Emerging Leaders Seminar

Steven C. Currall, Ph.D.Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs22 January 2016

Outline

• Thesis: The capability to manage organizational boundaries can be a source of sustained competitive advantage for SMU

• Analysis of “organizational boundaries”

• Trust and cooperation across organizational boundaries

Organizational Boundaries

• Organizational boundaries exist among:

Intra-SMU stakeholders (e.g., professors, post-docs, graduate students, undergraduate students, academic support staff, et al.) Intra-SMU functional areas (e.g., faculty

support, student affairs, development/alumni, and facilities, etc.) Intra-SMU organizational cultures (e.g.,

Dedman College, Lyle School, Simmons, graduate professional schools, student gov’t.) Other cultures (e.g., DFW region, Texas,

political, religious, ethnic)

Organizational “Porosity”• “Porosity” refers to the movement of information,

knowledge, people, and ideas across organizational boundaries. Porous organizational boundaries facilitate:

Creation of innovations

Flow of information across departments/units at SMU

Inter-departments/unit collaboration at SMU

• Porous organizational boundaries promote agility, nimbleness, and innovation, thereby enhancing overall competitive advantage

• Non-porous organizational boundaries create rigidity and ineffectiveness, thereby reducing overall competitive advantage

Trust and Cooperation Across Organizational Boundaries

• Trust refers to the decision to rely on another person (or group or organization) under a condition of risk (Currall & Epstein, 2003).

• Examples of ways that trust is expressed:1. Communicating openly and honestly2. Entering an informal agreement3. Declining to maintain surveillance

• Phases of trust…

Building trust

Maintaining trust

Destroyed trust

+10

Neither trust

or distrust

Distrust

0

Phases

Trust Level

High trust

-10

Figure 2. Evolutionary Phases of Trust (from Currall & Epstein, 2003)

“Things change.Time changes them.

Great nations, and institutions, rethink.

But only if they’re great.”

-- Margaret Thatcher