Note: This post, published about 7.5 years ago, followed- up on my Academic Continuity post earlier that year. It reflects on a major snow event which crippled learning at CUNY for several days. I proposed that online learning could prove effective in this and other emergencies, and that the chief mission of CUNY, academics, could continue despite such challenges.

The post below is unedited from the original version.

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The current weather-related closing of all CUNY campuses for several days this week offers a case study in emergency preparedness or lack thereof. In bold red letters, many campus websites proclaim:

All (CUNY College of choice) Classes and Activities Cancelled Monday, Oct. 29, Tuesday, Oct. 30, Wednesday, Oct. 31, and Thursday, Nov. 1

Such emergency notifications on college websites represent a significant improvement over the previous policy of recorded telephone messages.  However, the message is clear; the storm has hit, so the college is closed.  Everyone can rejoice in a job well done; clear communication and a few days off from school or work. However, I’m not everyone.  I believe this crisis could have been better addressed if the university had a clear vision, policy, and procedures for ongoing teaching/learning during this storm and other emergencies.

Imagine, if you would, this message on campus websites . . .

Teaching and Learning Continue at all CUNY Campuses.

Despite College Facilities being Closed from Monday, Oct. 29, through Thursday, Nov. 1, Classes will Continue to be Held Online.
See link for more details . . .

The link would provide information on how students can continue their studies via Blackboard and/or other tools used to deliver course content, submit assignments and interact with the class. An instructor may even schedule an ad-hoc webinar during hours normally reserved for that class or in the evening. In other words, the primary purpose of the college — teaching and learning — will continue despite the crisis at hand. This concept is called “academic continuity” and has been included as part of emergency planning in those higher education institutions with vision and leadership in this area.

In my blog post earlier this year entitled, ” Online and Emergency Planing,” I discuss an important article (see reference below) that explores the need to include academic continuity in an emergency plan. It is ironic that the emergency preparedness policies that colleges typically promulgate consider every contingency except the one that is most important, namely, how teaching and learning will continue to be conducted despite the emergency at hand. In my estimation, this shows a significant lack of imagination and understanding of how to manage such events by CUNY.  Does teaching and learning stop dead in its tracks because a storm blows through, or can we plan for these eventualities and make faculty responsible for the maintenance of teaching in such circumstances? I believe we can establish reasonable academic continuity policies, especially considering that all CUNY matriculated courses automatically have a Blackboard course shell assigned. Professors can be apprised of this fact, and be given succinct instructions on how to access the class, post materials, send emails and conduct the class using several fairly basic technologies.

In my previous blog post I offered several recommendations for creating a worthwhile emergency plan within CUNY – or any university – that addresses the issue of academic continuity by:

1. An accessible website about emergency planning and preparedness.
2. A clear statement that after concerns of safety have been addressed, the University affirms that academic continuity is a second priority in times of crisis.
3. A clear explanation to the CUNY community how faculty, staff and students can restore academic continuity.
4. A new training program to be initiated for all CUNY faculty which shows how online learning might be utilized to restore academics in case of an emergency.
5. A recommended “in case of emergency” section in syllabi for all CUNY courses.
6. A plan and procedure for staff/administrators/faculty to meet and collaborate during the period that campuses are closed (e.g., administrative continuity plan).

These procedures will require planning, program design and implementation, publicity and a modicum of resources to implement. If CUNY administrators, faculty and other stakeholders are serious about the mission of this institution, I believe it is imperative to include a well-designed section on academic continuity in our emergency plans. In light of the cost and disruption of this emergency — essentially suspending classes for the duration of a week — there is an opportunity for some reflection and possibly action —  taken to ensure such plans in the future. With such planning in place, it is possible that the next emergency may again close our campuses,  yet keep open the educational process for our students.

References:

Benton, T. H. (2009, November 30). “Teaching in the Plague Year,” The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Teaching-in-the-Plague-Year/49275.  (An excellent article about  the H1N1 epidemic and higher education’s disaster preparedness.)

