Goal-based diagnosis

In addition to the need to have organizational structures that are agile enough to quickly form interrelationships to solve emerging customer problems there is a corresponding need to also have a goal-based diagnosis methodology in place. According to the Criteria for Performance Excellence (2007) there are seven categories that form the basis for 18 criteria items, distributed throughout the areas of Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer and Market Focus, Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management, Workforce Focus, Process Management, and Results. While the point has been made earlier that an entirely new approach to managing the tracking of these variables requires high degrees of process and system integration, there is also the need to completely modify how the universities operate in response to the demands placed on their it departments. It is not simply a strategy of selecting these 18 specific criteria and working to create high scores on each. Rather it is the fundamental re-shaping of the it cultures at these specific universities to make the alignment of results consistent with the variables and their measurements. Only then can either university hope to consistently deliver the level of service, have the transparency of processes, and create the level of agility necessary to win a Baldrige Award. This is perhaps the most challenging aspect of all for either university as there is no "one and done" approach to making this happen; it has to be a gradual and steady change if it is going to last and deliver a level of consistent performance that will be reflected in the metrics used to track progress.

Making Change Last

Underscoring the fact that on many of the current Baldrige criteria both universities are deficient, there is the added challenge of changing how part-time, full-time and student temporary assistants manage the change process itself. In studying the effects...

The opportunity must be given to individual contributors to make the most of the change in their own specific approach; to dictate and drive change through a dominant management style is to fail. Instead what is needed is an approach to instilling transformational leadership into each of these universities so that change necessary towards the levels of quality and best practices as defined by the Baldrige criteria can happen consistently. Managing Change is it Directors' Toughest Job (2002) also defines in detail the many challenges inherent in modifying the existing practices of an it organization.
Summary

The bottom line is that despite impressive strategic it plans, each university has much work to do in order to apply for the Baldrige Award, and when the criteria for this program are applied to each strategic plan, there are emerging strengths. Yet the lack of agility, lack of clear metrics and lack of process redefinition all point to much more work necessary on the part of each university to reach and stay at the level of quality performance as defined by the Baldrige standard.