The Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Relational Coordination Collaborative

Higher Education Innovation Lab

Graduating students celebrate success

This is a challenging time in higher education.  Higher educational institutions face increasing demographic pressures as well as pressures to reconsider the purpose of higher education.  Efforts to protect freedom of expression and to achieve diverse student bodies are also under attack.  Because educational institutions are complex organizations with multiple powerful stakeholders, finding collaborative solutions can be challenging. 

Relational coordination - a mutually reinforcing process of communicating and relating for the purpose of task integration - is known to help diverse stakeholders more easily achieve their desired outcomes through the development of shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect, supported by communication that is frequent, timely, accurate and focused on problem-solving rather than blaming.  For a systematic review of the impact of relational coordination on performance outcomes across 73 industry sectors in 36 countries, please see Bolton, R., Logan, C.K. & Gittell, J.H. (2021). Revisiting Relational Coordination: A Systematic Review, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science.  

Student success is one area where higher education can benefit from increased relational coordination.  The inability of students to access services and resources can be a significant inhibitor to student success. This is especially true for populations of students who have been historically and systemically under-resourced, marginalized, and discriminated against, for example students of color, low-income students, first-generation students, disabled students, LGBTQ students, and immigrant students, especially those who lack familial networks to help navigate policies and structures that can be confusing and daunting. 

There has been increased focus on going beyond creating access for college students, to ensuring that institutions of higher education are creating the necessary academic, environmental, and structural supports to assist students in retention, persistence, and graduation. State and federal governments along with the philanthropic community have increasingly invested resources to encourage and hold institutions accountable for the success of the students they admit.  In addition to student success, there are other challenges in education as well, including faculty and staff retention, curricular innovation, social climate, research and development, financial management, alumni relations, and external stakeholder relations more broadly.

Based on relational coordination theory, we propose that strengthening relational coordination between departments and across levels of leadership within educational institutions, with their broader networks of external stakeholders, and with students themselves, will enable educational institutions to adapt to their changing environment and more easily achieve their desired outcomes.  

Purpose of this Innovation Lab

The purpose of the Higher Education Innovation Lab is to create a community of scholars, practitioners, and scholar-practitioners to use the principles and practices of relational coordination to advance positive outcomes for administrators, faculty, staff, and students. This Innovation Lab will connect members from various institutional types, roles, and interests to create synergy for community-building, practice-sharing, and research opportunities.   To learn more, please contact one of the Lab Leaders below.

Join This Innovation Lab

 

Resources

Book:  Levine, A., & Van Pelt, S. (2021). The Great Upheaval: Higher Education's Past, Present, and Uncertain Future. Johns Hopkins University Press.

RC Cafe:  Relational Coordination for Higher Education in a Rapidly Changing World, April 13, 2023, 3-4:00 pm ET.   Watch Video.

Published Paper: Alfazari, Ali, Alessi & Magzoub (2022). Assessing Relational Coordination and Its Impact of the Perceived Mental Health of Students, Teachers and Staff in a Clinical Skills Program During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Working Paper: Grim & Gittell (2016). Organizing for Collegiate Student Success: A Proposal for Relational Coordination in Higher Education

Slide Deck: Goulding & Shanti (2022). Higher Education Advising: Trust, Ties and Transition

Slide Deck: Introduction to Relational Coordination in Higher Education.

Innovation Lab Leaders

Jeffrey Grim

Assistant Professor, George Mason University

Jeff Grim, PhD is an assistant professor at George Mason University. His previous position was as visiting assistant professor at University of Iowa, where he taught courses on higher education administration, teaching and learning, and connecting theory to practice in student affairs. He completed his PhD in Higher Education from the University of Michigan, his masters in student affairs administration from Michigan State University, his bachelors from the University of Maryland, College Park, and his associates in general studies from Hagerstown Community College. Jeff also has a graduate certificate in nonprofit management from Washington University in St. Louis and in executive coaching from Southern Methodist University.

Jeff approaches his research agenda centering the perspectives of participants to critically examine systemic and organizational structures to create inclusive and equitable experiences and outcomes for all faculty, staff, and students in higher education. He utilizes his significant coursework in organizational theory and public policy, along with prior professional experience, to shape a research agenda that meets rigorous scholarly standards and can be applied to improve higher education organizations and practice.

Jeff is particularly interested in how higher education organizational contexts can coordinate (through relationships and structure) to decrease achievement gaps and increase equitable experiences and outcomes for systemically marginalized students.