Meyer, Katrina & Wilson, Jeffery (2011). “The Role of Online Learning In the Emergency Plans of Flagship Institutions,” Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Volume IV, Number I, Spring 2011, University of West Georgia, Distance Education Center. Retrieved from: http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring141/meyer_wilson141.html
(A paper exploring the need for an academic continuity policy in emergency planning)

Rosenbloom, Bruce (February 16, 2012), “Online and Emergency Planning,” CUNY Academic Commons. Retrieved from:  https://onlinelearning.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2012/02/28/online-and-emergency-planning

Note: This post was published over 8 years ago (Feb, 28th, 2012). It was followed -up by a presentation at the 2013 CUNY Technology Conference, and the creation of an Emergency Bb site for CCNY faculty created by Natalia Kapli and myself.  Alas, CUNY management and campus management did not take this issue seriously then.  Now, the COVID 19 crisis is here, creating a flurry of activity and the real possibility of “the lost semester of spring 2020.”

The post below is presented in its original form with no changes.
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I came across a wonderful study published in the Journal of Distance Learning Administration (Volume IV, Number 1, Spring 2011) entitled, “The Role of Online Learning in the Emergency Plans of Flagship Institutions.” Authors Katrina Mayer and Jeffrey Wilson had a simple but elegant idea to research the websites of “50 state flagship higher education institutions to investigate whether and how online or distance learning were included in the institution’s emergency plans as solutions to emergencies like H1N1.” (Mayer and Wilson, 2011).  This study, conducted several years after the Hurricane Katrina crisis, is significant since it is the first to connect the potential role for online learning to keep academic programs functioning in times of emergencies (they used the term “academic continuity”). They were disappointed to find that most college websites lacked any reference to how academic programs would continue to function, and if they did, provided no specific methods for faculty to make that a reality.

Discussion

Most large institutions have emergency plans in place if a crisis occurs—a major weather event, a natural disaster, a terrorist incident, or a disease outbreak. For colleges, it is essential that their major mission—educating students—be fully restored as quickly as possible after a disaster or crisis. Increasingly, online learning (and instructional technology generally) is seen as a cornerstone of a college’s disaster preparation plans. However, even if these plans have been formulated, are they being communicated to key stakeholders within the academic community? Alas, in most cases, not well, if at all.

Mayer and Wilson’s research shows that many institutions had “remarkable plans or guides on their websites” which often lacked any reference to academic continuity using online resources. Even those institutional websites that mentioned academic continuity, “most were non-directive, such as stressing ‘alternative ways’ of delivering instructions without mentioning how to make this happen…” Only a handful of institutions (links provided below) backed up their directive for academic continuity with actual plans for faculty to follow. Some of the standouts include:

University of Washington: Academic Continuity Toolkit

University of Alabama: Emergency Planning Website

University of Oregon: Academic and Research Continuity Planning Initiative

Personal Story

I have taught an online class for the CUNY Online BA Program for several years.  During a winter storm last year, CUNY campuses had to be closed for 2-3 days for safety reasons. Academic work stopped during that period, and the semester’s schedule was thrown off track for many professors. Online courses, however, were not impacted. In other emergencies of a longer duration, like a SARS virus outbreak, the option of online can be a lifeline to the university.

Caveat: Any crisis that would impact the electrical or communications grid (e.g. severe solar storm or nuclear attack) would make the online option moot, as well as most routine aspects of our existence.

Implications for CUNY

While it is true that CUNY has much company in this regard, a search for “emergency plans” (or synonymous phrases on the CUNY website) would produce nothing of value in terms of a plan. The CUNY Alert function, while useful in an emergency for notification, would not be the means of providing detailed instructions on academic continuity in the scenarios I have cited.

Certain colleges do have a plan on their website. One of the best is the College of Staten Island Emergency Management page that, although extensive, does not cite anything substantive about academic continuity or even mentions online courses. This is unfortunate since all CUNY matriculated courses in a college’s schedule of classes have a Blackboard course shell created for it. Professors can be apprised of this fact, and be given minimal instruction on how to access the class—even to send out emails.

John Jay College was recently awarded a major grant on assessing emergency planning within the entire CUNY system (announcement). Ironically, their emergency plan (PDF link) has nothing about academic continuity or how online classes could be an option for instructors. Even a cursory review of CUNY websites points to a large gap in our emergency planning as an institution of learning, namely, how to continuing learning in times of real emergency.

