Tiina Itkonen, PhD, Academic Lead POEC
The institutional analysis tool was originally developed by Dr. Itkonen for a graduate course in the educational leadership program, adapted for 海角社区CI鈥檚 doctoral program more recently, and then scaled up for the campus wide POEC initiative. Course evaluations, informal focus groups, and a formal program evaluation (approved by the Institutional Review Board) data have informed the development of the analysis tool over the past decade.
The method integrates existing frameworks from the literature into a succinct, original analytical model which connects theory to practice (Itkonen, in press; Itkonen et al., 2019, 2023). These include:
- Bolman & Deal鈥檚 four organizational lenses (2013, 2017, 2021);
- Mintzberg's model of organizations (1989);
- Frontline employee/operating core theory (Harklau, 2016; Maynard-Moody & Musheno, 2003; Wilson, 1989);
- Teamwork cycle (originally by Tuckman, 1965);
- Other works incorporated to this 鈥減acket鈥 include conceptual literature about trapped (Argyris, 2010) versus agile (Aghina, 2018) organizations, and research on multiplier versus diminishing leaders (Weisman, 2010).
The POEC teams first identified a complex organizational issue from their daily work which spanned across units and in many cases, divisions. They then learned about each conceptual framework through reading, taped mini lectures, and application exercises. Each concept was paired with an analytical tool to examine if, and to what extent, it applied to the teams鈥 real-life case. The issue was thus unpacked in this way, by examining it systematically from multiple perspectives, concept by concept.
The POEC teams then synthesized their findings from these multiple lenses into a representation of the root causes of their focus issue, applying design thinking for leadership (Gallagher, & Thordarson, 2018). They created an executive summary with actionable short-term and long-term recommendations grounded on their analytical data, which were presented to the Cabinet and the President. The recommendations were triangulated with the Critical Learning Collective and the campus strategic initiative and later integrated into the WASC report. Implementation has begun and will be on-going both short-term and longer term, depending on the complexity and scope of the issues.
- Bolman and Deal outline four distinct lenses with which to examine organizations:
- structural components (e.g., top down, bottom up, lateral linkages within and across units);
- psychology of organizations (e.g., motivation, training and expertise, teamwork);
- political lens (e.g., scarce resources and power bases); and
- cultural lens (the purpose and meaning of the organization, history, celebrations, and traditions; what the organization states and artifacts indicate it values versus what happens in reality).
- The Mintzberg model consists of interdependent organizational units (as opposed to the isolated boxes typically depicted in organizational charts). The components include the strategic apex (laws, rules, policies and top administration), middle administration, the infrastructure of the organization, the support structure, and the operating core or the frontline employees which perform the core function of the organization (teaching in educational institutions) toward the core product (degree).
- Frontline employee situational authority involves examining how and in what instances frontline employees make decisions about how to respond to a given situation, how to interpret rules and policies in their daily work, and how to meet the needs of clients within the constraints that the policies and the organizational structure present.
- Teamwork cycle refers to the stages which all teams go through before becoming productive.
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