe repair compound until a plumber can be called to replace the pipe. However, if the whole plumbing system is broken, a quick fix will just postpone the inevitable and not solve the problem.

W. Edward Deming is credited with starting the movement called, Total Quality Management (TQM)[fn 2]. Every aspect of the business from how the phones are answered to the

sourcing of raw materials and creating the final product is dedicated to quality. One of his examples is a company that makes white marbles. Early in the manufacturing process the marble machine was making 85 white marbles and 15 red marbles for every 100 marble batch. The quick fix would be to ship 100 marbles and charge for 85, letting the customer throw out the defective ones. Another quick fix would be to have a selection or inspection process to remove the defective ones. The Total Quality solution would be to figure out why the defective marbles are being manufactured and fix the whole process. Embracing quality and constant improvement are important part of Deming’s philosophy.

Q: What does this have to do with education?

A: Colleges need to have success metrics. Two metrics in vogue throughout the country are retention and graduation rates. The logic is seemly simple -- the goal of going to college is to graduate and launch oneself into a career. However, as we learned graduation is not always the goal or the planned outcome. Higher education, once only for the well-to-do, academic elite, or the extremely motivated, became a national priority with the National Defense Act of 1958. [fn 3]  The act begins with the reason for the law.

The Congress hereby finds and declares that the security of the Nation requires the fullest development of the mental resources and technical skills of its young men and women. … We must increase our efforts to identify and educate more of the talent of our Nation. This requires programs that will give assurance that no student of ability will be denied an opportunity for higher education because of financial need…

The National Defense Act gave opportunities for financial help to millions of students including myself to attend college. The act did not even refer to graduation and retention. Most students in those years were highly motivated to finish. It was the student’s responsibility to complete the degree, not the college. Then as now not everyone who started college, finished. Many students left because they were not college material (either self discovered or the college asked them to leave) or had financial pressures. Personal and financial reasons are still the main reasons students don’t complete programs. Economically for the college it makes sense to retain students until they graduate. As in any business it is better to keep a current customer than find a new one.

If the metric is to measure retention and graduation rates, the institution changes behavior to increase the rates. This endangers lowering the bar to graduate. I heard a story from a colleague who told me his son just got an A.A. degree from a community college. I congratulated him and he responded, “My son hasn’t been in the college since 2005.” He had already graduated with an undergraduate and masters degrees and has been working full time for 7 years. It seems that someone in the administrative office of that college was looking for students who were close to the 60 credits required for graduation. Students received letters asking them if they took courses after leaving the college. If so, the office requested a transcript. If the credits were transferable, the students were sent a diploma. This meant nothing to the students. It was just to make the graduate rate higher.

In 2004 Vincent Tinto in an article [fn 4] for the Pell Institute wrote about retention and graduation. Without an interpretation of the student’s attainment of goals only 10% of students who started in a community college completed a bachelors degree within six years. [fn 5] Compare this to a 58% completion rate for those who started in a four year college or university. There are many factors involved such as income above $70,000 and parents who had completed college also had higher completion rates. Confounding all our statistics and measuring of graduation rates are those students who have no intention to graduate. They may want to update their skills, complete pre-requisites for a career change, or just learn to satisfy their curiosity. [fn 6]

The common reasons that students don’t complete their degree include lack of academic support, family support, and financial. Many low income students are not prepared for academic life for many reasons. Tinto suggests that the ways to increase graduation rates are to increase financial aid and academic support systems. The Federal and State governments need to remove the disincentives to serving low income and first generation college students.

Here are additional articles that support Tinto’s conclusions by Ann M. Gansemer-Topf [fn 7] and John F. Ryan [fn 8]. Doug Shapiro and Afet Dunbar suggest in chapter 13 of Handbook of strategic enrollment management [fn 9] traditional measures of success give a limited understanding students’ path to success. They say that existing studies on graduation and retention use flawed tools and metrics. They conclude that colleges must understand their student pathways, including where they come from, how and when they arrive, and why they leave. Colleges must devise and implement policies that lead to increase the number of successful students and (getting back to total quality management) institutional effectiveness (i.e. excellence.)

Based on this research, here at the College we are trying to measure success with metrics that relate to student success. Before I even started, the application included questions concerning student goals. Students who are attending without a desire to graduate are not included in retention and graduate metrics. We marketed the summer session to visiting students whose home town is here, but attend college in other cities. This led to more students attending summer session classes and we were able to offer courses to fill their needs.

We marketed college readiness courses for the summer session to high school seniors wanting to attend in the fall. They enrolled and by fall most were ready to take college level courses. When the summer session concentrates on readiness skills, the outcome in the fall was much better. The students got to the work of learning soon after high school graduation rather than waiting 2-3 months until the fall. The college readiness program is a dynamic process. We are always learning how to best serve the students with academic, personal, familial, financial and other needs.

Q: How does this relate to TQM?

