Psychosocial Hazards in UK Universities: Adopting a Risk Assessment Approach

Drawing on the findings of a recent national survey, this article examines the extent to which higher education institutions in the United Kingdom meet the minimum standards recommended by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for the management of work‐related stressors. A comparison is also made between the average weekly working hours reported in the current survey with those found in two previous studies of the higher education sector (1998 and 2004). A sample of 9,740 academic and academic‐related employees working in higher education institutions in the UK completed a measure of seven job‐related stressors (or psychosocial hazards) (that is, demands, control, support from colleagues and managers, interpersonal relationships, role clarity and involvement in organisational change). With one exception (job control), levels of job‐related stressors in the higher education sector exceeded the benchmarks stipulated by the HSE. Stressors relating to change, role, job demands and managerial support were particularly high. Recommendations made by the HSE for interim and longer‐term targets to be achieved for the management of each stressor category are provided. Findings also revealed that average working hours remain high in the sector, with many employees continuing to exceed the weekly limit set by the UK Working Time Directive. The utility of the HSE approach in higher education institutions and ways in which the sector might work towards meeting the HSE management standards and consequently enhance employee well‐being are considered.     

The impact of role conflict,role ambiguity and organizational climate on the job satisfaction of academic staff in research-intensive universities in the UK

This study focuses on academics in research-intensive universities in the UK and explores their perceptions of organizational climate, role conflict, role ambiguity and job satisfaction. The findings suggest that the universities have multiple organizational climates. Three organizational climate types – the Clan, the Hierarchy and the Adhocracy – were associated with lower levels of role stress. However, the Market climate was associated with higher levels of role conflict. Only the Clan-type climate was directly related to high levels of job satisfaction. It appears that despite the changes in the styles of management in universities, the collegial/Clan climate is still a very important contributor to the satisfaction of academic staff.     

New Approaches to Staff Recruitment in Higher Education

This paper describes briefly the academic tenure and its legislative terms in the UK, over the last twenty years. The author refers to the current wider situation/trends in the international higher education arena of two categories of academic staff – “established” staff (on permanent contract) and fixed‐term staff – and to how their levels of protection can have an impact on the overall health of the universities and their academic freedom.     

An Exploratory Study of Stress in a British University

This paper reports an exploratory study of stress and psychological well-being in British University staff. Unlike previous studies of stress in University staff, this study examines stress not only in relation to lecturing staff, but also research and support staff. Principal components analysis of a fifteen item stressor scale revealed two orthogonal dimensions, relating to quantitative overload stressors and role stressors respectively. Both were found to be related to a measure of psychological well-being. Differences in these stressor factors were found between the various types of university employee; academic staff were found to report more work load and managerial stressors, but reported fewer role stressors.     

Stress,Coping Strategies and Job Satisfaction in University Academic Staff

This study aims to identify sources of stress and consequent stress levels in university academic staff, to identify the coping strategies used by staff, and to examine the relationship between stress levels and job satisfaction. The study sample, consisting of 414 (305 males and 109 females) academic staff, was asked two open‐ended questions which invited them to specify the five main causes of stress in their lives in general and at work. The Life Stress Scale (LSS) was used to assess academics’ stress levels. A coping strategies list was used to identify the strategies used by academic staff during stressful periods. Two questions were asked to assess the level of satisfaction felt by academics with their jobs. The results indicated that academic staff rate work as the most significant cause of stress in their lives (74%) and conducting research (40.3%) was the main cause of stress at work. Results showed also that 74.1% and 10.4% of the academic staff fall into the moderate and serious stress categories respectively, and that there were no significant differences between males and females in stress levels. There were significant differences between the four academic rank groups in stress levels, with lecturers as the most stressed group. The results also indicated that academic staff use a wide range of coping strategies. A negative significant correlation between stress and job satisfaction (r= – 0.444) was found, indicating an inverse relationship between stress level and satisfaction.     

