Applying Systems Theory to an Educational Setting - Assignment Example

Introduction Banathy (1989) identified three lenses by which we can view the systems orientation of education. This includes the systems-environmentmodel which views the educational system in the context of a larger community. The second one is the functions-structure model which defines the school at a given moment of time. This definition comes in the form of identifying the components of the system, its function and its objectives. The third lens is the process-behavioral model which is more concerned with determining the evolution of the education system thru time. What I have chosen for the completion of the assignment is the second lens - the functions and structure. My focus of study is the educational system of Carleton University to which I have experienced studying under its Economics program. From her on, I shall use the word 'school' to denote Carleton University for brevity. The school was founded in 1942 and is located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is situated on 62 hectares south of the city centre and is bordered by the Rideau River, the historic Rideau Canal and rather pleasant residential neighborhoods. All the information that I will be using is based from my own knowledge of the school with supplemental information from the school's website. A. Governance and Administration Every university should engage in a planning process that sets not only the direction the institution is going to head but also the pacing that it will take. These plans usually require measurable outcomes for the institution to know what they have achieved and how they have fared so far. The administrative and governing body of the school is categorized into five units whose government and administrative functions are clearly defined. These units, although separate from one another, do communicate and work with another to come up with better policies and regulations regarding the school's functions. These five units and their subcomponents are given in the following: The University Executive is composed of the following implementation reviewers and coordinators of the school: a. The Chancellor This is the one serving as head of the university. His primary goal is to report to the Board of Governors the plans and policies that the University has taken and will take. b. Office of the President The President, also known as the Vice Chancellor, is actually the chief executive of the school. It is thru his initiative that the directions and immediate priorities are determined. c. Office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Reporting to the President, the Provost and Vice-President (Academic), the chief academic officer of the University, is ultimately responsible for all academic programs and policies. The Provost's portfolio includes all academic units, Graduate Studies, the University Library, enrolment management, student affairs, the Office of the University Registrar, learning technologies and teaching support and faculty recruitment and support. d. Office of the Vice-President (Finance and Administration) The Finance and Administration Division of Carleton University are made up of the Computing and Communication Services, Finance, Human Resources, Institutional Research and Planning, Internal Audit and Advisory Services, Pension Fund Management, Physical Plant, University Safety and University Services departments. Its mission is to provide quality specialized services to the Carleton University community that provides a safe, healthy and productive environment for students, staff and faculty in which to work, study and live. e. Office of the Vice-President (Research and International) This office provides the necessary program for research, scholarship, and creative activity in sciences, business, engineering, arts, and public administration. It is also responsible for handling international affairs such as students from abroad and conferences in other countries. Administrative Services All the non-teaching services such as for business transactions, library, school bus, equity and the like are covered under here. This unit is actually very broad and as the words implies, they provide the necessary management of the school's academic and financial health. Board of Governors which are responsible for the government, management and control of the University and of its work, affairs and business, and of its property and revenues. University Senate consists of 75 members who include representatives from the executive committees such as the President serving as Chair, elected faculty members, elected students and special Board appointees. The Senate is mandated by the Bylaw of the Board the Senate shall (Art 22 of the Act) to a) consider and determine all courses of study, including requirements for admission; (b) recommend the establishment of additional faculties, schools, departments, chairs, or courses of instruction in the University; (c) receive and consider recommendations respecting academic matters from the Faculty Boards of the University; (d) conduct examinations and appoint examiners; (e) grant degrees and honorary degrees, and diplomas; (f) award University scholarships, medals and prizes; (g) make rules and regulations respecting the conduct and activities of the students of the University; (h) publish the University calendars; and, (i) make such recommendations as may be deemed proper for achieving the objects and purposes of the University. University Secretariat The University Secretariat serves as clerks of the meetings of the Board Members and the University Senate. The manner in which the school is organized, including the responsibilities and privileges of administrative officers, faculty, students