A methodology for the strategic staff planning in public universities

The number of public universities worldwide has been increased substantially in the last decades. In Europe, such growth has been accompanied of several regulatory changes in regard of different aspects such as: the Bologna process, the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), new mechanisms for resource management, growing interests in patents and entrepreneurship and the increasing emphasis on university-industry relationship, among others. Accordingly, universities should adopt new management strategies; otherwise, they would face problems around weak financing, personnel management (from both academics and administration departments) and treatment of talent, amongst others. The strategic staff planning consists in determining the long term quantity and type of required resources according to a set of restrictions (e.g. personnel, academic and economic policies). The lack of a strategic planning, could be translated into an increment in personnel costs, an inadequate determination of workforce size to the actual university needs, and an inadequate workforce composition in regard of various aspects such as: the generational renewal, experience, expertise in diverse knowledge fields and an adequate balance between teaching and research profiles. The determination of a methodology, which includes the mathematical modeling by means of a Mixed Integer Linear Program, for the strategic planning of public universities, is the main object of the present thesis. The optimization of the strategic planning addresses various aspects such as: i) policies on personnel hiring, firing and promotion; ii) workforce heterogeneity (set of categories); iii) and the adoption of an optimization criterion, in this case based not only on economics, but also on other aspects such as the required service level and the achievement of a workforce composition according to a preferable one. The optimization model, and the corresponding analyses in regard of diverse study cases on different personnel, academic and economic policies, are the main contributions of the present thesis. The contents of the thesis are divided into 7 principal chapters. Chapter 2 offers a state of the art on knowledge intensive organizations (KIOs) and the strategic capacity planning, also particularizing for the case of universities. Next, Chapter 3 identifies the most relevant characteristics of KIOs in general, and of universities in particular. This chapter gives rise to the development of a methodology for the determination of the strategic staff planning, which is stated in Chapter 4. This methodology consists of different phases, each one treated in the following chapters: the characterization of the problem (Chapter 5), the mathematical formulation of the optimization model for the strategic planning (Chapter 6) and the evaluation of the optimization model in different study cases (Chapter 7). Finally, the conclusions of the previously mentioned analyses and the potentiality of the proposed tools are summarized in Chapter 8. The main conclusions of the thesis indicate, among others, that the proposed optimization model successes in obtaining a close composition to a preferable one taking into account constraints associated to budget and required service level, as well as others affecting personnel (hiring, firing and promotions) and academic policies. In this sense, the model contributes to decision making processes on strategic staff planning, thus facilitating the sustainable development of public universitiesEl nombre d'universitats públiques ha crescut considerablement en les últimes dècades en el món. A nivell europeu, aquest creixement s'ha vist acompanyat de nombrosos canvis de regulació en l'àmbit de l'ensenyament com el procés de Bolònia, les reformes de l'Espai Europeu d'Investigació (ECTS), nous mecanismes de gestió de recursos, interès en les patents i l'emprenedoria, i el creixent èmfasi en les relacions universitat/empresa, entre d'altres. Amb tot això les universitats que no adoptin noves estratègies de planificació o no considerin aquests canvis, s'enfrontaran a problemes tals com finançament debilitat, i relacionats amb la gestió de personal (tant docent com administratiu) i el tractament del talent, entre d'altres. La planificació estratègica de personal consisteix en determinar a llarg termini la quantitat i tipologia dels recursos de personal d'acord a un conjunt de criteris (polítiques de personal, acadèmiques i econòmiques). La falta d'un pla estratègic es podria traduir en un increment del cost de personal, una inadequació del volum del mateix a les necessitats reals de la universitat, i una composició poc adequada en referència, per exemple, al relleu generacional, experiència, capacitats en diversos àmbits de coneixement, balanç entre perfils docents i investigadors. La determinació d'una metodologia, que inclou la formulació i resolució d'un model matemàtic d'optimització, pel pla estratègic per al cas de les universitats públiques és l'objecte principal d'aquesta tesi. L'optimització del pla estratègic té en compte diversos aspectes tals com: i) polítiques referents a la contractació, acomiadament i promoció de personal; ii) l'heterogeneïtat dels treballadors (conjunt de categories); iii) i l'adopció d'un criteri d'optimització, en aquest cas basat no només en mètriques econòmiques, sinó també d'acord amb altres aspectes tals com el nivell de servei requerit i la consecució d'una composició de la plantilla de treballadors d'acord a un ideal. Aquesta eina d'optimització, així com les anàlisis al voltant de diversos casos d'estudi avaluant diferents polítiques de personal, acadèmiques i econòmiques, són les contribucions principals d'aquesta tesi. Els continguts de la tesi es divideixen en 7 capítols principals. El Capítol 2 ofereix un estat de l'art sobre les organitzacions intensives en coneixement (KIOs en anglès), i la planificació estratègica de la capacitat, particularitzant en el cas de les universitats. Complementàriament, el Capítol 3 identifica les característiques rellevants de les KIOs en general, i de les universitats en particular. Aquest capítol dona peu al desenvolupament d'una metodologia per a la determinació del pla estratègic de personal, tractat al Capítol 4. Aquesta metodologia consta de diferents fases, cadascuna de les quals tractada en els següents capítols: la caracterització del problema (Capítol 5), la formulació matemàtica d'un model d'optimització per al pla estratègic (Capítol 6) i l'avaluació d'aquesta eina d'optimització d'acord a diferents casos d'estudi (Capítol 7). Finalment, les conclusions d'aquestes anàlisis s'ofereixen al Capítol 8. Les conclusions principals de la tesi indiquen, entre d'altres, que el model d'optimització proposat determina satisfactòriament una composició de la plantilla de personal a llarg termini i d'acord a un ideal, considerant diversos aspectes o restriccions relacionades amb el pressupost, nivell de servei requerit i d'altres afectant polítiques de personal (contractacions, acomiadaments i promocions) i acadèmiques. En aquest sentit, el model s'esdevé com una eina que pot contribuir a la presa de decisions al voltant del pla estratègic --a llarg termini-- de personal, facilitant el desenvolupament sostenible de les universitats públiques

