Workforce Transformation

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Workforce Transformation

• Professor Alma Harris

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The Rise and Fall of Marks and Spencer and
how it rose again(Bevan 2001)

• I was struck by how inwardly focused the company
  had remained throughout the period of change.
  They were still all looking backwards.

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Some Issues

• Complacency
• Resistance to change
• Rigid leadership structure
• Low trust
• No sense of shifting markets
• Transformation as necessity rather than part of
  the natural process of change

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From Desperation to Transformation

• Use of Data and Market information
• New Technologies
• Workforce restructuring
• Abandonment of unsuccessful stores, products and
  practices
• New niche market and slogan
• Flatter leadership - closer to customer

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Transformation(Caldwell, 2007)

• Is significant, systematic and sustained change
  that secures success.

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Transforming Schools

• Is about securing success for all students in
  all settings

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Transforming Capacity Building
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What we know about successful transformation

• Transformation is not a linear process.
• Schools can join the transformational process at
  any point and at any stage of development
• There are particular content and process levers
  for transformation
• The transformation process requires structural
  and cultural change
• The transformational process will differ in pace
  and sequencing from school to school
• Data plays a key role in transformational change
• Sustaining transformation requires different
  levers
• Leadership plays a key part in transformation

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Key Question

• What type of leadership creates and sustains
  organisational transformation?

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Leadership is an extreme sport
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In a world of global networks(Senge et al 2005)

• we face issues for which hierarchical leadership
  is inherently inadequate

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Leadership for Transformation

• From a culture where hierarchies and roles are
  the dominant organisational architecture
• To a culture where interactions and influence at
  all levels are the drivers of change and new
  knowledge.

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The Google Economy

• The company lacks the usual layers of middle
  management, the hierarchical structure found in
  traditional companies is non-existent
• David Vise (20057)

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iCONYoung and Simon, 2005

• In the old days Steve always considered that a
  small handful of anointed superstars were the
  magic that gave Mackintosh its glamour and
  glow..now his investment and concern for the
  leadership of others is genuine

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Leadership for transformation is distributed and
lateral
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Leadership for transformation creates knowledge
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But

• As leadership is distributed more within schools
  and between schools do students achieve more?

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Effects of of Leadership Distribution(Leithwood
et al 2006)

• Schools in the highest quintile of student
  achievement attributed relatively high levels of
  influence to all sources of leadership (i.e.
  school teams, parents and students).

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The Evidence (Harris 2003)

• teacher morale and self efficacy
• organisational development and change
• student learning outcomes

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Yet teachers can do almost anything

• But they cant do everything!

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Abandonment(Schumpter 1942)

• Transformation also means abandonment

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What do we know about Workforce
Transformation(Harris 2007)
New Structures
New Roles

Learning
New Teams
New Ways of Working

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But some forms of workforce transformation are
more effective than others
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So we need to know more

• We need to capture and illuminate the process of
  effective workforce transformation
• This will be achieved by talking to heads and
  other key respondents within the school about the
  process of change in their school.

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Research

• to ascertain how the school(s) are engaging with
  workforce reform through the project and what
  innovations they have implemented
• to investigate the changes made and the impact of
  those changes
• to identify interesting practice worthy of
  further scrutiny
• to investigate trends relating to the
  relationship between changes and achievement
• to inquire into the schools views about
  work-force reform
• to identify sites and practice for deeper
  investigation and follow up in a future research
  study commencing April 2008.

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Looking Forward

• How will workforce transformation be sustained in
  your school?
• What are the next steps in the transformation
  process?
• How did you decide on these?
• What difference do you think these will make? How
  will you know?
• What indicators of further transformational
  change will you hope to see in your school?

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Be Optimistic
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alma.harris_at_warwick.ac.ukhttp//go.warwick.ac.u
k/distributed_leadership