Researchers sceptical about reorganisation process

In their assessment of the working environment in 2012, the researchers at AU were asked to evaluate the process of reorganisation with regard to nine points related to research, the recruitment of talent, teaching, and services supplied to the authorities.

The majority of the researchers said that the changes would make no difference in terms of achieving the goals of the strategic management in reducing the number of faculties and departments and setting up interdisciplinary centres at AU. 11 to 27 per cent of the researchers thought that the changes would improve the university’s chances of achieving its goals, while between 9 and 24 per cent thought that the changes would make it harder to achieve them.

“We may not have been good enough at persuading people of the merits of the reorganisation, and the results of the assessment reveal that some of our staff give the changes the blame for their frustrations,” reports Michael Christiansen.

Communication is the key

At its meeting in March, when discussing the assessment results, the board encouraged the university management to demonstrate a commitment to ensuring that the process of reorganisation gained greater legitimacy and a firmer foundation.

In this respect it might be a good idea if the management took a look at the adverts from DIY stores which are currently flooding the Danish market as spring approaches. Michael Christiansen used to be the senior executive of the Royal Danish Theatre; and in a situation similar to that facing AU at present, he once used a wheelbarrow as a prop to inform his staff of his plans for the future and the reasons for his actions.

“My communication skills had been fiercely criticised. So I changed my style by filling a wheelbarrow with information about what I was trying to achieve, and simply wheeled it round to my staff. Aarhus University is a far larger and more complicated organisation (than the Royal Danish Theatre, ed.). But we have to go on communicating with people. And that’s what the management are doing.”

Control
– and freedom

Christiansen believes that the gulf between the management’s perspective on the changes and the perspective of the university’s researchers is not only a question of communication. He wasn’t ready to discuss the issue any further at present, but he was prepared to say:

“It may be true that we have not yet found the right balance between the management’s need for strategy and control – and the needs of our staff for academic freedom. But we’ll get there in the end. We’re on the right track.”