Evaluating the impact of strategic personnel policies using a MILP model: the public university case

Purpose: The main purpose of the paper is to evaluate the impact of diverse personnel policies around personnel promotion in the design of the strategic staff plan for a public university. The strategic staff planning consists in the determination of the size and composition of the workforce for an organization. Design/methodology/approach: The staff planning is solved using a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model. The MILP model represents the organizational structure of the university, the personnel categories and capacity decisions, the demand requirements, the required service level and budget restrictions. All these aspects are translated into a set of data, as well as the parameters and constraints building up the mathematical model for optimization. The required data for the model is adopted from a Spanish public university. Findings: The development of appropriate policies for personnel promotion can effectively reduce the number of dismissals while proposing a transition towards different preferable workforce structures in the university. Research limitations/implications: The long term staff plan for the university is solved by the MILP model considering a time horizon of 8 years. For this time horizon, the required input data is derived from current data of the university. Different scenarios are proposed considering different temporal trends for input data, such as in demand and admissible promotional ratios for workers. Originality/value: The literature review reports a lack of formalized procedures for staff planning in universities taking into account, at the same time, the regulations on hiring, dismissals, promotions and the workforce heterogeneity, all considered to optimize workforce size and composition addressing not only an economic criteria, but also the required workforce expertise and the quality in the service offered. This paper adopts a formalized procedure developed by the authors in previous works, and exploits it to assess the impact of various personnel policies in the staff planning for a particular university case, and this is the principal contribution of the paper.Postprint (published version

Knowledge-Intensive organizations and their role in promoting sustainable development

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Using game-based principles to empower students in non-STEM academic programmes

This study describes an intervention carried out in the course on Statistics within the Bachelors’ Degree in Business Administration, and Marketing and Digital Communication. Prior to it, problems related to attention in class and low motivation were identified. A game-based activity was designed aiming at boosting students’ attention and encouraging autonomous study habits, which in turn, positively impact on their grades. To assess the effectiveness of the activity we tracked the grades and satisfaction of 153 students. Critical aspects highlighted by students in a focus group were also analysed. Evidences show the usefulness of the activity in improving students’ grades and, to some extent, in changing their habits.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Evaluation of the impact of strategic staff planning in a university using a MILP model

