Objective measures as predictors of reputational ratings

Reputational ratings of graduate departments have been said to be related to faculty size and characteristics, student body size and characteristics, physical facilities, funding, and program productivity. In this study stepwise multiple regression is used to predict the National Research Council rating of quality of graduate faculty from sets of the objective measures reported in the NRC study for the disciplines of English, French, geography, philosophy, political science, and sociology. The results show that at least one of the measures of faculty or student size is a significant predictor in all six disciplines and that some measure of publication is a significant predictor in the three disciplines for which the publication measures are available.     

Faculty’s academic intellectual leadership: the intermediary relations with universities’ organizational components

In line with ‘the entrepreneurial university’ discourse, managerialism and performative culture brought new expectations to faculty such as developing online programmes/courses, carrying out training for professionals, obtaining research funds, leading projects in cooperation with industry/business, collaborating with colleagues from various disciplines, participating in international networks and representing their disciplines and institutions. These new duties and the traditional roles of academics, as knowledge producer and public intellectual, constitute their intellectual leadership. Given these new circumstances, it is important to investigate the influence of universities’ organizational components to understand how university managers can support academics’ intellectual leadership. This research aims to explore intermediary relations between communication, climate and managerial practice flexibility in universities and academics’ intellectual leadership. Quantitative data were collected from 937 Turkish faculty via an online questionnaire and analysed using Path analyses. Analysis revealed that faculty, by their intellectual leadership behaviours, contribute to the development of their disciplines, institutions and society, and that communication in universities has a strong impact on faculty’s intellectual leadership by mediation of the organizational climate and managerial flexibility regarding scholarly practices. Consequently, university managers should establish functional communication systems in their institutions to generate a positive atmosphere and to maximize the efficiency of institutional practices.     

Analysis of data on higher education in Greece by scientific area

Survey data collected by the Ministry of Education for the academic year 1993–94 from all university departments in Greece are organized in a database and analyzed by scientific area. Conclusions are drawn on the composition of student and faculty body, student to faculty ratios, women representation, postgraduate programs and research activities, tenure percentages, and the similarities and differences among disciplines.     

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.     

The perception of power in university departments: A comparison between chairpersons and faculty members

This study analyzes differences in power perception across hierarchical levels in university departments and their consequences on studying the power structure of universities. The study's major variables include the holder of power and the nature of decisions involved, controlling for the field and the prestige of the department. Two perceivers were the subjects of the study, chairpersons and faculty members. Comparison between the two perceivers yields considerable differences. The different patterns of power observed by faculty members and chairpersons and the various areas of agreement and disagreement between the perceivers are discussed and analyzed.     

The perception of change in university departments

The purpose of this study is to identify perceptual differences between hierarchical levels in organizations in general and in university departments in particular, and to analyze their consequences on the relationships between the need for change, the implementation of change, and the assessment of the success of change.Three different models are developed and tested. The first model examines the amount of change in the various aspects of change at different types of departments. The second model examines the factor structure of the various actors in the system. The third model tests separately for each perceiver the magnitude of relationship between the different aspects of change and the success of change.The implications of the models and their empirical tests to future studies of organizational change are discussed and elaborated.     

Determinants of faculty salary in prestigious versus less-prestigious departments: A comparative study of academic disciplines

This study examines the role of research performance and seniority in determining faculty salary in university graduate departments. Four fields were studied: chemistry, physics, political science, and sociology. Seniority was found to be positively related to the pay structure in most of these fields and in most of the prestige levels, though slightly more so in the social sciences. Overall, research performance dimensions were found to be the major predictors of salary. Articles are most effective in predicting salary in the physical sciences and least effective in the social sciences. The reverse is true regarding published books.The applicability of these findings to university administration is discussed and potential changes in the reward systems are elaborated.     

