Adaptive management of higher education institutions as guarantee of stability and integrity

The world tendencies of social development demonstrate humanity’s entrance into a new epoch, in which the most important characteristics are the development of the sector of services, the introduction of new information technologies in all areas of social and economic activities, and the forming of the knowledge economy. Since knowledge becomes the factor, which ensures stable and progressive economic growth, the traditional role of education in the social and economic development of society is also changing.

In fact, changes (are present) not only in the content of education but also in the nature of obtaining and transferring knowledge in educational establishments that transfer knowledge and information not only but also by new forms, such, as the Internet. The combination of the extensive and intensive forms of educational activities, adapted toward contemporary conditions, make possible the integration of education structures into all spheres of society activities, making education an important factor for public development. Consequently, the integration of science and education into the framework of higher education institutions and their penetration into various areas of society, predetermines an integration process in the very system of education, resulting in the expansion of the higher education institutions’ activity fields.

In addition, because of the accelerated development of the innovation processes and the internationalization of economic and commercial activities, changes in the organizational structures of higher education institutions’ scientific and production subdivisions are also needed in order to continue the effective specialist training that is essential under the contemporary conditions of the globalization of economic processes.

Having made changes the higher education institutions, having enormous scientific-educational potential, are able to adapt to work under the conditions created by the commercialization of social sphere faster and are capable of realizing the classical and applied forms of education, ensuring the process of continuous education which synthesizes of various forms of scientific research and experimental-design developments, facilitating the production of new forms of goods and services, and providing assistance to economic subjects in their production, realizing information-analytical support and support by the specialists of different levels of qualification. Once adapted to the new conditions higher education institutions are able to more efficiently and with smaller expenditures organize training of specialists, to reduce the expenses of society and to participate in the implementation of unified scientific-educational policy.

Forty-five European countries are participants in the Bologna process, which aims to create the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). This participation assumes orientation towards the standards and directives of the guarantee of quality of higher education in the European region, developed by the European University Association (EUA), and participation in the integration process, and also directed toward the guarantee of quality and universality of higher education. Standardization of the management of the quality is one of the key factors for the participation in the integration process. To be able to understand the urgency of the question concerning an increase in the competitive abilities of the higher education institutions of Lithuania we must attentively study the experience and achievements of the European Union and USA. However, this process would be impossible without the generalization and systematization of the laws governing the management and without the apparatus created for the synthesis of new knowledge and practical procedures.

The article consists of the complex analysis of theoretical and practical approaches in the application of adaptive management in the higher education institutions practice. The purpose of the article is to give proposals how to harmonize the management of the higher education institution together with the development of social economic process of the society.

In the process of survey the methods of logical and systems research was used, the complex analysis of methods and structures of the adaptive management of a higher education institution was carried out.

• 2.    Changes in the conditions of the functioning of the higher education institutions, universities

According to David D. Dill and Barbara Sporn “the cumulative pressure amounts to a new environment for universities Europe and the United States show several converging patterns:

• -    financial crisis caused by decreased government support for students;

• -    devolution or decentralization of responsibility to the institutional level;

• -    international competition for funds, faculty, and students;

• -    governmental regulations to improve quality in teaching and learning;

• -    changing student demographics;

• -    “new technologies” [5].

Thus, the dynamic and uncertainty of the environment significantly increased the level of requirements for control systems needed for the development of higher education institutions and as Patricia J. Gumport and Barbara Sporn note “this new environment calls for increased accountability of universities. Pushed by economic, political, and technological forces of the wider societal environment, higher education institutions are increasingly hold accountable for the resources they use and the outcomes they produce. Environmental pressures translated into demands to solve problems of cost, quality, effectiveness, and access. The emerging discussion of possible solutions encompasses institutional management, restructuring, resource development and reallocation, quality assurance, and strategic planning. All of these prescriptions either implicitly or explicitly call for an expanded role for university administration. In this scenario, we argue, the domain of faculty authority narrowed, as administrators are provided the resources to orchestrate various management reforms” [8].

