Dr Duncan Robertson, Fellow of St Catherine’s
Vice-Chancellor,
members of Congregation. I look around this room and see privilege. Every one of us here in the Sheldonian
Theatre is privileged; every member of Congregation reading the Gazette is privileged. We are privileged not by our past but by our
present: we all have the power to share in the democratic self-governance of
the institution that is the Collegiate University of Oxford.
But
democratic self-governance is hard. It
is time-consuming and troublesome, and is most easily left to specialists. Specialists with a track record of delivering
strategic plans at high speed.
The
Vice Chancellor warned us of the dangers of high speed in her 2017 Oration, and
I quote: Over 2,000 years ago Tacitus
pointed out that ‘Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by
haste and uncertainty’.
It
is tempting to react quickly to short term opportunities in order to gain transient
rewards, but this is, as my strategic management colleagues will confirm, often
at the expense of more attractive opportunities foregone. We must, at the very least, be able to give ad hoc proposals the service of being
fully inspected. The proposal to establish
a new Society – or is it a College? – is a significant one, particularly when
it is to have a distinctive culture as was the case with Templeton College
before it.
The
reason that an ‘education priority’ within the Strategic Plan has abruptly
become a press release announcing Parks College, without the knowledge of
Congregation, is that such proposals are now increasingly made without such scrutiny. While the Strategic Plan was put to
Congregation for approval, the Implementation Plan referred to within the
Strategic Plan was not. This ‘Plan
within a Plan’ is administered by Programme Boards whose agenda and minutes are
secret. In short, Congregation does not
know what is going on, and its ability to give informed consent is subverted.
One
of the strengths of Oxford that sets it apart from its ‘competitors’ is its
self-governance. This has allowed the
University to evolve and adapt to a changing environment, and mercifully not be
suffocated by the latest management fads and fashions. It is bewildering that ‘Senior Managers’ do
not appear to recognize the capabilities available to them within Congregation,
preferring to operate in a more comfortable ‘command and control’, top-down
fashion. If strategy is imposed, we as a
University lose the ability to adapt and to take advantage of opportunities
that may emerge – opportunities that may not be visible from the board room but
are visible from the diversity of perspectives that each one of us holds as a
unique member of Congregation.
The
combined organizational capabilities of Congregation – all members of
Congregation, experts in their own fields whatever they may be – are truly awe-inspiring. It is not always easy to find consensus, but
that does not mean that this University should give up and follow the lowest
common denominator of managerial hubris.
Congregation
must be allowed to review and guide the Legislative Proposal to create Parks
College prior to giving its approval. The Strategic Plan spoke of creating a
new College by 2023, not a new Society in 2019.
The
Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life was established 25 years ago. The principles of openness and accountability
which it set out are as relevant now as they have ever been. I urge you to vote against the Legislative
proposal while we still have the right to exercise that privilege.
The Strategy Hypercube: Exploring Strategy Space Using Agent-Based Models, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2927:182-192
