Rousseau, C. F.; Amato Neto,J. „University and Management: an
evaluation of the administrative decentralization process of the
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil”. Proceedings of the 22nd
Annual Production and Operations Management Society (POMS)
Conference. POMS, Reno, Nevada, USA.
Abstract code: 020-0204
An Evaluation of the Administrative Decentralization Process of the
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil
Authors
Cristina Fragata Rousseau
University of São Paulo, Office of the President
Address: Rua da Reitoria, 109 – Cidade Universitária
05508900 – São Paulo-SP, Brazil.
[email protected]
Phone: 55 11 3091.2430
João Amato Neto, PhD
University of São Paulo, School of Engineering
Address: Avenida professor Almeida Prado, 531 – travessa 2
05508900 – Cidade Universitária, São Paulo-SP, Brazil.
[email protected]
Phone: 55 11 3091.5363 – ext. 409
POMS 22nd. Annual Conference
Reno, Nevada
1
Rousseau, C. F.; Amato Neto,J. „University and Management: an
evaluation of the administrative decentralization process of the
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil”. Proceedings of the 22nd
Annual Production and Operations Management Society (POMS)
Conference. POMS, Reno, Nevada, USA.
POMS 22nd Annual Conference
Reno, Nevada
April 29 to May 2, 2011
An evaluation of the administrative decentralization process of the
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil”
Abstract
The aim is to analyze the results of the administrative decentralization process at the
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazilian most important (public) university, after the
first year of its implementation. The results were evaluated by an interview conducted
via e-mail with the coordinators of the 6 USP campi. In this interview, each Coordinator
responded to a semi-structured questionnaire with 12 questions regarding: the
importance of decentralization, relations between the Coordinator and the Management
Council of the respective campus and administrative bodies that have been
decentralized, the role each one played in the process, the difficulties encountered in its
implementation; the changes and the results obtained so far. Most of them considered
that decentralization had its importance with regard to reducing bureaucracy and
streamlining the processing of cases. Another favorable point expressed by them was
the proximity and interaction with the decentralized bodies, while respecting the main
directives.
POMS 22nd. Annual Conference
Reno, Nevada
2
Rousseau, C. F.; Amato Neto,J. „University and Management: an
evaluation of the administrative decentralization process of the
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil”. Proceedings of the 22nd
Annual Production and Operations Management Society (POMS)
Conference. POMS, Reno, Nevada, USA.
Introduction
The administration is nothing more than the rational conduct of the activities of an
organization, be it a profit or a nonprofit one. The administration deals with planning,
organization (structure), the direction and control of all the different activities for the
division of labor occurring within an organization. Thus, administration is essential for
existence, survival and success of organizations. Without management, the
organizations would be unable ever to exist and grow (CHIAVENATO, 2000).
The basic task of management is to get things done through people efficiently and
effectively. Be it in the industry, commerce, public service organizations, hospitals,
universities, military or any other form of human enterprise, the efficiency and
effectiveness with which people work together to achieve common goals is directly
dependent on the ability of those who perform the administration function. In the case
of the state, it performs its functions through administrative agencies, agents and
corporations.
The University of São Paulo (USP) is an independent public authority of the State of
São Paulo (Brazil) and, therefore, an administrative entity established by the State to
carry out pre-determined activities in terms of teaching, research and extension services
to the community, with relative autonomy, although under state control. As with each of
these corporations, independent public authorities have some special characteristics that
distinguish them from congeners.
The University of São Paulo (USP)
POMS 22nd. Annual Conference
Reno, Nevada
3
Rousseau, C. F.; Amato Neto,J. „University and Management: an
evaluation of the administrative decentralization process of the
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil”. Proceedings of the 22nd
Annual Production and Operations Management Society (POMS)
Conference. POMS, Reno, Nevada, USA.
The USP is an independent public authority with an administrative organization
considered quite centralized. Administrative tasks are the Presidency duties, which has a
very complex organizational structure. Matters of academic nature are handled by the
Offices of the Provosts: Undergraduate, Graduate, Research and Culture and University
Extension. In turn, administrative affairs are handled by different organisms linked
directly to the Office of the President, which made the USP management highly
centralized.
This administrative structure has undergone some changes over the years, seeking to
adapt to increasing demands in view of the progressive growth of the University, as will
be seen next.
