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Purpose, Participation & Progress: Academia & Big BusinessAre Close Cousins

Dr Peter Langford & Dr Louise Parkes

Voice ProjectMacquarie UniversitySydney, Australia

Tertiary Education Management Conference, Sydney, 28 August

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Contents/Agenda> Who is Voice Project?

> Corporatising Higher Education

> Method

> Results Outside of Higher Education

> Results Within Higher Education

> Conclusions

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Who Is Voice Project?> Our purpose is “improving organisations by giving people a voice”.

> We’re a research and consulting practice based in Macquarie University.

> We specialise in organisational surveys and the diagnosis of culture, leadership and passion.

> Research is undertaken through Macquarie University and consulting work is undertaken through Voice Project Pty Ltd which operates under licence of the university.

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Corporatising Higher Education> The work of tens of thousands of university employees is being

increasingly corporatised:> Closer alignment of activities with market forces,

> Growing pressures to measure and improve performance.

> It is a common lament from staff and management that universities are unique and the introduction of corporate management practices will not work in higher education.

> The presentation compares results from employee surveys within higher education against the same surveys in other industries.

> The aim is to better understanding differences between higher education and other industries in the predictors of:> “passion” (organisation commitment, job satisfaction, intention to stay)

> “progress” (achieving objectives, change & innovation, customer satisfaction)

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Method> Responses from 16,813 employees from outside higher education

from approx 1,000 organisations.

> Responses from 9,192 university employees from 7 universities across both academic staff (approx 40% of sample) and general staff (approx 60% of sample); average response rate across universities approx 55%:> Charles Sturt University

> University of Newcastle

> Victoria University

> Griffith University

> University of Adelaide

> Macquarie University

> University of Southern Queensland

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Method & Results> Used the Voice Climate Survey developed by Voice Project at

Macquarie University.

> Details of our standard survey:> 102 items measuring “passion” (= “engagement”), “progress” and 25

management practices in the standard all-industry survey

> University standard version contains 18 additional items measuring workload, research, teaching, community engagement and entrepreneurship; surveys were usually tailored to meet specific needs of each university

> Mean scale =.84, average on-factor loading = .64 ranging from .34 to .90 ⍺with all items loading highest on intended factor.

> Survey scored on a 5 point Likert scale ranging from1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree(with a Not Applicable/Don't Know option).

Progress- Organisation Objectives

- Change & Innovation- Customer Satisfaction

Passion(Engagement)

- Organisation Commitment- Job Satisfaction- Intention To Stay

Peace- Wellness

- Work/Life Balance

People- Motivation & Initiative

- Talent- Teamwork

Property- Resources- Processes- Technology

- Safety- Facilities

Purpose- Organisation Direction

- Results Focus- Mission & Values

- Ethics- Role Clarity

- Diversity

Participation- Leadership- Recruitment

- Cross-Unit Cooperation- Learning & Development

- Involvement- Reward & Recognition- Performance Appraisal

- Supervision- Career Opportunities

As presented in Langford, P. H., Parkes, L. P., & Metcalf, L. (2006). Developing a structural equation model of organisational performance and employee engagement. Proceedings of the Joint Conference of the Australian Psychological Society and the New Zealand Psychological Society, Auckland. Please contact us for a copy of the paper if you are interested.

Work Motivators Outside Higher EducationWork Motivators Outside Higher Education

Excellent >=80%

Good 50-80%

Poor <50%

PASSION - Organisation Commitment - Job Satisfaction - Intention to Stay

PROGRESS - Organisation Objectives - Change & Innovation - Customer Satisfaction

PURPOSE - Organisation Direction - Results Focus - Mission & Values - Ethics - Role Clarity - Diversity

PROPERTY - Resources - Processes - Technology - Safety - Facilities

PARTICIPATION - Leadership - Recruitment & Selection - Cross Unit Cooperation - Learning & Development - Involvement - Rewards & Recognition - Performance Appraisal - Supervision - Career Opportunities

PEOPLE - Motivation & Initiative - Talent - Teamwork

PEACE - Wellness - Worklife Balance

UNIVERSITY ONLY - Workload - Research - Teaching - Community Engagement - Entrepreneurship

