Participatory Institutional Analysis Report August...

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I LEBANON

‘Expand Your Horizons’

Participatory Institutional Analysis Report

University of Balamand

Office of Student Affairs

USAID FORECAST II TASK ORDER AID-268-TO-12-00003

Submitted on July 22, 2014.

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................ 2

List of Acronyms ........................................................................................................................................... 3

Executive Summary...................................................................................................................................... 4

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 5

OBJECTIVE OF PIA ....................................................................................................................................... 5

ASSESSMENT DESIGN: THE PARTICIPATORY INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS .............................................................. 5

THE PROCESS .............................................................................................................................................. 7

EXECUTION (TIME & SCHEDULE OF EVENTS) .................................................................................................. 7

“Data Collection and Analysis” Findings by Competency ............................................................................ 8

THE PRESENT STATE OF OFFICE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS AS PERCEIVED BY ITS STAFF MEMBERS ............................. 8

Competency Area I: Governance ......................................................................................................... 9

Competency AREA II: Operations ...................................................................................................... 12

Competency Area III: Human Resource Management ...................................................................... 17

Competency V: Service Delivery ........................................................................................................ 22

Competency VI: External Relations and Advocacy ............................................................................ 25

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List of Acronyms EYH Expand Your Horizons HR Human Resources M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MOU Memorandum of Understanding NGO Non-Governmental Organization ODP Organizational Development Plan OSA Office of Student Affairs USAID United States Agency for International Development

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Executive Summary

Expand Your Horizons (EYH), a three year USAID-funded project, aims to build the technical

and professional capacity of Lebanese organizations and their employees to play a more

effective role in their community.

The project aims to achieve this through:

1. Strengthening the capacity of 150 organizations from various sectors and 400 of their

employees in selected core skills and competencies through training and follow-on support

activities.

2. Increasing communications and networking among participating organizations and

individuals.

The Office of Student Affairs and the EYH PIA team engaged in a participatory to analyze the

units’ performance in a number of select competency areas and identify major strengths and

areas for improvement.

As a result of this participatory institutional analysis, it can be concluded that the Office has an

extremely important role to play in the revitalization process of the student life at the

University of Balamand. The Office also has an important role to play in building the capacities

of future leaders and graduates of the University. The strength in the Office is its friendly and

supportive environment which is conducive to students and the growth of student life at any

University. The Office also provides a number of services which are crucially important for

the students and their own development. It is also worthy to note that the leadership of the

Office, together with staff, demonstrate a strong personal commitment to the achievement of the

Office’s goals and its success.

On the other hand, it can be concluded that a number of institutional constraints make the

implementation of services challenging such as:

- The fact that personnel in the office do not continually refer to the University Wide

Comprehensive strategic plan in order to evaluate their planning process.

- The absence of a well-defined and documented external communication and outreach

strategy; and

- The fact that Human Resources Policies and Procedures that include policies and

procedures in general, recruitment, performance appraisal systems and capacity building

plans are not clear to the staff.

The Office should consider a more modern revamping of its services and way of doing things to

gauge more interest from students and to involve them as real partners in their work.

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Introduction

OBJECTIVE OF PIA

The overall objective of the capacity assessment is to identify the real needs of the University of Balamand’s Office of Student Affairs (OSA) to:

Help the OSA assess its current capacity in targeted competency areas and plan for their future.

In order to assess OSA’s capacities, the PIA was used to:

Engage staff and leadership of the organization in discussions that allowed its internal clients (students) to analytically think about the current state relative to the organization’s strengths and weaknesses. In areas where weaknesses were identified, the organization (through the participative approach) was empowered to brainstorm solutions that culminated with a strategic organizational development plan.

Build the organization’s capacity, based on the results of the assessment measured by the areas identified in the strategic organizational development plan, through mechanisms such as training and other development follow on activities.

Galvanize the organization’s ability to become sustainable beyond the EYH support.

ASSESSMENT DESIGN: THE PARTICIPATORY INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS World Learning's unique assessment framework, PIA has grown out of World Learning's extensive work on organizational capacity development worldwide. The PIA analyzes an organization's state of development in seven major categories: Governance, Operations, Human Resource Management, Financial Management, Service Delivery, External Relations and Advocacy, and Monitoring and Evaluation. Recently World Learning has developed a specialized module that analyzes Sub-grant Administration. The PIA works as a powerful diagnostic tool; by clearly indicating the gaps that exist, it can serve as a guide to what should be in place. Using the PIA framework over time, users first establish baseline measures for later monitoring and evaluation – essential to show progress or trends over time.

The PIA is a flexible tool which can be adapted to different operating environments and the needs of specific organizations or projects. World Learning has used it successfully in Angola, Ethiopia, Haiti, Jamaica, Armenia, Romania, and several other countries. Using the learning from PIA, World Learning has also adapted the tool to analyze the capacity of various types of organizations: non-governmental organizations, community based organizations, associations, private companies and government institutions.