and committees is promulgated in the by university bylaws. All the bodies responsible for oversight of the school are composed of persons who have no personal or pecuniary interest or other conflict of interest in the operation of the school, associated schools, or any related enterprises. The chief official of each colleges, who usually holds the title "dean," have ready access to the university president and other university officials charged with final responsibility for the school, and to other university officials as are necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of the dean's office. This is to establish a clear understanding of the authority and responsibility for school matters among the vice chancellor, the deans of the different colleges, the faculty and other components of the university. B. Educational Programs There are currently six faculties in the school where 50 disciplines comprised of undergraduate and graduate degree programs are offered. These are the: Arts and Social Sciences, Engineering and Design, Graduate Studies and Research, Public Affairs, Science and The Sprott School of Business. There are 799 full time academic staff, 556 seasonal lecturers and 1, 216 teaching assistants as of November 2005. Persons appointed to a faculty position must have demonstrated achievements commensurate with their academic rank. Members of the faculty must have the capability and continued commitment to be effective teachers. Faculty members should have a commitment to continuing scholarly productivity characteristic of an institution of higher learning. They must be able to make the right decisions regarding student admissions, promotion, and graduation, and must provide academic and career counseling for students. All school faculties have a defined set of objectives for its educational program. The objectives and their associated outcomes are designed to address the extent to which students have progressed in developing the competencies that the profession and the public expect of a Carleton graduate. The faculties are assigned to design a curriculum that provides a general professional education, and fosters in students the ability to learn through self-directed, independent study throughout their professional lives. The curriculum must incorporate the fundamental principles of their disciplines, identify underlying scientific and artistic concepts, allow students to acquire skills of critical judgment based on evidence and experience and develop students' ability to use principles and skills wisely in solving problems in their fields. It must include current concepts and is subject to revision every now and then. There are policies for faculty appointment, renewal of appointment, promotion, granting of tenure, and dismissal that involve the faculty, the appropriate department heads, and the dean. These are all decided by the Board of Governors with consultations to the University Senate. Faculty receives written information about their terms of appointment, responsibilities, lines of communication, privileges and benefits, and policy on practice earnings. The dean and a committee of the faculty determine the college's policies with approval from the President and the Board of Governors. There are mechanisms for direct faculty involvement in decisions related to the educational program. All the faculty members are mandated to meet often enough for all faculty members to have the opportunity to participate in the discussion and establishment of school's policies and practices. C. Students The latest available statistics of the school's website (November 2005) states that there are currently 20, 907 undergraduates and 2,932 graduate students. Admission to the school is thru an entrance exam. Tuition, including miscellaneous fees (These fees are in effect until April 30, 2006) range from $4,690.81 to $6,167.81 for full time undergraduate students. Resources are made available for Visiting and Transfer students all under the supervision of the registrar's office with the acceptance of the college administration. Transfer students must demonstrate that they are in good standing with regards to their former schools comparable to those of students in the. The school, thru the Registrar's Office, verifies the credentials of visiting students, formally register and maintain a complete roster of such students, approve their assignments and provide evaluations to their parent schools. Student services are made available by the Administrative Services Unit as decided by the University Senate and the Board of Governors. This includes Academic and Career Counseling, which integrates the efforts of faculty members, course directors, and student affairs officers with the school's counseling and tutorial services. It is designed to assist students in career choice and application to residency programs and to guide students in choosing elective courses. There are also Financial Aid Counseling that provide students with effective financial aid and debt management counseling. Probably the most important is the Health Services and Personal Counseling that implements programs to promote the well-being of students and facilitate their adjustment to the physical and emotional demands of the school. They are provided access to preventive and therapeutic health services. Assignment 2 Introduction Property development is a profoundly cyclical business, this phenomenon recurs itself in our history for the past decades with tremendous impact to our way of life. The aim of this study is the application of a problem solving methodology, the Soft System Methodology (SSM, on a property developing company. The company, which has recently succeeded in the initial stage of the business, desires to