Managing change: the private university sector in cyprus, operations within the european context. A case study

• Author: Simona Mihai Yiannaki
• Position: Assistant, Ph. D., MBA, Programme Coordinator for Banking and Finance, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, European University Cyprus
• Pages: 191-207

Simona Mihai Yiannaki

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LESIJ NO. XVIII, VOL. 1/2011

MANAGING CHANGE: THE PRIVATE UNIVERSITY SECTOR

IN CYPRUS, OPERATIONS WITHIN THE EUROPEAN CONTEXT.

A CASE STUDY

Simona Mihai YIANNAKI∗

Abstract

Our case study attempts to show the manner by which change has been introduced and

dealt within the Business School of a private Cypriot University, the European University Cyprus.

Then it tries to demonstrate if the success of the change process has its roots in the history of the

organization and its representative strategies as per the theoretical framework of the literature

review. Out of the main study results it emerges that it is the trust placed on the organization by

the management, the staff and the student body that can bring high standards of education to the

change process along with the acceptance for process and embedded innovation. At the other end,

there are still strong drawbacks that hider change management to its full positive results. These

reside mostly the inequalities, the social contract issues and keeping promises.

Keywords: Change Management, Business Administration, Higher Education, Case Study

Introduction

Organizations worldwide are confronting with more turbulent, more demanding times and

shareholders, less time to act and more astute “customers”, hence many are restructuring their

business to meet at least these challenges. The only question mark is on how much time and

change dependent are such requirements and which is the sustainable effect foreseen on the

education industry as a whole.

Sustainable growth in private business has always relayed on the restructuring of the

business strategies utilized and on the recovery of the investment and consumption markets. As

this latest crisis was an over-consumption- overspending- overleveraging related one, the way to

tackle such sustainable growth requires focused socio-economic and financial skills, but in

essence, the long term indirect engine is the continuous adaptation to change in all sectors of the

economy and now more then ever, in the education system reformation.

In this perspective, the private Universities sector in Cyprus is now operating within a very

competitive and highly regulated European environment. The existing private Universities have

acted under a much simpler college type organizational structure and have had to face the

inevitable changes brought about by a new economic environment. The fact that since 2004

Cyprus has become a member of the European Union has changed the general setup of the

problem, since nowadays more then 53% of students study in the EU. (Cyrpus in the EU Scale,

2008.)

Within this general context, private Universities had to develop and adapt to the new

demanding regulations that govern the operations of a university teaching and research type

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∗ Assistant, Ph. D., MBA, Programme Coordinator for Banking and Finance, Department of Accounting, Economics

and Finance, European University Cyprus www.euc.ac.cy (e-mail: S.Mihai@euc.ac.cy).

192 Lex ET Scientia. Economics Series

LESIJ NO. XVIII, VOL. 1/2011

institution and continue to be self reliant and economically viable. At the same time, change was

inevitable, while circumstances continue to produce new challenges.

In the our case study of the oldest private Universities in Cyprus, the European University

Cyprus (EUC) the human resources seem to have beene re-developed, sound personnel policies

adopted, proper manpower planning implemented and assessment and a conscious policy revised

to improve work and management at all levels. These have been important factors that have

contributed to its success story. However, the effects of change are still affecting everyone in their

daily activities. Therefore proper change management skills are imperative, if all mismanaged it

could have disastrous effects. Also, since change becomes pertaining, mangers in this industry

need to strive to find new ways to understand it and act in an optimum way.

Our case study attempts to show the manner by which change has been introduced and

dealt with and then to demonstrate that the success of the change process has its roots in the

history of the organization and its manpower. It is the trust placed on the organization by the

management, the staff and the student body that can bring high standards of education to the

change process.

The paper is drawn under a case study and event study methodology combined with

exploratory research since the moment of the accreditation of EUC in 2008 till 2011. We plan

through this study to capture and integrate people’s perceptions, behaviour, cognition or

knowledge and creative ideas in the way they have faced change in their environment and then

propose a pattern for dealing with concrete change management problems and actions to prevent

potential activity disruptions.

Altogether, our study also tries to collect and present information related to the way EUC

has dealt so far with current change management issues, especially value changes at its strategic

level. Additionally, the study wants to raise the need to know how to handle appropriate ways of

correct and wrong application of change management in the industry.

Last but not least, the study aims at redesigning a conceptual framework encompassing

strategic and practical aspects emerged from the data analysis that can help managers of other

European Private Universities deal in a better and sustainable way with such phenomena.

1. Literature review and the research theoretical framework- responding to the power

of change

Be it a large or small organization of any particular industry, the first thing one must

understand about dealing with change is that it is a continuous process rather then a status quo.

Change implementation difficulty relates mostly its communicating vessels effect. Blaise Pascal

proved in the seventeenth century that the pressure exerted on a molecule of a liquid is transmitted

in full and with the same intensity in all directions. Meaning, if you change something in one area,

it affects other areas triggering thus changes in those areas too. This is to say that change is a

continuous process, mostly cyclical ( Lawrence et al., 2006), that needs adjustment at any of its

phases and various types of leadership control, strategies and behaviour.

Also, no matter the organization, change may be applied at different levels, which have

different power to force change themselves. These levels are considered in our research to include

the most important 4P’s:

1. The people at work, first, as they are the main trigger for change due to their

changing nature, second due to their active role in implementing. Changing people offers the

least amount of change leverage, due to its actual “impossible task” character to be achieved

in a certain timeframe. Bureaucratic systems are designed to work in the way they do, not