Organizational Structure, Changes and Transaction Cost

       Community colleges are rather smaller than four years university. Not only does small mean the size of the building, but also the number of students, staff and faculty. One of the goal of Community colleges is for students to get an associate degree, then transfer to a four-year college or get a job. To this effect, Harold Washington College organizational structure differs from the traditional college we are all used to. There are no college deans because there are no colleges such as College of Business or College of LAS. There are a couple of deans like the dean of student services, dean of online learning, and academic dean. There are mostly department heads, and these people work hand-in hand with the academic dean to provide the best learning experiences for the student. They also have associate deans that are assigned to different tasks. For example, In the admission department, the associate dean of student services does most of the work. She is responsible for hiring new ambassadors, scheduling admission staff and ambassadors, and ensuring that the admission process runs smoothly for new students.

      Now, my job at Harold Washington was as a student ambassador. The main department I was assigned to work with was the admission office, but I ended up working with different departments in the school like the academic department, career services, registration office, and student services office just to mention a few. One of the requirement to be an ambassador was that a student must have spent one semester in the school. This requirement was helpful because the job entailed ambassadors giving tours to new and vising students, serving as a source of information to returning students, helping the admission specialist during orientation, and collaborating with different departments to organize social and academic events for students. Indeed, most of these duties would be difficult for a student straight out of high school without any prior college experience or knowledge about the school.

     An in-person new student’s orientation was required for people with 15 credits or less so that they can get acquainted to the school, and aid the transition from high school or a prior college. During orientation, students were also required to meet with an advisor that helped them with their academic plan, and mapping out their classes. This orientation helped students reflect on their academic goals, and tour different offices on campus like the counselling center, bookstore, and many others. It was also a great way for students to meet and interact with their peers so that they can easily make friends.

     However, a lot of these have changed after two years of leaving the school. I took a class at Harold Washington this summer, and I was able to witness the changes in the way things are done in the admission department. The requirement for hiring student ambassador has changed as every student is qualified to apply, and there is no restriction on whether a student has been in the school for more than a semester. Their reason for this change is to give students the opportunity to grow at the job since most students transfer to a four-year college after a year or two. Illinois funding also plays a great role in this as most of the ambassadors must have work study, and have accepted it on their financial reward letter. This helped as the money for paying student ambassadors were focused on other projects.

    Online orientation was introduced as an option for students can watch videos and complete assessment after very video. This increased the admission rate because students that wanted to attend college and could not attend a mandatory orientation on campus can use the online version and register for classes. It also made registration faster because students could easily turn in their transcript online or verify their residency without having to wait for the admission staff to attend to other students.

      Ultimately, there is obvious transaction cost happening at Harold Washington College. The associate dean of student services has the title, but in my opinion, there is a shift in the duties that she is performing. Often, she has helped cover for staff members at the front desk, or helped restructure the orientation to accommodate many students. This seems like a duty for another person perhaps an administrative manager. I would say this is happening because of the organizational structure of the school. There are chances that additional hiring might not be an option, therefore the associate dean has to combine many duties to keep the school running well.