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The ITM management team has for a while discussed the importance of strengthening the links and communication between the line organization and the education dimension. A working group with representation of the PA:s, directors of study, education administrators and line managers has during 2016 worked out a draft basis for new Rules of procedure for how to operate our educational programs. Based on this, a new organisation structure has been decided upon. This decision was recently communicated via our intranet, just as we always we do with important news within the School. The draft of the rules of procedure will now be further elaborated in the new GU (Grundutbildningsutskott) which replaces the former UN (Utbildningsnämnd). The time line is that new Rules of procedure should be decided upon and in operation before the fall semester 2017.
Our new president, Sigbritt Karlsson, has announced that the KTH Board has initiated the work towards a new KTH Development plan. It is preliminary said that the plan should cover the period 2018-2023 and that a close to final version should be available for the board meeting in October. Ideas on structure and content have not yet been communicated but a likely focus might be on three pillars; equality, internationalization and sustainable development which Sigbritt already has communicated.
As was mentioned in my last blog the annual ITM leaders’ conference took place on January 11-12 and was focused two things:
- Some first creative discussions as a basis for the next ITM development plan. A few keywords from all the group-work are: Utilizing school synergy; efficiency in support functions; impact strategies; ITM common technical or non-technical cores in research; digitalization; big data; facilities, environment and space for better synergy; culture, operations and activities for better synergy.
- Half a day with professional external expertise to learn and discuss how we can improve our working environment in order to reduce negative stress among all personnel.
Finally, two new tentative policies which might be introduced within ITM:
- All employees should use the Outlook calendar for planning time, and the calendar should be open (for time slots, but not content) within ITM.
- The default configuration for internet browsers will be the ITM intranet.
Let’s see if we get some reactions to these tentative policies!
All the best,
Jan Wikander, Dean of School
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I hope all of you had a joyful vacation. Probably those of you with children missed the snow during the first part of the holiday, since it was so warm. At least in our neighborhood the kids were excited when the snow finally came.
As the new year just started ITM gathered 45 unit and department leaders for a leadership conference during two days. The first day had a focus on learning about stress and how we as leaders could work to decreases the stress among the personnel. The lectures were given by a psychologist and he explained to us how the brain works in relation to stress. It was interesting to learn how, for example, the oldest part of our brain, the so called reptile brain, works. It takes over when we encounter danger, such as when we see a snake while out looking for mushrooms. However, it can be trained if we force ourselves to get in to situations we are afraid of. If you are interested to learn more, for example, check out “Dagens nyheter”, since they recently wrote some articles about stress and fatigue.
The remaining part of the conference focused on how it is possible to increase the collaboration between the departments as well as between the departments and the administration. This was done in four set of groups works. This is a concept that we have tried several times with good success. This time we were for example focusing on how we better could use the separate knowledge in different department in writing larger future proposals. This has already been initiated with the circular economy initiative that has started. Furthermore, it will continue with an initiative on additive manufacturing. In the future we might see other collaborations focusing on big data, teaching etc.
Finally, I wish to say one more thing about the vacation. As I mentioned it was quite warm during especially new year. Thus, when it was +11C on the first day of the year I decided to dig in my garden to see if there were any potatoes left in the soil. I find a bunch of them so that we could fix a nice dinner. Who said that you need to wait for midsummer to get fresh potatoes in the new year!
Pär Jönsson, Vice Dean
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Now the project is in full swing. Employees have been identified with respect to:
- The work tasks that have changed.
- Employment changes line organisation.
Discussions were held at an individual level with the line manager and HR Manager. Thereafter, everyone was invited to a workshop where we together discussed concrete questions but also talked about how we perceived the decision of introducing service@itm.kth.se.
The change will be implemented in project form where all concerned administrators will be invited to participate.
Following work groups have been established:
- Infrastructure
- Education
- Research education
- Procurement
- Web
- Working in an open environment
- Events, conferences, disputations, etc.
- HR
- Economy
Following catchwords have been identified as being related to the work on change:
- Quality
- Efficiency
- Sustainability
- Cost
- Accessibility
- Service
- Reception
- Flexibility
A final report will be completed on January 26, 2017.