A Modest Proposal

Any worthwhile emergency plan within CUNY – or any university – needs to include:

1. An accessible website about emergency planning and preparedness.
2. A clear statement that after concerns of safety have been addresses, the University affirms that academic continuity is the number two priority in times of crisis.
3. A clear explanation to the CUNY community how faculty, staff and students can restore academic continuity.
4. To publicize the procedures, website and training opportunities to the greater CUNY community regarding how online learning might be utilized to restore academics in case of an emergency.
5. A recommended “in case of emergency” section in syllabi for all CUNY courses.
6. A plan and procedure for staff/administrators/faculty to meet and collaborate during the period that campuses are closed (e.g. administrative continuity plan).

A first step in this process (that may take several years) is to have the School of Professional Studies (which incorporates all of CUNY’s online programs) create and disseminate a procedure such as the one described above.

References:

Meyer, Katrina & Wilson, Jeffery (2011). The Role of Online Learning In the Emergency Plans of Flagship Institutions, Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Volume IV, Number I, Spring 2011, University of West Georgia, Distance Education Center. Retrieved from: http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring141/meyer_wilson141.html

Benton, T. H. (2009, November 30). Teaching in the plague year. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Teaching-in-the-Plague-Year/49275.  (An excellent article about  the H1N1 epidemic and higher education’s disaster preparedness.)

Note: This document was written prior to my letter to the Chancellor (the previous post) and was created on January 24, 2019. It summarizes some of my thinking over many years of following online learning, and CUNY’s rather inept response to this major trend. I wrote it in one sitting, in list format, rather than using paragraphs. I apologize, but at the time I did not have the energy to convert it into expository. Nonetheless, I believe you can follow the dots…..