PIA Competency Areas covered for OSA

I. Governance — mission and vision, leadership

II. Operations & Management —administration, planning, program development and implementation, MIS, communications

III. Human Resources HR management policy, performance management and staff development, task management, conflict prevention and mediation

IV. Service Delivery — sectoral expertise, approach to community ownership

V. External Relations —stakeholder management, external relations

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UNIVERSITY OF BALAMAND AND THE OFFICE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS The University of Balamand is private and independent institution of higher education founded

in 1988 by Patriarch Ignatius IV, Patriarch of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church. The

University consists of nine Faculties and a dozen research centers, and is committed to

excellence in education, research, and service to the wider community. The University admits

students from Lebanon, the Region, and the world without discrimination on the basis of

religion, gender, or physical handicap.

The Office of the Student Affairs aims at fostering student success and a university community.

OSA provides support for a variety of student concerns (counseling, financial difficulties,

academic trouble, and other personal emergencies). The Office also provides extra-curricular

services related to athletics, clubs, career services, the university newspaper, and housing

services. The programs and activities developed and implemented by the Office of Student

Affairs are intended to improve the quality of life at the University and to meet the University’s

goal of total student development.

The EYH PIA focused only on the Office of Student Affairs and following is a list of the staff and

departments involved in the PIA exercise:

- Antoine N. Gergess, Dean of Student Affairs

- Rola Jadayel, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs

- Diala Farah, Executive Secretary and Coordinator of the Student Work Program

- Oumaya Kuran, Career Service Director

- Tony Dib, Director for Athletics and Men’s Dorm Resident Director

- Samar Nabti, Assistant Director for Athletics

- Nada Salem, Beit Al Talibat Resident Director

- Mira Sabat, Advisor of Campus Life and Student Development

- Lama Remlaoui, Coordinator of International Students

- Georges Succar, Psychotherapist/Councilor

- Kafaa Mousaed, Editor of UOB’s Newspaper and YouTube channel

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THE PROCESS

The organization participated in a 4-step process that was facilitated by the EYH PIA team leader. The process featured the following steps:

EXECUTION (TIME & SCHEDULE OF EVENTS)

The Participatory Institutional Assessment was completed over a two-day period from June 18 until June 19, 2014. The Process was completed by two EYH Staff Members:

Mirna Shidrawi (Training Coordinator) – Facilitator

Samantha Elia Abou Jaoudeh (Logistics and Administrative Officer) – Note Taker Mirna Shidrawi served as the team lead for this assessment. For further inquiries, she can be contacted at [email protected].

STEP 1: ENGAGEMENT

The first step of the assessment was to engage the unit to understand their expectations, concerns and external circumstances that might affect the assessment process. This was done with staff and included an explanation and

overview of the process, the purpose and benefits and explanation of plans for dissemination.

STEP 2: DATA COLLECTION

Staff members at all levels were engaged and information was elicited via a series of facilitated focus group discussions and interviews with the unit's management, program and administration staff, as well as document

reviews. Participants were asked to rate the organisation on a scale from start up to mature across select competencies.

STEP 3: DATA ANALYSIS

The EYH team analysed the data gathered and invited the unit's staff to present to them the findings, conclusions and recommendations under each competency area. Final clarifications were made and the unit's staff was introduced to

the prioritization and planning process.

STEP 4: REPORTING and PLANNING

Based on the detailed data collected from the discussions with the organization, the report was summarized and presented below, outlining the high priority issues for the organization to consider for its own development. The

report was disseminated to the the leadership of the organization, USAID and EYH implementing partners. Post-reporting steps will include EYH engagement with employees at the senior management level in a session where

priorities will be set based on the competencies and the relevant sub-categories. This session will end with the development of an Organizational Development Plan that details findings, recommendations, priorities, execution

dates, resources needed and responsible parties.

mailto:[email protected]

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“Data Collection and Analysis” Findings by Competency

THE PRESENT STATE OF OFFICE OF STUDENT AFFAIRS AS PERCEIVED BY ITS STAFF MEMBERS This section of the report presents data elicited from the internal focus group discussions and a

debriefing session that were conducted with employees of the Office of the Student Affairs and

a specialized focus group with the student users of this office, as well as the collated results

from the scoring based on the staff members rating of the Office’s level of development for a

selection of elements from five competency areas. The process featured a participatory

deliberative mode in which consensual decisions were made (in most cases) to place the

organization in the pre-defined areas that are specified in the PIA matrix. The following

represents a guide about how this section of the report should be read and interpreted:

Data Analysis Guide:

Each competency area is broken down into sub-categories that are covered in the

blue tables. These sub-categories are further broken down into elements.

The ‘X’s in the tables indicate that the entire group or the majority reached consensus on how the organization should be rated.

Whenever the O’s are placed on a line that separate two stages, it indicates that the minority were indecisive about the particular rating that should be applied to the organization or, the organization exhibits characteristics that fall within both stages.

The narratives that are directly below all tables were taken from the following sources:

1. The interpretations in the matrix as it applies to each element within the sub-categories

2. Notes that were taken by the EYH team that explains the following: reasons for difference in opinions and the recommendations for moving from one stage of development to the next.

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COMPETENCY AREA I: GOVERNANCE

Under the competency of Governance, the following two (2) sub-categories were examined:

(A) Mission and Vision and (B) Leadership. In examining each of these sub-categories, a deeper

level of analysis was fostered via an examination of definitive elements under these sub-

categories. Emerging from the participatory enquiry, the tables below present the results of

the analysis, which is reflective of the reality of the Office of Student Affairs at the University of

Balamand as perceived by both staff and its internal clients (students).

