Administrative Division of King Saud University - Case Study Example

CASE STUDY: ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION, KING SAUD UNIVERSITY Problem statement The administration division of the King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has been facing various issues in the past few years, which are recurring in nature and resolutions are not being sought till now. The dean of the university has asked for resolving the issue and this case study would analyse the various problems being faced by the university and how they could be resolved. In order to understand the issues, a survey has been undertaken, which revealed that the students are not satisfied with the way their problems are being tackled by the administration. They mostly cited issues such as communication gaps, lack of leadership skills, issues with the curriculum, professors and scheduling and routine bureaucratic issues. About King Saud University The King Saud University is a premier higher education university in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was established in 1957 with the aim to develop the nation’s well-being. The university is being run through government support and has various highly-qualified professionals, who are helping the university and the people in Saudi Arabia to produce skilled professionals and academics. The university caters to the need of the students in the areas of engineering, medicine, humanities, agriculture, language and science and development. The university not only provides research and teaching but also give practical academic training also to develop the health care sector of Saudi Arabia as well as the private sector companies. Student and staff issues The administration of the King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has been facing several operational, staff and coordination issues for years. The administrative division is being managed by a staff who are being in their positions for the past 15 years. However, there is stagnancy that has crept up in the division now and the university is looking at changing the roles and responsibilities of the staff as well as reforming the division altogether. In order to understand the underlying issues in the university, a questionnaire had been sent to the students and staff of the University for interviewing them and understanding the various issues as well as the benefits that the university is providing them. This would help in finding out about the problems and resolving them as well. The survey results indicated that the issue faced by the staff and students at the university were related to communication gaps, lack of leadership skills, issues with the curriculum, professors and scheduling. Further, they also faced routine bureaucratic issues as well. Many of the students and staff believed that the problem are reoccurring due the fact that it is not reaching the appropriate authorities and the staff are themselves trying to solve them without any management intervention. Further, the process for solving the issues is also taking a long time. For instance, if a student is facing some personal issues, even that take a long time to be resolved. The survey also indicated that although the staff was mostly positive in their view about the administration of the university, around 90 per cent of the students expressed their dissatisfaction and were negative in their opinion about the administration. Together with understanding the present student experiences, the questionnaire was also sent to the past students and they expressed similar views as the current students and stated that they were also dissatisfied with the administration of the university. Through the survey it was found that the issues were mostly academic in nature. The students are mostly clueless where to go with their problems and whether the administration division would be able to help them or not. Thus, they end up going to their faculty heads or specific department professors with their problems, which were often not resolved properly. With regards to the staff of specific departments, even they have little idea regarding the ability of the administration division to solve their issues and most of them tend to go to the Dean of the university with their issues. The staff and students were unanimous in their views that they are not confident about the abilities of the administration division to resolve their issues. The survey respondents were also of the view that the administration staff never provides them with a concrete solution and make them visit from one building to another. Further, there is no communication between the staff members as well and often the members have no idea where their other colleagues are. This leads to wastage of time for the students to get their problems resolved. Often, the students stand in line for hours to get a resolution such as fixing their schedules. However, even after spending so much of time, they are not being provided with a solution or were asked to visit their departments or come at some other time. The staff and students also complained about various behavioral issues they faced with the administrations staff. They stated that the staff is not presentable and often uninterested in helping them. Further, they are not even up-to date with the policies and guidelines of the university and therefore are not able to guide the students properly. The staff is also not innovative or out-of-the box thinkers to tackle issues. For instance, they fail to even solve a common issue such as providing a copy of diploma to the system in a faster manner by proactively asking to implement some sophisticated system with the management. The administration division also does not follow an archiving policy. Thus, in case a student requires a copy of their diploma, he or she would be required to apply for a new one rather than simply getting a copy. The administration staff is also clueless about their roles in the division and often is not capable of addressing the issues presented by the students and staff or other departments. All their work needs to be reviewed by the dean himself due to a clear lack of leadership and escalation matrix within the division. The division does not have an organised reporting structure. Everyone reports on to the dean, which is putting additional pressure on the dean. There is no bridge between the dean and the staff as there is an absence of proper channel to present the problems to the dean. Further, reaching out to the dean is also not easy. There is no system of getting prior appointment with him and the meeting with the dean is totally based on the will of the secretary. Such bureaucratic way of working is hampering the university on the whole and is denting the prospects of the students as well. The administration staff is not equipped enough to address all the issues of the students and often make it difficult for them to resolve their issues. Students might have to visit the division multiple times to get their issues resolved. For instance, in case of a transfer, the student may have to go back and forth with the division for a long time to finally a resolution for their situation. This requires immense patience as the student might become intolerant with the situation and loose interest altogether. Students described such situations as frustrating. There are issues about communication as well. The dean is not aware on how to communicate with the students and the staff. Further, responsibilities are also not divided properly between the staff members and the dean himself does not have much idea about the responsibilities of the administration division staff. The staff is not only non-cooperative but it is also the most capable one as well. The staff does not have the most efficient people which are resulting to various issues. Students are not being heard, which is leading to mounting complaints. Suggestions are often not acted upon as well. The university does not have any students’ affairs group, counselors or student advisors. Thus, the students are not aware where they may go with their issues to if not the administration division. Students have also complained about the poor conditions