Elitism and Meritocracy in UK Universities: the UK Needs Investment in its Labour Force

This article summarises previous academic research into university education, distinguishing between arguments for and against improving access. Several views are summarised, including structural‐functionalism, which claims that powerful social groups maintain their status and income, and human capital theory, which focuses on employee productivity. Almost all viewpoints discussed in this article support meritocracy. UK universities differ in their openness to people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many universities, referred to here as ‘inclusive’, deserve credit for encouraging disadvantaged people to become students; in contrast, ‘exclusive’ universities tend to have fewer disadvantaged students than expected. There are barriers facing disadvantaged students, including unequal access to universities, which can at least partly be explained by private schools for rich pupils and financial burdens at university causing some students to take paid work (reducing time available for study). The UK spends less per student on universities than the world average and less than half as much as some European countries. The UK Government could increase university funding, concentrating on universities that are most inclusive and that tend to have the largest problems in affording sufficient staff and teaching facilities. This investment would give long‐term benefits to the UK economy.     

Burnout,Job Satisfaction and Instructional Assignment‐related Sources of Stress in Greek Special Education Teachers

In the literature concerning Greek special education teachers, there is little evidence regarding the perceived levels of burnout, job satisfaction, and job‐related stress factors. The present study focused on the above issues. A sample of 127 Greek special education teachers at the primary school level was tested with the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Employee Satisfaction Inventory, and the Inventory of Job‐related Stress Factors (an instrument created for this study). Results indicated that Greek special education teachers reported average to low levels of burnout. They reported moderately high levels of satisfaction with their job, the principal, and the school organisation as a whole; they also reported average satisfaction with work conditions and low satisfaction with prospects of promotion and pay. Four factors were identified on the job‐related stress factors: teaching in a multi‐category classroom, programme organisation and implementation, assessment of students, and collaborations with other special education experts and parents. The special education teachers perceived none of these issues as particularly overwhelming. Moreover, few significant effects of age, gender, and family status were identified. The above results are consistent with other studies that have focused on Greek regular education teachers, which have indicated that, in general, this group do not experience high levels of occupational stress.     

International academic staff in UK higher education: campus internationalisation and innovation in academic practice

Abstract

Amidst opportunities for universities to consider international academic staff in supporting internationalisation and innovation in academic practice, there is very little research to provide insights into their attitudes towards institutional approaches and frameworks in place to enable this. This article focuses on this research gap, suggesting that this academic community might enhance the development of internationally-informed and innovative pedagogic practice. The research reported within the article constitutes a preliminary study, set within a UK higher education case study setting. Methods included focus groups and themed in-depth interviews with a sample of 34 international academic staff from over 15 countries. The findings and discussion provide insights into the perspectives and experiences of international academic staff in relation to the Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning and other institutional practice. Innovative pedagogic practice as enabled by international academic staff is discussed, as are approaches to the internationalisation of the curricula. The findings are relevant to the UK higher education context but also to the global context: academic institutions need to consider whether curriculum and processes are limited and limiting in favour of a narrow cultural lens.     

Brexit: some implications for African higher education

This article considers how the decisions of the UK government, following the Brexit referendum, may impact on higher education in Africa. Ghana and South Africa are the two countries chosen to exemplify the claim that academic staff in African higher education will lose opportunities to acquire experience in British universities. Academic mobility between Africa and the UK is expected to fall significantly following Brexit.     

Stressing academia? Stress-as-offence-to-self at Danish universities

Academic work has traditionally been seen as relatively stress free. However, a growing number of studies have reported increases in occupational stress experienced by university researchers. In order to explain stress among this group, we build on a new perspective in occupational stress research: the so-called stress-as-offence-to-self perspective. In line with this perspective, we have investigated the incongruence between the researchers’ work values and their perceptions of the working conditions provided by the organisation. The analysis is based on a sample of 2127 Danish university researchers. The results show that person-organisation incongruence with regard to freedom and independence in the job, job security, personal and professional development at work, and receiving peer recognition are associated with higher levels of stress among the researchers. Based on these results, we suggest three strategies for managers at universities to mitigate stress among academic employees: a tough recruitment process, a team-based organisation and a proactive human resource strategy.     

