[Muanet] dysfunctional organisational structures

[David Tripp]

Dear All, just to thank Dion for his contributions to the list in terms of
both subject matter for us and life support for it, I was recently looking
for something in Handy¹s Empty Raincoat when I found a section I¹d quite
forgotten about:

[Subsidiarity] was last restated in a papal encyclical, Quadragesimo Anno,
in 1941: ŒIt is an injustice, a grave evil and a disturbance of right order
for a large and higher organization to arrogate to itself functions which
can be performed efficiently by smaller and lower bodies . . .¹ Strong
words.  I translate them more simply ­ stealing people¹s responsibilities is
wrong.  You could also define subsidiarity as Œreverse delegation¹ ­ the
delegation by the parts to the centre. (Handy 1994:115)

I felt that this is precisely what¹s gone wrong with the management of
universities: we¹ve shifted from what Handy refers to a Œreverse delegation¹
in the period 1975 ­ 1990 BC (Before Corporatisation), to having our
responsibilities stolen (AD ­ After Disempowerment).

In this chapter on subsidarity, Handy forcefully argues that it is the only
way for a corporation to function efficiently, effectively and sustainably,
but we now operate in a Œdelegated¹ structure where management delegates to
the academic units most of the services it used to provide to assist
teaching, learning and research, whilst keeping an ever higher percentage of
the University¹s income for its Œcorporate¹ activities such as monitoring
compliance with the strategies it has imposed for the delivery of teaching,
learning and research.

Handy, C. (1994) The empty raincoat: Making sense of the future. London:
Hutchinson.

 

 

-- 
Dr David Tripp, Associate Professor in Education
Phone: +61 (0)8 9360 6647
Fax: +61 (0)8 9360 6296
Room 4-14 Education and Humanities Building
[Use west entrance and visitors¹ end of carpark 4]
Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150
http://www.murdoch.edu.au/






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