attain a status which is at par with its successful rivals. The subject of this study is a property development firm, 'DPSB'. This firm has been successful in other engineering operation and they have a fine balance sheet. DPSB presents their problems, uncertainties and poor performance in property development. They intend to improve the firm's performance by adopting an appropriate strategy and transforming it into a better and more efficient organization with due regards to the present economic conditions and investment atmosphere. SSM intends to solve problem where traditional hard systems have failed or are proving to be difficult to use in the emerging complicated human issues. SSM evolves out of an attempt to overcome the apparent deficiencies of the traditional methods of systems analysis. The traditional system of analysis has been used on problem situations involving people, although its primarily intention is tackling 'hard' engineering or machine type problems. However, experience shows that the hard engineering approach is inefficient in solving people's and organization's problem. The product of SSM is a list of proposed possible changes aiming to improve the problem situation which is both systemically desirable and culturally feasible. Traditional methods of systems analysis seldom consider the latter. The process of SSM has to go through a rigorous phase of 'analysis' by means of thinking laterally, and attempts to come up with creative solutions, where traditional method of analysis is in difficulty of achieving. I begin by providing a brief account on the SSM approach. followed by presenting information and data of case materials gather from the problem owners. Having done the data collection stage, I will proceed to draw the hard and soft information into a Rich Picture. Consideration of relevant system produces a statement in the form of Root Definition which leads to the construction of conceptual models. Comparison of the Rich Picture with the conceptual models via debate yields a list of proposed changes requires DPSB to consider and implement. The effect of these changes should transform DPSB to a desire stage. Finally, some discussion takes place on the merit, strength and weakness of SSM approach. Soft System Methodology Peter Checkland (1981) proposes the Soft System Methodology (SSM) with the intent of dealing with other people's problems at the United Kingdom. SSM finds usage in situations where a strategy for dealing with the soft, ill-defined and complex problems of the real world by considering these problem situations as human activity systems. The Soft System Methodology derives from the model that sees human behavior as non-goal seeking. This model is appropriate in many real-world problems as many organizations view problems arising from the fact that there is no agreement on needs, objectives, and measures of performance of human employees. This captures the incompatible ways of viewing problems, as people have different perception on the way they see through their windows of the world. Vickers (1968) argues that our human experience develops within us readiness to notice particular aspects of our situation, to discriminate them in particular ways and to measure them against particular standards of comparison which have been built up in similar ways. Moreover, Peter Checkland (1981) argues that one must avoid both content-free methodologies derived from General Systems Theory, and over-precise goal-oriented formulations stemming from Systems Analysis. People need to be precise enough to provide guidelines and vague enough to remain problem-oriented, avoiding distorting the problem into a particular structures just because we would know how to tackle it if it came to us in that form. Appreciation of Case Materials DPSB is a property-developing firm operating in Canadian environment; they are seeking to improve their business operation. They intend to improve their operation and enhance efficiency of their organization. The case arises from their poor performance and seeking for a future development strategy. Hence, they seek to improve their investment efficiency at par with other successful operators. DPSB operate in an environment which is rather complex, as it involves many parties. This includes consultants, local approving authorities, contractors, bankers, external factors and others. The method for collecting data that I have used was the interview. The Developer A property developer refers to an organization which is involved in transforming bare land into properties for their own use or to sell it for a profit. DPSB is a relatively new property firm of less than ten years of operation. Their organization structure is composed of the following: management, project coordinators, marketing, finance, and accounting and a labor force of about 30 personnel under direct payroll. In addition, there are approximately 20 contract workers full time on time on sites. DPSB sources land through purchase or by joint venture. Their business is in funding a development project. Issues that determine the success and failure of a project are the suitability of the land location, the surrounding of the land concerned, conditions of the existing land, the economical conditions at the time of sales and the financial conditions at the time of development. Many successful developers follow the simple rule on "Location, Location and Location". How do DPSB choose their land bank They purchase land in small parcels within a short traveling distance from their main office; a fully developed township at outskirt of Toronto. DPSB purchases their lands along the mainstream development area. Moreover, lands conditions are suitable and require little cost on special treatment, such as deep