SUB-CATEGORY I.B: MISSION AND VISION

Table I.B: Mission and Vision

Stage of Development

Start-up Developing Consolidating Mature

1 - Statement of Purpose, Mission

X

2 - Clarity and Ownership of Vision for the Organization

3 - Staff Understanding of Mission

X

4 - Links between Mission & Programs

X

Details of the staff thoughts that underlie the ranking can be found below along with

recommendations to address any issues highlighted.

I.B.1 – Statement of Purpose, Mission The Office of Student Affairs’ mission is clear and contributes to the mission of the University of

Balamand. It was noted that the mission is two folded: enriching student’s non-academic life and

also to provide services for students.

Recommendation(s):

No recommendation.

I.B.2 – Clarity and Ownership of Vision for the Organization The vision of the Office of the Student Affairs, according to the staff, is clear to them and they feel

ownership of it. The staff also explained that most of the Office’s stakeholders have a clear

understanding of the vision. The staff also noted that in general, the university community is

familiar with the office’s mission too. Students who are an integral part of the office and participate

in the achievement of the Office’s goals are very clear on the mission and the vision of the office.

However, there are some university staff or students that do not know exactly what the purpose of

the Office, its vision, and mission are. Some stakeholders think that the role of the OSA is to hold

entertainment activities and just a fun place.

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Recommendation(s):

The OSA is advised to revisit its vision and mission. Once revision is done, the office is advised to

ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the vision, mission, purpose of the office, and its services.

I.B.3 – Staff Understanding of Mission Staff of the OSA were able to articulate the mission statement of the office very easily. Not all staff

of the university, students, and stakeholders understand the mission.

Recommendation(s):

It is recommended that the OSA conducts a university wide campaign to promote the Office, its

mission, and vision.

I.B.4 – Links between Mission & Programs The various departments within the Office are directly linked to the statement of purpose of the

office and its mission. It is clear that each of the departments relates to one goal or objective from

the mission statements.

Recommendation(s):

No recommendations.

SUB-CATEGORY I.E – LEADERSHIP

Table I.E: Leadership



2 - Clarity of Roles: Balance in Direction and Authority

X

3 - Participation of Staff in Decision-making

X



I.E.2 – Clarity of Roles: Balance in direction and authority The staff of OSA operate as a harmonious team. Under the leadership of the current Dean, and

within the boundaries of the university policies, all staff feel that they empowered to lead and

manage day to day activities. Staff only refer to the Dean or to the Assistant Dean when they need

to seek advice on the implementation of certain tasks or when there is a need to deal with critical

issues related to other offices.

Recommendation(s):

No Recommendation.

I.E.3 – Participation of staff in decision-making The roles of the senior management and staff is clear to all OSA staff. The Dean and Assistant Dean

are part of the decision making process and decisions are taken with the full participation of the

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involved departments. As part of the universities policies and procedures, the Dean and Assistant

Dean (in his absence) needs to approve and sign on most decisions and transactions.

The Dean noted that the empowerment of the staff has proven fruitful specifically when he has to

travel for business outside the country in one of the most busy/crucial week of the Office. During

the Dean’s absence, work was completed and done perfectly. Some constraints to the staff

empowerment (especially when it comes to outer communication) were related to other University

decisions and lack of understanding of University procedures.

As noted earlier, decision making is delegated to staff within the boundaries of the university

policies. Both the Dean and the staff work closely in setting the direction of the office and

developing activities to serve students.

Recommendation(s):

No Recommendation.

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COMPETENCY AREA II: OPERATIONS

Under the competency of Operations, the following five (5) sub-categories were examined: (A)

Administration, (B) Planning, (C) Program Development and Implementation, (D) Management

of Information, (E) Communications. In examining each of these sub-categories, a deeper level

of analysis was fostered via an examination of definitive elements under these sub-categories.

Emerging from the participatory enquiry, the tables below present the results of the analysis,

which is reflective of the reality of the Office of Student Affairs at the University of Balamand

as perceived by both staff and its internal clients.

SUB-CATEGORY II.A – ADMINISTRATION



II.A.1 – Existence of Administrative Procedures A number of departments within the Office have developed a form of their own written

administrative manual which they have either shared with student as part of a student handbook or

were left as internal administrative procedures guides. Student handbooks are not considered to be

administrative or operational manuals, but they could serve as the corner stone for the

development of such manuals. The other departments, on the other hand, have administrative

policies that are not necessarily in written manual. Moreover the university administrative policies

remain to be the overarching policies that the whole of the office abides by. Some of the

administrative procedures are dictated by UOB policies. Whenever a manual exists the department

abides by it and is considered to be the arbiter of procedures. It was noted by the staff of OSA that

the existing manuals were developed due a problem faced in the implementation of the work.

Some of the administrative manuals also include operational procedures. Student handbooks are

published on the website.

Recommendation(s):

The OSA is advised to develop written manuals for all its administrative and operational procedures

covering all the departments of the office.