Reference group
The reference group has had its first meeting. They decided to collect input on ITM’s internal web where all employees can come in with suggestions for improvement related to the school administration. We hope that all can take the time to contribute as it will guide the development of how it will work in the future. To contribute however the feedback should be concrete.
Analysis
The dean has requested an analysis of how the administrative line appears today, the cost development over time and the administrators who will be affected by the change.
Below you can see the employment development at the ITM school divided in employment categories, professor, lecturer, assistant lecturer, adjunct, researcher/research engineer, doctoral candidates, technical/administrative staff and others, for the period 2012-2016.
Future information on the project
Annika Lilja is the project manager for service@itm.kth.se. She intends to come out and inform each department during the project period until April 1, starting immediately after new year. Moreover the school’s website will be used to spread the word. Work material will be shared on “social”,
The school’s management team has a fixed point on the agenda for these questions; we receive feedback on the school’s website and of course also directly in our inbox.
Annika Lilja – anlil@kth.se
Christina Carlsson – christina.carlsson@itm.kth.se
Anna Thöresson Bergh – atb@kth.se
We hope that in this way we can update as many people as possible as all of us in one way or the other will be affected by this change. If you have suggestions on how to communicate in the organisation, get in touch!
Last but not the least, I want to wish you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
/Christina Carlsson, Head of administration
Translation of caption:
1. Professor – Professor
2. Lektor – Lecturer
3. Bitr. lektor – Assistant lecturer
4. Adjunkt – Adjunct
5. Forskare och forskning – Researcher and research
6. Doktorand m anställning – Doctoral candidate with employment
7. Teknisk/admin – Technical/admin
8. Övriga – Others
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We are approaching Christmas and New Year’s Eve and I take the opportunity thank all ITM employees, students and scholarship fellows for all the strong engagement and valuable contributions during 2016. My hope is that the we all during the coming two weeks find enough time to relax, to practice our hobbies and to enjoy being with families and friends.
The annual ITM leaders’ conference which gathers almost all staff members having a management role within ITM takes place on January 11-12. Except fostering improved leadership, the ambition with the 2017 conference is to initiate the strategic work towards our next development plan. Our new president, Sigbritt Karlsson, has announced that the work with the next KTH development plan will start early 2017. It is important that we are well prepared to contribute to this work, and to deliver constructive criticism when necessary. The conference will make use of some background material which might serve as an inspiration, but also as external contexts that we need to consider when formulating our strategic plans. Here I would like to share one piece of this background material, namely the KTH Utbildningskatalog 2026/2027 .
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
/Jan Wikander
Dean of School
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One of the highlights at the end of every semester is the graduation (diploma) ceremony in the City Hall. This fall was no different for our school. We were sharing the evening (KTH need two days for this) with four other schools: ECE, CHE, BIO and ICT.
The ceremony is really fantastic with KTH symphony orchestra and the choir. For this particular event dressed up as a proper “Lucia Tåg” of course. Christmas music and classics and the evening highlight was, as usual, when well-known opera singer and KTH Alumni Gunnar Lundberg sang O Holy Night (O Helga Natt in Swedish) with the choir and orchestra. It is informally known as Adams Christmas song after the composer Adolphe Adam. Original title is Cantique de Noël and it is composed way back in 1843 for those of you that like numbers. The song is almost as old as KTH apparently.
Speaking of numbers and impact: This evening made clear that ITM is THE major producer of engineers at KTH. Degrees were awarded to Civ Ing (5 yr), Hing (3 yr) and masters (2yr) as usual. Here are some interesting statistics from last night:
BIO – 23 students. CHE – 25 students. ECE – 13 students. ICT – 22 students. ITM – 211 students!
All 211 names read by undersigned – puh!
The largest group this time was Industrial economics and management program followed by Mechanical engineering and Design and product realization. For the first time the Energy and environmental engineering presented a noticeable impact with 16 students!
Extra fun for our School was that the KTH pedagogical prize was awarded to Mikael Ersson from Dept. of Material Science and Engineering. Mikael shared the price with Emma Strömberg from the CHE-school. Congratulations to both winners!
A really fantastic evening ending with champagne and mingle in the “golden hall”.
/Per Lundqvist, GA
