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| Vol.
5, No. 7, December 7, 2006|
To The Editor
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Case Study
by Katie Delahaye Paine As we noted in the companion article to this one ("BMOC Stands for Big Measurement On Campus"), measurement sometimes seems an unnecessary expense. But having the right data on which to base decisions is worth every penny of its cost. The cost of not measuring is almost always higher than the cost of measurement. One New England university learned this lesson the hard way. Both the University and the town were in desperate need of soccer fields. One University alumnus, a successful local entrepreneur, offered to donate $6 million to build them. A site was selected, town officials were notified, and the University assumed it would soon be hosting soccer tournaments. What the University failed to realize, and could have measured quite easily, was that its relationship with the town was in serious trouble. For much of the University's history, most of the non-students who lived in town either worked for the University or had family members or friends involved there. As such, they were clear and visible stakeholders. However, over the last two decades rising real estate prices and property taxes had forced much of the University faculty and staff out of town. Their houses were bought up by retirees and commuters who had no particular relationship with the University. So, over the years, the town's permanent residents, who had once formed a sympathetic constituency, had gradually become inactive and disengaged. The University's reputation with this new public seemed fairly good, but its relationship with them was now different -- unmeasured and untested. Several years before the soccer fields became an issue, the University had embarked on a different large construction project, a 6000-seat sports and entertainment arena. The University, a tax-exempt and local zoning-exempt state entity, chose to simply notify the town of their plans. They completely failed to anticipate that the town's permanent residents might object to potential parking problems or the absence of any local tax benefits. What happened was a classic example of the results of a bad organizational relationship. (In particular, it's what happens when you have a lack of control mutuality and trust, which are, as Grunig and Hon's paper on the IPR website explains, two measurable components of relationships.) Local townspeople began to view their local elected officials as too accommodating to the University. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that the chair of the local town council worked for the University. Alternative candidates with no ties to the University were recruited and ultimately, the campaign to replace the town leadership was successful. In the course of that campaign, what started as a small group of disgruntled neighbors talking to each other in living rooms turned into a powerful and influential email list 2000 names strong. Now let's skip ahead a couple years to the soccer fields proposal. The University was still taking no steps to understand its relationships with its constituencies, and so was unaware that a good part of the town's permanent residents had become well-organized and were potentially quite hostile. When the University announced their new construction project, it was immediately interpreted as another attempt to railroad a project through the town, and the reaction was swift, noisy and disastrous. And, of course, totally unexpected by the University. The site selected by the University brought together a "perfect storm" of allied opponents. It happened to be a place where virtually every migrating bird stopped on its bi-annual journey past town, so every local birder and Audubon Society member was outraged. It also happened to be an important part of the watershed of the major local river, so everyone concerned with water quality was up in arms. Finally, the proposed fields were part of a lovely scenic vista, prompting local conservationists to cite diminishing open space as a reason for their opposition. None of these protests might have had significant impact alone, given that the proposed fields were seen as a local issue. However, when the varying forces were combined they were able to get the attention of statewide media. They used email and their listserve to ensure that every University trustee and every politician heard their complaints. Media coverage included not just the local papers but statewide TV and New Hampshire Public Radio, programming that every lawmaker pays attention to. Within
two months the proposed soccer fields were (as one insider put it) "nuclear
waste," the $6 million gift had to be rejected and the University
President stepped down; a stiff price to pay for misunderstanding
relationships.
The irony is that the University is home to a prestigious business
school, known for its polling and survey capabilities. The
cost to actually measure town/gown relationships would have been
minimal. And compared to the loss of
a $6 million gift, the ROI would have been off the charts. |
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