The University of São Paulo offers 229 undergraduate programs, dedicated to all areas
of knowledge, divided into 40 units and nearly 56,000 students. In order to develop its
activities, USP has different campi in the cities of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Piracicaba,
São Carlos, Pirassununga, Bauru and Lorena, and teaching units, museums and research
centers outside these spaces and in different municipalities. All its units for Teaching
and Research programs offer graduate studies and a large number of these programs
also offer professional master‟s programs.
USP is now considered the largest university in Latin America and is the 38th in the
best universities rank in the world, according to Webometrics, Web Ranking of World
Universities in 2009, having risen 49 places since the previous evaluation. It occupies
the 27th place among the world's most productive universities in terms of research.
There are 22,000 papers published annually, 30% of them internationally (USP, 2010).
POMS 22nd. Annual Conference
Reno, Nevada
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Rousseau, C. F.; Amato Neto,J. „University and Management: an
evaluation of the administrative decentralization process of the
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil”. Proceedings of the 22nd
Annual Production and Operations Management Society (POMS)
Conference. POMS, Reno, Nevada, USA.
Object Analysis
The dimensions attained by USP led to a significant increase in the number and in the
complexity of processes at different administrative and academic sectors of the
University. This fact has gradually enlarged the bureaucratic procedures and the activity
has half-seriously compromised the development of core activities, with serious damage
to the faculty, students, and administrative personnel.
Nowadays, public universities face constant and increasing pressures to change and
respond to society's demands, and efficiently manage the available resources and adapt
to changes in their environment. An incentive-based management and productivity rates
are emerging as an ideal practice for good administration. To achieve productivity
targets, however, technical expertise of its faculty, researchers, and non-teaching
personnel are not enough, if there is not, concomitantly, an administrative support
infrastructure to provide adequate and flexible conditions for the core activities to be
carried out. A highly centralized management can "stall" a bureaucratic institution with
clear loss for all people involved. And this is a serious problem faced by USP, seeing
that its management structure, highly centralized, has not caught up with the rapid
growth of recent years.
Thus, studies were conducted to decentralize some administrative procedures of the
University. Some organs have been prioritized in the process of decentralization of
activities of the Central Organism in order to promote greater efficiency and agility in
POMS 22nd. Annual Conference
Reno, Nevada
5
Rousseau, C. F.; Amato Neto,J. „University and Management: an
evaluation of the administrative decentralization process of the
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil”. Proceedings of the 22nd
Annual Production and Operations Management Society (POMS)
Conference. POMS, Reno, Nevada, USA.
matters related to the legal, physical space, international relations, social assistance,
university vehicle accidents and media areas. These decisions sought to strengthen the
role of the Teaching and Research Units, delegating more powers in order to provide
greater autonomy in decision-making. It is clear that to achieve those goals there would
be no need for administrative re-arrangements in the Central Agencies and campi to
provide the necessary infrastructure for making the project viable.
Methodology
The information was obtained through responses to a semi-structured questionnaire
given to the coordinators of the campuses. The questionnaire tries to evaluate the
expectation of the proposal of decentralization, the difficulties encountered in its
implementation and evaluate the results after one year of deployment. The results were
evaluated by an interview conducted via e-mail with the coordinators of the 6 USP
campi. In this interview, each Coordinator responded to a semi-structured questionnaire
with 12 questions regarding: the importance of decentralization, relations between the
Coordinator and the Management Council of the respective campus and administrative
bodies that have been decentralized, the role each one played in the process, the
difficulties encountered in its implementation; the changes and the results obtained so
far of the questionnaire and the importance of their participation in this research. All
responded electronically to the questions. The responses were analyzed individually in a
comparative way among the Coordinators.
POMS 22nd. Annual Conference
Reno, Nevada
6
Rousseau, C. F.; Amato Neto,J. „University and Management: an
evaluation of the administrative decentralization process of the
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil”. Proceedings of the 22nd
Annual Production and Operations Management Society (POMS)
Conference. POMS, Reno, Nevada, USA.
Some results and conclusions
The
major
points
proposed
to
decentralize
the
administration
were:
1. To turn the current Ribeirão Preto, São Carlos, Bauru, Piracicaba and Pirassununga
Campi in Common Areas of Administration into Coordination Offices and to create the
Coordination Office of Lorena Campus and of the Quadrangle Health / Law (graduated
from the Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health, School of Nursing, Institute of
Tropical Medicine and Faculty of Law). Each one of these campi would be legislated by
a Coordinating Council Manager.