• Online and hybrid courses and programs an increasing percentage of US colleges’ teaching modality
• CUNY has lagged well behind other universities in this regard and needs to directly address online learning throughout the university
• CUNY colleges largely operate independently, rarely coordinating the resources, strategies, marketing, purchasing, programmatic and numerous other aspects of online teaching and learning
• There is a need for a central Office of Online Learning within CUNY that can help coordinate, set policy, advocate for resources, and strategize CUNY’s online offerings (link).
• There is very uneven implementation for online at various CUNY colleges ranging from campuses with over 20% hybrid/online courses, to campuses with under 3% of hybrid/online courses. At campuses in the lower range, there is a dearth of resources allocated to online, with some campuses not even having a director for online, or even one instructional technologist serving this function.
• Throughout CUNY, staffing for online programs is insufficient, and some campus administrators neither have the knowledge to lead such an effort, or the will to do so.
• Compensating faculty to convert their courses to online within CUNY is spotty at best, as is faculty development on many campuses.
• There is a no strategic plan for implementing online programs throughout CUNY, a shocking state of affairs considering its increasing importance in the pedagogical mix of universities these days.
• Online programs, rather than merely taking an online or hybrid course, is what has a significant impact for students in terms of access and time to degree completion. In this area, CUNY has been lagging. For example. Whereas SUNY as over 600 fully online programs, CUNY has about 25 (check #). Many other online programs continue to enroll NYC students, reducing a potential income source for the university.
• Brick and mortar campuses are very expensive to build, particularly in NYC. Online programs, requiring no physical campus, has the potential for delivering programs without the additional overhead of classrooms and buildings.
• CUNY Chancellors and administrators have not articulated any coherent direction or policies regarding online learning CUNY-wide, thereby contributing to a lack of direction and confusion regarding the role online learning has at the university.
• At many campuses, staff who have online responsibilities report a lack of administration support and resources for their efforts, as well as lack of direction and making online a priority at their respective campuses.
• Reporting and listing online and hybrid courses within CUNYfirst is still confusing and ambiguous, casting doubt on the numbers campuses report for their hybrid/online efforts.
• Tenured faculty have often been quite resistant or dismissive of online learning, hampering implementation within departments and programs. Neither CUNY nor campus leaders have done much to oppose this, and have often held those same attitudes toward online, which includes college presidents and provosts.
• The PSC-CUNY union representing faculty and staff at CUNY has seen online learning as an area for negotiating rather than one to work with management on setting effective policies. For the most part, the union has been absent in this area, or take an adversarial approach to those advocating online within the university.
• Online courses are mostly taught by adjuncts within CUNY, reflecting a lack of buy-in from tenured faculty, and a lack of online integration into teaching with the university.
• New technology tools and approaches for online learning have been slow to get support university-wide, leaving CUNY’s online efforts not as technologically robust as competitors offerings.
• The School of Professional Studies (SPS) has done excellent work creating online programs, and in fact offers more than half of CUNY’s online programs. This school cannot carry the weight of online learning for the entire university, although this has been the de-facto position for Chancellors over the past decade.
• There has been a dearth of clearly stated and vetted policies, procedures and strategic plans for online learning on respective campuses and university wide. Issues like maximum course size for online classes, and student preparation for online courses (among many other issues) have seen little research, discussion, or creation of actual policy. Essentially, each campus must re-invent these, creating wasted effort and differing policies throughout CUNY.
• College presidents have gone largely unaccountable for their lack of progress implementing online programs on their respective campuses. Although some measures for online and included in the PMP stats, college presidents have been given a pass on having little hybrid/online implementation. This lack of accountability has resulted in years of “institutional drift” concerning developing online programs at respective campuses. In addition, the PMP measures the percentage of hybrid/online courses, not programs, which for the most part is less significant measure of online implementation.
• What is the vision for online teaching and learning throughout the university? Without a clear and compelling vision to motivate and inspire, we have more institutional drift and lack of progress. In sharp contrast, SUNY has had chancellors that have articulated real goals (like Chancellor Nancy Zimpher speaking of a 100K increase in online enrollments in one year, or current Chancellor Kristina M Johnson, who at an 2018 conference stated, “I want SUNY to be the largest online university system in the country….” (link to Chancellor Johnson’s speech). CUNY has totally lacked this type of visionary leader needed for substantial change in online learning.
• Closely related to vision, a recent Online Learning Consortium surveyindicates that 80% of 4 year public colleges view online learning as strategic to their efforts.  Does CUNY? If so, this needs to be stated, and moreover, planned for at the highest levels within CUNY. Do we have a CUNY strategic plan for online learning or, jettisoning “strategic,” any university-wide plan for online within CUNY? The answer is clearly “no”.
• The tenure and promotion process often minimizes the importance of digital scholarship and work with technology. This creates a dilemma for tech-savvy faculty that might wish to spend time more time writing about technology and experimenting with tools in their classes. Along with this is the lack of recognition for online teaching given to faculty who are innovative in their courses.
• Staff involved with online learning at CUNY campuses have significant morale issues after years of mismanagement, neglect, marginalization, under-funding, and “making do.” Many talented professionals have left, while others are in the trenches doing what they can without the benefit of competent management for online learning.
• For successful implementation of online programs throughout CUNY, a combination of top-down and bottom-up strategies need to be employed. Up to now, much of the advocacy for online learning has been bottom-up at individual campuses and at CUNY central. Over the span of many decades of online learning, CUNY hasn’t had even one Chancellor who was a strong and dynamic advocate for online learning. Will the new Chancellor, when appointed, be such a leader?
• There are many talented, smart and tech-savvy persons working within CUNY who are waiting for online learning to become a priority. It is important to inspire them with a real vision of online, engage them with planning for online programs throughout CUNY, and lead them to carry out a viable strategic plan for online implementation at this university. Anything short of that would be short-changing CUNY faculty and staff, and CUNY students.

Dear Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriquez,

Congratulations on attaining your new position!

I am writing this in the hopes that you take a risk, one much needed with CUNY.  The risk involves empowering some dedicated and knowledgeable staff and faculty persons within the university who have long advocated for online learning and teaching, but whose voices have not been heard or recognized. I am one such voice, working at CCNY for nearly a dozen years in the position of Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, but there are dozens of others, equally passionate about the potential for online learning within CUNY, and with excellent credentials.

Simply stated, CUNY is a laggard institution when it comes to its implementation for online. While many universities have embraced this mode of teaching for several decades, CUNY has been reluctant to properly plan, fund, staff and implement online university-wide.  The result is that our current students, and many potential students of CUNY, are not benefitting from the access, convenience and flexibility that this learning modality offers. While SUNY has over 600 fully online programs, for example, CUNY barely has 20. That gross discrepancy has a lot to do with the OPEN SUNY initiative, a strategic plan rolled out a few years ago to implement online throughout that university system. With the full support of several SUNY Chancellors, proper funding and planning, SUNY has forged ahead of us in the intervening years, as have many other local, regional and national colleges. In essence, our competition has implemented their strategic plans in the online arena, and consequently, is capturing many students who might otherwise have gone to CUNY. We face continuing enrollment declines and lost finances as long as we do not address online in any concerted manner.

