Meaningful Possibilities Or Best Practices

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The Complexity of Quality in Higher Education
Illuminated by Boundary Critique and Primed for
Total Systems Intervention
Shelley PaewaiPresentation for the 11th Annual
ANZSYS Conference Managing the Complex V
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Overview

• Universities and complexity
• The quality imperative
• Academic quality improvement
• Boundaries
• Conflict and ritualism
• The systemic nature of quality
• Exploring quality in higher education a systemic
  approach

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Images of the university
Transmission of knowledge through teaching
serviceGeneration of new knowledge through
research
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Universities their wider environment
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The quality imperative
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Rigid boundaries and strict adherence to an
output mentality based on performance indicators,
encourages individualization, competition and
fragmentation at the expense of cooperation and
collaboration. Crucial aspects that have to do
with the qualitative aspects of the nature of the
work being performed become increasingly
marginalised in a context in which the immediacy
of quantifiable results is all that
counts(Smyth, 1989 148)
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The problem with existing quality models
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Quality boundaries

• Churchman, Ulrich Midgley
• Boundaries exist as a package of accepted values
  knowledge
• Boundaries are socially constructed and value
  dependent

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Academic quality improvement conflicting
boundaries
Management of the intangible asset base
Collegiality Academic Freedom
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Academic quality improvement conflicting
boundaries
Management of the tangible asset base for
viability survival
Management of the intangible asset base
Collegiality Academic Freedom
Commercialisation, agility, responsiveness,
economic value
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Academic quality improvement conflicting
boundaries
Management of the tangible asset base for
viability survival
Management of the intangible asset base
Collegiality Academic Freedom
Commercialisation, agility, responsiveness,
economic value
Development of the knowledge economy
Efficiency value for
Quality learning, collaboration
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Academic quality improvement conflicting
boundaries
Management of the tangible asset base for
viability survival
Management of the intangible asset base
International disciplinary interests
Collegiality Academic Freedom
Commercialisation, agility, responsiveness,
economic value
Development of the knowledge economy
Efficiency value for
Quality learning, collaboration
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Academic quality improvement conflicting
boundaries
Management of the tangible asset base for
viability survival
Management of the intangible asset base
International disciplinary interests
Collegiality Academic Freedom
Commercialisation, agility, responsiveness,
economic value
Development of the knowledge economy
Efficiency value for
Quality learning, collaboration
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Academic quality improvement marginal areas
Management of the tangible asset base for
viability survival
Management of the intangible asset base
International disciplinary interests
Collegiality Academic Freedom
Commercialisation, agility, responsiveness,
economic value
Development of the knowledge economy
Efficiency value for
Quality learning, collaboration
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Academic quality improvement ritualism power
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Calling something a quality factor is a smart
way of introducing demands that would otherwise
be difficult to get acceptance for (Giertz,
2001 4)
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The systemic nature of quality

• It transcends disciplinary, institutional,
  economic and political boundaries
• No one definition of quality exists - multiple
  perspectives are required
• Relationships are non-linear correlational at
  best

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Exploring quality in higher education
continued inquiry and research about quality and
quality-related issues must be built upon a
thorough understanding of differing definitions
of the construct (Reeves Bednar, 1994 419)

• So exploring quality in higher education requires
  recognition of
• The interdependence between elements
• The importance of socially constructed boundaries
  with their ethics and values
• Inclusivity of all stakeholder views

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Enter TSI

• Use of TSI to explore academic quality is
  appropriate because
• Acknowledgement must be given to areas where
  disparate views of educational quality exist
• The university is a complex social system with
  interlinked networks and interrelated issues that
  span boundaries internal and external to the
  institution
• And will require
• Sweeping in information regarding a problem
  context which is multi-dimensional with material,
  political, personal and value-laden aspects
  impacting
• Exploring meanings of academic quality through
  the eyes of multiple stakeholders
• Improvements to be identified in an ethical
  manner that represents added value for those
  involved with, and affected by their
  implementation