Introduction
The texture of population in I.R Iran on the basis of the census of 1988, showed that the rate of young people was very high: 21% for those aged up to 6; 34% for those aged between 6 to 24, but 35% for those aged above 25. The texture of population in many Asian countries indicate that such societies need an urgent and basic revolution in their current and future plans and operations of educational systems.
The Role of Regional Centers in Distance Education
Most conventional universities are situated in large cities, their activities and study spaces are centralized at the same place. In contrast, owing to the type, nature and quality of distance education system as well as their relative independence and the fact that usually such systems are student-based, distance teaching institutions are scattered in a large geographical area, and are virtually capable of covering a large student population. There is a direct relation between the disparity of cities and the number of local centers.
As the number of the centers increases, their administration, control and coordination of activities among the centers become more complex. This is a determining factor which plays a part in differentiating the organizations of distance teaching and conventional institutions. Table 1 presents the development of PNU's local study centers.
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Table 1 : Local Study Centers of PNU
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|
| Year |
1988 |
1989 |
1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
| No. of Centers |
28 |
30 |
43 |
62 |
78 |
88 |
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The existence of coordination among the centers of a distance teaching institution is inevitable. When there is no central unit to function as the controlling agent numerous problems will be created as a result of disparity of centers.
The administration of the centers of a distance teaching institution calls for a reasonable organization in order for the organization to be able to control the organizational relations, reporting levels, the domain of supervision and control, and to specify the duties and responsibilities independently. How is it possible to establish relative coordination and independence among tens or hundreds of centers? Should educational branches be placed directly under supervisional staff managers, and set forth all of their problems and affairs with them? From an organizational perspective, is a manager able to supervise such a complex? Evidently, the principles of organizing do not advise and justify such a condition. As a consequence, some authorities and responsibilities should be entrusted and transferred to other organizational levels and new levels of management be set up between the centers, and the headquarters. The centers must be so classified as to ensure the supervision of their affairs and establishm
ent of congruency and coordination among themselves through particular unit or managers. The principle of division of labor, classification of duties and the principles of organizing dictate the following items for the achievement of the objectives of the system:
- The centers must be classified.
- On the basis of specific factors, the centers must be classified within the regions.
- The description of duties of the centers and regions must be specified in order to avoid the interference, and extra activities, and to save time and to use the financial resources properly.
- There must be clear procedure for the interactions among the local and regional centers and the staff managers.
- Appropriate and balanced authorities and responsibilities are required to be entrusted to the centers and regions.
The Establishment of Regional Centers at PNU
The increase in the number of study centers and the impossibility of continuous supervision and control through a unit at the headquarters resulted in the division and classification of the regions, and the creation of regional middle level managements to be in charge of the supervision and coordination of administrative affairs. On such a basis, two or more neighboring provinces were classified as a region while considering their geographical locality, the number of the centers and distance between them, the number of students and the programs of study (Table 2 the classification of the centers in the geographical regions).
| No. of the Regions |
No. of the Provinces |
No. of the Study Centers |
Student Population |
|
| 1 |
3 |
8 |
7769 |
|
| 2 |
2 |
11 |
8816 |
|
| 3 |
3 |
14 |
17031 |
|
| 4 |
4 |
8 |
4647 |
|
| 5 |
4 |
9 |
7019 |
|
| 6 |
3 |
6 |
5245 |
|
| 7 |
3 |
8 |
6855 |
|
| 8 |
1 |
11 |
9671 |
|
| 9 |
2 |
8 |
9840 |
|
| 10 |
2 |
5 |
5127 |
|
| __ |
27 |
88 |
82020 |
Total |
In the previous Organization of PNU, one of the study centers played the role of Regional center. By our experience, in this policy such centers absorbed a remarkable part of credits and facilities for themselves. In revision of the organization, separated credits and facilities are allocated to each region. Studies of the previous distance teaching systems in the country revealed that the regional centers should act as bridge or activator between first level management and the administrators so that they play the role of coordinators, guides and advisors for the centers. On the one hand, the fundamental planning of the system is done at the headquarters. This includes the curriculum design, study materials, manpower, budget, test and assessment and developmental plans. It was, therefore, predicted that the middle level management at the regional centers would solve most of the administrative problems of the centers, and maintain a balance and coordination and reduce the direct interaction between the cen
ters and the headquarters. In order to clarify the duties and to avoid the interference of the operations and extra activities, the description of the duties of coordinators as well as the heads of the regional centers were defined. This will be highlighted later. According to this organization and approved descriptions of duties, the centers have been authorized to set forth their main issues and urgent problems with the middle level management and the headquarters. The implementation of the above organizational system not only classified the duties on a logical basis but also reduced the administrative affairs of the first level management; besides it provided an opportunity for them to spend more time on fundamental issues.
