Organisational changes are the order of the day almost every month, both within and across the departments at DTU. This process is necessary and makes
all the difference between being an elite university and quietly fading away.
DTU Avisen was present at the kick-off of just such a process of change.
Photo: Thorkild Amdi Christensen
It is just past 9 am. Even though the calendar says spring is around the corner, not a single bird has as yet had the energy to start singing.
In a room in Building 101, however, there is the recognisable buzz of life. All employees from the Embedded Systems Engineering (ESE) section at DTU Informatics
are seated at tables set up in horseshoe formation – keen to see what the next two days will bring.
Around the tables are approx. 30 employees, who are all pieces of the huge jigsaw of change that is constantly in play: a course coordinator, a professor, a secretary,
18 PhD students and a large number of scientific/academic staff members. They all come from different backgrounds, but have one thing in common; their workplace
underwent a metamorphosis on 1 August 2009. Based on strategic considerations, the Head of Department of DTU Informatics, in consultation with the heads of
section, decided to merge three sections into one in the hope of generating new, ground-breaking research results by combining the many different competencies in a new way.
However, making the decision to initiate a new and exciting development process is one thing – making it happen is quite another. Jan Madsen, who has been head of ESE since
1 August, knew from day one that the successful merger of the three sections would require outside assistance:
„I quickly realised that we lacked the tools needed to identify a common focus. We had to figure out why we, in particular, were now
merged into one section. We had become a section with significant differences in academic and scientific focus. We have excellent
prospects for developing and achieving something worthwhile, but first, we need to understand who we are and where we’re going,“
explains Professor Jan Madsen, who consequently decided to contact Per Dannemand Andersen, Head of Section at DTU
Management.
Read the whole article here at DTU Avisen page 2, sektion 2