March 18, 1999

This report contains two major sections – a summary of data related to the student population at Mott, followed by data and evaluative text related to faculty and staff (the employees) of Mott Community College. The section which discusses employees provides statistical information and a discussion of future and present needs; discussion of employee performance which considers factors such as understanding of mission; discussion of employee attitude and involvement; and a section devoted to Mott’s connection with its external environment.

Mott Community College had an enrollment of 9098 students during the fall 1998 semester. These students were enrolled in a total of 74,413 credit hours totaling 84,329 contact hours.

Figure 2 Students by credit hour

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Female students account for 59.80% of the student population while males account for 40.20%. This percentage has remained relatively stable over the past 10 years. In 1988, females accounted for 61% of the student population, in 1996 for 61% and in 1997 59%. (See chart) The City of Flint accounts for 37% of the student body, Genesee County residents other than residents of Flint account for 48.30% with another 14.10% coming from out of Genesee County and .06% from out of the state of Michigan. These statistics indicate that Mott Community College is meeting its mission in serving the population of Genesee County.

Mott Community College has experienced an increase in ethnic populations. The greatest numbers of new students are from the African American community, which consists of 18.80% of the current student body. This is an increase from 14% in 1988, 15.80% in 1996 and 16.80% in 1997. The Hispanic enrollment has remained stable at 2%. Among Asian and Native American students there has been no increase, enrollment has remained stable at .90% and 1% respectively. The decrease in local employment opportunities may have accounted for some of this increase. The closing of the Buick City Plant in March may have a major impact on the enrollment. In the past, General Motor’s lay-offs have increased our enrollment and GM has helped subsidize employees to retrain. Governor Engler instituted a new welfare program that forced welfare recipients to work or go to school. This new program may have affected student enrollment.
 

Age	Total Students	%
Under 18	113	1%
18	756	9%
19-21	2742	32%
22-25	1557	18%
26-30	1119	13%
31-35	806	10%
36-40	650	8%
41-50	448	5%
51+	279	3%

Mott Community College attempts to include aspects of our society that might not otherwise be served. Prisoners at the Thumb Area Correctional Center frequently have had classes taught by the Mott faculty. A wide variety of student’s take classes from their home online via the World Wide Web or through a telecourse. Telecourse offerings and students college courses via a telecourse have increased from 12 offerings in 1998 to 53 offerings in the fall of 1998. In 1989 telecourses served 528 in the fall of 1998 1,434 students were being reached through telecourses. (Data in the team room). The branch campus located in Fenton, the Lapeer and other extension centers located at a variety of local high schools allow for students to take classes closer to home. There has been an increase in the number of courses offered at the Southern Lakes Branch Campus (SLBC) and the Lapeer extension site. During the fall 1998 semester 4% (372) took classes at SLBC and (4%) 346 at the Lapeer extension site.

Mott is working with business and industry in the Genesee County area to train students in the jobs that are needed. The new Regional Technology Center will greatly help this incentive. In the fall of 1998 Mott Community College gained approval to build a Regional Technology Center. This has been a joint effort with business and industry in the Genesee County area and will provide a tremendous service to the area. Enrollment is expected to increase in the technology area.

In a recent student survey 738 of 851 students (87%) clearly like Mott Community College and would recommend or probably recommend it to their friends. 82% of the students indicated that they had a good rapport with staff. Of the 851 surveyed, 696 (78%) believe Mott Community College to be warm, friendly and supportive of students. Most importantly 84% of the students surveyed would choose to attend MCC again. If the undecided were included, this would increase to 93% of the students surveyed.

Based on exit surveys of 1,141 students conducted between 1992/93 and 1996/97 57% of the students went on to work full-time in the Flint/Genesee Co area. (Chart in the team room breaks down the specific areas of employment). Another 31% of the students transfer to other institutions of higher learning. Of these 51% went on to the University of Michigan in Flint. (All transfer data in the team room) When these students were asked how well MCC prepared them in their college major 83% reported positively. (See chart for all areas of satisfaction). Over 83% rated the overall quality of education that they received at MCC as good to excellent. 84% believed that their MCC experience had a positive effect on their self-confidence and their self-concept.

