Determinants of faculty attitudes toward collective bargaining in university graduate departments: An organizational climate approach

This study examines the relationship between some facets of organizational climate in university departments and faculty attitudes toward various aspects of faculty unionization. The dimensions of organizational climate explored are: the perceived power structure, assessment of rewards, and perceived organizational goals. The major findings of this study are: (a) The perceived power structure is an important determinant of attitudes toward an egalitarian system, especially in the social sciences. Perceived individual power is negatively related to egalitarian attitude in the physical sciences whereas perceived faculty group power is negatively related to favorable attitudes toward collective bargaining in the social sciences. (b) Perceived emphasis on consulting activities is positively related to attitudes toward seniority-based aspects of collective bargaining in the physical sciences while perceived emphasis on personal factors is positively related to all aspects of attitude toward collective bargaining in the social sciences. (c) Inequity is positively related to attitudes toward unionization both in the physical and social sciences. The policy implications of these findings to faculty and university administration are discussed.     

Predicting faculty job satisfaction in university departments

This study attempts to examine the relationships between several dimensions of organizational climate and faculty job satisfaction in university departments which offer Ph.D. degrees. The three dimensions of organizational climate examined are: power perception, the perceived organizational goals, and the assessment of rewards. The major findings of the study are:(1) Nonresearch perceived organizational goals are by and large weakly related to job satisfaction in both the physical and social sciences. (2) Power perception is a strong determinant of job satisfaction in the social sciences and considerably less dominant in the physical sciences. (3) The assessment of rewards is the strongest predictor of faculty job satisfaction in both the physical and social sciences. The major conclusion of the study is that the organizational climate is one of the keys to understanding faculty job satisfaction. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

新升格职业大学治理的挑战与应对

职业院校升格为职业大学是我国探索发展本科层次职业教育的新路径。新升格职业大学有效治理面临定位新、基础弱、易漂移的挑战。理念层面,新升格职业大学应树立层次要求与类型特征相融的目标,打造外部治理与内部治理互促的格局,权力分配坚持自治性与开放性并存,建构多维度制度要素互补的组织场域。实践层面,外部治理注重形成政府、行业组织、同行联盟、合作企业及社会文化共治互动,内部治理注重决策机制、基层组织及师资队伍变革创新。     

Social Justice Training in School Psychology: Applying Principles of Organizational Consultation to Facilitate Change in Graduate Programs

Scholars and professional organizations have called for an increased emphasis on social justice training in applied psychology graduate programs, including school psychology programs (SPPs). During the past decade, emerging research has identified some features of high-quality social justice education, including a clear program mission statement and relevant field-based experiences. However, relatively little literature has described how faculty can pursue comprehensive change in their graduate programs to move training toward a social justice orientation. The purpose of this article is to describe how principles of organizational consultation can be applied to cultivate a program-wide emphasis on social justice issues in school psychology training. In particular, this article reviews relevant literature on social justice education and describes an adapted 5-stage model of organizational consultation for coordinating cohesive program change. Specific recommendations for implementing high-quality social justice training are provided, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Faculty Organizational Commitment and Citizenship

Building on a theoretical framework that links characteristics of individuals and their work settings to organizational commitment (OC) and citizenship behavior, this study considers why faculty may be disengaging from institutional service. Analyses of survey data collected from a state system of higher education suggest that job characteristics, exchanges and social learning are associated with faculty members’ OC. For instance, opportunities for advancement and research support, as well as responsiveness of administrators to faculty, contributed to the likelihood that faculty would accept a position at their institution again if given the chance. Commitment, however, did not significantly affect time spent on institutional service. Two job characteristics—time spent on research and time spent on teaching—were negatively associated with this behavior.     

