Date of Submission
7-31-2023
Document Type
OIP
Degree
Doctor of Education
Department
Education
Keywords
Distributed Leadership, Kotter's Change Model, Iterative Change Management, Reliance on Government Funding, Revenue Diversification, Balanced Scorecard
Abstract
The emergence of performance-based frameworks for funding and declining government operating grant funding are contemporary challenges for Canadian public higher education institutions. Operating grants are a sizable portion of the funding institutions receive from the provincial government, and continued conditions on and declines in these grants pose significant risks to the sustainability and viability of these public institutions. Higher education institutions today need to become less reliant on government funds while remaining aligned with mandates to provide the programs and services necessary to meet the needs of the regions and communities they serve. Frontier College (a pseudonym) has revenue diversification strategies in place, but these strategies were developed with individual departmental needs in mind rather than an institutional focus. This Organizational Improvement Plan demonstrates how a distributed leadership approach with an iterative implementation of Kotter’s eight-step model for change can be used to institutionalize the college’s revenue diversification strategies. Because revenue diversification strategies may involve entrepreneurial activity that is outside typical college operations, the change initiative will be led through the lens of equity, diversity, inclusivity, and decolonization to ensure that all initiatives align with Frontier College’s strategic plan without compromising the institution’s mandates, vision, or mission. This plan also demonstrates how a balanced scorecard can be used as an effective monitoring, evaluation, and communication tool throughout the change process, allowing leaders to collaborate with employees to adjust, amend, and alter plans as they revisit Kotter’s steps together to successfully embed the change within the college’s culture.
Recommended Citation
Notay, J. (2023). Kotter's Model for Change and Distributed Leadership: A Multifaceted Approach for Canadian Colleges to Become Less Reliant on Operating Grant Funding. The Organizational Improvement Plan at Western University, 380. Retrieved from https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/oip/380