Table II.A: Administration



1 - Existence of Administrative Procedures

2 - Functionality of Procedures

X

3 - Capacity to Update/ Modify Procedures

X

4 - Internal Customer Surveys X

5 - External Customer Surveys X

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II.A.2 – Functionality of Procedures Existing procedures were described by the OSA staff as being flexible and allowing efficient delivery

of departmental work. They consider the procedures to be accessible and used by all of them. The

staff related this accessibility and flexibility of the administrative system to the fact that the

manuals or the policies were developed to solve emergent problems that arose in their day to day

work.

Recommendation(s):

No Recommendation.

II.A.3 – Capacity to Update/ Modify Procedures At the start of every academic year manuals and procedures are revisited. However, this review is

not systematic as not all departments within the OSA have procedures codified in a manual, nor is

there a system to solicit updates from the different departments.

Staff at OSA are continuously committed to seek best practices in their day to day operations within

their own capacities. Senior management of the OSA provide the staff with the opportunity to

ameliorate and improve processes.

Recommendation(s):

Once manuals are developed, it is recommended that the Office develops a system to solicit

updates to the manual and also allow flexibility in modifying existing internal procedures.

II.A.4 and 5– Internal and External Customer Surveys A systematic mechanism to solicit feedback from both internal and external customers of OSA is not

used across all departments of the office based on clear guidance from the Dean. Some

departments have taken the initiative on their own to develop some forms to be filled by students

or companies (such as the career services). Other departments (such as the student work program)

have developed an evaluation form for the supervisors of the student workers to fill, however, it is

not used. Feedback in general on activities are usually solicited verbally after each event is

completed.

Recommendation(s):

It is recommended that the OSA establish formal mechanisms such as surveys to solicit feedback

from all users of the office.

SUB-CATEGORY II.B – PLANNING

Table II.B: Planning



1 - Modalities of Planning (Type and Frequency of Planning)

X

3 - Regularity of Planning Activity

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II.B.1 – Modalities of Planning (Type and Frequency of Planning) The OSA does not have a comprehensive planning system in place which includes a long term

strategic plan that is translated into annual operations and program plans. Even though a written

strategic plan is not in place, it is important to note that a strategic thinking mindset is present at

the level of the senior management of the OSA. The OSA sets a yearly activity calendar for major

events. These events are planned for internally in coordination the Dean and Assistant Dean but

might not always include a detailed work plan of all the steps required to implement the activity.

Due to the nature of their work some departments plan on a semester basis and not an annual

basis. As for financial planning, the departments are involved in the budgeting planning exercise

each on its own with the Dean.

At the university level, a strategic plan was developed in 2004 that included the OSA. Not all

planned activities were achieved and an update to the strategic plan has not taken place.

Recommendation(s):

Strategic planning should be in compliance with the University-Wide Master Plan and coordinated

with the University’s senior leadership. It is advisable that the OSA undergoes such an exercise,

revise its vision and mission, set strategic objectives for the upcoming 3 to 5 years, and develop a

strategic plan and annual operational plans accordingly.

II.B.3 – Regularity of Planning Activity There is a variance between the department of Athletics and Career Services and the rest.

Athletic and Career Service have a regular short term operational plan structured around a simple

strategic plan for these departments. The remaining departments as mentioned previously have a

yearly/semester calendar for major events.

Recommendation(s):

Based on the previous recommendation, the various departments need to have a unified and

regular planning systems in place that feeds into a higher strategic planning effort for the whole of

the Office.

II.B.4 – Participation in Planning

As mentioned earlier, the various departments participate with the Dean and Assistant Dean in the

operational planning for their own departments. An all team planning exercise for the whole of the

Office with the involvement of the relevant stakeholders is not fully exercised at the office.

Stakeholders, such as students who have positions in clubs, are involved in a consultative manner,

but are not officially invited to planning meetings.

4 - Participation in Planning

5 - Review of Achievements vs. Plans

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Recommendation(s):

Since the Office deals with a number of students, it is advisable that the students are involved in

the planning of the office in a more active manner.

II.B.5 – Review of Achievements vs. Plans

After each big activity or event organized by any of the Office’s departments, a meeting is held to

evaluate it. Small events, such as a bake sale for example, are not evaluated. The staff reported

that they consider that there is a nonsystematic informal review of plans versus what they have

achieved. The staff also explained that with the increase use of technology and communication

applications, some ideas or reviews are discussed via WhatsApp for example. Some activities

catered for students, such as trainings, are evaluated using a written evaluation form.

Recommendation(s):

Once OSA has a comprehensive planning system in place, it is advisable that the review of these

plans verses what has been achieved is done more systematically and regularly on basis of full

environmental scan and baseline impact review.

SUB-CATEGORY II.C – PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT & IMPLEMENTATION

Table II.C: Program Development and Implementation



3 - Reporting Systems X



II.C.3 – Reporting Systems

The Office reports directly to the Office of the President. Departments prepare reports on semester

and annual basis that are submitted to the Dean, who in his turn and after compiling and reviewing

submits to the President. The President, in his turn, presents these reports to the University’s Board

of Trustees. In their reports, the office presents recommendations for changes and also submits

yearly plans.

Recommendation(s):

It is advisable that the reporting is structure and formatted to follow the annual work plans, in

additions to the current reporting systems.

SUB-CATEGORY II.D – MANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION

Table II.D: Management of Information



1 – Storage of Data X

2 - Existence of Information System

X

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II.D.1 – Storage of Data

The OSA does not have a shared data storage place as the University does not oblige them to do so.