Peter Tsasis

Professor of Management, York University

Dr. Peter Tsasis (PhD, University of Toronto) is a Professor of Management, jointly appointed to the Faculty of Health and the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, and is also a member of the Faculty of Graduate Studies at York University. In addition, he has a Master’s degree in Business Administration (Management). In 2010, he received recognition for outstanding leadership as the undergraduate program director at the School of Health Policy & Management. In 2011, he was recognized as an outstanding professor with the Faculty of Health's Dean's Teaching Award in Excellence, in the Established Career Category. As well, he was the recipient of the President's University Wide Teaching Award in 2013. He continues to receive recognition for teaching excellence in the Bachelor of Commerce Program at the School of Administrative Studies, and most recently also received recognition for Excellence in Research. His contribution to research collectively provides a paradigmatic shift in thinking about health and healthcare using complex systems science. His research focuses on interorganizational collaboration, learning health systems and organizational change. He is recognized as a leader in the field with numerous authored academic publications. His latest research explores complexity within an interdisciplinary systems approach to chronic disease management. He most recently co-edited a book publication entitled, Innovative Healthcare Systems for the 21st Century which draws on econometric, system dynamics, and agent-based models as well as state-of-the-art empirical studies. He actively supervises doctorate students in the field of health care management and engages undergraduate students in experiential learning. He has disseminated his work nationally and internationally and his research scholarship has been widely published in interdisciplinary academic journals. His work has also been supported by tri-council research funding. Dr. Tsasis is an advocate of patient-driven healthcare, characterized by the need for greater patient communication, transparency, customization of care, collaboration and patient choice. Dr. Tsasis has extensive expertise in the healthcare industry. He is an Executive Member of the York Institute for Health Research, a Fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives, and is board certified with the Canadian College of Health Leaders.

Jody Hoffer Gittell

Professor, The Heller School, Brandeis University; Director, Relational Coordination Collaborative

Jody Hoffer Gittell is Professor and PhD Program Director at Brandeis University's Heller School, and Program Director of the Academy of Management’s Organization Development and Change Division. Gittell teaches Strategic Human Resource Management, Research Methods, and Organizational and Institutional Theory.  She is the Founder and Director of the Relational Coordination Collaborative and Chief Executive Officer of Relational Coordination Analytics. She is interested in relational strategies for achieving organizational performance, organizational change and human well-being.  She has published scientific articles and books such as The Southwest Airlines Way: Using the Power of Relationships to Achieve High Performance, High Performance Healthcare: Using the Power of Relationships to Achieve Quality, Efficiency and Resilience, and Transforming Relationships for High Performance: The Power of Relational Coordination.  She is currently co-editing a book with Amanda Brewster, Ingrid Nembhard and Vicky Parker called Healthcare Management and Human Well-Being in a Turbulent Era. 

Together with students and colleagues around the world, Dr. Gittell has developed relational coordination theory, which predicts that highly interdependent work is most effectively coordinated through relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect, supported by frequent, timely, accurate, problem-solving communication. The theory shows how relational coordination drives a wide range of desired performance outcomes and how organizations shape it, for better or worse.  Dr. Gittell speaks frequently about the theory and practice of relational coordination. She serves as Vice Chair of the Board for Greater Seacoast Community Health, and on the Executive Committee for NAACP Seacoast. She received her BA from Reed College, her MA from The New School, and her PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Caroline Shanti

Associate Dean and Associate Professor, School of Social Work, University of Southern Maine

Caroline Shanti, Ph.D., LCSW, is an Associate Dean and Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Southern Maine, and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Prior to entering academia, they worked with young children and their families specializing in early childhood mental health, while also working in Early Childhood Policy and Program Development. They completed their Ph.D. in Social Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University in 2014. Since that time, Dr. Shanti’s scholarship has focused on social-emotional development across the lifespan. One aspect of this work centers on the impact of organizational policies and organizational culture on professional development and program outcomes. At USM, they have developed and led the semester-long orientation for new faculty since the Fall of 2017. Over the last two years, they have been a member of the team at USM introducing relational coordination in approaches to advising. Currently, this team is expanding its work to support University leaders in transforming the University culture into one of collaboration.

Ali Al Fazari

Assistant Chief Governance Officer and Chief of Internal Medicine at American Hospital Dubai

Mary Anne Peabody

Associate Professor, University of Southern Maine

Mary Anne Peabody, Ed.D., LCSW, RPT-S is an Associate Professor in the Social and Behavioral Sciences department for the University of Southern Maine, a licensed clinical social worker, and a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor. She is an internationally recognized child play therapist, a prolific author in the play therapy field, and remains actively involved in the Association for Play Therapy as a Foundation Board member and as a reviewer for the International Journal of Play therapy. As a faculty member, she brought relational coordination to the University specific to improving the student experience with advising by securing grant funding. She has served as the department Advising Liaison, participated in the University’s Excellence in Academic Advising (EAA) process as a committee leader, is a current member of the University Advising Council, and has published in the field of academic advising. She resonates with the relational dynamics of work coordination, interdependence and high quality communication impacts performance, job satisfaction, and both employee and student sense of belonging within an institution.