Organizational structure hinders progress
1401
Dear Joan:
I work at a community college and am the director of an advising center. I have been in this position for over six years and am the founding director of the center. My center's staff is me (full-time employee) and my secretary/receptionist (full-time employee). My center is also staffed by a part-time coordinator, who also works as an instructor part-time. We have faculty members rotate through the center a few hours every few weeks to serve as academic advisors.
My issue deals with the coordinator position. I and my secretary fall under Student Services, while the coordinator of my center falls under the Instructional Services division. My boss is the VP of Student Services; the coordinator's boss is the Dean of Arts and Sciences. This management model was set up when the center was in creation (prior to my hire), and has been a hindrance for the continued growth and success of my center.
To put it bluntly, if the coordinator doesn't agree with my management directives, I'm simply told by the coordinator that "You're not my boss" and my directive is not followed. Therefore the coordinator is not on board with us to help make the center more successful than it already is. Basically, the coordinator is not a team player, does what he/she wants, and I have no authority over what he/she does. There are other issues, but I'll keep this brief.
I have brought the issue regarding the current management model up to both my boss, and the coordinator's boss, but nothing ever comes of it. I'm working against a "good-ol'-boy" system, and it doesn't help that my VP and the coordinator's boss are friends outside of work. At this point, I'm so discouraged with the whole situation that I'm seriously considering leaving this job.
Well, things have changed, and there's a new interim Dean of Arts and Sciences in place until July (he was formerly the Assistant Dean of Arts and Sciences). The "new" dean has been working at my college since August, and he moved here from out-of-state. I'd like to meet with this new dean and suggest a new management model.
During the coordinator's part-time hours in the center, he/she should come under my supervision; when the coordinator is working part-time instruction hours, he/she will fall under the supervision of the department chair and dean. What's the best way to approach this? What issues should I discuss in the meeting? I don't want to come across as overstepping my bounds, but I have many good ideas how this would be a great plus for the continued growth and success of my center. The college has been on holiday break this week, and we open for business again on January 3rd. I feel I should meet with the interim dean as soon as possible.
Thanks for your time, and I look forward to your answer!
Answer:
Anyone who doesn’t think that structure plays an important role in an organization just needs to put themselves in your shoes. In a perfect world, with a cooperative employee, it may not make as much difference, but as soon as a conflict emerges or authority is questioned, structure factors in as a root cause.
Your strategy, to have the coordinator report to the department he/she is working in at the time, makes perfect sense to me, and hopefully will to him. You would have more resistance if you were asking to have the coordinator report to you for both parts of the job.
To structure the discussion, here are some ideas:
- Be straightforward. If you sugar-coat what is really going on, he could miss the significance of your request.
- Make the business case, rather than focusing on how disrespectful and insubordinate the coordinator is (which might be hard to do, given the insolence of the coordinator.) If you put the focus on his/her behavior, the interim director may just think you want him to have a disciplinary discussion with the person, which will likely make things worse.
- Suggest that nothing needs to change—same salary, level, etc. You are merely clarifying that you have the authority to direct the work under your responsibility.
- If you can’t get this to change, suggest that you give 50% to her performance review.
Example:
“Jack, I know you want both of our areas to be successful, and you’d want to know if something was in the way. I’d like to talk with you about a situation--and I have a solution that I think could be quite simple.
I think you’d agree that it’s crucial to be able direct the activities of the people in your area, right? If you had someone working for you part -time, who reported to me, and this person felt that he or she only had to follow my directions, and not yours, you would be unable to get things done.
Before my time, when the coordinator job was created, this structure was put in place. Somehow, I think the coordinator has gotten the misperception that the only directions he/she needs to follow are yours. A simple solution would be to clarify that the coordinator has “two bosses,” and each of those “bosses” has authority when the coordinator is in their area.”
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