Academic Leadership

Chapter 11 – Innovator

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11.4 Fostering Innovation

(click the activity index number to take you back to the activities index)

An important aspect of the Innovator role is assisting others in pursuing opportunities for
innovation. This often means that they will need to change the way they do things.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this activity is to assist you in fostering

innovation in your program by identifying and responding to

pressures for and against change.

In the early 1950s, Kurt Lewin (see, e.g., Lewin, 1951) first proposed a model called
Force Field Analysis which stems from physical laws. Objects stay at rest unless a force
acts upon them that is greater than the force that allows them to be stable.
By applying this concept to change within an academic course or program, forces
can be identified which will support and move individuals along in the change process.
In other words, if an Academic Coordinator can identify driving forces that are stronger
than resistance forces, change is likely to be supported and pursued by staff. Similarly,
if resistance forces are greater than the forces supporting change, it is unlikely that
change will occur.
For example, a program may want to expand its scope and move into international
markets. Some pressures for change that can be used as driving forces to convince
staff of the need to move in this direction are listed in the left-hand column of Table 6. In
contrast, pressures against changes in envisaged direction are presented in the right-
hand column of Table 6.

Table 6: Potential Change Driving and Change Resisting Forces Operating Within
a University International Program

Pressures for Change

Driving Forces

Pressures Against Change

Resisting Forces

1. globalisation


2. efficiency


3. cost effectiveness


4. technological advances


5. increased revenue


6. exposure of local students to
   international peers.
   
   
   1. preference for routine and structure
   
   
   2. changes to IT infrastructure needed
   
   
   3. more paperwork and administration
   
   
   4. increased complexity
   
   
   5. possibility of language competency
      problems
   
   
   6. possibility of more plagiarism
   
   
   7. security of examination papers