Change management in higher education: an exploration of a cross-organisational change initiative and the development of a framework to support such endeavours

This action research project was based on the leadership of a collaborative change initiative which sought to effect changes across a consortium of higher education institutions in Ireland. The changes sought were defined and agreed with the Higher Education Authority as funding agency for the initiative. The changes sought to ensure that the higher education provision was more relevant and accessible to learners in the work place. Four specific strands of activity formed the basis of the initiative and in all cases the change processes were informed through an exploration and sharing of current practice and a collective agreement on priorities and actions arising from the exploration stages. A variety of research techniques was used in the collection of information on the existing practice and these were distilled into guidelines for the improvement of practice generally. In the case of each of the strands of activity the major outcome, in the form of a report, was widely disseminated throughout the Irish higher education sector and has had a significant impact on practice within the nine higher education institutions which formed the consortium and beyond. The particular leadership challenges associated with leading a collaborative project such as this are addressed. An analysis of the extant literature points to the lack of a suitable framework to support this type of cross-organisational change management initiative. Through an action research approach and the inclusion of a number of different perspectives in building a three dimensional focus of informed enquiry, a revised Framework for Change is developed. The Framework is informed by the analysis of in-depth interviews with participants in the change initiative and it is developed as a re-usable framework which will inform the design and leadership of broad, collaborative, cross-organisational change endeavours generally.