Analysis and solution development
Analysing and defining the fields of action
In the analysis phase, which began in 2020, five workstreams examined the various institutional levels of ETH:
- Workstream 1: Executive Board, basic architecture & boards
- Workstream 2: Professorships
- Workstream 3: Support for professors
- Workstream 4: Academic Departments
- Workstream 5: Central Administrative Units
A sixth, overarching workstream was dedicated to culture at ETH:
Members of the Executive Board, professors and employees from the departments and central administrative units worked hand in hand in the workstreams. They were supported by external organisational developers.
Based on the comprehensive analysis results, the members of the workstreams derived fields of action, which they prioritised and proposed to the Executive Board for action. The results of the analysis phase were presented to the entire ETH in a town hall in June 2021 (see article in the Internal news). The fields of action worked on by the individual workstreams can be found on the corresponding workstream websites.
Development of proposed solutions
In the solution development phase, the members of the existing workstreams developed concrete solution proposals for the fields of action. For topics that did not only affect one organisational level, but had to be looked at across ETH, a corresponding working group was formed, in which members from all six existing workstreams participated:
As the final development of the solutions required specialist knowledge from the organisation, it had to be carried out by those units that would later be responsible for the implementation. In the first phase of solution development, the lead responsibility lay with the respective workstream, which involved the respective specialists from the units depending on the situation. In the second phase, leadership was transferred to the unit within ETH responsible for the respective topic, which in turn was able to involve the members of the workstream as the situation required.
At the end of the solution development phase, a major showcase of the solutions developed was organised: "rETHink Switch". This event on 22 March 2023 marked the start of the transition from the solution development phase to the implementation phase (see the Internal News article). The most important proposed solutions were also published in a special edition of the employee magazine life.