The Illusion of Inclusion

Abstract

CSWE standards pertaining to diversity have been criticized for being vague and impotent (Hooyman,1995). A pattern in social work education of “diversity by numbers” has emerged in which the emphasis is placed on the representation of certain groups on the faculty, the staff, the student body, and the curriculum. There exists an illusion of inclusion, in which the curriculum, personnel and students are desegregated. However, the school's culture has yet to be transformed to the stage of institutional development in which equitable treatment for all members is a primary goal and diversity is a driving force which permeates organizational life. This analysis explores the challenges associated with conceptualizing and infusing diversity, specifically as it relates to race and ethnicity, throughout social work programs. The symbolic interactionism theoretical perspective is used to interpret the experiences of African American faculty in predominately white schools of social work. An African-centered perspective of organizational functioning is suggested as a strategy to transform the illusion of diversity into a reality in social work education.     

象牙塔里的压力——中国高校教师职业压力与学术产出的实证研究

高校教师是教学运作和学术研究的第一线实践专业人员,如何强化其职业发展和学术产出成为影响高等教育质量的关键因素之一;但与此同时,新管理主义和学术资本主义在高校组织管理体制中的渗透、社会环境与科学技术的急速变迁,高校规模扩大以及由此带来的院校组织内部的一系列变化,导致高校教师处于高度压力之下。本研究利用2007北京市高校教师调查数据,尝试从组织环境与个体特质两个层面,揭示高校教师职业压力的内涵与影响因素,探讨过度压力对高校教师职业发展所形成的冲击效应。研究发现:(1)高校教师面临不同层次的教学、科研和经济压力。在教师职业生涯轨迹中,40岁以下为高压期,41～55岁为缓压期,56岁以后为低压期。(2)高校扩招、高校内部绩效评估机制的实施和教师的婚姻状态、薪酬水平、工作负荷、发展定位、职称等成为引发高校教师压力的重要因素。(3)压力的膨胀不仅不能有效促进教师的学术产出,相反会导致教师的职业倦怠。     

Sharing the arena: Changing roles and negotiating power among teacher education participants

Abstract

This article describes and discusses the changes that took place when a group of university faculty members encouraged the participation of traditionally silent teacher education participants (supervising teachers and teacher education students) in the process of teacher education. The findings of this study include defining the delicate balance between inviting participation, negotiating roles, and sharing power in an arena traditionally reserved for only one group of participants. Participants (including university faculty) are often reluctant to give up the security of their traditional roles; therefore, they have difficulty taking on new roles. Furthermore, there is a continual tug of war between participants because of the constant negotiation and renegotiation of roles, relationships, and power. Traditional ways of interacting on the part of all participants are called into question. Understanding this balance proved to be the foremost difficulty for all participants involved.     

A Synchronous Online Social Work PhD Program: Educational Design and Student/Faculty Response

ABSTRACT

Faculty and students evaluate the curriculum design and delivery of a synchronous online PhD program in social work that prepares scholar-practitioners in social work research, education, and organizational practice. The designers envision a collaborative community of scholars and leaders nurtured by a cohort-based, sequenced curriculum, and intentional faculty mentoring. This teaching and learning platform provides an opportunity to engage with a globally diverse population of doctoral students while fostering both relationships and quality learning outcomes. Educational design and pedagogical features of the program are described and analyzed through the collaborative thinking and learning platform of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model’s interdependent elements–teaching, cognitive, and social presence. Eighteen students and ten faculty evaluated the strengths and limitations of the online program across each dimension of the model through student course evaluations, focus-group reflections, and qualitative faculty survey data. Student and faculty respondents specified the benefits of synchronous presence across all three dimensions. They also identified significant barriers, particularly in the areas of teaching and social presence. Implications and recommendations are based on a review of findings that inform pedagogical decisions and design options for online PhD education in social work.     

