Corporate Governance at the University

The policy provides a ‘tiered’ approach to organisational change related decision-making as follows:

Tier 1 – Fixed term contracts and open-ended contracts with a funding end date (including individuals, teams or groups).

Tier 2 – Core funding: a reduction in the number of posts within a team, group, programme, College support service or subsection of a School or University Service. Significant restructuring exercises may also be considered within this level.

Tier 3 – The closure of an academic subject / discipline or larger change proposals. These should be automatically referred to Court for consideration.

While Tier 1 proposals (involving fixed-term contracts and open-ended contracts with a funding end date) are normally managed locally, large-scale Tier 1 changes — defined as those affecting multiple groups or more than 12 individuals — should be referred to OCGC for consideration. This ensures appropriate oversight where the scale of change may have broader strategic, reputational or operational implications.  Change proposals that fall within Tier 2 are considered and approved on Court’s behalf by the Organisational Change Governance Committee (OCGC). Changes classified as Tier 3, which are of a strategic nature, explicitly require the approval of Court.

The Committee shall:

• Approve Tier 2 proposals
• Decide, on strategic and/or key reputational grounds, or for other exceptional reasons, if Tier 2 proposals should be treated as equivalent to a Tier 3 proposal and receive initial strategic sign-off by Court prior to proceeding
• Assess, in more complex and/or potentially controversial or especially sensitive Tier 2 proposals, whether the Committee needs to review the final proposals following consultation and prior to the changes being implemented. In such circumstances the Committee may request further information or that additional consultation/consideration be carried out prior to final implementation.   
• Review Tier 3 proposals and make recommendations to Court including indicating if the Committee should review the final outcome before any change occurs
• Provide a summary report to Court of changes given strategic sign-off and an annual report to Court

When organisational changes are being considered, the OCGC should be consulted at the outset.  In addition, colleagues from People & Organisational Development (P&OD) must be engaged prior to progressing any change proposals, to ensure that all necessary steps - such as equality impact assessments - are appropriately addressed.

Once organisational change proposals have been approved in principle, it is for the Executive to progress matters, taking all reasonable steps to minimise and mitigate the potential for redundancies and any other negative impact on individual(s).  Proposals are of course subject to consultation with staff potentially affected by the change and the recognised trade unions.  The OCGC may request an update prior to any final decision to implement. OCGC may also choose to refer a Tier 2 proposal to a full meeting of Court where it is considered to be strategically significant and/or contentious.

The following details the delegated authority for the OCGC and shows how it is placed in the overall University Scheme of Delegation with escalation to Court:

This is an executive chaired Committee with the following membership:

• Chief Operating Officer and University Secretary (Chair)
• 3 Co-opted Lay members of Court
• 2 Staff Representatives from Court
• 1 Professional Services staff representative from Court

In attendance

• People & Organisational Development representative
• Presenter of proposal

Each Committee member has a responsibility to:

• Provide insight, scrutiny and challenge to organisation proposals and assuring business continuity
• Openly and constructively challenge where change proposals do not meet key regulatory criteria or expose the University to high risk
• Identify, assess and mitigate People & OD risk at strategic University level
• Activity and behaviour should embody the University’s values (click here for details)

The OCGC shall meet as required.

INPUTS

• Organisation change proposals

OUTPUTS

• Revised papers and reports to Court
• Minutes

There are no substitutions.  There must be a minimum of 4, of whom at least one must be a lay member and one must be a elected staff member of the Committee, in attendance for decisions or approvals. In the event of a consensus not being reached, the decision will be escalated to Court.

The OCGC will follow the UofG procedure for the management of any conflicts.  The procedure defines declaration of conflicts as a standard agenda item at the start of the meeting, the maintenance of a register of conflicts, and a process for managing all conflicts which are declared.