Indonesian private higher education agility, the big challenge…
After being determined to be elected president of the Republic of Indonesia the second period of 2019–2024, president Joko Widodo (Jokowi) launched the theme of Indonesian nation development for the next 5 years through the statement: “SDM unggul, Indonesia maju” (Nasir, 2019) means superior HR (Human Resources), Indonesia become developed country. President Jokowi stated that the Indonesian nation, with its excellent human resources, was able to compete global so that Indonesia could become a developed country.
The goal of superior human resources to realize an advanced Indonesia is very much related to at least two critical objectives when viewed in terms of time. The first is global, facing the megatrend in 2030 (Com/Government, 2014) and meeting the goals of Indonesia Emas (Golden Indonesia) in 2045 (Humas Menpan RB, 2018; Nasional/Bappenas, 2019; Perencanaan, Nasional, Kepala, & Perencanaan, 2017). If globally the Indonesian people can prepare themselves as best as possible to respond to the 2030 megatrend, which is still quite long (more or less if calculated from 2019, then there will always be 20 more years effective), then there is a very high possibility of fulfilling the objectives of Golden Indonesia 2045 a progressing, sovereign and prosperous country. This momentum of time must be prepared as best and as optimal as possible. The first goal of Golden Indonesia 2045 is about superior human resources and mastery of science and technology. From here, it is obvious the vital role of education to realize the objectives of Golden Indonesia 2045 and respond to the 2030 megatrend.
The environmental characteristics that organizations face in welcoming the 2030 megatrend are environmental changes that are as unique as VUCA (Volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) (Sinha, 2016) or in other words facing modifications that tend to be fast and not easy to predict. The organizational environment of VUCA is related to the era of society 5.0 which contains some changes in the organizational environment (especially in the business realm) due to the influence of rapid technological developments, including changes in customer relations, changes in business processes and changes in business models (Salgues, 2018). In the era of society 5.0 (Salgues, 2018) to be able to respond to the three mentioned modifications previously requires adaptability, agility, mobility, and reliability. The topic of organizational agility is a topic that is currently ‘hot’ discussed today (Review, 2019). Even President Jokowi also mentioned the word agility is essential in changing an organization related to the national development plan (Bappenas, 2015). Organizational agility is related to HR management in organizations (Ahammad, Glaister, & Gomes, 2019), so organizational agility is closely related to superior HR. Organization agility is an organization that can detect and respond to changes, opportunities, and threats quickly, easily, and agile (Tallon & Pinsonneault, 2011). An organization is expected to be agile in terms of learning to be able to respond to changes in the VUCA environment by learning so that innovation is expected. To be agile, an organization should have functional absorption capacity so that it can simultaneously produce exploitation and exploration of sustainable innovation.
Changes in the VUCA environment are inevitably also experienced by universities as an organization so they must be responded to properly. Higher education is an organization that provides learning for students who are currently being prepared so that they can become superior HR to face the 2030 megatrend and Indonesia Emas 2045. As an organization, higher education must also quickly change and well managed to adapt to the VUCA environment.
The ranking of higher education according to the version of the Ministry of Research and Higher Education in Indonesia is one indicator of how the organization of higher education organizations responds to environmental changes that are VUCA because they are also tested on innovation. According to the ranking of national universities in Indonesia conducted by the Ministry of Research and Higher Education in 2019 (Biro Kerja Sama dan Komunikasi Publik, dan, Direktorat Jenderal Kelembagaan Ilmu Pengetahuan, Teknologi, & Kemenristekdikti, 2019) states that the fluctuation of position movements tends to be dynamic in private higher education. The most significant number of students in Indonesia is studying at private universities (Pangarso, 2019), therefor private higher education has an important role. Of the 100 tertiary institutions, the number is still dominated by private higher education, but the top 10 are still in state higher education. For rank 11–100 for private higher education it tends to change every year (there is private higher education which goes up / down in position or appears in/out into/out of the top 10). As an excellent example can be seen Telkom University which has increased from 2017 ranked 61st; in 2018 occupies 33rd place and in 2019 rises to 14th position in general for ranking Indonesian national tertiary institutions and is the №1 best private tertiary institution in Indonesia (Ramadhan, 2019).
Improving the quality of private tertiary institutions is an important thing to consider (Pangarso, 2019) because this is part of the SDG (sustainability development goal) goal of quality education (Ministry of National Development Planning, 2019). The discussion this time will focus more on efforts to improve the quality of the internal side of private higher education, namely the challenge to make agile private higher education. The practice of agility also exists in the context of higher education (Masood, Hoda, & Blincoe, 2018). To be agile, private more upper must continue to be oriented towards learning or become learning organizations. Learning organizations will result in organizations maintaining to open up and produce innovation. To be able to learn, organizations need knowledge that is subsequently absorbed, this absorption of knowledge will occupy the organization to exploit internally and explore all existing knowledge externally to produce innovation.
Organizational learning now and going forward will tend to be digitally related “artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, robotization, internet of things, augmented reality, digitalization” in context “e-mobile technologies, tablets, and smartphone applications” (Sousa & Rocha, 2019). Artificial intelligence (AI) is one example of the results of changes in organizational technology VUCA that is important because it has a reasonably fundamental impact, and the organization must agile respond to it. There is a tendency for an organization to change its form to AI organization (Machine & Grieving, 2019). AI organizations will use the role of robots in carrying out repetitive things so that a relationship between humans and robots will be formed. Changes to AI organizations, especially for private higher education, will change many existing learning fundamentals, learning can be anywhere, from anywhere and anytime. Therefore private university organizations must prepare themselves by continuing to learn, opening themselves to existing knowledge to be agile.