A: In a previous article “New President Interview -- Part 24 Culture of Excellence” I talked about excellence. Now I am trying to find metrics to measure quality and excellence. So far I am having a hard time coming up with answers that both the faculty and the accountants can agree with. If we find out students are dropping courses we try to examine the reasons. If problems exist that we can correct, we take corrective action. If staff and faculty report processes that are not optimal to meet our goals of excellence we work on ways to correct them.

A first step is trying to define the products the College has to offer. TQM is about listening and understanding as much as acting to make change. We have to measure behaviors, not just gather numbers.  The many areas of social science research have learned about polling and statistical analysis and that knowledge can help create a better way of educating our students and community.

A future article will deal with leadership.

Q: Thank you very much.

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Notes:

Part twenty-nine of imaginary interviews with the president of the College. After more than 20 interviews the president is no longer “new,” but since we are all works in progress I am continuing the series as if s/he were a “new president.” Please feel free to suggest new ideas for interviews and presidential comments. This article is for your information, amusement, and edification. Any connection to a real college or president is strictly coincidental.

I was reminded that I should define management.  In 2006(revised many times) I defined in my article, Knowledge Management Terms what is management.
 

 Management is the organizational process that includes strategic planning, setting; objectives, managing resources, deploying the human and financial assets needed to achieve objectives, and measuring results. Management also includes recording and storing facts and information for later use or for others within the organization. Management functions are not limited to managers and supervisors. Every member of the organization has some management and reporting functions as part of their job. http://home.earthlink.net/~ddstuhlman/defin1.htm


“Quality” has a subjective definition that is many things to many people. One part of the definition occurs when quality goods and services are produced with an outcome that is predictable and complies with standards either internally developed or externally imposed. These standards, publicly identified, produce some kind of uniformity in the product. Part two is the production of a product that the user, consumer, and/or community perceive as a reasonably and/or fairly priced. Part three is the product is continually improved and the consumer continues to desire use the service or purchase the product.

Quality in educations has some of these dimensions:

1. Consistency – Standards are followed and outcomes are predictable. Limitations, strengths, and human diversity are recognized.

2. Fitness to goals – Personal, institutional, and community goals are defined and met. Customer and stakeholder satisfaction is examined and improvements are implemented.

3. Value – Financial goals are met. That means the student and community get a fair return on their investment. Resources are spent efficiently and effectively.

4. Transformative – Education is always preparing someone for the next step in life. The student is empowered to advance and acquire life-long learning skills. The customer and the stakeholder experiences are enhanced with the education process and results.[fn 10]

[1] The Wikipedia article on the topic en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns_versus_butter_model explains the concept and its history. For this article, it is just important to know the model is a balance of goals – infrastructure vs. armaments.

[2] Deming had 14 points in his management theory. See “Deming's 14-Point Philosophy A Recipe for Total Quality “ http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_75.htm for details.

[3] 20 U.S. Code Chapter 17 - National Defense Education Program Public Law 855-864. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-72/pdf/STATUTE-72-Pg1580.pdf Note the program was only for students of public or non-profit regionally accredited institutions that granted bachelors degrees or 2 year programs that transfer to bachelors degrees and graduate programs. Up to 50% of the loan would be forgiven for teachers in public elementary or high schools.

[4] Tinto, Vincent. “Student retention and graduation facing the truth, living with the consequences” Washington, DC : Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education July 2004 Available via ERIC http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED519709 or http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED519709.pdf

[5] Ibid. p.5.

[6] I know one person who took a course every semester in a community college just because he liked to be academically challenged. He was even on the board of the college. He had to stop when he retired to another city. He then enrolled in the local community college and took courses until he died at age 91. I never asked what courses he took. He had more than 60 credits required for a degree, but refused to take a math course so that he could never graduate.

[7] Gansemer-Topf, Ann M. and John H. Schuh. “Institutional selectivity and institutional expenditures: Examining organizational factors that contribute to retention and graduation” In: Research in Higher Education. September 2006 Volume 47, Issue 6 , pp 613-642.

[8] Ryan, John F. “Institutional expenditures and student engagement: a role for financial resources in enhancing student learning and development?” In: Research in Higher Education, March 2005, Volume 46, Issue 2, pp 235-249

[9] Shapiro, Doug and Dunbar, Afet. “New context for retention and persistence.” Chapter 13 pages 249-265 in Handbook of Strategic Enrollment Management / edited by Don Hossler, Bob Bontrager. San Francisco. Josey-Bass, 2015.

[10] For more on the implementation of TQM see: Murad Ali and Rajesh Kumar Shastri, “Implementation of Total Quality Management in Higher Education” in Asian Journal of Business Management 2(1): 9-16, 2010 (Feb. 2010) p. 9 -16. http://maxwellsci.com/print/ajbm/v2-9-16.pdfhttp://maxwellsci.com/print/ajbm/v2-9-16.pdf