DOCUMENT RESUME HE 027 727 ED 374 721 Gorringe, Richard; And Others AUTHOR Changing the Culture of a College. TITLE Staff Coll., Bristol (England). INSTITUTION ISSN-0305-8441 REPORT NO PUB DATE 94 NOTE 100p. Staff College, Coombe Lodge, Blagdon, Bristol BS18 AVAILABLE FROM 6RG, England, United Kingdom (9.50 British pounds). Serials (022) Collected Works PUB TYPE Coombe Lodge Report; v24 n3 1994 JOURNAL CIT MF01/PC04 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE Administrator Role; *College Administration; College DESCRIPTORS Role; Cultural Influences; *Cultural Traits; *Educational Attitudes; *Educational Change; *Educational Trends; Foreign Countries; Government Role; Institutional Mission; Leadership; *Postsecondary Education; Student Role; Teacher Role *United Kingdom IDENTIFIERS ABSTRACT The purpose of this collection of eight essays is to demonstrate some of the ways in which the culture of British colleges of further education are being consciously changed to meet the (1) "Change Where demands of the 21st century. The essays are: Contrasting Cultures Meet," (Will Bridge) which examines the experiences of South Thames College; (2) "Constructing Capability," (Ruth Silver) which focuses on the development of student and staff (3) "Changing College Culture," (Tony charters at Lewisham College; Henry) which discusses college management and leadership in reference (4) "Inspiring a to the experiences of East Birmingham College; Shared Vision," (Ann Limb) which addresses the role of leadership and Vision and the promotion of learning at Milton Keynes College; (5) "A Culture for the Future," (Richard Gorringe) which sets out the vision (6) "Culture Change: A Personal View," of Norton Radstock College; (Ken Ruddiman) an examination of the nature of cultural change by the (7) "Re-Engineering the Culture chief executive of Sheffield College; of a College," (Nick Lewis) which describes the management process and reorganization of Broxtowe College; and (8) "Incorporation of the City of Bath College," (Justin Togher) which describes the effects of incorporation on the administration and staff of the City of Bath College. (MDM) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the bent that can be made it * from the original document. *******************************.**************************************** The Staff College Changing the culture of a college by Richard Gorringe, Will Bridge, Ruth Silver, Tony Henry, Ann Limb, Ken Ruddiman. Nick Lewis and Justin Tm2her BEST COPY AVAILABLE Coombe Lodge Report EDUCATION US I':EPAHTMENT OF INFORMATION ATIONAL RESOURCES *PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS IERICI (;ENTER as MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY lirn,n1 has boo..Opr:,111(0c1 T ,Fflanuntlo, Pin 0.n Ocetved Pon, olifilisiloy In changes Bove born made Mn The Staff College WTrAnffl-godurOWiqual0 staled ,f) 11)15 Points of vii',, of opinion; ,preSerll dw.i,m,of do 'tot npros%,ully r,,,Nty TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES 11 ral OEM po,(wri or I INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC). Changing the culture of a college by Richard Gorringe, Will Bridge, Ruth Silver, Tony Henry, Ann Limb, Ken Ruddirnan, Nick Lewis and Justin Togher Editors: Richard Gorringe and Pippa Toogood Coombe Lodge Report Volume 24 Number 3 The Staff College Coombe Lodge Reports The Coombe Lodge Reports are key reference texts for those involved with the management of post-compulsory education. Each issue focuses on a single theme relevant to the management of further and higher education. The views expressed in this report are those of the contributor(s). They should not be taken to represent the policy of The Staff College. Published by The Staff College. Coombe Lodge, Blagdon, Bristol BS18 6RG Fax: 0761 463140 Tel: 0761 462503 Registered with the Charity Commissioners Typesetting by Avonset, Midsomer Norton, Bath Printed by BPC Wheatons, Exeter ISSN 0305-8441 © The Staff College 1994 All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may he reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright holder. a Changing the culture of a college, by Richard Gorringe and other contributors Contents FOREWORD Richard Gorringe 183 Director Norton Radstock College Change where contrasting cultures meet CHAPTER 1: 189 Dr Will Bridge Chief Executive South Thames College Corporation Constructing capability CHAPTER 2: 199 Ruth Silver Principal I.ewisham College Changing college culture CHAPTER 3: 213 Tony Henry Principal East Birmingham College Inspiring a shared vision CHAPTER 4: 225 Ann Limb Chief Executive Milton Keynes College 233 A vision and culture for the future CHAPTER 5: Richard Gorringe Director Norton Radstock College 243 Culture change: a personal view CHAPTER 6: Ken Ruddiman Chief Executive Sheffield College 253 Re-engineering the culture of a college CHAPTER 7: Nick Lewis Principal and Chief Executive Broxtowe College 265 incorporation at City of Bath College CHAPTER 8: Justin Togher Principal City of Bath College Richard Gorringe Director Norton Radstock College ORIGINS OF THIS BOOK The purpose of this Coombe Lodge Report is quite simple: to demonstrate some of the ways in which the culture of the British college of further education is being consciously changed to meet the demands of the 21st century. It is not primarily concerned with theories of management, although each author represented has clear theoretical underpinnings. It is about ways in which things are happening now in colleges. The idea for the book arose from a sense I had that, while many r. ications deal with good practice in colleges in managing resources, people, the curriculum, etc., none explains how the ways people think and act can be consistently influenced through the creation and development of an institutional culture. There are many apocryphal stories about how particular principals have gone about this, but no clear source of information from which those of us who are learning can benefit. With the support of The Staff College, I approached a number of principals who had at least two things in common: they were known nationally for innovative and successful management styles, and I had the honour to be personally acquainted with their work. This second point was important because I wanted to feel able to ask them to write in a vibrant personal style. I also wished to balance contributors in a way intended to bring out the efficacy of quite different management styles and emphases. The result is, I believe, both unusual and of great value to all of us working in colleges. The principals who have generously contributed a paper have agreed to 183 Coombe Lodge Reports Vol 24 4 and philosophies in a very open and potentially expose their personal visions valuable. In each case the vulnerable way. This is what makes their accounts so of a senior manager in an reader is taken into the thoughts and resulting actions is quite different, but each exceptionally revealing and instructive way. Each underlying