piling and soft ground treatment. DPSB's projects have a mixed variety. They have done residential scheme and industrial lots. Niche market is their main strategy with the scheme of above average cost. Some of their schemes have a satisfactory yield, whereas other mainly the residential schemes encounter setback. Marketing function is critical in a property development. Besides the crucial management decision on initiating a project, marketing plays an importance role in the aspect of sales and cash flows. The normal practice of a developer is to soft launch a project by means of advertising and registering potential purchasers. Having secured enough buyers on the type of properties and range of selling prices, this information will provide feedback for a decision-making before embarking on a new development project. Market Research on types and costs of scheme at a location is seldom considered by developers. DPSB encounter difficulties on marketing their products because it needs special skills. DPSB's management personnel are predominantly technical people and they are not familiar with various techniques of marketing. Without the skill of marketing, they depend on sales agencies, which cost them dearly and without much success in some of DPSB's recent projects. Apparently, most of the successful developers start by engaging professional marketing agencies, end up by setting up their own efficient sales department. Financing a project is a major issue in property development. Most of the developers borrow from financial markets. As cost of development is usually in a large sum, developers seldom finance the entire project by its own resources; they often source it from bank loans and bridging finance. The survival of these organizations depends on bank loans and ability to repay such loans, and it is especially true during an economy down turn. The main expenses of DPSB are the development cost. DPSB spends approximately 80% of the development cost on physical works, such as payment to contractors. As developing schemes of DPSB are small, and other business generates sufficient excess funds for their development operation. Attempting to minimize the cost of development, they engage mainly direct labor in the way in which they could manipulate the speed of construction and the flow of fund depending from their revenues on the whole operation. As a result, their debt is considerably low. On the other hand, they are carrying a high fixed cost in an exchange for tighter control over the labor forces. Besides, timing and speed are two criteria of successful development. These are to ensure the return and reduce cost arising from interest and risk from internal and external factors. The Consultants Consultants in a development project comprises mainly of architect, civil and structural engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers and Quantity Surveyor. The consultant team follows rules, regulations and laws of the country and local authorities. Their work is presented in plans which will be submitted to authorities for approval. They perform their work according to the instruction given by DPSB. DPSB engages professional consultants to carry out works required to make application to local authorities, prepare development plans, conduct tendering exercise, supervision of development works and advise owners on matters concerning the technical and legal relevant to projects. DPSB seems to have communication problems with their consultants. A few of DPSB's consultants end up rather frustrated. DPSB prefers to have more influence on their development scheme which encroaches into the duty and responsibility of their consultants. The consultants end up resigning because they need to defend their integrity. The Authorities The authorities here refer to local authorities who approve plans and proposals of a developer. Different local authorities have slightly different structure and procedures on processing information and documents, but they are one of the powerful executive authorities due to its strong political domination in the environment DPSB is operating. Laws, rules and regulations govern development. Local authorities should process and approve plans submitted by consultants and any illegal development shall be fined and be ordered to stop work as stipulated in the By-Laws. Developers are required to submit their application through the qualified persons which are the consultants. Normally, Planning Department would first receive plans; they process and approve it prior to any further application to any government agency. DPSB needs to obtain clearance from many approving authorities before they could get development permission. Having cleared both the Planning Department and Land Office, development plans are now can be submitted to other departments. There are various other departments which include Water works, Sewerage works, Sanitary and Plumbing, Building, Engineering department, Landscaping, Refuse disposal, Fire and Safety, Environmental department and drainage departments. The Building Department serves as a coordination body. They collect and compile all approvals from respective departments and issuing the Building Approval and construction may comment thereafter. Moreover, this department will coordinate with all other department on the issuance of certificate of fitness of building for occupation. Conflicts between developers and authorities happen. Complaint on authorities might delay approval process. The approval from any department takes three to six months; there are many occasions that applications are delayed for a period of nine months to more than a year. DPSB do not have skill personnel assigned to handle various approving authorities. They do not employ any organizational