Some departments, such as the athletics department, have taken the initiative on their own to

establish hard copy and soft copy filing or data storage which is backed up on two standalone

platforms on a semester basis. All departments at OSA follow hard copy filing procedures

specifically filing related to auditing purposes such as approvals, requisitions, and petitions.

Recommendation(s):

It is advisable that the Office starts building its institutional memory and store data about its

various work in soft copy too.

II.D.2 – Existence of Information System The University uses Logos, a student information system, which the OSA considers to be an efficient

system. Not all staff have access to this information system. The Dean and his Executive Secretary

are given the access and information needed by the various departments within the office are

provided by the authorized staff when needed. The departments need to know information about

students related to student academic average, number of credits registered, and other relevant

information.

Recommendation(s):

It is recommended that Office collects more data and analyzes them as an integrated process for

operational planning and decision making.

SUB-CATEGORY II.E – COMMUNICATIONS

Table II.E: Communications



1 - Internal Communications Mechanisms

X

2 - Regularity of Meetings

3 - Staff Participation in Meetings

X

4 - External Communications Strategy

X



II.E.1 – Internal Communications Mechanisms Internal communication mechanisms used inside the OSA include emails, phone calls, WhatsApp,

meetings, visits, and verbal communication. When communicating with other offices in the

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university, emails are mainly used with the Dean cc’ed on these emails or sent by the Dean himself

if it is directed to high level staff or contains sensitive issues. As per the University regulations, all

materials, communications, or requests that go out of the OSA need to be signed and approve by

the Dean. The staff have noted that communication are open vertically and horizontally and even

students can email the Dean directly.

Recommendation(s):

EYH suggests that more formal and written communication is used among staff and other offices.

II.E.2 – Regularity of Meetings OSA does not hold regular nor monthly staff meetings with all the staff of the office. In occasions

where individual departments meet with the Dean and/or the Assistant Dean, minutes of meetings

highlighting the decisions taken during the meeting are not taken and the meeting will usually

revolve around a specific topic. These meetings come up with a conclusion but they do not

necessarily use preset agendas.

Recommendation(s):

It is suggested that more meeting among all OSA staff members are held in a more appropriate

frequency following predetermined agenda. Decisions taken during meetings should be

documented and minutes of meetings should be shared with everyone.

II.E.3 – Staff Participation in Meetings

Staff of the office feel empowered and free to express their thoughts during meetings and in

general. The Dean and Assistant Dean speak the input of the staff actively and everyone feels

comfortable in meetings.

Recommendation(s):

No Recommendation.

II.E.4 – External Communications Strategy The OSA follows the University external communication strategy and does not have a standalone

strategy only for the office. The Office communicates with the general public through emails to all

the UOB community, posters, banners, Facebook page, and the university’s webpage. Press

releases for activities and events are sometimes sent through the Public Relations office and other

times through the OSA itself. The Office uses the branding of the university and does not have its

own branding character. Although there are no restrictions for developing their own brand and

logo, the office has not done this so far. The staff are not trained on how to deal with media, and

some of their biggest events, such as the career fair, do not always get media coverage.

Recommendation(s):

The OSA is advised to develop a written communication strategy that aims at broadening its

outreach and to think of ways to implement this strategy.

COMPETENCY AREA III: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Under the competency of Human Resources four (4) sub-categories were examined: (A) HR

Management Policy, (B) Task Management, (C) Performance Management and Staff

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Development and (E) Conflict Prevention and Mediation. In examining each of these sub-

categories, a deeper level of analysis was fostered via an examination of definitive elements

under these sub-categories. Emerging from the participatory enquiry, the tables below

present the results of the analysis, which is reflective of the reality of the Office of Student

Affairs at the University of Balamand as perceived by both staff and its internal clients.

SUB-CATEGORY III.A – HR MANAGEMENT POLICY

Table III.A: HR Management Policy



1 - Existence of HR Management Policies and Procedures

X

3 - Recruitment X

4 - Job Definition Documentation and Updating

X

6 - Staff Capacity X



III.A.1 – Existence of HR Management Policies and Procedures The OSA staff were not aware of a university adopted human resource policy that was shared with

them. They are aware of the leaves procedures and other benefits such as their ability to take one

free course per semester. They were also aware about the additional stipends for staff with

children. It was obvious that most of what the staff knew about the university policies and

procedures pertaining to the human resources were not based on written and shared policies and

procedures.

The Human Resource Department at UOB is not involved in structuring of offices. The OSA has its

own organizational chart which the Dean has developed on his own.

Since the PIA did not include a meeting with the HR department, it is not clear to EYH whether a

manual and policies exist but the Office is not aware of.

Recommendation(s):

It is recommended that the University’s Human Resource policies are shared with all staff in case

they exist.

III.A.3 – Recruitment

The various staff present during the data collection have been hired to OSA in different ways. Most

were head hunted by the Dean himself. It is clear that there are no formal hiring system in place, as

not all positions are advertised internally within the organization or externally to the general public.

Only recently, positions have been advertised on the university website as part of the new

university requirements.

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According to the Dean, when they need to recruit, they recommend to the HRD that they need

someone. The vacancy is announced on the website. The OSA tends to push for people they know

are a good fit for these positions and head hunts them.