assumptions, demonstrates a willingness to grapple with presenting the Perhaps this is itself a key feature values, and beliefs which guide his or her work. of those who are successful managers of cultural change. provide some form of commentary, To attempt to suminarise these contributions, or is, I think, to assist the reader would be facile and inappropriate. My responsibility providing some background, and some to make best use of such rich material by That is the point of what brief indication of the ground covered by each contributor. follows. WHY FOCUS ON 'CULTURE? jobs to do. embracing Managers and staff at all levels in colleges have many at least since the financial, personnel and curricular management of a wide nature, Further and Higher Education Act 1992. change in colleges has received, It is curious, however, how little attention culture exceptions to this are the work of Colin to judge by published material. Honourable particularly Managing Turner. and some other publications by The Staff College, 1991), describing the work of a number etal. colleges into the next century (Limb of female principals. last decade of management This relative lack is made doubly so by the fact that the 'empowerment', 'leadership', theory has been dominated by concepts such as organisational culture. Indeed, the 'customer focus', which describe aspects of least in popularity, could be summarised message of the most dominant school, at the organisation will look after itself'. This is the as 'Get the culture right, and Waterman gave the world in 1982 with the still essence of the message Peters and of imitators have further highly readable In search of excellence. Since then a host slightly dour, and dusty, or popularised and reinforced the point. Somehow the this way of doing things. perhaps oily. world of FE has been slow in embracing than in what colleges, and The signs of this absence are nowhere more clear college academic particularly college principals, feel they should value. In many usually meaning who boards there are time-consuming discussions about structure, Vol 24 Coombe Lodge Reports 184 reports to whom, and which course should he in which department. Offer a short course on financial management or the personnel requirements arising from such- and-such Act, and it will rapidly fill up. The concerns are worthy, and of course sensible, but somehow leadership, setting and monitoring a culture, steering by values rather than commands, are absent. I remember a dramatic illustration of this when attending an FEFC (Further Education Funding Council) seminar recently on strategic planning. Here, one might think, if anywhere, cultural values about a college, how it treats its customers. etc., would surface. However, when the consultants came to explain the term 'mission statement', it appeared to many participants to be a strange and alien concept. The questions were all about how long it should be, which words to use, whether it should be at the front or hack of the strategic plan. I came away with the feeling that if a statement of mission has to rise in this laboured way, it had probably better not arise at all. Clearly, things are now changing, and there arc many principals who have taken the lessons of contemporary management theory, and are consciously setting out to change college culture. This report represents the work of some leading-edge practitioners who have taken the business of culture change seriously. Culture manaro,..ait has long been recognised in the private sector as the key to survival and gr,..rth. Clearly sound finances and personnel policies are necessary, but they will not alone lead to a vision of excellence and what W Edwards Deming calls never-ending quality improvement. In this respect. the years of being part of a local government structure with all this implies for attitudes to industrial relations, working practices, attitude to customers, etc., are a potentially stultifying legacy. A key responsibility of today's college managers surely has to be cultural midwifery. The key issues for the new FE culture may be fairly simply stated. Central is the move from an 'allocation' to an 'earning' model of funding. Some of ow staff are haunted by the memory of the LEA providing money with a mysteriously fluctuating hand. Somehow the struggle was always to get more. whether for maintaining the college or for staff salaries. Rarely did issues such as productivity, quality or efficiency arise. The challenge is to replace this exhausting memory with an understanding that fundins! conies from the FEFC in much the same way as it does from a local employer or indeed even from an individual student purchasing a course. In essence the cultural imperative is that there is a need to earn funding from a customer in return for high quality services. The focus shifts from an unequal struggle with a capricious allocator of funds, to the need to attract, retain 185 Coombe Lodge Reporis Vol 24 and delight paying customers, whether they be a quango, a private company or an individual citizen. It follows from this that where only reasonably competent performance of duties was required, the emphasis now is on overall customer focus. Hours of work, holidays, reward schemes, all need to reflect these realities. We are seeing the college emergence of a new cadre of professional FE staff whose loyalty is to their and its success. The college which will be able to fulfil its responsibilities to its customers and to itF employees in terms of meeting their aspirations, is one in which customer focus and quality improvement are central concerns. Industry generally has had to learn painfully that these things cannot be 'bolted-on' or 'inspected-in' . They are the very essence of the cultural identity which a successful organisation must develop. They appear in colleges in the large entities such as the flexibility of study programmes the cleanliness for students, and the commitment of staff, but also in the minutiae of the corridors, the care that is taken to ensure the experience of learning is comfortable and rewarding, are all indicative. In a recent article in College management today (1993), I summarised the management tools for culture change under six headings: the need to form and communicate a clear vision of clarity of purpose: where the college is going; giving attention to clear effective presentation of the presentation: vision and strategy so that all may understand it; plan: setting out the resulting actions so that everyone a published action may know his or her part in achieving the goals; the process of supporting and guiding people to confidence building: experience their empowerment to act effectively; taking responsibility for not only setting out the vision, leadership: strategy and action required, but for leading in the process of implementation; ferring back to the values constantly a focus on underlying principles: and standards which guide management action, until they become second nature. Vol 24 Coombe Lodge Reports 186 ti