1. Page 1 Purpose, Participation & Progress: Academia & Big Business Are Close Cousins Dr Peter Langford & Dr Louise Parkes Voice Project Macquarie University Sydney, Australia Tertiary Education Management Conference, Sydney, 28 August

2. Page 2 Contents/Agenda >Who is Voice Project? >Corporatising Higher Education >Method >Results Outside of Higher Education >Results Within Higher Education >Conclusions

3. Page 3 Who Is Voice Project? >Our purpose is “improving organisations by giving people a voice”. >We’re a research and consulting practice based in Macquarie University. >We specialise in organisational surveys and the diagnosis of culture, leadership and passion. >Research is undertaken through Macquarie University and consulting work is undertaken through Voice Project Pty Ltd which operates under licence of the university.

4. Page 4 Corporatising Higher Education >The work of tens of thousands of university employees is being increasingly corporatised: >Closer alignment of activities with market forces, >Growing pressures to measure and improve performance. >It is a common lament from staff and management that universities are unique and the introduction of corporate management practices will not work in higher education. >The presentation compares results from employee surveys within higher education against the same surveys in other industries. >The aim is to better understanding differences between higher education and other industries in the predictors of: >“passion” (organisation commitment, job satisfaction, intention to stay) >“progress” (achieving objectives, change & innovation, customer satisfaction)

5. Page 5 Method >Responses from 16,813 employees from outside higher education from approx 1,000 organisations. >Responses from 9,192 university employees from 7 universities across both academic staff (approx 40% of sample) and general staff (approx 60% of sample); average response rate across universities approx 55%: >Charles Sturt University >University of Newcastle >Victoria University >Griffith University >University of Adelaide >Macquarie University >University of Southern Queensland

6. Page 6 Method & Results >Used the Voice Climate Survey developed by Voice Project at Macquarie University. >Details of our standard survey: >102 items measuring “passion” (= “engagement”), “progress” and 25 management practices in the standard all-industry survey >University standard version contains 18 additional items measuring workload, research, teaching, community engagement and entrepreneurship; surveys were usually tailored to meet specific needs of each university >Mean scale ⍺ =.84, average on-factor loading =.64 ranging from.34 to.90 with all items loading highest on intended factor. >Survey scored on a 5 point Likert scale ranging from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree (with a Not Applicable/Don't Know option).

7. Progress - Organisation Objectives - Change & Innovation - Customer Satisfaction Passion (Engagement) - Organisation Commitment - Job Satisfaction - Intention To Stay Peace - Wellness - Work/Life Balance People - Motivation & Initiative - Talent - Teamwork Property - Resources - Processes - Technology - Safety - Facilities Purpose - Organisation Direction - Results Focus - Mission & Values - Ethics - Role Clarity - Diversity Participation - Leadership - Recruitment - Cross-Unit Cooperation - Learning & Development - Involvement - Reward & Recognition - Performance Appraisal - Supervision - Career Opportunities As presented in Langford, P. H., Parkes, L. P., & Metcalf, L. (2006). Developing a structural equation model of organisational performance and employee engagement. Proceedings of the Joint Conference of the Australian Psychological Society and the New Zealand Psychological Society, Auckland. Please contact us for a copy of the paper if you are interested. Work Motivators Outside Higher Education

8. All Industries Universities

9. All Industries Universities Motivators Of “Passion” And “Progress”

10. HigherLower Higher Promote Maintain Prioritise Limit Ideally, management practices should rest in the oval where there is a good match between performance and importance Gap Analysis – All Industries

11. HigherLower Higher Promote Maintain Prioritise Limit Ideally, management practices should rest in the oval where there is a good match between performance and importance Gap Analysis - Universities

12. Page 12 Results >Examining results across different universities suggests there are greater similarities between work motivators than in actual performance levels: >Performance levels vary, although there are clear industry characteristics that influence the pattern of performance across all universities. >Profile of work motivators near identical across all universities.

13. Page 13 Conclusions >University staff show a higher level of “Passion” (= “employee engagement”) than the average non-university worker. >They also perceive greater ethics and feel greater belief in the mission and values of their organisation. >University staff show a lower level of satisfaction with most other management practices. >However, the profile of work motivators is near-identical: >“Passion” is strongly correlated with perceived “Progress” within and outside higher education >“Passion” and “Progress” within and outside higher education appear to be primarily motivated by: >Purpose (a belief in the reasons, goals and directions of an organisation), >Participation (a belief that employees are recognised, involved and growing)

14. Page 14 Conclusions >Research and consulting activities are expanding, encompassing other universities (University of Canberra, University of Swinburne, Flinders University). >We’ll soon have longitudinal data – 5 of the original universities are conducting/planning follow-up surveys >We’ve tracked substantial improvement in scores from non-university clients, so to what extent can similar changes be achieved within universities?