Your Course Project will revolve around a contentious issue in colleges and universities todaytransfer student enrollment policy. The enrollment of transfer students touches on a number of sensitive organizational and cultural issues. Using the following scenario, you will assess the dynamics and cultures of a hypothetical institution, identify opportunities for change and sources of resistance, and propose collaboration strategies based on your understanding of organizational theories and concepts.
Scenario
Not unlike many universities today, Apex State University is experiencing a serious decline in student enrollmentm ore specifically, in the number of students transferring to Apex. The decline in transfer student enrollment is having a serious impact on overall tuition revenue. A review of systemwide data has convinced the president that the issue deserves further scrutiny. She has asked you, the director of enrollment management, to prepare a position paper detailing transfer policies and procedures. The president is seeking a better understanding of how the process works, who the stakeholders are, where they are within the institution (positions, departments), to whom do they answer, and what kind of resistance can be expected. She has asked you for recommendations on how the people involved in the process can work together to achieve mutually agreeable solutions.
You will write a position paper that synthesizes the following assignments, which you will complete iof the course:
Identification of stakeholders, their positions/departments within the institution, and their roles/interests in the transfer enrollment process
First step in gaining the support of faculty
Assessment of the universitys general culture (using Bergquists Academic Cultures Inventory)
Analysis of power structure
For this assignment, you will identify people (positions) who are affected by or involved in the transfer enrollment process (stakeholders), their offices/departments within the university, and their roles/interests in the process*. In other words, Who has a dog in the transfer fight?
Use PowerPoint or the drawing function in Word to display the information graphically on slides or paper. Arrange stakeholder textboxes according to their level of authority on campus. The person/position with the highest level of authority will appear at the top of the slide or paper and the person/position with the lowest level of authority will appear at the bottom of the slide or paper. Boxes may be grouped at different levels in between (see diagram below).
For example, the provost will be affected by a change in transfer credit policy because the additional transfer students who enroll will progress through the institution more quickly (having received credit for major courses taken at other institutions). The provost is a high-ranking person at the university, so her box would appear close to the top of the slide or page.
The parking coordinator also may be affected by a change in transfer credit policy. More second- and third-year students mean more cars, and more cars mean more parking. The position of parking coordinator would appear closer to the bottom of the slide or page.
Each textbox should include the following information:
Stakeholders position (e.g., parking coordinator)
Office/department within university (e.g., physical plant)
Interest/role in process (e.g., additional transfer students will require additional parking spaces)
One of the possible reasons for a decline in transfer enrollment is institutional policy on granting credit for transfer courses. Currently, Apex does not grant credit toward a students major for courses taken at other colleges. Based on your review of the literature, you have decided that this is the most plausible explanation for the decline in transfer enrollment at Apex.
Knowing that faculty “own” the curriculum at Apex, you trace this policy back to the academic departments. Your previous experience with the college of liberal arts and sciences has convinced you that the academic departments at Apex function in a very anarchical way.
For this assignment, use your knowledge of the anarchical model to explore the facultys interest/involvement in transfer policy. Describe how you might frame the issue to gain their attention, and incorporate the following concepts into your response:
Diffuse goals
Unclear technology
Fluid participation
Organizational learning
“Streams” within the academic departments (problems, solutions, participants, decision making)
Effective leadership
Use Bergquists Academic Cultures Inventory (Appendix I) to assess the culture of a college or university. This may be the institution where you work or study, or another academic institution.
Use the marking key as indicated in Appendix II to analyze responses to the inventory. Once you have determined the predominant culture of the institution, assume that this is also the predominant culture of Apex State University. Then, prepare an analysis of the impact of that culture on changing the transfer enrollment process at Apex.
Make up information that sound good
