UC Berkeley Web Feature

Toward a more effective campus

27 October 2003

Resources

• Memo from Chancellor Berdahl announcing the realignment • Ask your own questions and we'll try to track down the answers • Revised organizational charts (PDF):    ¤ Budget & Finance    ¤ Business & Administrative Services    ¤ Facilities Services

Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl has announced several changes in the campus’s administrative structure, aimed at making the campus a more effective organization. Improving organizational effectiveness has been a top priority for Berdahl since he came to the Berkeley campus. He has said that advancing this work, including these administrative structure moves effective Nov. 1, will be a focus of his remaining months as chancellor.

The answers here explain what is changing, why it’s changing, and what it means for campus staff.

What’s the reason for this administrative restructuring?
Over several months, the chancellor has led an examination of how the campus administrative services are organized, resulting in the changes he announced on Oct. 24. These actions were taken for three reasons:

• To bring together, in the same organizational unit, functions that require collaboration and related skills.
• To clarify roles and responsibilities, creating clear accountability and continuity, from beginning to end, for delivering services.
• To create control units that are more optimally sized for effective management.

Why is the chancellor making these changes now?
The recently announced structural changes are part of a series of moves the chancellor has made to support organizational effectiveness since he took office in 1997. In that time Capital Projects was created as a distinct control unit; separate leadership was established for Graduate Division and Research; three vice provost positions were created to oversee undergraduate education, academic planning and facilities, and academic affairs and faculty welfare; and work was undertaken to restructure the staff classification system. Each of these is a step toward making Berkeley a more effective, efficient campus.

What changes are being made? Which campus units are moving?
There will be several changes:

• Two fully integrated control units have emerged. Facilities Services, led by Vice Chancellor Ed Denton, will manage the planning, design, construction and maintenance of campus space and facilities. The unit will include all of the current Capital Projects functions, plus Physical Plant–Campus Services and Real Estate Services (from Business and Administrative Services), and Space Management and Capital Programs (from Budget and Finance). Budget and Finance, led by Vice Chancellor Jim Hyatt, will seamlessly manage campus budget, finances and related processes. The unit will include all of the current Budget and Finance functions (except Space Management, as noted), plus several business functions from BAS, including disbursements, cashiering, loans and receivables, risk management, travel and entertainment reimbursement and part of payroll.
• Audit and Advisory Services will move from BAS and report to the chancellor.
• Business and Administrative Services, led by Vice Chancellor Horace Mitchell, becomes a more manageable size and will focus on initiatives in procurement, human resources, and athletics, as well as continuing to provide campus safety, transportation, environmental, recreational, counseling and health services, plus selected business services.
• Undergraduate Affairs, led by Vice Chancellor Genaro Padilla, will be renamed Student Affairs to clarify its focus on providing services for all students.

When will the changes be effective?
The new reporting lines are effective Nov. 1, 2003. An implementation team will work directly with Chancellor Berdahl to complete implementation of the changes by January 2004.

How many people are affected?
There are nearly 650 people, five percent of the campus’s administrative staff, in the units that are moving from one control unit to another.

How were these decisions reached?
Since last May, the chancellor has worked with his cabinet, the campus Center for Organizational Effectiveness (COrE), and organizational consultants from McKinsey & Company to determine the most effective structure for Berkeley’s administrative functions. McKinsey briefed campus leaders on best practices at nonprofits and in the private sector, providing organizational models for the campus to consider. The consultants interviewed administrators and staff from across campus and took part in intensive meetings with cabinet members, getting a range of perspectives and looking for areas that could be made more effective by organizational changes. Recommendations emerged, Chancellor Berdahl and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Paul Gray considered them, and the chancellor put forth his plan to the cabinet and the campus during the week of Oct. 20.

Did work with the consultants result in other recommendations for change on campus?
Some additional ideas for improving specific campus services emerged, but these are not primarily structural changes. The chancellor and the executive vice chancellor and provost will consider these ideas in the coming months, working with the units involved to determine next steps.

Will people be moving their offices?
There will be no immediate changes in where people are located.

Will contact information change for the offices that are part of the realignment?
Phone numbers, e-mail addresses and other contact information for offices you work with will remain the same. Should changes occur later, they will be well-publicized.

Will this reorganization mean layoffs?
Reducing staff size is not a goal of the reorganization. Some cost savings are anticipated because the new structure will allow the campus to operate more efficiently, not because it eliminates positions. However, once the reorganization is in place, the vice chancellors will evaluate how to use their staff most effectively. Reassignments and, if unavoidable, eliminating positions are possibilities.

What’s the next step for people who work in these units?
Leaders in each of the affected units have already begun communicating with staff, through e-mail and meetings, to answer questions and begin to implement the changes. Implementation leaders have been named in BAS, Budget and Finance, and Facilities Services to oversee the changes that will take place in the next two months.

Lots of campus units have staff who work on finance and space management. Will this change affect them?
By integrating our central campus staff in these areas, it should be easier for people around campus who work in finance or space management to get the information and support they need.

If I have other questions, who can answer them?
In units undergoing change, your supervisor or implementation leader can answer questions. Questions can also be submitted to COrE via this website.