Across the great divide: what do Australian academics think of university leadership? Advice from the CAP survey

Coates, Hamish; Dobson, Ian R.; Goedegebuure, Leo; Meek, Lynn

doi:10.1080/1360080x.2010.491111

Cited by 40 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…As also noted above, another finding of the CAP study was that Australian academics had the third most negative attitude to management. Coates et al (2010) discern a ''paradox'' in that this discontent with management exists alongside what other research suggests is a sensitivity to academic mission by middle and upper management. A similar paradox seems to be evident in the findings of Winefield et al (2008) who measured aspects of work stress including job satisfaction and trust in senior management for staff at 17 Australian univerities in 2000 and again in [2003][2004].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Coates et al (2009) indicate that Australian academics have the second lowest work satisfaction scores of those from the 18 diverse countries surveyed in the Changing Academic Profession study, more satisfied only than those in the UK (and equal with those in Portugal and China). This study also shows that negative attitudes to university managements among academics were the third worst in Australia, more negative only in the UK and Hong Kong (Coates et al 2010). This article seeks to contribute to the international discussion on academic work life by exploring what appears to be particularly troubling levels of dis-satisfaction and discontent in Australia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

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Academic dissatisfaction, managerial change and neo-liberalism

2011

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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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Academic dissatisfaction, managerial change and neo-liberalism

2011

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“…This was supported by findings of the interviews, citing weak devolution and delegation of power by university leaders. Centralised decision-making support is against the view held by several researchers (Chen & Silverthorne 2005;Coates et al 2010;McGrath 2015) who are in favour of devolved, participative and transparent decision-making as this increases job satisfaction, morale, productivity and customer service. Worth noting in this study is academic leaders' dissatisfaction with the ineffectiveness and inefficiencies of administrative staff, which accords with researchers who claim academics bemoan the lack of support from administrators (Holton & Philiphs 1995): that there is an uneasy and ambivalent relationship (McInnis 1998) and that administrative staff are stuck in slow motion and ignoring efficiency (Kuo 2009).…”

Section: Discussion Of Research Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

The effects of leadership traits on transformation: A case study of a South African university

Ngcamu

2017

TDSA

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This article investigated the effects of leadership traits on transformation in a merged and incorporated higher education institution in South Africa. Few studies have been conducted on leadership traits in universities, with none linking them to transformation. The study was guided by the traits theory, one of the systematic attempts to study the effect of leadership on transformation. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used, the former through a structured survey questionnaire and the latter through in-depth interviews. The questionnaire generated a high reliability rate of 0.947, indicating a high degree of internal consistency of the results, which reflected nearly 40% of the research participants who felt that the university creates a platform for open debates. However, 30% of them did not feel that independent thinking and freedom of speech are promoted, a finding partly corroborated by the qualitative findings. It was also found that business processes were inflexible, there was no reward for performance, unproductive change interventions were introduced and decision-making centralised, all seen as contrary to the transformation agenda and reflecting poor leadership traits. It is hoped that the study will assist university decision-makers under the current state of turmoil in the South African higher education landscape to exhibit leadership traits that will bring about transformation. The study also fills a void in the scant literature on the effects of leadership traits on transformation in South African universities, thus contributing to the body of knowledge.

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“…Studies of the academic workforce reveal an aging workforce across many developed countries (Ackers & Gill, 2005 & Macdonald, 2003;Magner, 1999) and a desire by completed Ph.D.s and early career academics to leave the academy (Ackers & Gill, 2005;Bexley, Arkoudis, & James, 2013;Huisman, Weert, & Bartelse, 2002). There is also a casualization of the workforce occurring (Coates, Dobson, Goedegebuure, & Meek, 2010;McInnis, 2000). A large study of the U.S. higher education system, for example, revealed that 60% of today's 1,138,734 faculty members are in full-and part-time appointments outside the tenure system, while in 1975, this proportion was 42% (Gappa, Austin, & Trice, 2007;Schuster & Finkelstein, 2006).…”

Section: Implications For Individual Faculty Members Academic Work Prmentioning

confidence: 99%

Academic Agency and Leadership in Tourism Higher Education

Dredge

Schott

2013

Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism

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This article explores the leadership agency of tourism faculty in higher education and recommends actions to enhance leadership for social change. Based on a review of literature grounded within an agency perspective, a conceptual framework is presented that identifies systemic and individual influences on leadership. Three types of freedom for faculty to engage in leadership behaviors arise:(1) the capacity of the individual to lead; (2) the freedom afforded by the organizational context to lead in accordance with one's capacity to lead; and (3) the social freedom to lead derived from each faculty member's disciplinary and departmental norms and structures.

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Across the great divide: what do Australian academics think of university leadership? Advice from the CAP survey

Cited by 40 publications

References 8 publications

Academic dissatisfaction, managerial change and neo-liberalism

Academic dissatisfaction, managerial change and neo-liberalism

The effects of leadership traits on transformation: A case study of a South African university

Academic Agency and Leadership in Tourism Higher Education

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