of the library, which is not the best. Internal and external factors There were various internal and external factors that were cited by the respondents regarding the issues faced by them in the university. Some of the internal factors included lack of communication between the administration staff and other staffs and students, absence of a strong leader in the division and bureaucratic way of working. Among the external factors, the most important one is the mismatch between the curriculums being used by the university with that of the international universities. SWOT analysis Strengths Experienced and old staff, a centralised division, providing allowance to students, comfortable campus environment Weakness Absence of leader, lack of coordination between division and management, absence of tuitions for the students Opportunity Monopoly over decision making thus providing greater influence over the students and staff Threat Student and staff unrest, dissatisfaction, difficult to change the formal structure, may not effectively cope with the problem of reallocating resources Reasons behind the issues The major reason that could be analysed behind the situation is that the division lacks a strong leader who could control the administration in a proper manner. The current dean is not able to undertake so much of pressure and there is a lack of coordination between him and the staff members. He is also not accessible most of the time, which leads to delay in solving the issue or mismanagement of the issue by the administrative staff. Further, the staff is also under-trained and has no idea about how to run the university. They are not capable to handle pressure situation and do not understand the protocol or the procedures to be followed for certain issues. There is no clear cut process that has been charted to address the various issues being faced by the university (Maassen, Neave & Jongbloed, 1999). The staff is also not aware of all the guidelines or the changed policies. They therefore cannot properly guide or direct the students as well. There is also a sense of stagnancy within the staff as there is no rotation or change in their routine. They perform certain fixed job responsibilities and cannot work beyond a certain mandate. This leads to issues as they keep referring the students to different people in case the work is out of their purview. This results in unnecessary delay in solving the issue. Due to lack of centralised system or archival system, the issues once handled are not filed properly, thus leading to go through the motion again in case a similar issue crops up. The staff is also handling most issues out of their own experience without any proper guidance or training. Further, there is a lack of communication and coordination between the staff as well, which leads to confusion, frustration and delays (Blau, 1994). Solutions Although the problems and issues being faced by the students and staff can be addressed through policy changes and introducing new guidelines, certain policies might not be possible to change and following guidelines would be people-dependent. As most of fellow students were also not satisfied with the administration of the college, I decided to send in a questionnaire to find out the underlying reasons behind this dissatisfaction. Also, it was necessary to understand whether these issues were mainly due to the fact that the university is a non-profit organisation where the students are not required to pay for their education. The students are required to be treated with clear understanding. They are impatient to get their solutions and are mostly looking for a quicker way out as it becomes frustrating to wait for their answers in the wrong queue for hours only to be referred to another queue. There is a clear need for understanding the needs of the students and addressing them at the fullest. The students and staff as well should be given the access to reach up to the administrative division without any problem and get their solutions instantly, rather than waiting for days to get them resolved (Mortimer & Sathre, 1982). Some of the solutions that the university may implement are highlighted below: Appointing a strong leader: The dean of the university is not able to handle the situation in a proper manner. It is a case of mismanagement and therefore, the university may decide to replace the dean with a new person. The new dean should have excellent leadership and organisational skills, who could lead the team from the front as well as give them ample space to take their own decisions. The dean should be able to charter the division in such a manner that the staff are self-reliant and do not require the dean’s help for every single issue or problem. The dean should act as a strategist and not just a problem-solver (Birnbaum, 1992). Enhancing communication: There is a clear lack of communication between the management, administration, other departments and students. Nobody is aware of the duties or responsibilities of each of the divisions as well as about any new policies or guidelines. This results into confusion between various teams. This can be addressed through proper communication between various divisions as well as with students. Management should send circulars from time to time to the administration and other departments, who in turn should be able to translate them to the students as well. Further, training should be provided to the administration staff on how to communicate effectively with the students to resolve their queries (Rice & Austin, 1998). Investing into an integrated system: The university lacks an archival system and an integrated system where all the queries can be handled in a centralised manner. Thus, it is advisable to invest into an integrated system which would help the administration head to track all the issues being bought forth as well as the resolution that has been offered. Further, such a system would help in pulling out old references to a similar issue and therefore lead to faster resolution of the issue as well (Mortimer and McConnell, 1982; Duryea, 2000). Organising a student’s governing body: The students often feel frustrated that they do not have anybody to turn to in case of issues as the administration is often unresponsive. Thus, the university requires organising a student’s governing body or appointing a student’s advisor. This would help in bridging the gap between the administration team and the students as well as putting forth the issues being faced by the students in an effective manner. Further, the resolution time to solve an issue might also decrease with a student’s body acting on behalf of the students (Cameron, 1989). Reference Birnbaum, R. (1992). Myths and Mysteries of Academic Leadership. How Academic Leadership Works: understanding success and failure in the college presidency. San Francisco: Jossey –Bass, 24-47. Blau, P. M. (1994). The Organization of Academic Work (2nd edition). New Brunswick, NJ : Transaction Publishers, Ch. 1, pp 1-19. Cameron, K. (1989). Organizational Adaptation and Higher Education. Journal of Higher Education 55, 273-286. Duryea, E.D. (2000). Evolution of University Organizations. ASHE Reader, 3-15. Maassen, P., Neave, G., & Jongbloed, B. (1999). Introduction: Organisational adaptation in higher education. In B. Jongbloed, G. Neave, & P. Maassen, From the eye of the storm. Higher education's changing institution (pp. 1-12). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. Mortimer, K.P. and McConnell, T.R. (1982). Sharing Authority Effectively. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Ch 7 & 8, pp. 189-240. Mortimer, K.P. and Sathre, C. (2007). The world is changing faster than the governance structure. The Art and Politics of Academic Governance: relations among Boards, Presidents, and Faculty. ACE/ Praeger Series on Higher Education. Praeger Publishers: Westport, Ct. Ch. 1, pp. 1-20. Rice, R.E. and Austin, A.F. (1998). High Faculty Morale: What Exemplary Colleges Do Right, reprint Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning. Marvin W. Peterson (ed). Organization and Governance in Higher Education (4th Edition) Simon & Schuster Custom Publishing, Needham Height, MA, 208-216. Read More