Re: The failure in university administration

On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 01:05:28 +1000, Peter Moylan
<peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In response to Tony's comments elsewhere in the thread, I'm not
mentioning the people who ordered the bog rolls, maintained the student
records, handled the payroll, etc. Such people were commonly lumped in
with the group called "administration", and they were doing essential
jobs; but they didn't set policy. They carried out the work needed to
implement the established policies.

The following is not in any way an argument against your general
premise, but - in line with what we do here in aue - an argument about
usage.

You've said the person who orders the bog rolls does not set policy.
In my experience (and I did work for a large corporation early in my
career), the bog roll orderer is the type that can set the most
damnable type of policy.

Switching to US terminology, the department that orders the toilet
paper also dispenses the toilet paper. While toilet paper rolls isn't
the best example, I'll use it. At one time, there was a shelf in a
room where the toilet paper was kept, and those needing toilet paper
went to that room and took a roll back to their toilet.

Someone noted the annual expense for toilet paper and decided that
controls must be put in place to stop the free distribution of toilet
paper. From then on, the room containing the toilet paper rolls was
off-limits to the unauthorized. Only an employee of the department
responsible for ordering and disbursing toilet paper had access to the
rolls.

Non-authorized employees had to fill out a supplies requisition form
to obtain a roll. Non-management, non-authorized employees had to get
authorization from a member of management to turn in a supplies
requisition form.

The form was then turned in to the department responsible for the
ordering and disbursing toilet paper and an employee of that
department handed out a roll, checked off the requisition form as
completed, and filed the requisition form.

Skipping ahead, the annual cost of toilet paper has not varied as much
as a dime because of the new policy. However, the firm has incurred
the additional expense of printing a requisition form and adding a
file cabinet in which to store completed requisition forms. The
company has absorbed the additional man-hour expense of the time
necessary to locate a manager to approve the requisition, the time
taken by the manager to approve the requisition, the time necessary
for a second employee to become involved in the disbursement of a roll
of toilet paper, and the time taken to file the completed requisition
forms. Unmeasurable is the cost of anxiety-related productivity loss
by employees in desperate need of a new roll of toilet paper and
unable to find a manager to approve the requisition.

"Policy" is not just something the higher-ups determine. It's those
little people in the far reaches of what you call "Administration" who
come up with the most onerous policies.

--


Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL
.

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