Composition of Employee Groups: The College has seven employee groups, six of which are organized or covered by a collective bargaining agreement. The seventh group, senior management, its support staff and the Human Resources Office staff, is exempt from collective bargaining (and is referred to as the Exempt Group). The table below shows the composition of six of these groups (excluded from the table are the College’s part-time safety officers):
 

Group	Authorized, FY 88-89	Percent of Total, 88-89	Authorized, FY 98-99	Percent of Total, 98-99
Exempt	28	6	39.75	9.4
Faculty	195	42	159	38
Maintenance	41	9	44.5	10.5
Pro Tech	72	16	77.19	18.2
Secretarial	85	18	66.245	15.6
Supervisors & Managers	40	9	37.875	8.9
TOTAL	461	100	423.56	99.6

 

The educational levels for faculty are shown in the table below, comparing Fall of 1988 with Winter of 1998. The "break points" for educational levels reflects the points at which faculty may earn additional pay under the faculty labor agreement.

 
 

	Fall, '88	Percent	Winter, '98	Percent
		of Total		of Total
PhD	20	11%	26	17%
MA+60	18	10%	15	10%
MA+45	18	10%	7	5%
MA+30	24	13%	6	4%
MA+15	27	15%	15	10%
MA	62	34%	71	46%
BA+15	5	3%	4	3%
BA	8	4%	8	5%
AA	0	0%	1	1%
TOTAL	182	100%	153	100%

 

Years of Experience at Mott: Faculty tenure at Mott is quite well distributed among the various experience levels, as shown in the table below. Unlike most community colleges, this distribution suggests that we should not experience a massive, rapid loss of seasoned teachers at any single point in time.
 

Years of Service	Percent of Faculty
30 and greater	13.5
20 – 29	22.3
10-19	20.95
5-10	18.92
Less than 5	24.32

 

The data above on faculty tenures shows that nearly 36% of faculty have 20 or more years of service at the College, suggesting that faculty tenure is stable. Like many higher education organizations, positions at the Dean level and above do not reflect similar lengthy service. Of the ten incumbents in these positions, only two have over 25 years of service and five of the incumbents have been with the organization for four years or less.

Diversity: The tables below display diversity statistics for faculty and staff. The first table summarizes gender. The portion of faculty who are female (54%) closely parallells the roughly 60% female composition of student enrollment. Similarly, the 17.65% of faculty who are minorities compares favorably to the 22.7% of students who are minorities. Most importantly, Mott’s percentage of minority faculty well exceeds the average presence of minorities in faculty positions nation wide (17.65 versus 13.3% nationally). The third table indicates that minorities are well represented among all of the College’s employee groups.

 
 

	GENDER
	Male%Female%TOTAL
Faculty	7146.41%8253.59%153
Staff	9138.24%14761.76%238
TOTALS	16241.43%22958.57%391

 

 
 

				MINORITIES				NON-MINORITIES	TOTAL
		Native American	Asian	Black	Hispanic	TOTAL	%
Faculty		2	5	15	5	27	17.65%	126	153
Staff		5	2	63	4	74	31.09%	164	238
TOTALS		7	7	78	9	101	25.83%	290	391

 

 
 

Minority Representation by Employee Group
	Minority Percent
Exempt	29
Faculty	18
M&O	33
Pro Tech	28
Secretarial	41
Supervisory/Managerial	23
TOTAL	26

 

Organizational Structure: Like any organization, the college’s structure changes from time to time. One very significant change in structure, however, occurred since the last NCA evaluation – the creation of a major organizational unit, headed by a Vice President, which combines all of the various activities and units who deliver services to students. Mott has shown, by its structure, that it is focused on its core mission of teaching and learning. With this change, two of the three major organizational units are devoted exclusively to students - Academic Affairs and Student Services. The third major learning activity at the College, Continuing Education, was recently reassigned to the Vice President of Administration who had previously supervised that function in his role as Dean of Continuing Education.