Stability and integrity of higher education institutions as a system in the long-term can remain with sufficient flexibility of the subject for administration and the balance of the alternative strategy of its development. However, at the present time, when changes in the market economy of Lithuania can be observed, the development of higher education institutions requires higher quality control.

In fact, higher education institutions relate to the class of complex systems and, consequently, possess properties that are inherent. It is possible to calculate the development of higher education institutions and the increase, or at least maintenance, of their competitive ability in the situation of continuous cooperation with the dynamic environment by using adaptive management methods. Adaptive structure of the organization - is the flexible structure, capable of adapting to meet the requirements of medium (by the analogy to living organisms). Specifically, the adaptive organizational structures of management are capable to change, using all effective moments of linear and functional structures, successfully functioning in the constantly changing social and economic medium [1, 2, 12].

As world practice shows, the active use of adaptive control methods allows higher education institutions to consider changes in “the environment” most accurately and to attempt to achieve leading positions in the market for educational services and scientifically technical results and, during a specific period of time, attain the goals stated for the higher education institution. In this case, the higher education institution, that uses an adaptive management method, encounters a significant risk, that is determined by the stochastic nature of administrative innovations.

Making an administrative decision by selecting and realizing either or both of the strategies for the development of a higher education institution and strategy for marketing its services is the central moment of adaptive control. The process of making administrative decisions by the assigned criteria is a task of adaptive control with the elements of the uncertainty, which needs to consider many factors and, during a short period of time, carry out and process a significant volume of information.

Methods of adaptive control are necessary tools, which make increasing effectiveness, accuracy, and scientific validity of the solution of problems, confronting with higher education institutions.

However, in spite of the significant number of studies related to the adaptive control methods and the active search for the ways of their application that have been conducted, many methodological and systematic questions, connected to the transition from centralized planning of higher education is the planning under the conditions of market relations. These key issues are still unsolved. We can observe the adverse effects of this situation through the reduction in effectiveness of directive methods and hierarchic structures. The imperfection of interfunctional contacts inside and outside the higher education institution caused a disbalance among the alternative strategies of it’s development, which in their turn are caused by the opposing target characteristics of the management system: the priority of strategies of evolutionary changes or retention of stability without the flexibility of structures and control functions; the domination of strategies of the achievement of effectiveness in the short term without the orientation to a compromise to the guarantee effectiveness of activity in the short term and in the future. The increased flexibility and uncertainty of the market economy either complicates the control system of higher education institutions or predominantly leads to the intuitive reaction on the external actions.

Management of higher education institutions is characterized by multicriteriality - the set of different in nature elements, by hierarchical quality. The management problem of this system is an extremely complex issue. Adaptive management (management with the adaptation) - is the administrative process, which facilitates the steady development of higher education institutions in the short term or intermediate-term. In essence, it can be a tool that effectively ensures successful realization of higher education institution strategy. The practice of the applying adaptive management of organizational structures in the United States Western European universities shows that adaptive management successfully adapts under the dynamically changing conditions in the quantity indicators of the functioning of a higher education institution during a limited time period. The higher education institution requires stable management not only with “determinist” conditions, but also when its behavior becomes indeterminate. That means that such an approach towards the management system takes special urgency and is maximally considered with the element of chance for that at the present time it could mathematically be described as “chance”.

In the process of the adaptation of higher education institution one should take into account both the individual adaptation of instructor, scientist, researcher with the adaptation of employees to the changed parameters of the environment and the adaptation of organizational and technical measures in changing the existing technologies of the educational, scientific, technical and experimentaldesign services.

Adaptive management is needed to realize adaptation concerned to the realization of adaptation. Therefore, it must include not only the direct process of adaptation, but also a preparation work, which consists of business and production environment monitoring, predicting the tendencies of changes and the possibility of these factors influencing the higher education institution, i.e. the result of adaptation must be an established equilibrium – “balance of interests and possibilities”.

In this case the development of the concept of adaptive mechanism of the higher education institution’s formation is a very important and urgent task for Lithuania characterized by the possibility of regulating the composition, connections and the relative significance of basic and special functions dependable on dynamics and uncertainty of environment changes, and facilitated by the maximum calculation of the parameters of the market economy changes.

