Dec. 5, 2002
Surveying the Gaps
Business and Service Committee Builds Survey to Map
University’s Next Strategic Step
By Thomas
Kohout
The future of The George Washington University depends, in part, on
being able to attract the best students from across the country and
around the world. Once they are here, the University needs to ensure
that their experiences are both positive and constructive. In an effort
to explore how the GW community views the services provided, as part
of the overall strategic plan, the Business and Service Excellence Committee
led by Louis Katz, vice president and treasurer, and Robert Chernak,
vice president for Student and Academic Support Services, commissioned
a survey of GW’s five constituencies — students, parents,
alumni, faculty, and staff.
The survey, which was customized for each group, asked respondents to
rate a series of offerings — ranging from availability of housing,
to accounts payable services, alumni networking, new student orientation,
and faculty office space — in terms of importance and how well
the University meets those needs.
“The whole genesis behind this was to understand how our stake
holders feel, how important certain things are to them, and, once we
determine what things they feel are important, discover how well we
are doing on those things,” says Katz. “By definition, you
discover gaps where you are not meeting expectations. And, quite frankly,
there were some areas where we were doing more than what our stake holders
expected us to do, but I’m not saying that we are going to cut
back on any of those things.”
The committee turned to a consultant, the Maccoby Group, to help develop
the survey. Michael Maccoby is a psychoanalyst and anthropologist who
consults with businesses, governments, and unions on leadership and
strategic development. With assistance from the Maccoby Group, the committee
developed what they felt were appropriate questions in the various areas.
“The gaps that were disclosed, for the most part, weren’t
things that surprised us,” says Katz. “The idea behind this
was not to just look at each gap and close each gap, but to look at
these gaps on a macro basis and come up with systemic solutions to solving
our service problems. That’s what we’re doing at this phase
of the strategic plan for business and service.”
Vice President for Academic Affairs Donald Lehman, who along with the
deans, department heads, and directors poured over the data and applied
them to their areas of interest, agrees that identifying the gaps was
less important than confirming the proposals each committee is developing.
“The gap survey reaffirmed the things we were already doing [with
the academic excellence component of the comprehensive strategic plan],”
says Lehman.
Among the largest gaps uncovered by the survey were graduate financial
aid, post-award support for sponsored research, availability of housing,
and the administration of parking spaces. The committee has already
instituted some improvements based on these results, such as establishing
a Web-based housing lottery.
The quality of service to prospective freshmen and transfer students,
student orientation, the Office of Parent Services, campus security
at Mount Vernon, Prometheus, and the administration of transcripts ranked
among the areas of highest satisfaction.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