learning approach on their operation, as a result, their senior stuffs engage frequently in conflicts with local authorities. Making the situation worst, DPSB frequently changes construction details of an on-going job, without considering the impact on their operation as well as the approving difficulties. Project Tendering Process When developers have obtained the development approval, they will now prepare tender documents and sourcing for suitable contractors. Tender documents are comprised of plans prepared by respective consultants, specifications, contract and other appropriate correspondence. This process involves calling tender, analysis, interview and finally the tender award. Two issues on tendering affect DPSB. Firstly, contractors selected from the pool should be capable organizations. However, less satisfactory contractors are often drawn in the tendering exercise some of which may call on familial or friendship bonds to win the contract. These contractors may introduce potential conflict between all parties. Secondly, tension and pressure build up at tender negotiation stage: contractors would consider using many means to secure their bid. With the help from consultants, DPSB should explore and weight the options available arising from the tendering exercise and decide for the best course of action; and the selected contractor should be a capable one. The Contractors Contractors make profit by tendering and bidding for projects. They need to secure a job through the normal tendering process but their chances of success increase when they have good relationship with the developer. The relationship of developer and contractor often becomes the potential conflict to consultants as they have to find a delicate balance between the relationship with contractors and their own professional ethic. Contractor needs to tender, bid and obtain loans to execute a project. Under the normal circumstance, contractors have to bid for a job against other of similar qualification. The process of negotiation during tender interview is one of the most tense situations as they have to negotiate in turn with their materials suppliers, machinery suppliers and sub-contractors of varies trades. Besides, they need to obtain adequate loans to finance the project as the amount is often too large for an organization. These loans may be used to finance a few projects and some of the projects might be experiencing difficulties on collection which ultimately lead to financial stress. There are always conflicts of interest between contractors and consultants. There is a tendency of contractors to minimize expenses by reducing costs during the construction phase. Inevitably, this objective may contradict to the interest of developers and consultants. Delay in payment to progress claims to contractors is the main dissatisfaction and give rise to poor relationship between developer and contractors. External influence Many external forces influence the opportunity and timing to invest into property project. This includes macroeconomic issues such as the demands and supply of properties, rental rate and tax rate. Financial influence contributes to interest rate, currency rate, internal and stock market performance, foreign direct investment, financial shock and crisis. Other factors are political forces, government acts, flow of foreign investment, culture and investment sentiment. Like many other firms, DPSB is not considering the influence of these factors. The Rich Pictures From the information gathered, I now prepare rich pictures which represent the data and information assembled without imposing any particular structure on it. The elements of structure and process of the rich picture interact with each other and it is the intention of finding out any mismatches or conflicts in the way these elements relate to each other. Each organization has its cultural norms which can determine which one has an important, meaningful or useful social role within its organization, and how people who fill these roles expect the behavior of this social group. Figure 1 shows A Rich Picture for DPSB in the real world situation. Figure 3 will never be completely finished, as information gathered into a Rich Picture is not a finite activity. This picture provides us a holistic view of the situation; it allows to a better understanding of the situation thru rigorous debate on issues of concern which form DPSB's source of problem. Some of the issues of concern are sales marketing and promotion, communication between the project staffs, consultants and contractor, misguided information gather from respective sources and others. Figure 3: Rich Picture of Real World problem of DPSB The Relevant System The exploration of relevant systems, in respect to that of problem situations, is now necessary. Having prepared the snapshot Rich Picture of DPSB's present situation, A useful strategy for generating our relevant systems is to do some brainstorming. The primary task of DPSB is to produce and market the properties; and make a profit. Besides this, DPSB must able to survive in the competitive environment; improve business operations, planning, scheduling and administration; and market research and maintain a quality image. This possible list could go on. Formulation of Root Definition The problem situation seen through the Rich Pictures gives some clues as to which system should employ to make some sense out of it. There should be a human activity system which will assist with appreciation of the problem situation. Definition derived from issues of concern is a more radical proposition as it may challenge fundamental attitudes or major policy decisions. An insightful relevant system is more critical for dealing with a problem situation (Checkland