Several additional components of organizational structure at Mott provide evidence of the focus on learning and teaching. For example, Mott has chosen to separate academic and administrative computing, ensuring that faculty have Informational Technology resources devoted to their exclusive needs. This area, known as Educational Technology, has seen staff additions to assist in course design, among other activities and witnessed the elevation of its Manager to full Dean status. Faculty development is the main focus of the Committee on Excellence and Learning. A recent decision to create a Dean or Associate Vice President position that focuses on curriculum planning and development, integrating this activity with program review, reflects the organization’s focus on curriculum as the primary organizational asset of a learning organization.

Integrity in the Selection Process: Faculty selection must be distinguished from non-faculty hiring at Mott. Faculty selection is largely governed by departmental rules and procedures, and the selection of finalists is conducted by faculty in the departments with oversight from the Human Resources Office (HRO). Non-faculty hiring is regulated primarily by the Human Resources Office although provisions of the various collective bargaining agreements must be adhered to.

Mott advertises extensively for vacant positions, with the nature of the recruitment effort being determined by the type of job. Applications are screened by HR staff to identify candidates who meet minimum requirements.

HRO carefully monitors applicant flow to ensure that candidate pools contain appropriate diversity. Where necessary, external recruiters who specialize in an industry or in minority recruiting, have been engaged to assist in our recruiting efforts. Recently, Mott hired its own recruiter on a subcontracted basis to help the organization overcome a backlog of hiring caused by an early retirement program. Once this number of vacancies is reduced, the recruiter will focus on true recruiting, with particular emphasis on diversity recruiting. The long-term concept behind a dedicated recruiter is to enable the HRO to develop deep relationships with each department, to obtain an in-depth understanding of the specific skills needed for the variety of positions Mott has, and then to constantly recruit for current and anticipated vacancies, particularly difficult to fill vacancies.

Recently, the HRO has extended the variety of methodologies used in the selection process. The recent improvements involve the use of skills and psychological testing and assessment devices. These procedures help the College objectively assess skill levels and provide additional objective information related to organizational fit. Drug testing, reference checking and background checks are also standard components of the selection process at Mott.

Interview questions are reviewed by HRO to ensure that only job-related questions are asked of applicants. Finally, only the HRO is authorized to negotiate salaries with new hires to ensure consistency and internal equity.

Determination of Present and Future Human Resources Needs: Traditionally at MCC, human resource needs have been identified at the departmental level. This bottom-up approach has as a major advantage for faculty that commitment and feelings of ownership of curriculum change are high. In fact, the annual "Program Review" is a process whereby faculties review their programs and identify desired changes and thus project human resource needs. Financial resource limitations, of course, dictate that not every need identified can be met. When programs are growing in enrollment, however, the college has been responsive and increased budgets to add additional faculty and staff, though not always at the pace or in the quantity desired by the departments involved. The Distance Learning Program, which produces more in-house courses than any other college in the state, is increasing in enrollment every year. During the past ten years, MCC has doubled the number of full-time staff in Distance Learning and in Educational Technology, that support the faculty who develop and teach distance learning courses.

Within the last few years, initiatives for change in college programs by the administration have increased. The college has been pro-active in attempts to identify changes in the external environment and the implication for the educational needs of the community. This high-level activity has been principally responsible for the impending development of the Technology Center.

A paradoxical situation exists in that students need additional education, which Mott can provide, in order to prepare for a job market that is rapidly changing and becoming more dependent on both technical and technological skills. At the same time there are challenges to students taking advantage of the education being offered to them by the college. Employment is high because of the current economic boom, and there is a corresponding contraction of available time for our students to take classes. Our current student population, being older than that of a traditional college, has extensive demands placed upon their time by work and family obligations. The college is attempting to meet these challenges by offering an extensive distance learning program, modularizing courses into smaller segments for students to take, and by offering more flexibility in start and end dates for the courses.

A major challenge to meeting human resource needs is the perception of the full-time faculty that the college is not hiring enough full-time replacements for retiring or departing faculty. The data shows that the total percentage of sections (regular and overload) taught by full-time faculty has decreased from 76% in Fall 1988 to 61.7% in Fall 1998, while for part-time/adjunct faculty the percentage of sections taught has increased from 24% in Fall 1988 to 38.3% in Fall 1998. A year-by-year examination of the intervening 10 years shows a steady decrease in full-time faculty and a steady increase in part-time faculty.

