Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
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still far away from the day to day educati<strong>on</strong>al operati<strong>on</strong>s. Of course with the intenti<strong>on</strong><br />
that it will become part of the c<strong>on</strong>cern of everybody. For the other members of staff in<br />
educati<strong>on</strong>, research and the services it remains to be seen if these c<strong>on</strong>cerns are identified<br />
with, although somehow they are c<strong>on</strong>fr<strong>on</strong>ted with these subjects in their daily<br />
work. And it remains to be seen if board, deans, directors and advisers really share<br />
some sort of uniformity regarding these topics. My narratives point to something else.<br />
From a managerial perspective a rich array of c<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong>al means is employed to<br />
spread out the importance of the subjects. Speeches, best practices, purposive financial<br />
support, small presents, celebrati<strong>on</strong>s and extra allowances are introduced to<br />
stimulate the acceptance. Obliging agreements, individual performance appraisals and<br />
hierarchy are there to impose the acceptance of the policy.<br />
The dance between top down and bottom up approaches<br />
Around 2008-2009 as I menti<strong>on</strong>ed in chapter 3 am<strong>on</strong>g managers and board there<br />
were discussi<strong>on</strong>s and attempts to manage the UAS in a less top down and more<br />
bottom up way. The establishment of advisory boards, the attempt to involve many<br />
members of staff in the wiki and the way the internal branding project was organized<br />
were signs of what was then called a wish for co-creativity. However, shortly after<br />
these projects a blueprint for reshuffling the UAS was presented by the board and<br />
discussed under time pressure. In 2012 in short time the performance agreements<br />
were c<strong>on</strong>cluded, which – again under time pressure - were operati<strong>on</strong>alized with the<br />
help of strategy-maps (Kaplan and Nort<strong>on</strong>, 2004), a c<strong>on</strong>cept which was unknown in<br />
the organizati<strong>on</strong> up till then.<br />
Now I see that the way the UAS is managed has become a mixture of prescriptive and<br />
descriptive strategies (Mintzberg et al., 1998), in which participati<strong>on</strong> is promoted<br />
within the seemingly rock-solid boundaries of what apparently must be d<strong>on</strong>e. This is<br />
another point what is missed in the analysis of Mantere and Vaara (2008), as they<br />
suggest that participative development of strategies can go anyway.<br />
I have – metaphorically speaking - learned to see the dance between top down and<br />
bottom up approaches as alternating perspectives <strong>on</strong> how to involve members of staff<br />
in what has to be d<strong>on</strong>e. It is no free dance, going anywhere, but it is a dance within<br />
pre-given managerial resp<strong>on</strong>sibilities in which the manager assumes he or she acts as<br />
the choreographer of the performances. Sometimes the choreography aims at participating,<br />
sometimes it aims at implementati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
Managerial choreographers<br />
C<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong>al managerial resp<strong>on</strong>sibilities stretch out <strong>on</strong> designing organizati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
structures, designing systems of informati<strong>on</strong> and c<strong>on</strong>trol, installing and operating<br />
human resource systems, designing culture change programmes and developing<br />
appropriate political behaviour (Stacey, 2007). In the UAS managers (including me)<br />
seemingly have appropriated these resp<strong>on</strong>sibilities and are positi<strong>on</strong>ed as the <strong>on</strong>es to<br />
7. <str<strong>on</strong>g>Rumbling</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> <strong>performativity</strong>: a reflexive perspective <strong>on</strong> advisory work | 183