Irish Universities HR Conference

1
Irish Universities HR Conference Leadership
Through ChangeDCU, 3 November 2005

• Mr. Dermot McCarthy
• Secretary General
• Department of the Taoiseach

2
Leading change

• The work of leaders has two dimensions
• Operational dimension which Kotter (1990)
  described as coping with complexity.
• More critical dimension is leading change
• Strategy literature talks about attending to core
  business model while innovating to remain aligned
  with dynamic external environment.

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Dynamics at Third Level

• Challenging agenda for Universities
• Quality evaluation culture role of
  international benchmarks individualised teaching
  and learning.
• Equity drop-out rate inclusion of migrants and
  minorities
• Lifelong learning and the employment challenge
• Higher education in a globalising world
  qualifications framework the Bologna Process
  quality evaluation and assurance financing
  research capacity and funding higher education
  competitiveness 
• innovation and intellectual capital co-operation
  with private sector and higher education
  institutions

4
Human resources crucial

• One of the toughest tasks for leaders in
  effecting change is mobilising people throughout
  the organisation to do adaptive work (Heifetz
  and Laurie, 1997)
• Solutions to adaptive challenges reside not in
  the executive suite but in the collective
  intelligence of employees at all levels, who need
  to use one another as resources, often across
  boundaries, and learn their way to those
  solutions. (Heifitz and Laurie, 1997)
• References
• Heifitz RA and Laurie DL (1997) The work of
  leadership HBR Jan/Feb 1997.
• Kotter, JP (1990) What leaders really do, HBR,
  May /Jun 1990.

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Momentum of Change

• National Economic Institutional
• Regional Social Professional
• Community Cultural Personal
• Family Demographic

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Sources of Change

• Technology
• Ideas
• Values
• Expectations
• Demography

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Direction of Change

• Goal-driven
• Reactive
• Convergent
• Organic

8
Experience of Change

• Managed and Continuous
• Disjointed and Discontinuous
• Enlarged possibilities
• Defence of threatened status

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Ireland a Case Study I

• Periphery to Core economy
• Supplier of labour and commodities
• INTEGRATED INTO ADVANCED GLOBAL ECONOMY
• Leveraging soft power for international
  influence

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Ireland A Case Study II

• Consistant policy framework devised
• Regulation as a source of competitive advantage
• Strategic approach to growth poles
• New partnership mechanisms innovated to underpin
  change

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Delivering Better Government - 1996

• Support Government in national development
• More effective use of resources
• Quality service to customers
• Civil Service high performance, open and
  flexible organisation with the highest standards
  of integrity, equity, impartiality and
  accountability

12
SMI Achievements

• Better information and financial systems
• Performance management
• Legislation for hardwiring change
• Better Regulation
• Expenditure management

13
Sectoral Developments

• Better Local Government 1996
• White Paper on Defence
• SMI in An Garda Siochana
• Health Service Executive

14
International Trends

• Open Government
• Enhancing performance
• Modernising accountability and control
• Reallocation and restructuring
• Market-type mechanisms
• Modernising public employment

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Strategic Options

• Maintain
• Modernise
• Marketise
• Minimise

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Public Service of the Future

• More complex environment and policy issues
• Cross-cutting and joined-up
• Developmental Welfare State requires network
  leadership

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Public Service Skills

• Develop people
• Recruit more widely
• See the public service as a whole
• Professionalise skill deployment
• Plan to develop leadership talent

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Leadership v Management (after Kotter)

• Coping with complexity v change
• Planning and budgeting v setting direction
• Organising and staffing v aligning people
• Controlling and problem solving v motivating and
  inspiring

19
Transformation Errors

• insufficient urgency - empowering others
• inadequate guiding coalition - short-term issues
• vision and strategy - consolidating gain
• communicating a change vision - institutionalise
  new approaches

20
Universities and Change

• Key instrument of social learning
• Source of values, understanding, artistic
  expression and a vibrant civic culture as well
  as activating knowledge
• Independent and critical thinking not
  management consultants
• Demonstrate value to all stakeholders
• - students (and parents) - industry and
  enterprise
• - government - opinion formers