It was not clear whether there are documented recruitment process or policy in place for the

university and the staff were not aware of it. The Assistant Dean explained that it is in her job

description to hire people, and she was not familiarized or notified of any procedure pertaining to

recruitment by anyone at the university.

Recommendation(s):

It is recommended that more formalized hired procedures, in case they exist at the level of the

university, are consistently used. It is also important that Terms of Reference are developed in

advance and recruitment happens based on them.

III.A.4 – Job Definition Documentation and Updating

All the OSA staff have job descriptions that might not have been update in the past. The Dean, and

in an attempt to organize the work of the office, has asked one of the Office’s staff to update the

JDs, so that moving forward, this can be done on a yearly basis. The new updated JDs have not

been shared with the staff yet and no feedback on the issue could be taken from them.

Before hiring, job descriptions/TOR are not developed. A verbal description of what that person

would be doing in the office is formulated but is not written. After getting hired, each one wrote

his/her own job description.

The file with all the job descriptions can be found at the office and not in the HR department.

According to the staff, the HRD is not aware of their job descriptions. When the staff ask for Work

Certificate, the HRD only mentions that these staff are employed at the University of Balamand.

Recommendation(s):

Once the OSA staff review the new job descriptions and agree with the Dean on them, it is

advisable that a mechanism is put in place where the job descriptions are reviewed, revised, and

expanded on a yearly basis. This mechanism should also be tied to performance appraisals.

III.A.6 – Staff Capacity

The OSA staff have the required core skill requirements to perform their job. However, most staff

feel overworked and sometimes lack the time to fulfill all tasks. Some of the current staff have also

academic roles and the work at the office is demanding taking most their time and energy. Some

staff have noted that it could be useful for them to learn how to manage their time more

effectively. Other staff have noted that they need to work on their advertising and fundraising

skills.

Recommendation(s):

The OSA is advised to build an internal capacity building system that identifies staff gaps. Tasks

which are not covered by anyone due to the overwhelming pace of the work should be revisited

and redistributed to other staff.

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SUB-CATEGORY III.B – TASK MANAGEMENT

Table III.B: Task Management



1 - Work Planning X



III.B.1 – Work Planning Each department within the office works with the Dean to set the yearly calendar of events. The

heads of the departments delegate work to their subordinates and agree on a work plans

accordingly. Some departments, such as Career Services, plan their work on a weekly basis. There

are routine tasks that the departments do which are part of the daily plans, such as maintenance

for the dorms and the athletic facilities. It is felt that there are certain periods of the year were

there is more rush than the rest of the year for some departments. The staff consider that they are

overwhelmed with tasks. Across the departments, it was not clear whether the departments

collaborate on work plans. It was noted that there is a big workload, however, efficiency is always

considered.

Recommendation(s):

As recommended previously under the Planning section of the Operations competency, OSA is

advised to focus more on its internal work planning. It is recommended that task from the work

plan are distributed appropriated among staff based on skills and workload and that there is a

balance between staff workload and efficiency in implementation.

SUB-CATEGORY III.C –PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND STAFF DEVELOPMENT

Table III.C: Performance Management and Staff Development



1 - Staff Performance Evaluation Systems

X

2 - Staff Development Plans X

3 - Staff Motivation & Morale



III.C.1 – Staff Performance Evaluation Systems OSA staff have never been through a performance evaluation and the HR department has never

obliged them to do so. There is no performance evaluation based on the job descriptions, nor are

staff development needs developed based on a participatory evaluation system. The Dean and the

Assistant Dean work closely with the staff to ensure that the actual performance is up to the

standard and they are performing the best they can. Some verbal evaluation is done.

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Recommendation(s):

A performance appraisal systems should be developed, consistently used, and linked to the new

updated job descriptions.

III.C.2 – Staff Development Plans

The OSA staff as mentioned earlier have never undergone a formal performance evaluation system

that generates staff development needs. Hence, a staff development plan for the whole of the

office does not exist. Staff explained that most of them have not attended any training related to

skills and knowledge needed for their job.

Recommendation(s):

As a result of the performance evaluations, a training plan should be developed for the whole of

the Office and updated regularly according to performance improvement and career development

needs of the staff.

III.C.3 – Staff Motivation and Morale

A family environment exists in the office under the leadership of the Dean and the Assistant Dean.

Staff, due to this environment, feel motivated to work. It was also obvious that the staff morale is

on the agenda of the Dean at all times. According to the Dean, there is a high level of productivity

while maintaining staff morale. The staff noted that what the university offers in terms of

maintaining staff morale is different from what the Dean is offering them. This brings in limitations,

as the Dean cannot provide the staff with both monetary and non-monetary rewards as this should

come from the University.

Recommendation(s):

Staff motivation and morale should be linked to monetary and non-monetary awards which might

not be part of the prerogatives of the Dean of Student Affairs. A non-monetary or monetary

reward system could also be linked to the performance appraisal.

SUB-CATEGORY III.E – CONFLICT PREVENTION AND MEDIATION

Table III.E: Conflict Prevention and Mediation



1 - Use of Conflict Mediation Techniques

X



III.E.1 – Use of Conflict Mediation and Techniques Conflicts in the office are solved by communication. There is no written policy, procedure, or

technique that is used systematically. The staff were not aware whether there are policies at the

level of the HRD. Issues that arise are directly reported to the Dean who deals with these issues

22

mainly. The Office has developed a policy on harassment for students, staff, and faculty. However,

the staff are not trained on dealing with such issues.