A mathematical model for optimising the strategic staff planning in universities is used to analyse the impact of different personnel and academic policies on the strategic staff plan, considering a preferable staff composition. The personnel policies are evaluated allowing or not the dismissals of permanent workers; the ratio of internal promotion for workers and the personnel budget. The academic policies are tested through the impact of different demand trends. Addressing the specificities of the university, the optimisation model considers not only economic criteria, i.e., personnel costs, but also other factors related to the fulfilment of the required service level and the achievement of a preferable workforce composition. Several computational scenarios are used, based on real data from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain). The results show the adjustment to the preferable workforce composition through the available mechanisms (dismissals, hiring and internal promotions).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Anexos para “Assignment of Volunteers in a sport event. Case Restricted Fitness by Cut-off mark”

Anexos I, II, III, IV para “Assignment of Volunteers in a sport event. Case Restricted Fitness by Cut-off mark” CIO 2018 GironaPreprin

La ludificación como herramienta de motivación en el aula

Se presenta una estrategia basada en la ludificación para motivar a estudiantes de un plan de estudios no-STEM en la asignatura de Estadística. Los objetivos planteados fueron: mantener la atención en clase, fomentar hábitos de estudio autónomos y mejorar las calificaciones. Las evidencias y análisis realizados demuestran que la actividad desarrollada ayuda al estudiantado a alcanzar los objetivos planteados. Además, su diseño permite la transferencia a otras asignaturas y planes de estudio.Postprint (published version

Dealing with heterogeneity: An analysis of Spanish universities

Universities are highly dependent on regulatory frameworks, the geographical setting as well as on requirements for the creation of the different outputs they pursue. As a result, universities are heterogeneous organizations. This study analyses universities’ heterogeneity in Spain. By using a dataset from the Spanish higher education system, we model the objective function of universities and investigate which factors help explain universities’ performance, in terms of the three missions that they mostly perform (teaching, research and technology transfer). Also, a cluster analysis is performed to categorise Spanish universities. The findings contribute to better understand the different behaviours shown by universities. The findings underline the heterogeneity of Spanish universities: while some universities focus more on formation (teaching) goals, other universities excel at disseminating knowledge through different scientific outputs. The study concludes with a detailed inter- and intra- group analysis.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Technology transfer outputs versus publications: Which one wins the battle?

Today’s universities are expected to simultaneously conduct teaching, research and third stream activities. These latter activities are usually materialized in the form of technology transfer activities. In a context were researchers are expected to simultaneously excel in all the tasks they perform, the scheme of incentives for the academic community is crucial. This study seeks to investigate and generate a new debate on in which activities are researchers devoting their efforts and time. In order to do so, we describe the evolution of research (publications) and technology transfer (R&D contracts and funded projects) outputs in the four technical universities of Spain. Results reveal that while revenues coming from R&D activities have notoriously diminished in the last years, the number of scientific publications has increased. These findings lead us to question whether Spanish universities are not properly aligned with industry needs, thus contradicting their raison d’être.Postprint (published version

Capitalising new knowledge through R&D alliances: evidence from Catalan technology centres

Science-industry R&D alliances have been a longstanding object of analysis in the literature as they are reinforced by the changing global economy and the fast-moving nature of technological research. In order to advance knowledge on how these alliances should be designed and managed, this paper examines whether the factors most valued by technology centres to engage in science-industry R&D alliances have an impact on the success of the alliance: planning, partner profile, trustworthiness, IPR protection issues and communication channels. The empirical application considers 58 technology centres located in the Spanish region of Catalonia from which data were collected. First, using factor analysis, we validate that items included in the survey are indeed grouped into the five factors identified in the literature review. Second, we use qualitative comparative analysis to explore which combination of factors best explains successful R&D alliances.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft