President's Operational Effectiveness Collaborative (POEC)

The President’s Operational Effectiveness Collaborative (POEC),  launched in Fall 2023, was created to examine and address the root causes of operational challenges at CSU Channel Islands. Staff, faculty, and administrators from across campus submitted proposals on real-life issues or processes they wanted to study, learn from, resolve, or improve.

Selected teams began by learning how to apply multiple organizational lenses to analyze both challenges and successes. From there, they developed concrete action plans and recommendations for the President and Cabinet - identifying ways to improve processes, strengthen successes, and address systemic issues.

Grounded in the belief that employees are the experts in their work, POEC builds on that deep knowledge by providing tools and frameworks for problem solving. By examining issues neutrally and systematically from multiple angles, teams address not only effectiveness and efficiency, but also the political, cultural, and team dynamics that influence their work.

The Collaborative is forward-looking and solution-focused - aimed at understanding our challenges more deeply, strengthening our University community, and creating lasting improvements for CSUCI, our students, and each other.

• Methodology

  Tiina Itkonen, PhD, Academic Lead POEC

  The institutional analysis tool was originally developed by Dr. Itkonen for a graduate course in the educational leadership program, adapted for CSUCI’s doctoral program more recently, and then scaled up for the campus wide POEC initiative. Course evaluations, informal focus groups, and a formal program evaluation (approved by the Institutional Review Board) data have informed the development of the analysis tool over the past decade.  

  The method integrates existing frameworks from the literature into a succinct, original analytical model which connects theory to practice (Itkonen, in press; Itkonen et al., 2019, 2023). These include:  

  1. Bolman & Deal’s four organizational lenses (2013, 2017, 2021);
  2. Mintzberg's model of organizations (1989);
  3. Frontline employee/operating core theory (Harklau, 2016; Maynard-Moody & Musheno, 2003; Wilson, 1989);
  4. Teamwork cycle (originally by Tuckman, 1965);
  5. Other works incorporated to this “packet” include conceptual literature about trapped (Argyris, 2010) versus agile (Aghina, 2018) organizations, and research on multiplier versus diminishing leaders (Weisman, 2010).

  The POEC teams first identified a complex organizational issue from their daily work which spanned across units and in many cases, divisions. They then learned about each conceptual framework through reading, taped mini lectures, and application exercises. Each concept was paired with an analytical tool to examine if, and to what extent, it applied to the teams’ real-life case. The issue was thus unpacked in this way, by examining it systematically from multiple perspectives, concept by concept. 

  The POEC teams then synthesized their findings from these multiple lenses into a representation of the root causes of their focus issue, applying design thinking for leadership (Gallagher, & Thordarson, 2018). They created an executive summary with actionable short-term and long-term recommendations grounded on their analytical data, which were presented to the Cabinet and the President. The recommendations were triangulated with the Critical Learning Collective and the campus strategic initiative and later integrated into the WASC report. Implementation has begun and will be on-going both short-term and longer term, depending on the complexity and scope of the issues. 

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  1. Bolman and Deal outline four distinct lenses with which to examine organizations: 

  • structural components (e.g., top down, bottom up, lateral linkages within and across units);
  • psychology of organizations (e.g., motivation, training and expertise, teamwork);
  • political lens (e.g., scarce resources and power bases); and
  • cultural lens (the purpose and meaning of the organization, history, celebrations, and traditions; what the organization states and artifacts indicate it values versus what happens in reality).

  2. The Mintzberg model consists of interdependent organizational units (as opposed to the isolated boxes typically depicted in organizational charts). The components include the strategic apex (laws, rules, policies and top administration), middle administration, the infrastructure of the organization, the support structure, and the operating core or the frontline employees which perform the core function of the organization (teaching in educational institutions) toward the core product (degree).

  3. Frontline employee situational authority involves examining how and in what instances frontline employees make decisions about how to respond to a given situation, how to interpret rules and policies in their daily work, and how to meet the needs of clients within the constraints that the policies and the organizational structure present.

  4. Teamwork cycle refers to the stages which all teams go through before becoming productive.

  References (PDF, 162 K)

• POEC Project Tracker 

  This tracker provides a central hub where you can view all projects alongside their respective recommendations. It's designed to give you a clear, at-a-glance view of current efforts in one place, making it easier to follow progress, spot connections, and stay informed. Use the built-in filters to sort by project, area, or recommendation as needed.

  POEC Project Tracker

• 2025-26 AY Cohort(s) Project(s) at a glance

  The program is on pause this year to allow completion of outstanding projects from prior cohorts. The pause also coincides with the faculty lead's sabbatical, with plans to resume in the 2026-27 AY.

• Prior years' cohort(s) and project(s) at a glance

  2024-25 AY
  Consisted of 3 teams of 18 staff, faculty, and administrators

  • Committee Productivity Evaluation
  • Library Subject Liaison Models
  • Onboarding

  2023-24 AY
  Consisted of 5 teams of 29 staff, faculty, and administrators

  • Accommodations for Campus Guests
  • Forms & Workflow
  • Recruitment Coordination
  • Schedule of Classes
  • Student Gift Cards