In fall 1998 there were 153 full-time faculty, 265 part-time faculty, and 238 full-time non-instructional staff. In fall 1998 an examination of the state aid data indicates students were enrolled in 84,333 contact hours. This number is approximately the same as that found in fall 1987 when students were enrolled in 86,100 contact hours

The current Administration has recommended an organizational change in the area of Academic Affairs. This recommendation includes a Dean of Curriculum. This change will have two significant results. First, the responsibility for program and curriculum development will be identified as the responsibility of the Associate Deans, the managers who are closest to the faculty who actually perform curriculum development. Secondly, the new senior manager will be responsible for coordinating curriculum development, program review, class scheduling and professional development across all divisions. This coordinating role should enable the College to anticipate long-term curriculum and staffing needs. The Board of Trustees has approved this position.

Employee Communications

Faculty and staff are kept informed of changes in policies in a variety of ways. First, the orientation program has been revised to provide additional information on policies and organization structure. In fact, the HRO has designed a day long orientation program for new full-time employees. Second, the HRO has launched a Lotus notes site on the intranet where employees can access policies, information about current and anticipated vacancies, benefits information, and much more. One of the items on the Lotus notes site, which is also published in print, is a new development, an HR Newsletter, that provides employees with timely updates on a variety of topics. Third, during annual open enrollment, all employees are provided with a copy of the Board’s HR policies, ensuring frequent reminders to employees of HR policies. Finally, e-mail and voice mail enable the HRO to quickly communicate with all employees.

Understanding of College Mission: A survey conducted in the fall of 1998, by the Self-Study Mission subcommittee determined that 89% of the respondents know where to find the college mission statement and only 9% are not familiar with its content. Only 8% disagree with the statement.

Employee Satisfaction: The Fall 1998 Employee Survey presents a mixed view on this topic (see summary titled "Employee Survey Results"). When measured by access to supervisor, overall evaluation of Mott as a place to work, and involvement in curriculum, employees appear to evaluate Mott positively. Building and grounds are viewed as well maintained and attractive by 62% of the respondents. Human Resource operations, on the other hand, are rated favorably by only 39% of the respondents versus 29% who rated this area negatively. Overall, these survey responses suggest that faculty and staff are meeting their responsibilities, as they are understood by other Mott employees. Similarly, faculty performance is rated high by students.

One of Mott’s strengths lies in the strong relationship between the College President and the Board of Trustees. The Board has committed itself to a strategic focus as evidenced by a strategic planning process it initiated known as Project 2005. This activity engaged a wide cross section of the College community and resulted in the adoption of a leadership program at the College. The Board has been recognized for its planning efforts and emphasis on leadership within the College by being designated as finalists in the Institute of Higher Education’s Bellwether Awards two years in a row (1998 and 1999).

Another strength is the presence of organizational structures which enable faculty to exert leadership and responsibility for curriculum and professional development. The College Professional Study Committee (CPSC), composed of faculty, administration and student representatives, directs the College’s curriculum improvement efforts. The Committee for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) is composed primarily of faculty and academic administrators who provides a wide variety of opportunities during the year for teachers to learn how to improve instructional delivery.

Two of the significant management changes in support services in the past four years, have been the selections of managers for Human Resources and Information System. These management appointments have resulted in improved customer service. Examples of these include the creation of a Help Desk in IS and the creation of a newsletter and Lotus Notes (Intranet) site by HR providing employee access to a wide variety of information.