Teaching Online: Applying Need Theory to the Work–Family Interface

Using Warner and Hausdorf’s (2009) framework, the authors empirically examined work–life balance and work outcomes among collegiate faculty teaching courses online. Quantitative and qualitative results from 138 online instructors demonstrated that basic psychological need satisfaction was related to higher levels of work–family enrichment, job satisfaction, performance, and intention to teach online courses again and lower levels of work–family conflict and stress. Work support was also related to job satisfaction, performance, and stress but was not related to work–family balance. These findings are important as universities are seeking ways to promote involvement with online education.     

International students in the higher education classroom: initial findings from staff at two post‐92 universities in the UK

A significant body of work has emerged over the last 10 years investigating the experiences of international university students. These studies have covered various challenges faced by some groups of international students relating to culture, language and integration and have been prompted by the increase in international students studying in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. A smaller strand of research has also begun to focus on the experiences, perspectives and reactions of academic staff who have seen the composition of their cohorts change substantially over recent years in terms of numbers of international participants. This article reviews relevant literature in this field, reporting on a questionnaire study based at two UK post‐92 universities. Respondents associated a range of traits with international students and suggested that the increasing number of international students enhanced the environment, but also required a higher level of support. This study also found that staff resorted to informal methods when developing means of adapting their practices to the increasing number of international students, preferring discussion with colleagues and students themselves to formal development programmes or advice from specialist departments such as student support. The article concludes that in order to encourage diversity in a meaningful way, universities need to recognise the challenge of increased numbers of international students and support staff accordingly.     

The Health‐Related Upside of Employee Engagement: Exploratory Evidence and Implications for Theory and Practice

Chronic toxic working conditions can be hazardous to employee health. Approximately 5%–8% of annual health care costs are attributable to adverse experiences at work. In contrast to the health impacts of the toxic workplace, we hypothesize that engaged employees would report elevated levels of health, including more positive levels of physical and mental health, sleep, exercise, and eating behaviors. A sample of 114 working adults responded to a survey battery regarding their levels of employee engagement, current health status, and mental health in addition to localized demographic questions. Gender was shown to moderate the engagement–health relationship (i.e., women reported sleeping better and eating less; men reported lower levels of drinking behavior). Employees who reported higher levels of employee engagement also reported more positive overall individual‐level health outcomes and more positive levels of mental health, a promising finding in light of the growing reports of toxic work environments.     

Attitudes of academic staff towards their job and organisation: An empirical assessment

Abstract

The relationships and differences in how academic staff perceive their work and organisation are of great importance for human resource strategies in the higher education sector. The present study examines work‐related attitudes of academic staff, namely job satisfaction, self‐efficacy and organisational commitment. The purpose is to analyse how these attitudes differ among groups of individuals. Results show that there is an alternative way of classifying academic staff into distinct groups based on work‐related attitudes apart from the conventional classification based on position alone. Findings suggest that university managers should be careful in balancing between different systems of control or incentive.     

The sign of the new millennium. Organisational changes and job satisfaction at Spanish public universities

This article describes the ramifications that recent organisational changes in the Spanish higher education sector have had on levels of job satisfaction among teaching staff. The research gathered their opinions on recent changes affecting their teaching duties, using job satisfaction scales in different areas of their academic work. The results point to a large number who claim to have seen their job satisfaction diminish over the period in which the organisational changes have taken hold. This sense of loss of job satisfaction is positively and significantly related to growing standardisation and to the erosion of the principles of collegiality, but negatively to the initiatives for improving the coordination between teaching staff and the assessment of the quality of their work.     

