Audit Reflection
Reflection
Since the beginning of the communications audit, there have been many changes within WSU Spokane ITS and the campus. For example, Within the last nine months there have been several leadership changes on our campus, including the transition to a new Chancellor. Two of the biggest changes the new Chancellor has made include the removal of the Vice-Chancellor of Finance and the campus Chief Information Officer. In the absence of our CIO, campus IT leadership now reports to the University AVP of IT who is acting as interim director for the next several months. One of the jobs the interim director has been tasked with is to construct a comprehensive review, reorganization recommendations, and implementation of restructure for Spokane IT as a whole. As he continues to learn and understand how Spokane campus has historically operated, one of the things that has come to light is the dysfunctional culture and communication styles of our organization, and how this is currently affecting the organizational dynamic.
Before the conclusion of his time on campus, he will present the Chancellor with his assessments of functionality, and a proposal of how to best move IT forward on the campus. One of the focuses of the University CIO is to push for a more centralized IT, system wide. This includes unifying a very fragmented IT organization. Ways of initially bringing unification may potentially include limiting or eliminating duplicative roles. This would mean if there is a particular service Pullman or central IT owns or offers, no one else, either campus wide or individual college specific, should also have access to and be able to offer that service to customers, students, or employees. The hope would be that centralizing services would ultimately create a substantial decrease in overall costs and help standardize services and practices throughout the university.
In reviewing the issues and concerns that were raised during this communications audit, I see the era of departments having the opportunity and ability to “self-fix” coming to an end. As the University moves forward in the centralization of IT, both the Pullman campus as well as the Spokane campus will be forced to adjust to new standards in operations and communication. I believe there will be a turning point where current employees will either embrace and make the needed changes to move the University forward in terms of technological development, or they will ultimately choose to leave the department. The IT departments are already starting to see a shift in personnel. For example, there have been several people in the last 6 months to leave Spokane IT, not to mention several more in Pullman. Change is rarely easy but always necessary, especially when dysfunction has been allowed to prosper for such an extended length of time. For change to be embraced by a population of people, it must be well communicated for everyone involved and affected!