Restructuring can accelerate our progress, but it cannot solve all, or even most, of our challenges. Restructuring--changing who reports to whom--has a profound effect in bureaucracies. in the new, more flexible, less bureaucratic organization that Lane must become, restructuring is only the first step toward re-engineering our processes, renewing our work relationships, and refocusing our energies. We must learn to work together better.

A Vision of the Future

Lane Community College provides a quality learning experience in a caring environment. Each of the words in this simple statement is carefully chosen.

A community College is meant to be more than a loose assemblage of people either working at or attending a single institution. It is a body of people having common interests and common principles. The common interests are quality and learning; the common principals are the Unifying Principles that appear on posters through the buildings. Lane endeavors to :

Respect the individual
Provide quality learning experiences
Commit to excellence
Promote a sense of achievement
Communicate openly
Manage with goals
Connect with our community and
Develop a sense of community ownership

Lane is centered on learning and will assume new responsibilities only when they involve learning. Not all learning occurs in the classroom or lab, but can take place through KLCC, a public radio station in the Lane Community College districts, or Elderhostel or a number of other non-classroom activities. Most learning will occur through either education or training. Everyone at Lane--students, staff, etc.--must be engaged in learning. The organization must be a learning organization, 'an organization that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future' (Peter M. Senge, The Fifth Discipline).

The widespread interest in total quality, continuous quality improvement, and re-engineering is bases on the idea that quality need not cost more. it can, in fact, cost less if people work in teams to streamline and improve processes.

A high quality leaning experience can only be provided by a college devoted to service that meets the needs of customers, both external (students and other beneficiaries) and internal (staff are each other's customers). We will achieve high quality service by focusing on customer needs and desires as measured through research and evaluation, and by focusing on customer needs and desires as measured through research and evaluation, and by strengthening the many processes that compose Lane (admissions, scheduling, curriculum development, etc.). Learning experiences will be evaluated by measuring student outcomes.

Lane is to be caring community. People have an absolute need for connections with others, for support systems, for social bonding. A caring community meets this need and actively opposes isolation, fragmentation and divisions among people. in a caring community, faculty, managers, classified staff, and students care about each other and work as a team to strengthen learning on campus.

Organizational restructuring is only the beginning of change at Lane. The vision outlined here requires changes in fundamental values, changes in the way we work and in our work relationships, and training for all employees. Fulfillment of this vision is a long-term project to which we must dedicate ourselves for years to come. Success in this venture will depend on our combined commitment to intensive on-going staff training; examining our internal policies and procedures, changing those that hinder service to students; and changing our reword systems to encourage behaviors that support the values of teamwork, quality and service.

Characteristics of the New Organization

We must change our attitudes towards rules and procedures: rules should be de-emphasized in favor of a single vision to guide our work. Rules and procedures must all be evaluated on the basis of certain decisions and actions must be held accountable for following institutional strategies as well as maintaining compliance with externally-imposed rules and regulations. Administrative support areas must act as enablers in these processes. Finally, we must evaluate performance on the basis of outcomes and results; everyone must be held accountable for accomplishing our mission and goals.

Criteria for Restructuring

1. Could potentially do serious harm.
2. Incurs a cost greater than its benefit.
3. Makes processes more difficult for students and staff.
4. Could not be explained clearly in the local media.

After May 17, 1994 there will be no more administrative 'branches" in the current sense, because the tree metaphor suggests a bureaucracy with secondary parts growing from a main part. It is difficult to develop a new style of organization while using old terms and thinking in old ways.

The proposal is to divide Lane into four groups or dynamic assemblages of similar teams. The four groups are: Instructional Services Group, College Operations Groups, Executive Services Group and Student/Learner Services Group.

Within the groups, similar departments are grouped together into clusters (e.g. Arts and Communication, Enrollment Services) so that the public and Lane staff will have clearer access to services, and so that areas of duplication can be addressed. While the departments in the clusters will retain their identities, they will be encouraged to become part of a new, larger whole.