2. Deploy Regional Coordination sectors of Legal Counsel, Coordination of physical
Space, the International Cooperation Committee, the Coordinator of Social Security,
COPAVI and Coordination of Social Communication, with autonomy of decision and
execution, observing the guidelines established by the Central Government in their
respective areas of competence.
3. Create the Board Administrative Office of the Rector, whose mission would be to
implement
the
process
of
administrative
decentralization
and
become
the
communication link between the Rector's Office and Coordination (USP, 2009).
This study assesses the current stage of the USP administrative decentralization process
after one year of its implementation. It is important to point out that the administrative
decentralization process has involved all campi of USP.
The excessive administrative centralization of USP (consequence to its growth in recent
years) was the reason for extensive discussions during the debates on the reform statute.
POMS 22nd. Annual Conference
Reno, Nevada
7
Rousseau, C. F.; Amato Neto,J. „University and Management: an
evaluation of the administrative decentralization process of the
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil”. Proceedings of the 22nd
Annual Production and Operations Management Society (POMS)
Conference. POMS, Reno, Nevada, USA.
The difficulties imposed by bureaucracy led the University Council decide to initiate an
administrative decentralization process.
Several Ordinances and Resolutions of the Rector were edited for implementation of
this process in order to adjust the administrative bureaucracy of the new legislation. It
was created the Board Administrative Office of the Dean to coordinate the process of
decentralization. The campi of USP were organized in a new format, replacing the local
governments for Coordination.
It was found that there was intense participation of the coordinators in the
implementations of decentralization process, playing a crucial role in the development
of
new
organizational
charts
and
internal
regulations
of
each
campus.
Most of the interviewed considered that decentralization had its importance with regard
to reducing bureaucracy and streamlining the processing of cases, with greater
interaction with the decentralized bodies.
The so-called "USP Administrative Decentralization" was, in fact, a process of
administrative deconcentration, since searched for delegating powers to the
decentralized structures without losing the central coordination of decisions.
The processes that were most impacted, to date, were the decentralization of the
Coordination of physical Space (COESF) and Legal Advice , with the creation of
regional offices.
The changes in the organizational charts and internal regulations of the Coordination of
decentralized bodies and procedures were necessary, but performed with great
POMS 22nd. Annual Conference
Reno, Nevada
8
Rousseau, C. F.; Amato Neto,J. „University and Management: an
evaluation of the administrative decentralization process of the
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil”. Proceedings of the 22nd
Annual Production and Operations Management Society (POMS)
Conference. POMS, Reno, Nevada, USA.
difficulty, considering the change of role assignments on the need for relocation and
transfer servers.
In spite of the difficulties encountered in the implementation of decentralization, many
advances have been observed with regard to speedier decision making and better
integration with the Coordination of decentralized bodies.
Because it is a very complex process, it was natural that these difficulties appear
throughout their deployment. Although the manifestations of the Coordinators are
diverse and often contradictory, it is clear that the final result is positive. Some
difficulties could be encountered when there are natural processes of organizational
change. Adjusting to a new management model can generate anxiety and fears on the
part of the servers involved, promoting resistance to change.
Decentralization gives more autonomy to the coordinator and directors of teaching and
research units, as the proposed deployment suggests, over 80% of cases that should
transact at headquarters may have taken a decision in campus.
This fact has been occurring, which shows the correctness of the proposal.
We believe that the decentralization process can be extremely beneficial to streamline
costs, streamline decision making and we anticipate that in the short and medium term,
further progress will be made to reduce the bureaucracy within the USP.
Based on the results of this work, we can propose new studies on the use of common
indicators for the Coordination of campi in order to compare results before and after
implementation of decentralization, not only in quantitative terms, but also in qualitative
ones, including an assessment about how "customer satisfaction" is, in the case,
POMS 22nd. Annual Conference
Reno, Nevada
9
Rousseau, C. F.; Amato Neto,J. „University and Management: an
evaluation of the administrative decentralization process of the
University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil”. Proceedings of the 22nd
Annual Production and Operations Management Society (POMS)
Conference. POMS, Reno, Nevada, USA.
including the major beneficiaries of this process: teachers, students and employees of
the entire community of USP.
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Reno, Nevada
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Reno, Nevada
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POMS 22nd. Annual Conference
Reno, Nevada
12
Rousseau, C. F.; Amato Neto,J. „University and Management: an
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Conference. POMS, Reno, Nevada, USA.
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