• 3.    Higher education institutions, universities orientation toward innovation and business activity

  The new higher education functioning conditions in Lithuania associated with the transition from rigid centralized control to self-guidance with some fraction of autonomy, including the objective increase in the number of students and the relative decline in state financing for the majority of state higher educational institutions and rigid competition between the higher education institutions, forced the state and in particular, higher education institutions, to work according to the principles of market enterprises. Thus, for guaranteeing their self-development, higher education institutions were forced to use operating principles of the business organizations in their activity. The major markets for the higher education institutions, which use principles of business organizations include: the market for educational services, the labor market, the market for scientific and training literature (textbooks, teaching aids, etc) and the market for scientific research and experimental-design development. However, higher education institutions frequently undertake the realization of a complete innovation cycle - from obtaining new scientific knowledge in the course of fundamental and applied research to it’s commercialization. In fact, the development of activity of higher education institutions as a type of market enterprise is also frequent in characteristic for the United States of America and West European higher education institutions. These tendencies are also observed in the post-Soviet countries. Taking into consideration the significance of these processes, the Gelsenkirchen Declaration on Institutional Entrepreneurial Management and Entrepreneurial Studies in Higher Education in Europe was accepted in 2003.

According to the Gelsenkirchen Declaration [15] the following tasks were set for the transition of universities to business institutional control:

• -    professionalization of university management and staff coupled with strong executive leadership;

• -    diversification of income sources;

• -    preservation of core academic values while assimilating and integrating new managerial, business-oriented and market-related practices;

• -    tight contacts with business and community;

• -    development of an entrepreneurial culture based on the spirit of innovation and enterprise through knowledge transfer, industrial spin-offs, continuing education, and various partnerships for fund-raising and alumni affairs;

• -    integration of academic and research units by loosening the traditional disciplinary boundaries and developing project oriented activities that are more relevant to the new modes of knowledge production and application.

Another important issue occurred together with the market economic relations’ model is marketing that plays an important role in the development of the market for educational and scientific services and in strengthening of the competitive ability of educational institution. In fact, any organization that acts on the market uses marketing tools [3, 4, 6]. It is impossible to manage the realization of education services, scientific and technical results without marketing systems.

Realizing their marketing function higher education institutions assume the fulfillment of diagnostic and analyses of least two areas:

• -    of the scientific and technical services: first, the study of the new achievements of world science; second , a study of production needs for the scientific and technical innovations and based on that determination and selection of the subsequent development of paramount (priority) scientific directions; third, the development of the students abilities of scientific and technical activity.

• -    of educational services.

• 4.    Orientation of higher education institutions, universities towards total management by the quality of the educational and scientific research processes

Initially, diagnostics need a deep analysis of savings and production of higher school’s education, scientific and technical activity and, in many respects, to determine the effectiveness of its functioning.

Higher education institutions, as self-contained systems, cannot prepare specialists for all spheres of the economy, science and culture. Respectively, a higher education institution cannot instantly work in all scientific directions with constant intensity. Therefore, it is necessary to have corresponding positioning in the determination of the programs for training specialists, selection of scientific and technical problems for the subsequent solution based on criteria: importance of the production, the training process of the specific scientific, scientific and technical problem, its prospect, the correspondence to the profile of training specialists in this higher education institution and others. This selection cannot be considered a single-time measure. On the contrary, it must be systematically conducted.

Because marketing conducts the comparison of the possibilities of higher education institution and needs “of environment”, the equilibrium, in this case, becomes “balance of interests and possibilities”. The fulfillment of marketing must be oriented towards the user and the satisfaction of his needs. However, the equilibrium pointed out above can only be dynamic, whereas in the statics the correspondence between the needs and the possibilities, which will constantly, more or less, be disrupted. Therefore, the spread of deviations and their duration will testify the level of adaptive management [9, 10, 11].