59%64%66%47%

65%72%50%73%

59%76%70%68%78%77%63%57%57%67%58%56%56%44%55%45%51%52%71%38%63%71%82%66%73%

% Fav

Impact On

Passion

Impact On

Progress

All IndustriesAll Industries

72%73%77%65%

54%62%40%60%

53%66%80%75%82%70%60%40%55%68%46%40%43%24%52%45%53%54%72%34%71%75%85%52%67%37%59%63%53%42%

% Fav

Impact On

Passion

Impact On

Progress

UniversitiesUniversities

All IndustriesAll Industries UniversitiesUniversities

1 Mission & Values2 Ethics3 Leadership4 Recruitment & Selection5 Results Focus6 Rewards & Recognition

Teaching7 Career Opportunities8 Processes9 Learning & Development

Entrepreneurship10 Wellness11 Involvement12 Role Clarity13 Diversity14 Cross Unit Cooperation

Research15 Resources16 Organisation Direction17 Supervision18 Safety19 Performance Appraisal

Community Engagement20 Teamwork21 Technology22 Talent23 Motivation & Initiative

Workload24 Worklife Balance25 Facilities

1 Mission & Values2 Leadership3 Rewards & Recognition4 Recruitment & Selection5 Involvement6 Career Opportunities7 Ethics8 Supervision9 Organisation Direction

10 Resources11 Learning & Development12 Wellness13 Performance Appraisal14 Cross Unit Cooperation15 Processes16 Results Focus17 Role Clarity18 Technology19 Safety20 Diversity21 Motivation & Initiative22 Talent23 Facilities24 Teamwork25 Worklife Balance

Motivators Of “Passion” And “Progress”Motivators Of “Passion” And “Progress”

Importance

Pe

rfo

rma

nc

e

HigherLower

Lo

we

rH

igh

er

PromotePromoteMaintainMaintain

PrioritisePrioritiseLimitLimit

Ideally, management practices should rest in the oval where there is a good matchbetween performance and importance

Gap Analysis – All IndustriesGap Analysis – All Industries

Work/Life BalanceResources

Wellness

FacilitiesTechnology

Processes

Cross-Unit Cooperation

Organisation Direction

Learning & Development

Teamwork

Performance Appraisal

Ethics

Diversity

Role Clarity

Talent

Career Opportunities

Mission & Values

Rewards & Recognition

Results Focus

Recruitment & Selection

Leadership

Motivation & Initiative

Supervision

Involvement

Safety

Importance

Pe

rfo

rma

nc

e

HigherLower

Lo

we

rH

igh

er

PromotePromoteMaintainMaintain

PrioritisePrioritiseLimitLimit

Ideally, management practices should rest in the oval where there is a good matchbetween performance and importance

Gap Analysis - UniversitiesGap Analysis - Universities

Work/Life Balance

Resources

WellnessFacilities

Technology

Processes

Cross-Unit Cooperation

Organisation Direction

Learning & Development

Teamwork

Performance Appraisal

Ethics

Diversity

Role ClarityTalent

Career Opportunities

Mission & Values

Rewards & Recognition

Results Focus

Recruitment & Selection

Leadership

Motivation & Initiative

Entrepreneurship

Supervision

Teaching

Involvement

Research

Safety

Community Engagement

Workload

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Results> Examining results across different universities suggests there are

greater similarities between work motivators than in actual performance levels:> Performance levels vary, although there are clear industry characteristics that

influence the pattern of performance across all universities.

> Profile of work motivators near identical across all universities.

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Conclusions> University staff show a higher level of “Passion” (= “employee

engagement”) than the average non-university worker.

> They also perceive greater ethics and feel greater belief in the mission and values of their organisation.

> University staff show a lower level of satisfaction with most other management practices.

> However, the profile of work motivators is near-identical:> “Passion” is strongly correlated with perceived “Progress” within and outside

higher education

> “Passion” and “Progress” within and outside higher education appear to be primarily motivated by:

> Purpose (a belief in the reasons, goals and directions of an organisation),

> Participation (a belief that employees are recognised, involved and growing)

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Conclusions> Research and consulting activities are expanding, encompassing

other universities (University of Canberra, University of Swinburne, Flinders University).

> We’ll soon have longitudinal data – 5 of the original universities are conducting/planning follow-up surveys> We’ve tracked substantial improvement in scores from non-university clients,

so to what extent can similar changes be achieved within universities?