and Wilson, 1980). DPSB's root definition is that decision makers and managers in a property development system seek to improve their operation, marketing and communication by restructuring and changing its present stage of business thereby providing better property development strategies with the present economy, governmental control and financial market's influence in order to become a more successful properly developer in the field. Conceptual Model A conceptual model relevant to the root definitions are created for DPSB in a real world situation. As problem owners wish to transform its present to a state compatible to that of a successful property developer, a model consists of ideal way in which a development business system, adopted and recommended by respective professional bodies which regard as good practice, is shown in a conceptual model. Figure 2 shows a conceptual model of development system in Rich Picture, model 1. Figure 2: Property Development System While constructing conceptual models, one should not slip into the real world situation. There are certain things one must not attempt to explore during the conceptualizing state. These activities include jumping to conclusions and taking things for granted. Debate for Proposed Changes: The Analysis Phase Owners should consider more viewpoints and decide upon merits and weakness of these views before arriving to an appropriate decision which fits well in its condition and environment. Many would argue against the decision-making by minority owners as reflected in the case study. These possible shortcomings may lead an organization to failure unconsciously. It does not mean that he shall not exercise his experience in decision-makings but it is a well-proven practice that one should consult his internal or external information sources on the facts and combine his specialized knowledge on his field prior for making a crucial decision. DPSB execute his tasks basing on trust and traditional relationship. They carry out duties rapidly without paying much attention of recording the events and minutes. Feedback from work and problems usually focus on what the owner desire to know while there are no proper feedback channels. In short, information is on a need to know basis. Information regarding the business is confined only to the owner who is having a firm control over all aspect of the organizational decisions, these include the way in which a task should be carry out, financial, operational issues and administrative matters. In the negative sense, the staffs do not find it necessary to provide advice and feedback. Knowledge on governmental and local environmental issues are likely to be more accessible and manageable, the latest update of all these issues normally obtained by consulting the higher government officer by the owner himself. There is a need to gain knowledge on global, macro and financial issues demand great amount of study and knowledge as none of the personnel in the organization are trained in any of these fields. Proposed Action (Results) Checkland (1981) advocates three kinds of changes to a problem situation. These are changes in structure, change in procedures and change in attitudes. The latest being the more difficult one to change as it occurs gradually as a result of shared experiences lived through by people. This change is inclusive of change in influence and change in expectation whereas change in structure and procedure are relatively easier for those having authority of influence. Having gone through the above discussion, this study proposes a list of action plan to the owners for consideration and implementation. Item Activities of Changes Classification 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Adopt a checklist indicating factors influencing property cycle in a Canadian environment as a guide on impact arising from economical and financial factors. The checklist intends for one to judge appropriate business timing, and to avoid major down turn and failure of a business. Continue developing property assets in niche markets, and consider taking up a large-scale development in the next few years of up cycle close to the demanding area. Attend selection of appealing finishing materials, instead of concerning the cost of construction alone. Take up financial offers in the financial market and have the objective of speeding up the construction works and collection of payments as well as observing the property cycle movement. Carefully selected consultants on some of their projects and trusting them to execute their work professionally and gradually shift the attention to close monitoring instead of direct control on project management. Moreover, appoint performance proven contractors on some of their future projects, and refocus on marketing, financing and other pressing issues, which demand discreet decisions. Adopt modern management by defining criteria for efficacy and efficiency and monitor activities against these criteria through the feedback function. When activity appears to be underperforming, take appropriate action to correct it. Establish a task force with members mainly drawn from own organization, with the help of professional, form a committed team for any launching of a scheme. Procedure change Structure change Attitude change Structure change Procedure change Procedure change Structure change Reference: Banathy, B. A. (1989). A general theory of systems by Bela Zalai (book review). Systems Practice 2(4), 451-454. Case Materials obtained from DPSB by means of interview with its owners and senior managers. Checkland, P. B. (1981). "Systems Thinking, Systems Practices", John and Sons, Chichester. Vicker, G., 1968,"Value Systems Approach", Journal of Systems Engineering, 1, No. 1. Read More