Establishing Boundaries: problems and solutions in managing the PhD supervisor's role

The PhD supervisory role is depicted as containing two principal dimensions. First, the involvement of supervisors in the provision of intellectual expertise to students, and secondly, their involvement in counselling practices which attempt to bolster students’ confidence and morale. The dimension of intellectual expertise is subsequently portrayed as having two components: those of guidance and criticism which generate a particular tension. This tension is centred around decisions made by supervisors concerning the kinds of intellectual knowledge they provide for students, when simultaneously required to comply with institutional regulations stipulating that PhD research be both original and autonomous. The management of such tension, by supervisors’ erecting boundaries to their intellectual involvement, is then examined, together with the consequences of failing to erect such boundaries. The paper then focuses upon the counselling dimension of supervision and illustrates how this dimension, if not regulated by further erection of boundaries, also has the potential for negative impact upon intellectual involvement with students. The problem of managing the combination of intellectual and counselling dimensions of the supervisory role was found to be increased or alleviated by particular forms of communication with students.