Is job sharing worthwhile? A cost-benefit analysis in UK universities

Around 60 per cent of UK universities practice job sharing. This article is based on a survey of Personnel Directors in UK universities concerning their perceptions of job sharing. These responses were then used to carry out a cost benefit evaluation of job sharing from the universities' perspective. If productivity of workers in the shared job rose by as little as 0.35 per cent – one third of one per cent – the estimated increase in Personnel Section costs would be covered. If there was a 5 per cent increase in productivity, the ratio of benefits to costs would be 14.3 to 1. Universities also save as a result of greater retention of staff, and there are also important benefits to society, particularly less overall stress and reduced unemployment levels.     

Modelling Occupational Stress and Employee Health and Wellbeing in a Chinese Higher Education Institution

Extensive change is evident in higher education in the People's Republic of China but there have been few studies of the effect of work stress on wellbeing in the higher education sector. The main aim of this study is to test and refine the ASSET (‘An Organizational Stress Screening Tool’) model of occupational stress in a sample of 150 academic and non‐academic employees in a Chinese higher education institute. Using partial least squares modelling, the findings showed that job stressors predicted job dissatisfaction but, surprisingly, did not predict perceived commitment. Employees who reported job dissatisfaction tended to perceive that their organisation was less committed towards them and report less commitment towards the organisation. Job stressors resulted in poorer psychological wellbeing. Greater psychological wellbeing was associated with greater physical wellbeing. The findings suggest that university management should introduce strategies aimed at minimising job stressors as these would result in higher level of job satisfaction, higher level of commitment and ultimately resulted in an improvement in physical health.     

Democratising the curriculum or training the children of the poor: school‐based vocational training in Australia

This article examines the views of staff employed in UK higher education institutions (HEIs) about how those institutions are dealing with the impact of recent UK equality legislation and related European employment directives. Assumptions underlying current approaches to equality in UK HEIs are examined, particularly the notion of meritocracy, which advocates job selection and promotion based on normatively and culturally neutral measures of merit. The article is based on a project funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, using qualitative case studies of six English, Welsh and Scottish HEIs. The project data suggest that equality policies for staff and students are in tension with each other, that staff policies may clash with other institutional policies, for example on research excellence or enhancing the student experience, and that the rhetoric of equality policies is not always matched by the day‐to‐day experience of staff. The article suggests that the case study UK HEIs, with their continued focus on meritocracy and excellence, have not yet adapted to the new climate of employee equality legislation and perhaps need to consider a different approach than the meritocratic one.     

Academic Staff Involvement and Openness to Diversity in International Educational Organisations: Is There a Moderating Effect of Shared Language?

Joint work among academic staff is important for solving the ever‐increasing number of complex tasks that are becoming part of everyday activities in higher education. At the same time, diversification and internationalisation may challenge collaboration processes and communication demands. Speaking a shared language consistently could be a way of overcoming problems. Hence, this study focuses on the effect of shared language among academic staff on the relation between academic staff involvement in work processes and openness to diversity. This study draws on data from 489 Danish academic staff members in science departments of three universities. Results show positive associations between academic staff involvement and all openness‐to‐diversity variables (openness to informational, linguistic, value and visible diversity). Shared language had a positive effect on openness to surface level types of diversity (linguistic and visible) but no effect on openness to deep‐level types of diversity (informational and value).     

An analysis of higher education staff attitudes in a dynamic environment

Abstract

Since 1980 the staff student ratio in the UK has halved. This has been contributed to, amongst other factors, by the massification policy of the UK government. The requirement to publish, the view of students as consumers, an increase in managerialism, and reduction in real pay levels as well as the threat of compulsory redundancies have also been changes which have affected the attitudes of staff. As a result of these factors, the experience of both academics and students has deteriorated, and this is likely to continue. This paper uses survey data from three higher education institutions, which indicates a reduction in the satisfaction of staff over a number of years. Interviews with key informants and a literature review also support the view that levels of stress are increasing amongst academic staff within UK Higher Education institutions.