A more lengthy report would list many areas where online teaching and learning at CUNY is lacking, but for now, the top concerns are:

• There is no person or entity within the university coordinating/supporting or overseeing the implementation of online learning on all CUNY campuses. This has lead to widespread disparities in implementing online at various campuses, and has hampered a university-wide approach to online learning.
• PMP and other management tools have not adequately measured online implementation as it has focused on hybrid and online courses rather than programs. Online programs, the literature shows, is where you get the most impact in regards to student progress toward degree completion, rather than a student taking an occasional online course or two. In addition, CUNYfirst categories of online/hybrid courses are not clear and bring into question the accuracy of the online statistics that are generated per campus.
• Staff who are tasked with supporting online within the university, often are not adequately supported by their respective campus administrations in terms of budgets, personnel, policies and procedures, faculty-buy in, and a myriad of other issues. Good people who are not supported will either leave the employ of CUNY or have low morale—neither positive developments.
• Inadequate research into the potential for new online programs at CUNY, and the market for such programs is the rule. Although SPS has done some good work in developing their online programs, they are not sufficient to carry the online mantle for the entire university. There are many disciplines on CUNY campuses that, given the right support and direction, could compete with other colleges outside CUNY in terms of affordability and quality. Which programs and which campuses should be allowed to proceed?
• CUNY has not had a Chancellor who is willing to articulate and communicate a coherent, compelling strategic plan for CUNY online and then advocate for its adoption. Without such support form the top, CUNY’s online efforts will continue to languish.

This list is far from exhaustive.

How could we address these and other online deficits at CUNY? I all humility, I would offer just one suggestion.  That suggestion is to empower the internal experts and advocates for online teaching and learning at all levels within the university, for example, starting with the Committee on Academic Technology chaired by Dr George Otte. Have them examine these challenges and come up with practical, constructive, and achievable recommendations. As a starting point, bring these people into the conversation and engage them in this critical mission. I assure you, CUNY will be better off for such a process and the potential for online at CUNY, may take a significant step forward.

Respectfully,

Bruce Rosenbloom
CCNY CETL Director

Note: The contents of this post is solely my views for which I take responsibility. Although I am far from objective on this matter, I do share a viewpoint, not often expressed, that needs to be heard.

After over 6 years of her tenure as President of City College, Lisa Coico has resigned after a series of NY Times articles –the last two cited here.

October 10, 2016  and October 7, 2016.

What follows is some reflections/observations on her tenure and circumstances surrounding her resignation.

CUNY Central Does Nothing

More than any takeaway from this sorry affair, has been the lax, negligent “oversight” by the Chancellor and the CUNY Board of Trustees in handling President Lisa’s tenure at CCNY. Literally from the first month of coming to CCNY, she summarily fired a dozen workers in the Financial Aid Office because she found the lines too long, the Central office was on notice that something was not right with this President. Apparently this initial incident, neither her excessive hiring of cronies and consultants she had associations with, nor her arbitrary and capricious decisions, nor her inability to bring in monies from donors had any impact on her 5-year review.  Instead, it took seven articles in the NY Times (references below)–an unprecedented amount of negative publicity for any university–and an ongoing investigation from several federal and state bodies, to finally do what needed doing many years ago. CUNY management was informed numerous times through informal channels prior to any articles hitting the press, yet chose to do nothing. This is a black eye for CUNY management, Chancellor Milliken, and the CUNY Board of Trustees.  Shame on all of you.

Tenured Faculty Do Nothing

City College has approximately 700 tenured faculty and double that for adjunct faculty. With a few exceptions they did nothing tangible to oppose this administration. At a most recent Faculty Senate meeting (before the latest 2 articles, but after 2 initial articles) most faculty attending were mute in the presence of President Coico.