Responding to mission creep: faculty members as cosmopolitan agents

Across the field of U.S. higher education, regional teaching and comprehensive universities are striving for national research status. This tendency has most often been explored at the organizational level, but in this paper, the views and actions of faculty members are the unit of analysis. Based on qualitative data, I put forward a three pronged frame-work that organizes overarching faculty responses to one university’s transition. I focus most specifically on one faculty response, which I call operationalizing in order to show how faculty members take agency in a moment of complex change that illuminates tensions between faculty, university leaders and the field of higher education, more generally. Contributing to the literature on faculty agency, mission creep/striving and change in higher education, I unpack specific ideas and practices that faculty used as they took agency over their careers.     

大学行政管理存在问题分析及改革措施

行政管理定义为运用国家权力对社会事务的一种管理活动,具有法制性、权威性、服务性等特征。大学行政管理主要指大学行政人员运用所具有的权力,整合所有一切可用资源,通过对学校事务的治理、管理和执行来完成学校预定目标的一种组织活动。它从属于行政管理,具有行政管理的一般属性,又因其从事人员为大学教职员工,故有其特殊性。随着高等教育体制改革的深入,大学行政管理在此进程中也取得了深刻的发展,但在发展中仍不可避免的存在一些问题,引起了我们对大学行政管理体制的一系列思考。本文以分析现状问题到提出改革措施两方面,对此问题进行了阐述。     

Defending the Community College Equity Agenda By Thomas Bailey and Vanessa Smith Morest

The current rhetoric around using data to improve community college student outcomes with only limited research on data-driven decision-making (DDDM) within postsecondary education compels a more comprehensive understanding of colleges’ capacity for using data to inform decisions. Based on an analysis of faculty and administrators’ perceptions and behaviors at 41 community colleges that participated in an initiative to improve student success, an argument is presented to include social capital as an explicit component of the capacity of community colleges for using data on student outcomes to increase student success. Building on Newmann, King, and Rigdon’s (1997) conceptualization of schools’ organizational capacity to meet accountability expectations and Smylie and Evans’ (2006) exploration of the role of Coleman’s (1988) social capital in policy implementation, this study found a relationship between the presence of forms of social capital as part of the organizational capacity for DDDM and the frequency and extent of data use among faculty and administrators. In light of research on organizational learning that suggests that social capital creates opportunities for the creation of new knowledge—such as possible solutions for persistent problems of student success—and research on organizational routines as mechanisms for change and preservation in organizations, this article concludes with recommendations for community colleges undertaking data-driven educational reform.     

Why Diversity Matters in Rural America: Women Faculty of Color Challenging Whiteness

Using critical race theory as an analytical framework to examine White privilege and institutional racism, two teacher educators, in a rural predominantly White university tell counterstories about teaching for social justice in literacy and mathematics education courses. In sharing our counterstories in this paper, we, women faculty of color, challenge Whiteness and institutional racism with the hopes of: (1) promoting social justice teaching in order to globally prepare (pre-and-in-service) teachers and educational leaders to motivate and empower ALL students to learn; (2) dismantling racism to promote better wellbeing for women faculty of color; and (3) moving educational communities at large closer toward equitable education, which is a fundamental civil right. After analyzing the counterstories, we suggest that university leaders establish policies and practices to support (recruit, retain, and promote) faculty/leaders of color, not just mainstream academics. Working toward equity and justice, we strive to form alliances between Whites and Others.     

Organizational Capacity and Political Activities of Canadian University Faculty Associations

In this study we examine the organizational capacity and political activities of Canadian university faculty associations in the development of higher education policy. We attempt to describe, from the perspective of the faculty associations, their political role both internal and extenral to the university and the extent to which faculty associations perceive themselves as being able to influence issues of policy. We report the findings of a national survey of university faculty associations including data on organizational structure, finance, perceived influence on institutional and provincial government, policy, services and programs, and other factors related to their role as political pressure groups.     