Employee or Performance Evaluation – Evaluating Employee Effectiveness: There is considerable similarity in the methodology for performance evaluation although each labor agreement specifies the process for the various groups. By and large, each process includes intensive employee input and involvement. In 1995, the College introduced a complex, labor intensive process for performance evaluation for staff. This new process was met with considerable resistance and is being used somewhat inconsistently across the organization. Several of the bargaining units have discussed this problem in ongoing bargaining and a study group is examining the possibility of using 360 degree feedback as an alternative to the traditional employee/supervisor meeting approach to evaluation. The new "model" which is under discussion will assemble feedback from a wide diversity of individuals who interact with the employee and will place professional development as the primary focus of the process. The study group has determined that it will examine the 360-degree approach in a pilot program, which is currently under design. Most significantly, the non-faculty unions have come to agreement on the concept that performance evaluation should focus on developmental issues and concerns while the discipline process would be used to deal with poor or substandard performance. Until the various issues related to performance evaluation are resolved, supervisors of non-faculty are free to use the standard evaluation package or a reporting method of their choice.

Faculty evaluation has two components. Student evaluation of the faculty and course through the use of a SIEF (Student Instructor Evaluation Form). These are passed out to the students in the class by a student and collected by a student to be returned to the faculty member’s immediate supervisor. Each faculty member is required to do this at least one semester each year. Many of the instructors choose to do SIEF’s each semester.

Each full-time faculty member is evaluated every three years. This includes both the Associate Deans evaluation as well as a self-evaluation done by the faculty member. The faculty member then meets with the Associate Dean to review both evaluations. At this time the Associate Dean may make recommendations to the faculty. A copy of the faculty contract spells this out clearly. Adjunct faculty is evaluated every three years as well. In order for a part-time faculty to become adjunct they must teach 30 credit hours over six semesters and receive three positive evaluations. Part-time faculty is evaluated once each year by the full-time faculty in that division. This is a major area of concern especially in areas where there are a large number of part-time faculty and only a few full-time faculty to do the evaluation. The language division is an excellent example of this problem. This most definitely needs to be addressed, as it is impossible for the full-time faculty in this area to evaluate all of the part-time people being used. Currently there are 23 full-time faculty in the humanities area and they need to be evaluating a total of 43 part-time faculty and 36 adjunct faculty.

Professional Development: Mott Community College encourages professional development for all of the faculty, staff and administration. Each fall and winter when faculty return they attend a workshop or hear a speaker. The CETL sponsors weekend retreats for the faculty, has had a number of one day conferences at off campus locations and bring in speakers to campus on a variety of topics relating to education through out the year.

The Educational Technology area on campus has done an excellent job of providing ongoing computer training for the faculty and staff. They have developed a Faculty Support Center for the use of faculty and are there to help the faculty with any project that they might be working on. Each semester they offer a variety of short workshops with new topics or topics requested by faulty. They provide hands on practice with a great deal of individual attention. All faculty and staff using the new computer system were provided with a series of workshops to familiarize them with the system.

Each division has an allotment of funds for travel and conference expenses. Faculty within that division may apply for these travel funds. Faculty are encouraged to attend conferences in their area. One of the newer trends in professional development has been the use of teleconferences. Mott has joined in numerous teleconferences with schools across the state and country. This has provided faculty with a new form of professional development and allows faculty to actively participate in the conference while remaining on campus.

During the most recent round of bargaining, most of the non-faculty groups amended their contracts to expand the use of tuition reimbursement funds beyond simple course tuition. These funds may now be used for "workshops or seminars which are broadly job related and benefit the college" (Pro Tech Labor Agreement, page 43). Problem-solving discussions with the Maintenance and Operations unit are currently underway and may well result in providing tuition and related reimbursement to this employee group for the first time.

Mott faculty, staff and their dependents receive free tuition at Mott. In the current fiscal year, the expense for this benefit appears to have doubled, resulting in an increased "cost" to the college from $150,000 to $300,000.

In the most recent round of faculty bargaining, a separate study group was formed to examine possible ways to improve professional development activities for faculty. The report of this group can be found in the team room.

These professional development activities help to keep all administrators, faculty and staff current in their areas. Each year the college may grant up to seven faculty members sabbatical leaves. The sabbatical leave is to allow the faculty time to keep current in their field and to do work that will benefit both their students and the college. Each year Mott Community College provides professional development funds to a number of faculty. Faculty who have a project that they feel will benefit the college and the students may apply for these funds. In the Vocation/Technical area there are additional funds available for which their faculty may apply.