Making More of Faculty Culture: An Experiment in Building Intellectual Community

With the increase in academic specialty,scholars and leaders have sought new ways tostrengthen intellectual community. Their strategiesinclude experimenting with organisational structuresto bring about desired change. This qualitative casestudy examines the influences of such a structure. The Luce Seminars was a programme designed to supportsustained faculty conversation across disciplines atEmory University, a research university located in theUnited States. The analysis found that key functional and symbolic aspects of the program contributed to intenseparticipant involvement, resulting in broadened anddeepened intellectual discourse, enhanced disciplinaryorientation, and expanded possibilities for teachingand research. The authors conclude that structuredfaculty conversation across disciplines strengtheneddimensions of faculty culture related to interactionand scholarship at the university and suggest somebroad areas for future research.     

An Analysis of Trend Extrapolation as a Method of Futures Research in Physical Education

Negotiation has to do with power, the use of power, and the distribution of power. This paper discusses empowerment in higher education, suggests a redistribution and equalization of power and calls for increased collegiality through social exchange in the academic community, rather than adhering to the implementation of the typical corporate model. Literature is cited from several different social science disciplines that strongly supports the position that the successful performance of job-related tasks, and particularly job satisfaction, are directly associated with a sharing of power and decision making within organizational structures. The literature is then related to organizational relationships between faculty and administrators, with special attention given to physical education faculty, to demonstrate that sharing power is a necessary ingredient if departments, colleges, and universities are to maximize their attempts at fulfilling their missions.     

Departmental organization,legitimacy, and faculty militancy: Structural sources of pro union sentiment in a public university

This paper examines the influence of departmental organization on faculty sentiments for social change via unionization. Two structural sources (inequalities of resources between departments; goal-rewarded discontinuities within departments) and one individual source (discontent with departmental governance) of attitudinal militancy are specified in path models and empirically examined using a sample of 338 faculty in 38 departments in a large, public university. Results lend limited support for inequalities of resources between departments as a source of militancy. Departmental discontinuities have important effects on the legitimacy of rewards, but only a weak indirect effect on militancy. Governance discontent has a strong impact on the legitimacy of rewards and an interesting indirect effect on militancy.     

Should Faculty Rank Be Included as a Predictor Variable in Studies of Gender Equity in University Faculty Salaries?

Many different approaches, almost all of which use some form of regression, have been used to study the issue of gender equity in university faculty salaries. One major point of contention in ail of these approaches is whether faculty rank, which is university conferred, should be included as a predictor variable. Two illustrations are presented to demonstrate how omitting faculty rank as a predictor variable from gender equity studies of university faculty salaries can lead to incorrect conclusions concerning gender discrimination. The first illustration uses hypothetical data constructed so that there is no difference in salary due to gender. However, when faculty rank is not included as a predictor variable in the regression model, there is a significant difference in salary due to gender. The second illustration uses actual data from a study of gender equity in pay at Bowling Green State University. This data set is used to construct a new data set that is totally free of gender bias. When a regression model omitting faculty rank is fit to this gender bias-free data, again a significant difference in salary due to gender is present. Therefore, it is recommended that faculty rank be included as a predictor variable in any model used to study gender equity relating to salary.     

Espoused teaching paradigms of college faculty

The purpose of this research was to ascertain the impact of an array of variables on the espoused teaching paradigms and instructional behaviors of college faculty. The study, which was exploratory and speculative, alternately analyzed espoused teaching paradigms as independent and dependent variables. Analyses were based on data collected from a large national sample of college faculty (N = 443) spread across 163 colleges and universities and compared across four academic disciplines (English, biology, mathematics, and psychology). The results of the inquiry demonstrated gender, academic discipline, and some contextual variables to be the most significant predictors of faculty teaching paradigms. Furthermore, manifestations of teaching paradigms were explicitly reflected in the frequencies of instructional behaviors reported by the faculty surveyed. It was concluded that contingency theories of leadership offer a framework that facilitates a multivariate analysis of teaching-learning.The author was a doctoral candidate at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University at the time this research was conducted.     