Recommendation(s):

Conflict mediation policies should be part of the University’s overall human resource policies and

procedures.

COMPETENCY V: SERVICE DELIVERY

Under the competency of Service Delivery two (2) sub-categories were examined: (A) Sectoral

Expertise and (B) Approach to Community Ownership. In examining them, a deeper level of

analysis was fostered via an examination of its definitive elements. Emerging from the

participatory enquiry, the tables below present the results of the analysis, which is reflective of

the reality of the Office of Student Affairs at the University of Balamand as perceived by both

staff and its internal clients.

SUB-CATEGORY V.A – SECTORAL EXPERTISE

Table V.A: Sectoral Expertise



1- Efficiency and Expertise in Service Delivery

X

2 - Ability to Adapt to Changing Community Needs and Broader Constituencies

X

3 - Reputation within Community; perception of services provided

X



V.A.1 – Efficiency and Expertise in Service Delivery

The OSA provides a myriad of services to the students including: to building the professional and

leadership skills of students, job matching and recruitment efforts, career counseling, career fair,

student work, as well as writing and publishing the University Newspaper. Other kind of services

also provided relate to organizing training and planning workshops for trainers, providing the

students with the requested athletics materials, managing the dorms, providing psychotherapist

assistance, as well as insuring the students among others.

The staff noted that when a certain expertise is missing from the staff, the OSA refer to two types

of expertise: Faculty members from within the university, and outside expert consultants. The

Athletics, for example, uses outside consultants for maintenance. The organizers of the Clubs’

Retreat also contract outside experts.

However, it was interesting to note that one consolidated rooster of external experts that the office

might use does not exist centrally in the Office. The Career Services on the other hand have all the

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contacts of external experts that they work with and companies that they coordinate with in one

excel sheet.

The office viewed its services as efficient although they might lack some additional requirements

for more efficient services such as building the managerial skills of the staff, having a sociologists on

the team, and providing new creative services to students such as personality tests. OSA admits

that there might be some tasks in OSA that are undefined, however the main reason in their

opinion is the lack of motivation at the student level. The office always looks for strengthening the

involvement of students and more in-depth student contribution.

The staff stated that the Office needs to work more on advertising its services and marketing of its

events. Another dire need that the staff identified is to increase their efficiency in service delivery

would be to increase the level of motivation of students and their participation in activities and

events.

Recommendation(s):

An internal evaluation of skills needed to provide more expert and efficient services needs to be

done and based on performance evaluation of staff of the Office. The Office is also advised to build

a consolidated roster of external consultant to complete the internal expertise needed for the

office.

V.A.2 – Ability to Adapt to Changing Community Needs and Broader Constituencies The Career Services Department brought external Human Resource experts to assess the

professional skills needs of the students in a focus group. The results of the focus group helped the

Career Services Department to focus its objectives, to add new programs within the department

services, and to assess the efficiently of its services and activities. The Advisor for the Clubs

mentioned that they gather needs of students through the clubs meetings that happens regularly

and through the one-on-one meetings with the clubs and the department. Research on efforts and

campaigns done by other universities is also used to see what are emerging needs across the

country and also to answer needs of school students who will one day be university students.

According to the Office staff, students need skills development, building critical thinking abilities,

building a system of morality and democracy, and increasing their cultural awareness.

Although the number of international and regional students has increased over the couple of years,

the Office has not developed programs for the new needs. It is also clear that although the Office

works on awareness campaigns such as recycling, the Office has not pushed students to work in the

University’s surrounding community. It was noted by the Office that issues of commitment and

time management are the main reason why students do not persist in clubs.

Recommendation(s):

The Office should think of new strategies to motivate students and also to be able to adapt

programs and services to changing needs of these students. A more systematic process to solicit

needs from students is advised to be adopted.

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V.A.3 – Reputation Within Community; perception of services provided According to the Office staff, students who care about the Office, become fully committed to it and

its activities. Other students do not care about it and hence are not involved.

The Athletics department have mentioned that their reputation in the Koura and North region is

highly reputable. The Career Services indicated that the stakeholders of the department have

higher expectation related to the services offered. Both Male and Female Dorms mentioned that

they have a very good reputation.

The staff indicated that the Office is sometimes viewed as the fun office and might have bad

repercussions on the image of the office.

During the focus group with student users, students referred to the office to be of great support,

staff being extremely friendly and helpful. The staff try to provide all the support they can to the

students, according to the students. However, and specifically to events related to clubs such as

Club Fair and Outdoors, the student noted that the Office might need to work more on organizing

its work as deadlines for clubs enrollment and registration are not always respected. Active

students in clubs also mentioned that sometimes rules and regulations are not clear to them, and

some of them declared that they are not provided with such written policies in advance. The

example of the rally paper and sponsorships was given for this case. Some have mentioned that

they received a copy of the Clubs Rules and Regulations in 2012 but also declared that the more

recent students might have not received it.