高职院校媒介素养教育的独特性分析

在大众传媒业飞速发展的社会背景下,高职院校积极开展媒介素养教育直接关涉自身软实力的提升、办学特色的凝练和教学模式的改善,高职院校重视实践教学及与社会经济发展紧密联系的特色构成了开展媒介素养教育的独特优势。高职院应从加强师资队伍建设,完善具有高职特色的媒介素养课程体系,积极开展合作,培育高职院校媒介素养教育的良好氛围,建构高职院校媒介素养教育的科学评估体系等方面,加强媒介素养教育。     

Competence and usage of Web 2.0 technologies by higher education faculty

Literature on Web 2.0 experiences of higher education faculty in developing countries such as Pakistan is very limited. An insight on awareness and practices of higher education faculty with these tools can be helpful to map strategies and plan of action for adopting latest technologies to support teaching–learning processes in higher education of such countries. This survey study was aimed to examine the competence and practices of higher education faculty in Pakistan with Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, Wikis, Google Docs, Skype, Flickr, YouTube, and social networks. The study was also focused to look for what type of role faculty play while using these tools; and to find whether any significant differences in terms of age, gender, or academic discipline exist in competence and usage of these tools by the faculty. The data were collected from a sample of 246 university teachers in the spring 2014 semester. The findings of the study indicated that faculty participants reported to use Web 2.0 social tools more frequently than instrumental tools. Similarly, their competence with social tools was higher than their competence with instrumental tools. Additional results indicated that their competence with Web2.0 tools significantly differed with respect to their age, gender, and academic disciplines.     

Employability as a New Mission?

The purpose of this study is to analyze the recent development of Chinese vocational colleges from two perspectives: the adoption of employability as a new institutional mission and organizational changes in six areas. The analysis is based on a multiple-case study. The analytical frameworks are developed from sociological theory and organizational theory. This study argues that vocational colleges in China are experiencing substantial transformations. At the macro level, they are transforming from a social institution to industry under the neoliberal argument for globalization. Colleges adopt employability as their new mission. At the micro level, there are considerable changes under the influence of the new mission, in terms of program goal, program development, curriculum development, dominant pedagogy, faculty development, and internal management. The changes fit the rhetoric of employability as a core competency. There is a tendency that Chinese vocational higher education institutions will degenerate into training organizations for employment.     

澳大利亚TAFE教师发展的实践模式及其启示

作为澳大利亚高等教育的重要组成部分,澳大利亚TAFE一直在寻求教育质量提升的有效途径,在教师发展方面进行了许多尝试,形成了自己的特色。本文以笔者赴澳培训掌握的一手资料为基础,以澳大利亚TAFE新南威尔士州悉尼学院为案例,对TAFE教师发展的实践现状进行梳理和分析,总结出TAFE以教学发展、个人发展和组织发展为内涵且三位一体的教师发展实践模式。     

Contextualizing distributed leadership in higher education

This case study of development in a technical university situates distributed leadership in higher education in an organizational perspective. Analysis of documentation from development programs and interviews with 10 faculty members showed that leadership practices were related to different institutional logics prominent in four key activities in this specific university: education, research, formal organization and boundary-spanning cross-scientific environments. A shared understanding of these logics was accompanied with a reported increase in organizational understanding and leadership awareness that helped establish collaboration and sensemaking. Furthermore, we show that the theory of logic multiplicity provides a way to analyze previously neglected aspects of power, tensions, context and the practical relevance of the concept of distributed leadership.     

Stepping Off the Dance Floor for a View From the Balcony: Observations for Physical Education Teacher Education Programs in Interesting Times

Abstract

The theme of this article is adopted from the work of leadership experts Heifetz and Linsky, who described the need for organizational leaders to balance their time on the “dance floor” (managing tasks) with time viewing from the “balcony” (understanding the bigger picture). The physical education teacher education doctoral program faculty on many campuses would be well advised to periodically invest time distancing themselves from the daily rigors of research, teaching, and service to better understand the challenges and opportunities confronting their programs. Furthermore, faculty must be willing to critique their program and its strategic direction, eliminate ineffective practices that consume limited resources, and retain what is most important. The purpose of this article is to provide collective observations “from the balcony” for faculty working in physical education teacher education doctoral programs as a catalyst for discussion.