Several of the Mott Community College faculty have been recognized for national awards in their field. PUT IN EXAMPLES. Others have received state recognition. Each spring the different bargaining units on campus grant "Golden Apple Awards" to outstanding members in their areas.

Two critical initiatives have been implemented by the College recently to enhance professional development opportunities for faculty and staff. First, collaborative problem solving training is being provided to all staff. This unique training program is designed to prepare employees to solve workplace and business problems in their own work unit and across organizational lines. The program was offered to employees after it was successfully implemented in collective bargaining. Ongoing bargaining provides opportunities to constantly address concerns and the number of grievances have declined dramatically. The success of labor and management was recognized by the MEA, which granted Mott the Pacesetter Award in 1998. In addition in July 1998, the College received the prestigious Saturn award, a national recognition granted by Saturn and the UAW .

Second, a week-long leadership training program has been offered to faculty and staff. Graduates are involved in designing and implementing a wide variety of changes at the College. (Agenda available in the team room.)

Commitment: Faculty commitment to Mott Community College is excellent. 57% of the faculty have been at MCC for more than ten years and many (36%) over 20 years. As a result of this long-term commitment many of the faculty (91%) are over fifty. This is an area of concern, as many of the faculty will retire in the next 5 to 10 years. (See chart). This is an area where Mott needs to look to the future toward replacing these faculty as they retire. As the faculty numbers indicate, full-time faculty has gone down and the college has increased the use of part-time faculty. 75% of the faculty believe that Mott is a great place to teach and are very committed to MCC. While this is true at the faculty level the same length of service has not been true for upper level administration. There has been a high turnover rate over the past ten years. This turnover is a concern and has had an impact on the morale of the faculty and staff.

Morale: While the faculty enjoys teaching at Mott Community College the morale is often perceived as low. When asked if they like teaching at MCC they are in definite agreement that it is a wonderful place over all. However, when asked about the funding for instructional programs, 53% of the faculty surveyed believed it to be inadequate and 42% felt that MCC lacked budget accountability. 44% felt that there were not enough safeguards against misuse of funds and 48% believe that the college was not meeting its strategic goals. On the other hand 73% of the faculty feel that classes are academically stimulating, and 89% believe they use appropriate teaching methods, that they stay current in their field and have adequate professional development opportunities. 86% believes there is good communication with their immediate supervisor and that MCC supports academic freedom in the classroom. In general according to the survey faculty are very satisfied with classrooms, facilities, division meetings, CPSC (College Professional Study Committee), clerical support, their benefits package, and methods of curriculum development. (A copy of the survey is in the team room)

Community Involvement: Mott Community College is an integral part of the Flint Community. Located on the Charles Stewart Mott Estate in what is called The Flint Cultural Center, just minutes from downtown it is certainly accessible to the community. Mott works with the cultural center to share some resources. Art classes at MCC are taught at the DeWaters Art Center. The students exhibit their work at galleries in downtown Flint. The music department has a summer music camp for local students from the Genesee County area. The science department has hosted the high school Science Fair on campus. Each year the college sponsors a college night for local high school students to come and meet representatives from campuses across the state of Michigan. Mott daycare is located at a nearby church and provides a valuable service to the students and community.

The technology faculty have worked with industry in Flint on the new Regional Technology Center. This has truly been a community effort and will be a great asset to the Genesee County area.

The college faculty and staff have worked on Flints’ Operation Brush-Up. This event was held each year to paint houses in Flint. Individual faculty and staff are committed to sponsoring and attending events in the area. They are members of the Urban League, the International Institute, local churches and synagogues, and a variety of services clubs in the Genesee County area. Several faculty serve on their local school boards. Mott Community College sponsors dinner theaters, bus trips to events and exhibits for the community. Applewood Café is open to the public and run by the culinary arts department.

Three significant events occurred in the past six years to direct the College community’s attention to changes in the external environment. First, in November of 1993, there was extensive community and faculty/staff involvement in the development of the College’s mission statement. This effort itself brought attention to the need for responding to our external customers. Second, the College conducted an extensive long-range planning study, sometimes referred to as the Alfred/Carter study(YEAR?). While this planning effort was conducted internally, it identified the need to:

These three analytical efforts are in addition to the regular solicitation of input from Advisory Committees.