The students feel that the university concentrated more on academic rather than on extracurricular

activities. Certain activities, such as Outdoors, are held on days were there are classes, and hence

the participation of students is lower. One of the Clubs mentioned that no one asked them why

they didn’t do any activities this past year. Clubs should be obliged to hold activities or else should

be deactivated, according to the students.

There was a general feeling that the Office might need a more modern vision which translated into

more fashionable types of activities.

The students sometimes feel that there is some kind of censorship on events and speakers that

could have a political or controversial edge. The students know that this is a general University

policy and not the decision of the OSA.

The student athletes were very proud of being part of the athletic department and have indicated

that the only issue with these services is the lack of bigger facilities which is also a decision at the

level of the University and not the Office itself. The student athletes suggested that it could be

interesting if the athletics department organizes a field day of sports activities.

Students who interacted with a number of departments have noted that the Office might need to

publicize more its activities and its services. The student participants of the focus group noted that

before they didn’t all know what career services offer for example, and that a lot of students on

campus might not have information about it. The students thought that there are many easy

tactics that the Office can follow to advertise more its work specifically during the beginning of the

academic year. A student noted that when new students pick up their P. O. Box keys from the

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office, some orientation could take place. Another noted, that the Admissions Office could also

play a role in the advertisement of these services when the new students interact with them.

Students also felt that there is a need for their involvement in the decision making process through

democratic means such as elections, for example.

Recommendation(s):

It is recommended that the OSA markets more its services and involves students more in the

decision making process. An open conversation with students could prove benficial.

SUB-CATEGORY V.B – APPROACH TO COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP

Table V.B: Approach to Community Ownership



1 - Nature of Community Input



V.B.1 – Nature of Community Input

The needs of the student community at UOB are channeled to the Office through direct feedback

from students, or through the petition system. The Office does not rely on surveys or other formal

systematic mechanisms to solicit input from students.

Recommendation(s):

New ways of gathering input from UOB’s community could be explored by the office and more

active solicitation of student’s needs should be taken into consideration. Students need to feel that

they are partners with the Office in defining services to be provided. Systems and procedures to

ensure regular community input should be adopted and information gather should be used

regularly.

COMPETENCY VI: EXTERNAL RELATIONS AND ADVOCACY

Under the competency of External Relations and Advocacy, four (4) general sub-categories

were examined: (A) Stakeholder Management, (B) External Relation, (C) Advocacy and (D)

Mobilization of Resources. In examining these, a deeper level of analysis was fostered via an

examination of their definitive elements. Emerging from the participatory enquiry, the tables

below present the results of the analysis, which is reflective of the reality of the Office of

Student Affairs at the University of Balamand as perceived by both staff and its internal clients.

SUB-CATEGORY VI.A – STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

Table VI.A: Stakeholder Management



1 - Constituent Outreach X

26



VI.A.1 – Constituent Outreach

The Office, as mentioned repeatedly, is not a standalone office, and operates within the general

context of being an office within the University of Balamand. It is worth mentioning that the Office

has developed a number of student handbooks, but have no specific material related to the OSA in

general. Promotional material for Office is included within the overarching material about the

University. The Office reaches out to students through printed material, emails, posters, Highlight

newspaper, memos, and committee meetings. The Office does not use outreach techniques such

as surveys or town hall meetings. Some departments, such as Athletics, depend on word of mouth

and coaches to spread the word among the students. Others have asked students to communicate

with their fellow students specifically in dorms and clubs. There are no formal ways that OSA fully

utilizes to ensure that students are always present in OSA. During the focus group with student

users, the idea of developing a mobile application for the Office to communicate more and

outreach to the students was raised.

Recommendation(s):

More effective outreach systems should be used with the Office’s constituency such as mobile

application, brochures or flyers.

SUB-CATEGORY VI.B – EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Table VI.B: External Relations



2 – Media X

3 - Social Media



VI.B.2 – Media

Communication with media takes place through the University’s Public Relations Office, and

personal contacts of the staff at the Office. Media covers some events organized by the OSA,

depending on the size and importance of it. The Office, in coordination with Public Relations Office,

communicates with the National News Agency and other regional newspaper and magazines.

During the student focus group, the students highlighted that this is a lack within the office and that

other universities have their student events covered on the news, popular blogs, and other media

outlets.

Recommendation(s):

The Office, in collaboration with other University Offices, should strengthen its media coverage and

the relationship with media outlets, based on the communication strategy discussed previously.

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The Office should be able to mount media campaign in different forms such as TV, newsprint,

magazine, or radio. The communication strategy should be integrated into long range strategic

planning.

VI.B.3 – Social Media

The OSA has a page on Facebook which is not active. The Athletics Department, on the other hand,

has over 900 likes on the page and 2,800 group members. Both the page and the group are

extremely active (same for the Highlights Newspaper Group). The OSA has a page on the University

page, but numbers of hits is not followed up on. The Office recently launched a YouTube channel

which reports on student activities.

The clubs have freedom to advertise themselves on social media and there is no restriction on that.

The Office staff fell that they need to advertise more on media and social media channels for

people to know what OSA is doing.

Recommendation(s):

OSA should depend heavily on Social Media and should consider it as the main channel that the

Office uses to reach its stakeholders.

Participatory Institutional Analysis Report August...

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Transcript of Participatory Institutional Analysis Report August...