As Gumport P.J. and Sporn B. notes “the development of the quality movement led to the introduction of comprehensive concepts and tools of TQM (Total Quality Management) and CQI (Continuous Quality Improvement) on campus. As opposed to the educational quality movement, TQM or CQI concentrate on administrative structures and processes but might eventually reach the academic side of the institution as well. The main principles emphasize a culture of continuous improvement, a customer and client focus, a rational approach to decision making through performance indicators and benchmarking, more process design, teamwork, and individual empowerment” [8].

An important direction for the adaptive management of higher education institutions is the creation of the organizational structure, oriented towards total quality control of the educational and scientific and technical services. The introduction of quality management systems into the higher education institutions of Lithuania began in 2001. Lithuanian Maritime College Quality Management System was certified by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance according to International ISO 9001:2000 standard requirements in January 2002. The college became the only high maritime school in Lithuania that among other educational institutions received such high international evaluation [13].

The Total Quality Management system was also implemented and is being improved in Vilnius Gediminas Technical University where the major emphasis is concentrated on the personnel. It is believed that only high culture employees, who can ensure the high quality of contact and interaction, can create qualitative services and knowledge-based products.

The higher education institutions that implement the Total Quality Management system and integrate quality management into their structures are able to ensure quality on every level and on every stage. Large investments in human resources and their motivation are essential key factors influencing quality management of an organization and its future. The introduction of the Total Quality Management system assumes that the quality will always ensure place in the market. It is essential, that that the management of higher education institution declare the idea of a high quality guarantee to the professorial-teaching staff, scientists, researchers, all employees of the administrative and auxiliary personnel. Consequently, everyone in the system must realize the truth, that the user is a general partner not only in the educational process but also in scientific and technical activity. Furthermore, the stimulating force for administrative action must proceed from the leader and this process must be justified and constantly strengthened.

The practice of the introduction of the Total Quality Management systems of the educational and scientific and technical services shows that traditional structures of higher education institutions must be transformed. As the analysis of the experience of introduction and functioning of the systems of Total Quality Management of educational and scientific and technical services shows, with the development of the structure of higher education institution, hierarchy (for the most part) disappears and is changed by one-level matrix structures with strong horizontal interrelations. In addition, organizational forms become simple and flexible when built on the strong command work. Thus, development and strengthening of command work becomes an important feature of the Total Quality Management system of educational and scientific and technical services.

• 5.    Development of conditions for applying the adaptive management of the higher education institutions, universities

  The process of world globalization, development and application of new information and communication technologies and changing economic development of the higher education institutions raised new tasks: solving problems related to the increased part of the population with higher education (in well developed countries the part of the adult population with higher education during the years 1975 - 2000 grew from 22% to 41%); to guarantee continuous education, while competing with the other forms of the transferring of knowledge, habits, skills; constantly adapting to the new training technologies, etc.

A detailed analysis of adaptation of the social and economic environment of the United States and European universities was introduced by Barbara Sporn in her book “Adaptive University Structures: An Analysis of Adaptation to Socioeconomic Environments of US and European Universities". Where close attention is paid to the vulnerability and dependability of the higher education institutions towards the environment, and notes that universities become ever more open systems and therefore they are forced to change their structures, to limit their academic autonomy, and react to the challenge of time.

As a result of her studies of the multifarious activity of the US and European universities, which were successfully adapted to the environment as the answer to the challenges of time, Barbara Sporn [14] concludes that the effective adaptation of universities to the environment can occur only when the specified conditions are present:

• -    the internal crisis is necessary for universities, which would be the reason for adaptation;

• -    sources of funds, which they can use at their own discretion;

• -    a high degree of autonomy;

• -    the transformation of leadership, which moves the realization of vision by a change in the environment and facilitates adaptation;

• -    joint forms of decision making needed for the successful introduction of adaptation;

• -    professional management;

• -    the mission, oriented to the change;

• -    the structuring of the activity of universities, directed toward the market;

• -    the decentralization of structures and decision making ;

• -    a high degree of the differentiation of academic structures and disciplines [14].