I have lost any hope that tenured faculty can play any balancing role in situations like these.  In the many years of mismanagement and malfeasance from this administration, never once did faculty governance step in with a vote of no confidence for Lisa’s administration. Instead, they were bought off by various perks and incentives that most administrations have the discretion over doling out to their political favorites. Faculty governance is suppose to act in the best interests of the institution, hence one of the main rationales for tenure. Instead, faculty governance is truly a toothless watchdog in these situations. Tenured faculty clearly know which side their bread is buttered on, and despite protestations to the contrary, once tenured, most faculty will adapt to any administration, no matter have bad as long as they can continue their cushy positions.  Shame on all of you.

Union: Not Part of Oversight Process

I generally admire Barbara Bowen, the President of PSC-CUNY, the faculty/staff union for all of CUNY.  After 7 years of not having a contract, this past summer a contract was signed whereby members received a 10% raise over that period.  Given the sad state of affairs for most public employees these days, this was seen as a successful outcome to a very difficult process. After the contract was settled, Barbara made an appearance at a September union meeting held at City College.  While most of the questions dealt with the specifics of the new contract, I asked a question about whether there was a role for PSC-CUNY in opposing and scrutinizing the administrative appointments and administrative bloat on campuses.

My thinking is that given a zero-sum scenario, political appointments and cronyism deprive institutions of needed staff and faculty appointments and incentives.  She admitted the union currently does not play such an oversight role, although it might file a Freedom Of Information request to obtain records of upper management appointments at the college. In my estimation, the excesses and Coico’s administration and it’s impact on all those who work at City College were equally important as “bread and butter” issues to the well-being of employees.  If unions cannot have a seat at the management table in a meaningful way, it increases the lack of accountability that this and other CUNY administrations can get away with, and the amount of time that any meaningful push-back can happen,

Staff Push-back Gets it Done

In my almost 40 years working for various private and public institutions, I have not witnessed staff morale to be as bad as it is at CCNY. Many of the most senior staff, myself included, have been marginalized, de-funded, de-staffed and either ignored or treated with general contempt by the Coico administration.  Not surprisingly, some of the best staffers have left CCNY for other CUNY colleges, while others suffer in silence, waiting in vain for CUNY to come to its senses.

Instead, a myriad of bad management practices and decisions, (including political appointees and cronyism) in the past years have alienated some of the best people working at City College. More than any other factor, it was a group of those alienated staff persons that finally said “enough is enough” and went to the press for addressing this gross incompetence and illegality. Kudos for those courageous staffers that did successfully push-back– albeit too late in the game to salvage CCNY’s reputation or prevent many good people from leaving City College.

Closing Thoughts

What happened at City is merely a microcosm of what happens in any organization with little accountability and oversight. There will always be bad actors in high places, but how are their excesses checked? Let CCNY be Exhibit A in this regard.  As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of committed individuals can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that has.”

It will take several years to get new leadership installed and running at CCNY, and even more time to remove the vestiges of Coico’s mismanagement team.  Changing the gestalt of this institution will be like turning around an ocean liner–a slow and deliberate process at best–even assuming that good management will be appointed to replace this regime. What CUNY Central, CCNY faculty and staff might reflect upon is what has been lost by this 6-year fiasco? Those resources and time wasted and employees alienated, will never be able to be productively utilized. Ultimately the students suffer. Shame on all those who let this sorry state of affairs continue as long as it did.

Sources:

Chen, D. (2016), “Dreams Stall at CUNY, New York City’s Engine of Mobility, Sputters,” (May 28, 2016), Retrieved at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/nyregion/dreams-stall-as-cuny-citys-engine-of-mobility-sputters.html?_r=0

Chen, D. (2016), “Finances of City College’s President Under Federal Investigation,” July 14, 2016, Retrieved at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/15/nyregion/finances-of-city-colleges-president-are-under-federal-investigation.html?_r=0

Chen, D. (2016), “$76 Where There Should be $600,00: Missing City College Donation Prompts Inquiry,” August 30, 2016, Retrieved at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/31/nyregion/76-where-there-should-be-600000-missing-city-college-donation-prompts-inquiry.html

Chen, D. (2016), “City Colege Leader Didn’t Misuse Donation Study Finds,” September 15, 2016, Retrieved at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/16/nyregion/city-college-leader-didnt-misuse-donation-review-finds.html?emc=edit_tnt_20160915&nlid=67777128&tntemail0=y