One challenge to change an organization (including private universities) into agile is in terms of organizational culture and leadership (Machine & Grieving, 2019). If robots have replaced repetitive things, then the role of humans will be more inclined to items that are more strategic, innovative, unique, high-value, and non-exact obtained through a continuous learning process. Therefore in an organization, there must be a learning culture exemplified by the leadership. While the organizational culture of private tertiary institutions in general still tends not to be a learner, this may be due to the extended stay in the comfort zone by most of the X generation who live in an era where technology has not developed as rapidly as now, so it is difficult to change. From this, we need the role of a leader who can indeed influence the organization of the private tertiary institution he leads to exemplify and change the culture of the organization to continue learning. It also requires simultaneous relationships between generations to exchange knowledge within the organization so that learning is formed as an organizational culture that is carried out in a structured, systematic, and massive manner. Transcendental leadership (Cardona, 2000) trusted according to a dynamic organizational environment /VUCA (Crossan, Vera, & Nanjad, 2008) so that it will be able to form an organizational culture that is always learning and finally realizes an agile organization.
References
Ahammad, M. F., Glaister, K. W., & Gomes, E. (2019). Strategic agility and human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, (December 2018), 100700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2019.100700
Bappenas, K. P. /. (2015). Rencana Pembangunan Jangka Menengah Nasional 2015–2019. Rencana Pembangunan Jangka Menengah Nasional 2015–2019. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004
Biro Kerja Sama dan Komunikasi Publik, dan, Direktorat Jenderal Kelembagaan Ilmu Pengetahuan, Teknologi, dan P. T., & Kemenristekdikti. (2019). Menristekdikti Umumkan Klasterisasi Perguruan Tinggi Indonesia 2019, Fokuskan Hasil dari Perguruan Tinggi. Retrieved August 23, 2019, from https://www.ristekdikti.go.id/kabar/menristekdikti-umumkan-klasterisasi-perguruan-tinggi-indonesia-2019-fokuskan-hasil-dari-perguruan-tinggi/
Cardona, P. (2000). Transcendental leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 21(4), 201–206. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730010335445
Com/Government, K. (2014). Future State 2030: The global megatrends shaping governments About the Mowat Centre. Retrieved from www.mowatcentre.cainfo@mowatcentre.ca
Crossan, M., Vera, D., & Nanjad, L. (2008). Transcendent leadership: Strategic leadership in dynamic environments. Leadership Quarterly, 19(5), 569–581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2008.07.008
Humas Menpan RB. (2018). Antisipasi Tantangan Global Megatrend dengan Tiga Hal. Retrieved August 23, 2019, from https://www.menpan.go.id/site/berita-terkini/antisipasi-tantangan-global-dengan-tiga-hal
Machine, B., & Grieving, I. (2019). The AI-Powered Organization. Harvard Business Review.
Masood, Z., Hoda, R., & Blincoe, K. (2018). Adapting agile practices in university contexts. Journal of Systems and Software, 144, 501–510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2018.07.011
Ministry of National Development Planning. (2019). Roadmap of SDGs Indonesia | UNICEF Indonesia. Retrieved August 23, 2019, from https://www.unicef.org/indonesia/reports/roadmap-sdgs-indonesia
Nasional/Bappenas, K. P. P. (2019). Draft Visi Indonesia 2045 dan Impian Indonesia 2015–2085.
Nasir, M. (2019). SAMBUTANPeringatan HUTKe-74RI Tahun 2019 “SDM Unggul,Indonesia Maju.” Retrieved from https://www.ristekdikti.go.id/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Sambutan-HUT-RI-2019_Menristekdikti_final.pdf
Pangarso, A. (2019, March). Bagaimana meningkatkan kualitas universitas swasta, tempat mayoritas mahasiswa Indonesia kuliah. Retrieved March 15, 2019, from https://theconversation.com/bagaimana-meningkatkan-kualitas-universitas-swasta-tempat-mayoritas-mahasiswa-indonesia-kuliah-111520?fbclid=IwAR0l4qfb-wg1miLTBu3WOkDUz_6Rrtuzof_uK2invQrO0xCv0GTzyURWD8Q
Perencanaan, M., Nasional, P., Kepala, /, & Perencanaan, B. (2017). VISI INDONESIA 2045. Retrieved from https://luk.staff.ugm.ac.id/atur/BahanPaparanMPPN-VisiIndonesia2045-25September2017.pdf
Ramadhan, M. S. (2019). Telkom University PTS Terbaik di Indonesia. Retrieved August 23, 2019, from https://www.medcom.id/pendidikan/news-pendidikan/VNxZwABk-telkom-university-pts-terbaik-di-indonesia
Review, H. B. (2019). Build the Workforce You Need. Harvard Business Review Special Issue.
Salgues, B. (2018). Society 5.0 Industry of the Future, Technologies, Methods and Tools. Wiley (Vol. 1).
Sinha, S. (2016). Managing an ambidextrous organization: balancing innovation and efficiency. Strategic Direction, 32(10), 35–37. https://doi.org/10.1108/SD-05-2016-0061
Sousa, M. J., & Rocha, Á. (2019). Digital learning: Developing skills for digital transformation of organizations. Future Generation Computer Systems, 91, 327–334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2018.08.048
Tallon, P. P., & Pinsonneault, A. (2011). Competing perspectives on the link between strategic information technology alignment and organizational agility: Insights from a mediation model. MIS Quarterly: Management Information Systems, 35(2), 463–486.
