Academic dissatisfaction, managerial change and neo-liberalism

Abstract

This paper examines perceptions by academics of their work in the Australian state of Victoria, and places such perceptions within the context of international and Australian debates on the academic profession. A 2010 survey conducted by the National Tertiary Education Union in Victoria was analysed in light of the literature on academic work satisfaction and on corporatised managerial practice (''managerialism''). The analysis is also placed in the context of neo-liberalism, defined as a more marketised provision combined with increased pro-market state regulation. Factor analysis was used to reduce 18 items we hypothesised as drivers of work satisfaction to four factors: managerial culture, workloads, work status and self-perceived productivity. Regression models show the relative effects of these factors on two items measuring work satisfaction. This analysis is complemented by discursive analysis of open-ended responses. We found that satisfaction among academics was low and decreasing compared to a previous survey, and that management culture was the most important driver. Concern with workloads also drove dissatisfaction, although academics seem happy to be more productive if they have control over their work and develop in their jobs. Work status had little effect. In the open-ended responses the more dissatisfied academics tended to contrast a marketised present to a collegial past. While respondents seem to conflate all recent managerial change with marketisation, we pose a crucial question: whether the need for more professional management needs to be congruent with marketising policy directions.

Current Developments at Higher Education Institutions and Interview-Based Recommendations to Foster Work Motivation and Work Performance

“…With respect to positive developments, the authors further noted that students' opinions seem to be increasingly considered in higher education institutions. Fifth, in an Australian survey by Fredman and Doughney ( 2012 ), academics reported lower job satisfaction than was found in a survey that the authors had conducted two years previously. The authors found that the low job satisfaction primarily resulted from the management culture (i.e., organizational and managerial practices) and from concerns about the workload; in contrast, autonomy and personal development opportunities were positively related to job satisfaction.…”

Over-Competitiveness in Academia: A Literature Review

“…A recent study of staff dissatisfaction levels in tertiary institutions in Victoria (Australia) found that, along with the dissatisfaction generated from management practices directly impacting the respondent, a ''general discontent with neo-liberal change across the economic and social spheres'' 38 was also a contributor to work dissatisfaction among academics. The incorporation of an over-competitive environment into academia is a clear outcome of this neoliberal change.…”

The influence of academicians’ individual professional role in formation of academic culture

“…Another reason can be attributed to high control over the job. According to Fredman and Doughney (2012), increasing work demand may result in high control over work that in turn develops employee's selfefficacy. For academic profession, workload is a fact and this may feed their perception of PWb.…”