Chen, D. (2016), “President of City College Quits Abruptly After Scrutiny of Her Finances,” (October 7, 2016), Retrieved at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/nyregion/president-city-college-quits.html?action=click&contentCollection=N.Y.%20%2F%20Region&module=RelatedCoverage&region=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article

Chen, D. (2016), “A Divisive President of City College, and a Long List of Personal Expenses,” October 10, 2016, Retrieved at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/nyregion/a-divisive-president-at-city-college-and-a-long-list-of-personal-expenses.html?_r=0

Chen, D. (2016), “City College Gets Interim Leader After President’s Sudden Exit,” November 2, 2016, Retrieved at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/03/nyregion/city-college-gets-interim-leader-after-presidents-sudden-exit.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fnyregion&action=click&contentCollection=nyregion&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0

There has been a great deal of heated debated over Amazon’s management practices as reported in the August 15, 2015 New York Times (link here). The Gallop organization reviewed the article and followed it up with an intriguing analysis (link here). Both pieces go to the heart of issues around motivating employees, promoting organization excellence and good management practice.

The NY Times article chronicles Amazon’s very strict measurement of any and all performance indicators on the part of employees and management alike. Everything is subject to being questioned, tested, and improved including practices, policies and systems essential to making the company run better and more efficiently. The question I have is, “What can CUNY learn from these and other management practice?” I believe there are many potential lessons to be learned; some of these are outlined below.

Accountability

In the NY Times article paints a picture of “extreme accountability” for each and every Amazon employee. Invariably, as the writers imply, this practice, taken to an extreme, can cause much stress in the workforce, and significant turnover. It remains a question as to whether those who leave the hothouse competitive atmosphere at Amazon could have been valued contributors over the long run. However, the Times article does point out those ex-Amazon staffers are highly regarded and often quickly hired by other companies in the tech field.

In my estimation (and from an admittedly biased perspective) I would contend that at CUNY is severely lacking in this area. I do not qualify that statement. I have seen institutional drift and ineptitude both university-wide and at specific campuses. This mismanagement is allowed to go on for years, seemingly without any checks or balances being exerted from faculty governance, CUNY Central and Chancellor, PSC-CUNY or any other body. Instead, despite many occasions of demonstrated incompetence and malfeasance, the status quo is allowed to fester, leaving staff, faculty and students the worse off for it. In all my years working at about a dozen different work settings (both private and public) I have never seen staff a so completely disillusioned and demoralize as currently exists.   This symptom is largely attributable to a management accountability vacuum at many campuses.

Communication of Mission

The Gallop article clearly lays out the importance of communication of mission in any organization.

“Our research indicates that an organization’s mission or purpose must be communicated from the top down — and that when leaders prioritize ongoing communication, the outcomes are powerful. The way a company’s leaders define, display and disseminate an organization’s purpose and brand influences whether employees embody those values, especially with customers. Great leaders clearly and consistently communicate where the organization has been and where it is going, helping employees to know what’s expected of them and to see their role as more than just a job.” (Gallop report, par. 8, reference below).

A close second to lack of accountability at CUNY is the lack of communicating the mission clearly and effectively to all stakeholders. While management is good at occasional PR announcements that so –and- so won a grant or such college was ranked well etc., what is missing is a compelling vision of where we are going as an institution and as a campus. As indicated in the quote above, such communication is essential for providing guidance and context to employees, and enabling them to see their roles in a larger context. This is a dereliction of managerial responsibility that is quite shocking to me. I should note that the School of Professional Studies, the exception to the rule, does have very positive, proactive, and context-providing communications from their Dean John Mogulescu (CUNY Senior Dean of Academic Affairs) and others in that organization. Their example needs to be studied by other campuses, and learned from.

In a future post, I will address strategic planning for instructional technologies and online learning.

References:

Rigoni, B., & Nelson, B., (2015) “What Amazon Gets Right,” Gallop Topics, Retrieved on October 15, 2015, from http://www.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/185990/amazon-gets-right.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_content=heading&utm_campaign=syndication

Kantor, J., Streitfeld, D., (2015) “ Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace,” NY Times, August 15, 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html?_r=0