Barbara Sporn’s studies also reviled that in order to guarantee adaptivity Western European and American universities frequently use the matrix management structures. The matrix structure is an optimum, when the environment is very variable and the purposes of the organization reflect the dual requirements and when connections with the concrete subdivisions and functional purposes are equally important. In that case, the dual structure of control facilitates the communication and coordination of actions, which is necessary in order effectively react to changes in the environment. It also helps to establish the correct balance of the authority between the functional leaders of subdivision and the highest leadership. Another characteristic of the matrix structure of the organization is strong horizontal communications. With the matrix structure horizontal commands exist on the level of the traditional vertical hierarchy. Therefore, besides the communications, when the exchange of information occurs on the vertical line of the hierarchical chain, the horizontal exchange of information occurs that allows to overcome the barriers between the structural subdivisions and departments and ensure the possibility of the coordination of actions of instructors, scientists and researchers to fulfill edge purposes. However, according to research done by R. Ginevičius and V. Sūdžius [7] these structures have strong and weak sides:

• 1.    Strong sides:

  • 1.1.    Guarantee of coordination, when it is necessary for satisfying the dual requirements of users.

  • 1.2.    Flexible distribution of human resources and other services for main directions of activity.

  • 1.3.    It gives the possibility to carry out problems in complex and to adapt to the rapid changes of environment.

  • 1.4.    It allows to develop professional and special qualities.

  • 1.5.    It is most relevant to the medium size organizations.

• 2.    Weak sides:

  • 2.1.    Dual subordination of workers causes unsatisfaction and pressure.

  • 2.2.    There is a need for interpersonal habits of communication and special training.

  • 2.3.    Huge waste of time for meetings and conflict solving.

  • 2.4.    Structure does not work, till the workers be capable to work collegially (will work only in the system of vertical relations).

  • 2.5.    To maintain balance significant efforts of the managers are required.

• 6.    Conclusions

Therefore, the major characteristic for the matrix structure of organization is strong horizontal communications. Shift to the side of more ”flat” horizontal structures makes it possible to increase the level of horizontal coordination with the information systems assistance and with the direct contact between the subdivisions. The unique feature of matrix structure is the fact that the leaders of structural subdivisions have identical authority and the organization with the employees is subordinated by the identical degree to each other.

The article concludes that at the present time the significant changes in the market economy of Lithuania require higher quality control of higher education institution development. The stabilization and integrity of higher education institutions can be preserved in the long-term only with a sufficient flexibility of their development.

The development of the adaptability of higher education institutions can be achieved due to the following factors:

• 1.    The development of higher education institutions as business organizations. In this case the major markets for the higher education institutions that use principles of business organisations, would be: the market for educational services, the labor market, the market for scientific and training literature (textbooks, teaching aids, etc.) and the market for scientific research and experimental-design developments. With this model, economic relations marketing must play an important role in the development of the market for educational and scientific services and in the strengthening of the competitive ability of an educational institution.

• 2.    Another very important direction for the adaptive management of higher education institutions is the creation of the organizational structure, oriented to the Total Quality Management of the educational and scientific and technical services. The introduction of the Total Quality Management system assumes that quality will always ensure the place in the market. Most important, the management of higher education institutions must declare the idea of the guarantee of a high

• 3.    The realization of the adaptation of higher education institution should be made in the form when the individual adaptation of instructors, scientists, researchers is directly related to the adaptation of employees to the changed parameters of the environment and the adaptation, and the organizational and technical measures for a change in the existing technologies of the assignment of educational, scientific and technical and experimental-design services. Therefore, the matrix organizational structures of control would be the best choice.

quality guarantee to the professorial-teaching staff, scientists, researchs, all workers of administrative and auxiliary personnel. Most of all, everybody must assume the truth, that the user is a general partner not only in the educational process, but also in the scientific and technical activity.

The practical significance of the conducted analysis consists of the summary of the theoretical and practical scientific results. Further, the obtained results of a study can serve for the development of concrete systematic recommendations regarding the implementation of methods and the structures of adaptive management of the higher educational institutions of Lithuania in practice.