During the past several years, the organization has forged a number of key alliances with external constituencies. For example, the nursing faculty have implemented a strong community service and training program for Church based health teams throughout the City. This partnership with FACED was recognized as a Bellwether finalist in 1999. The College also succeeded in obtaining voter approval to issue additional bonds, funding which will support the construction of the new Regional Technology Center (RTC). In addition, the organization’s improved legislative relations enabled the College to receive state funding for approximately half of the cost of constructing the RTC.

Mott’s human resources activities have many strengths and some weaknesses as well. In the event of weaknesses, however, Mott is aware of the situation and actively engaged in taking corrective action. Staffing is an obvious strength – unlike most institutions of higher education, Mott’s faculty is distributed quite evenly in terms of years of service, suggesting little need to be concerned about a mass exodus of seasoned teachers over a short period of time. The faculty and staff are well diversified and the organization has procedures in place to monitor diversity. Mott can be especially proud of the number of minority faculty which exceeds the national average considerably. Most recently, it has engaged a full-time recruiter to devote attention to this special need. While the hiring process has many excellent technical features, a recent lawsuit in the faculty arena suggests the need for additional oversight of this activity by HRO. In fact, the HRO is conducting an examination of the hiring process which will result in a "re-engineered" process. It is anticipated that significant training and documentation will be provided to those persons participating in selection processes when this project is complete. Two components of this project will be updating of the College’s affirmative action plan and an increased emphasis on planning for anticipated vacancies and detailed planning of each hiring or recruitment effort. One concern identified in this report is the relatively short tenure of senior management. While most departments have long-term staff who can provide the "institutional knowledge" necessary for day to day administration, this is not always the case and is particularly true for the HRO itself. The new HRO staff, however, are all seasoned HR professionals who bring significant technical knowledge to the organization and are now building the "institutional memory" needed to administer programs into the future.

The involvement of employees in all aspects of operations is evident at Mott in activities such as CPSC, CETL, collaborative bargaining, the Leadership groups, Distance Learning Advisory Committee and collaborative problem solving itself. The organization has made a significant investment in time and dollars to enhance employee involvement by providing collaborative problem solving training for all employees and leadership training for approximately fifteen percent of the employees.

Mott’s organizational structure is clearly focused on learning and teaching as the changes identified above indicate. Mott has also shown its responsiveness to students in the creation of a campus safety operation and the enhancement of distance learning opportunities, as well as the planned creation of a Regional Technology Center.

Strategic planning has been considerably improved in the past several years at Mott. Still, despite these efforts, there is not a shared vision of the College’s purpose and role in the community and the elements of the strategic plan have not been "packaged" and communicated to the organization in a way that all can understand and execute the plan. Needless to say, the creation of the Dean or Associate Vice President for Curriculum will help focus and package the earlier strategic plans.

Job and performance evaluation are areas needing attention. A comprehensive, point factor job evaluation process should be initiated in the near future for S&M, Pro Tech and Secretarial positions; all job descriptions will be updated during this process. Most importantly, union and management have identified performance appraisal as an area of mutual concern and are experimenting with the 360-degree methodology mentioned above. In addition, considerable employee development activity is occurring at Mott, as evidenced by expansion of the types of learning activities funded by collectively bargained professional development funds; collaborative problem solving training and leadership training as well as the increased expenditure for tuition waiver at Mott.

One significant organizational improvement must be mentioned – the considerable investment made in state of the art information technology. Mott’s mainframe and software have been completely upgraded and all faculty and staff are now connected on Mott’s network. Standard desktop applications are now available to everyone. While these improvements bring obvious challenges, particularly in terms of training, they also provide significant improvements in terms of the ability of employees to communicate, and do work.

Strengths:

Economic conditions

Faculty seniority (interpretation of data.)

Conclusions should come from committee not just one person.

Created by Dolores Sharpe/Mott on 06/22/99 Last updated on: 06/22/99

Last Updated to NCA-MCC Website 9/24/99