The network of the centers, regions and staff management may be presented as a grid organization in which the structure of organization is composed of two factors: geographical and specialized (pertaining to duties). According to geographical conditions, the centers are classified within the regions and the regions in turn have relations with the centers in terms of organization, supervision and advice. On the other hand, centers are related to the specialized management with respect to duties and functions.
The Analysis of the Place of the Regional Management in the Existing Organization
From the managerial point of view, the current structure and organization of PNU with respect to regional and local centers has some advantages and drawbacks. These have something to do with the analysis of duties and responsibilities.
The advantages of the management of the region are as follows:
- It has divided the duties.
- It has decreased the responsibilities of the top management.
- It has decentralized supervision and control of the local center's affairs.
- It has increased the efficiency of the system by resolving the problems locally and it has considerably decreased the direct interactions between the local centers and the headquarters.
- It has coordinated the local activities through the analysis of the regional problems and difficulties.
On the other hand, the establishment of regional management increases the management levels so that some issues are set forth at the local centers, regional centers as well as the headquarters. In this way, the multiplicity of the decision-making bodies and the negative aspect of the bureaucracy increase in the system. The regional managements as a coordinator have not been very successful. Thus, they have not had a firm foundation in the organization. It appears that turbulence will be generated with respect to the authorities entrusted and the responsibilities.
Management of Coordination in Regional Centers and its Structure at PNU
A new organizational unit has recently been established at the headquarters which is responsible for identification of problems of regional centers and the establishment of discipline and coordination among the regions. The unit plays a role as a counsellor for senior managements of PNU in relation with the regional affairs.
The problems of the regions are first studied and possible solutions are proposed here. Furthermore, the information of the affairs of the regions are collected in this unit and an archive is created in order to facilitate the analysis of general problems of these regions for top managers to find the appropriate ways to resolve their issues in a uniform way.
Management of the university is divided into three levels including senior managers, middle managers, and junior managers.
- Junior managers or administrators are the head of the centers.
- Middle managers are coordinators and are the head of the regional centers or the staff managers who are responsible for developing and submitting the specialized plans to the top managers.
- Senior managers are the chancellor, vice chancellors, and advisors of the university. They are in charge of macro-planning, leading and principle decision-making.
All the above mentioned levels are responsible for leading, controling, supervising, evaluating and administering human and material resources, but there are some differences in the nature of their works, span of control, complexity and diversification of duties, volume of operation and outcomes of decision-making.
Technical and specialized skills are more important for the managers of local centers and staff managers than other levels of management. In this level, their managerial insight should lead the university, plan the future goals and establish strategies of the university. In the current organizational system of PNU, academic staff have these managerial positions.
Future Prospects
PNU has currently 88 study centers with 82,000 students. It is predicted that during the next years by developing the extent of its activities, each study center will have more authorities for carrying out the affairs.
Considerable increase in the scale of operations, human resources, macro-planning, organizing and budgeting with the large number of the local study centers call for an autonomous management in each center. In this case, each center would be able to carry out some activities in relation to the funding, investment, budgeting, accounting, recruitment, development and quantitative and qualitative improvement of educational programs and so forth. As a result, the headquarters will establish the strategies of the university.
By following such a policy, local and regional centers will function independently with respect to the organization. The regional centers will become research complexes, their managers will not be only coordinators but also will play a dynamic and significant part in management. The local study centers will be under the supervision of the regional centers and their main problems will be resolved in the region and proper decisions will be made. Furthermore, the managerial duties of local centers will not be subjected to any changes, but some parts of the senior manager's authorities will be vested to the lower levels. As a consequence, managers of regional centers will not be merely mediators or catalysts and will act efficiently in the cycle and hierarchy of management. In other words, regional managements will move from control staff to functional staff. Under such circumstances, organization will change from a specialized organization to a line and staff organization.
To entrust some authorities of the senior managers provisionally to the lower levels of management will not only reduce the scope of their responsibilities, but also will provide an opportunity for them to act as leaders and planners of the whole system.
References
Approval organization of PNU
Management magazines, published by the management training center of I.R.Iran.
Statistics books of PNU
Dr. Aghtadari. A Management and Organization.
Gorge Moris. Management on the basis of objects. Translated by Dr. Alvani.
Dr. Jassabi. Management of manpower.
Kazmayer. Management Principles. Translated by Dr. Zomorodian.
U.S.A. Office of Personnel Management, the management excellent framework, Sept. 1988
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