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The university saw an in- CHAPTER 8 • Managing Change and Innovation 281
such as communications and
crease in student enrollment CHANGE . . . For better signal processing, computer
and a need for specialization utilization of resources, systems and networks, power
in the wide field of EE and coordination, and control systems and energy, and elec-
particularly in IE, which saw tronics instrumentation and
a boom in the early 2000s. control.
This motivated the university to split its departments in two— The advantages and disadvantages of all options were
Electrical Engineering (EE) and Information Engineering (IE). discussed. The faculty and staff of both IE and EE supported
Faculty members belonging to telecommunication and com- the merger on the basis that it would provide a broader edu-
puter streams formed the faculty of the IE department while the cation, focusing on different areas of electrical and computer
EE department had only few faculty members having expertise engineering. The approach was innovative in streamlin-
in power systems and machines. While the prime objective was ing the courses and ensuring that specialized content and
to take the first step towards establishing a school of electri- instructions were delivered as and when applicable. An
cal and information engineering, certain influential faculty external examiner of the EE and IE departments also recom-
members acted as change agents in the university’s innovation mended the merger.
process. The college sought the opinions of experts in the respec-
A year after the split, serious issues surfaced. The restruc- tive fields, who approved both the merger initiative and the
tured EE department had to give a broad electrical engineering proposed new structure. Their views and recommendations
education to students. This should include some specializations were considered in preparing the merger proposal. The restruc-
such as telecommunications and signal processing, globally ture was approved by the College Board, University Academic
recognized as a must in such a field. The two departments Council, and the University Council in 2002. The official
faced problems in staff hiring and in duplication of core courses merger commenced during 2003, leading to the formation
offered and overlapping of specializations. Therefore, a solu- of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
tion had to be devised and immediately implemented. Several (DECE).
scenarios were discussed in both departments to address the After the transitional periods, the formation of the DECE
situation. proved to be a sound decision, showing promising stability and a
The following key options were considered—first, chang- vision aligned to the country’s growth.
ing the name and the curriculum of the Electrical Engineering
Department to Power Engineering Department; second, mov- Discussion Questions
ing the IE staff teaching Telecommunication courses to the EE 8-14 What factors would highlight the need to revise or majorly
Department and leave the staff teaching computer courses in restructure a department or organization?
the IE department; third, hosting both IE and EE departments 8-15 The case mentioned that there were some motivation of change
within a School as proposed initially (DEEE) before the split. agents too in this split and the creation of a School. In your
Based on this, the Department of EE would offer a degree in view, what do you think could have been the internal factors
Power Engineering only; and fourth, to merge the two depart- that motivated the change agents?
ments into a single department of electrical and computer 8-16 Why do you think the third option was rejected?
engineering. This would also need it to consider restructuring 8-17 In your opinion, why do you think the fourth option was
its undergraduate program into several specialization tracks, implemented?

CASe APPLICAtIOn 2
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