A latent-variable causal model of faculty reputational ratings

Saunier (1985), in an attempt to explain sources of variation in the NRC reputational ratings of university faculty, conducted a stepwise regression analysis using twelve predictor variables. Due to problems with multicollinearity and because of the atheoretical nature of stepwise regression, Saunier's conclusions were only speculative. By using LISREL the present reanalysis demonstrates the value of regressing reputational ratings on three latent variables: size, faculty research productivity, and the quality of program graduates. The model was tested using NRC data for each of six disciplines: English, French, philosophy, geography, political science, and sociology. The relative magnitude of the contributions made by the three latent variables depended upon the discipline of interest, but generally size and research productivity were found to be more important than the quality of the program graduates.A previous version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Washington, D.C., 1987.     

Examining the Influences on Faculty Departure Intentions: A Comparison of Tenured Versus Nontenured Faculty at Research Universities Using NSOPF-99

This empirical research examines the predictors of intended departure for tenured vs. nontenured full-time faculty at research and doctoral institutions across an array of disciplines. What are the characteristics of those who intend to leave their institutions? Do tenured and nontenured faculty show different patterns of intended departure? And what are the implications for institutional policy and practice? This study proposes a theoretical model of faculty turnover intentions and tests the model on two groups of faculty surveyed in the 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF-99). Using Structural Equation Modeling, we find both similarities and differences in the dynamics of intended departure between the tenured and nontenured faculty populations.     

Learning Organization Disciplines in Higher Education Institutions: An Approach to Human Resource Development in Jordan

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of higher education faculty members concerning the application of the learning organization disciplines, as proposed by Senge (1990), in the university environment. The study surveyed 202 faculty members at the Hashemite University, one of the leading state universities in Jordan. Results of the study indicated overall moderate-to-high application of all the learning organization disciplines as indicated by their mean values, which ranged between 3.40 and 3.62 on a five-point Likert-type scale. Faculty members in this study recognize that they adequately master learning through professional development, challenge their mental models and assumptions to improve educational practices, have an individual vision that is harmonious with the organizational vision, work as teams, and value systems thinking. The article ends with several practical and theoretical recommendations.     

Degree Performance as a Function of Age,Gender, Prior Qualifications and Discipline Studied

The computerised records of a large university were analysed in an attempt to determine which variables served as predictors of degree performance. Age was a powerful predictor: mature students gained better degrees on average than younger students; and mature students with non‐traditional qualifications obtained the best degrees of all. Gender, year of graduation, and type of qualification were weak predictors of performance, but degree classifications were found to differ significantly across disciplines. The results are broadly consistent with previous studies, and suggest that opening access to mature students and to those with non‐traditional qualifications has not led to any diminution of standards. However, variations between disciplines and, in national statistics, between different years, suggest that steps may need to be taken to standardise degree classifications.     

The relationship between departmental power and faculty careers on two campuses: The case for structural effects on faculty salaries

The correlates of the rate of faculty advancement through steps within ranks were examined in a sample of 40 departments on two campuses of a large state university system. The proportion of departmental faculty moving through steps at faster than normal speed was positively correlated with the political power of the department on the campus and, in some cases, with the proportion of the faculty in the department who were at more senior ranks. The rate of departmental growth, the level of the department's scientific paradigm, or departmental national prestige had no effect on faculty career speed. The evidence suggests that it is important to broaden the study of faculty salary and other rewards to include structural as well as individual variables, including departmental affiliation and characteristics of the department.     

Generational perceptions of promotion and tenure expectations by faculty in a striving university: A quest for legitimacy?

Striving universities seek to gain prestige in the academic market. One characteristic of striving universities is a change in the faculty reward system. In this study, we examined historical promotion and tenure criteria in five disciplinary units at one striving university and then conducted interviews with senior faculty and recently tenured faculty in each unit to better understand the striving dynamics at play. Findings demonstrated that pressures to seek legitimacy were a result of the faculty themselves, the institution’s desire to gain legitimacy through an increased research profile and the disciplinary ties outside the university.