Categories that now divide us (credit vs. non-credit, transfer vs. professional-tech, etc.) will be de-emphasized in favor of greater collaboration and flexibility. We will work toward developing values and rewards for collaboration and common goals among disciplines, departments and support functions. Shared planning among and within cluster groups will become the norm and will result in 'shared agendas' that will provide enhanced learning opportunities, customer service and quality to our students and community.

Instructional Services Groups

Roughly equivalent to a combination of what was formerly instruction and Community and Economic Development, this group exists to provide quality learning experiences. Because it is a large group, it will be lead by two vice presidents who will work together as a two-person team, dividing up their responsibilities themselves with advice from others throughout the organization. They will facilitate teaching and learning through ten clusters, six of which are based on the Endorsement Areas (the CAM strands) adopted by the State Board of Education.

The departments listed within the ten clusters will maintain their identities and current leadership. However, as department-head positions become vacant through retirement or attrition, the college will explore combining disciplines or will move, where practicable, towards true team leaders and lead faculty. For now, the clusters will meet as teams on a regular basis, plan together and propose team budgets.

College Operations Group

Based on the current Administrative Services branch, the COG will add several services from other branches and will be lead by a vice president. The group exists to provide quality services to staff and to ensure as caring environment.

Executive Services Group

Based on the current President's Office, Executive Services will lead and facilitate the new structure.

Student Services Group

Based on the current Student Services branch, Students Services exists to provide quality services to learners and to ensure a caring environment. It consists of three clusters.

Strategic Teams

Project teams will be formed on an ad hoc basis to address specific organizational matters: service problems, service enhancements, new directions, etc. They may be formed by the president, by matrix teams, by other project teams, by governance groups or by clusters or work groups. They will be given a specific task and a deadline. Often they will address whole work processes in an effort to improve them.

Governance Groups

A move toward teams and empowering teams is a natural extension of Lane's philosophy of shared decision making. The formation of cluster teams, strategic (matrix) teams and project teams expands shared decision-making into administrative areas of the college.

As empowered teams become the norm, Lane will need to reexamine its governance structure. For now, no change is proposed in the governance groups (College Council, Faculty Council, Classified Council, etc.) College Council will retain its role as the major planning body for the college and as the primary group for formulating and recommending college policy to the president. Faculty and Classified councils and ASLCC will continue to focus on issues and activities of importance to their constituents.

Timelines and Plans

The Lane of the past was a highly successful organization, thanks to strong community support and the hard work of its employees. There is evidence that in the future not only the hard work but also a different kind of work will be necessary for success. The college must change to adapt to a new and highly dynamic environment. It is often the most successful organizations--in the 1960s General Motors, IBM, Exxon, etc.--that are slowest to change when change is needed. Lane must not make that mistake.

The most important characteristic of the Lane of the future must be quality. In the past, quality was achieved by hard work and by pouring more resources into a problem or effort. In the future, quality cannot be a function of resources: we must learn to use re-engineering and continuous quality improvement to achieve higher quality at lower cost. We must examine each of our processes to ensure that they are meeting learners' needs. We must work as efficiently as possible.

The Lane of the past had many qualities of a bureaucracy. The Lane of the future must instead be a high performance work system. In place of bureaucratic rules we must establish guiding visions: no more rules should be specified than are absolutely necessary. Whenever we encounter variations from the ideal, we must review the total process to improve it (not establish new rules). Employees will need to be more flexible and adaptive and learn to work in teams. To support these teams, information must be even more accessible: data must be shared, and employees must become even more accountable and the college will continue to strengthen its accountability to its local board of education, state-level agencies, and the legislature.

The most important activities at Lane are teaching and learning. All of us maintain this central focus, and ensure that we provide quality learning experiences. Above all, we must care--about quality instruction, about Lane, about learners, about each other. An institution that provides quality leaning experiences in a caring environment has nothing to fear from the future.

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