Division of Student Affairs

Perspectives 2002: Skills - Efficiency

Efficiency has increased on some levels, but this topic was generally mixed in responses. Some people commented on the increase in enthusiasm that the document has instilled and how that enthusiasm has translated in to more productivity. Others commented on how the increases in communication and collaboration have increased efficiency of the services that the Division of Student Affairs provides. Others commented on how the Campus Compact has empowered people on all levels to make more decisions with less micromanagement which has also translated into greater efficiency of services.

"The outlook is more positive. You don't have people being aggressive or passive aggressive creating ugly energy. If you are operating with the Campus Compact then you are feeling good about yourself, feeling good about the other person disagreeing in an assertive way, not being aggressive or passive aggressive, then you can get down to business and work. Do what you are supposed to do and help the students."

"The Compact has increased efficiency in that it makes us check in with other departments so that we are not duplicating each other's efforts. It has also increased dialogue between different units so that we are always working towards making the best decisions instead of just making decisions in isolation from each other."

"At most organizations you wait until the president tells you what he wants done. The president tells his folks and the idea works its way down the food chain until it reaches the level where people are actually have to do something about it rather than just talk about it. I liked that we were turning that on its end and creating sort of a grass roots environment here. I feel like we are still trying to do so even if sometimes we feel overwhelmed. I feel so good about that being our ideal."

"I think things have been streamlined, especially in Student Conduct. There are not as many layers. If there is something wrong you can always appeal it, but when we do there are so many layers that when we finally get there it doesn't even matter anymore. So I think things have become much more streamlined especially for students, there are less layers for voices to be heard."

Some concerns were raised about discussions that have become unproductive because of lack of discipline and structure in the process. The increased amount of discussion time has not been counterproductive in departments in that it has increased quality of decisions. However, some felt that this benefit has been a trade off in some departments by reducing that amount of things that could have been accomplished in place of those discussion times.

"In the absence of being top-down in decision making there are a lot more discussions that occur on flat levels. Sometimes that takes a long time and may be difficult, but I feel that we are a better organization for forfeiting that time to make that happen."

"I don't know if the Compact has increased efficiency. But I do believe the quality of the work we do is much better and satisfaction is higher. It has required more meeting time. If you are going to make decisions and talk about things like values, you need more time to have conversation. The question is 'Is that time productive?' Some people don't think so because they feel that their time for 'their primary work' is taken away... We have decided that nurturing values is a really difficult thing for us to put a dollar sign on. If you are trying to make a decision and one person makes the decision, everyone else has to figure out how to deal with the decision, which may require many one-on-one conversations. If you meet as an entire group it may take the same amount of time. Which is more efficient? At Student Health Services, we think that the quality of the decisions we make, the quality of peoples lives when they are in the organization and the quality of the interactions we can have with patients is far superior."