UMKC – LEADERS RETREAT
CLIMATE MATTERS
AUGUST 7, 2013
DR. CATHY A. TROWER
EXPECTATIONS
PART I
WH A T I S C L I M A T E A N D WH Y D O E S I T M A T T E R ?
CULTURE
Culture is “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the
group learned as it solved its problems of external
adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well
enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be
taught to new members as the correct way to perceive,
think, and feel in relation to those problems” (Schein 1992,
p. 12).
 Artifacts
 Espoused values
 Underlying assumptions
“The way we do things
around here”
Faculty experience four similar but distinct cultures:
 Academic
 Institutional
 Disciplinary
 Departmental
Schein, E.H. (1992). Organizational Policy and
Leadership (2nd edition). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
CLIMATE IS A…
• “surface manifestation of culture” (Schein 1990, p.
109).
• “ubiquitous cultural force that can make a group
member experience an array of feelings from
welcomed, included, and respected to tense,
excluded, and singled out” (Trower 2012, pp. 123-4).
Schein, E.H. (1990). “Organizational culture,” American Psychologist
45(2): 109-19.
Trower, C. (2012). Success on the Tenure Track: Five Keys to Faculty Job
Satisfaction, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
INDEX CARD EXERCISE
• Blue: Humanities
• Green: Natural Sciences (STEM, including School of
Biological Sciences, Computing & Engineering)
• Yellow: Social Sciences
• Pink: Professional (business, law, conservatory,
dentistry, education, medicine, nursing, pharmacy)
• Lined side – What single adjective comes first to mind when
you think of the climate in your department?
• Unlined side – What would you like that adjective to be?
[NOTE: You could have the same answer to both questions.]
WHY CULTURE MATTERS
• Faculty working conditions are student learning
conditions. Thinking we can attract and retain students,
and see them through to completion, without addressing
faculty issues is foolhardy.
• When faculty feel misaligned with the culture they:
•
•
•
•
Have higher levels of job-related stress
Have less overall satisfaction
Spend less time teaching
Produce less scholarship
• When faculty feel a sense of “fit” they:
• Stay longer at their job
• Are more satisfied with their position
• Are more committed to the institution
CLIMATE AT DEPARTMENTAL LEVEL
Climate
• is particularly pronounced in the department, where faculty spend
most of their time
• can influence decisions a new faculty member makes about taking
advantage of certain “sensitive” institutional policies and practices
(e.g., family leave, stop-the-clock)
• can be a positive force and motivate high performance
• can turn negative when faculty disagree on departmental goals and
priorities or when factions pit faculty against one another
• is most shaped by the chair and senior faculty
NUMEROUS STUDIES:
SIMILAR MESSAGES
• Women found their departmental climate to be:
•
•
•
•
•
Less collegial/more contentious
Less cooperative/more competitive
Less conciliatory/more aggressive
Seeking individual advantage over collective good
Less cohesive/more fragmented
• Women feel:
•
•
•
•
Less integrated/more isolated
Less comfortable sharing their views in meetings
Reluctant to raise concerns for fear of retribution
Less valued
Cornell University Faculty Work Life Survey
http://www.ipr.cornell.edu/documents/1000369.pdf
NUMEROUS STUDIES:
SIMILAR MESSAGES
• Men’s and women’s job satisfaction is influenced by
institutional leadership and mentoring, but only as mediated
by the two key academic processes:
• internal relational supports from a collegial and inclusive
immediate work environment
• access to internal academic resources (including researchsupportive workloads)
• Women’s job satisfaction derived more from internal relational
supports [being valued, trust, feedback, opinion sought,
welcomed and included] than academic resources
• Men’s job satisfaction resulted equally from internal relational
supports and academic resources received
Bilimoria, D., S.R. Perry, X. Liang, E.P. Stoller, P. Higgins, C.
Taylor (2006). “How do female and male faculty construct job satisfaction?”
Journal of Technology Transfer, 31, 355-365.
NUMEROUS STUDIES:
SIMILAR MESSAGES
• Departmental climate is important to men and women faculty
members, but may have an even greater impact on job
satisfaction and intentions to stay/leave for women faculty.
• Women faculty are not inherently dissatisfied with their jobs;
rather…they value departmental climate [more]… When they
experience negative climates they are more likely to
experience lower job satisfaction and consider going
elsewhere.
• Women more likely to:
• Value connections with others in the workplace
• Be more aware of and place more value on the quality of
interactions
Callister, Ronda Roberts (2006). “The impact of gender and department
climate on job satisfaction and intentions to quit for faculty in science
and engineering fields,” Journal of Technology Transfer, 31, 367-375.
PRIMARY COMPONENTS OF
DEPARTMENTAL CLIMATE
1. A sense of intellectual community and engagement
• about research, teaching, and service/shared governance
2. Full, fair, and transparent evaluation
3. Effective, supportive, and ongoing communication
and mentoring
4. Effective formal (written) policies and informal (often
unspoken) practices
5. Support for work-life integration
WHY INTELLECTUAL COMMUNITY &
ENGAGEMENT MATTERS
• Maintains and protects academic traditions and
advancement of knowledge
• Encourages a willingness to share with colleagues and
students without concern for competitive advantage
• Expands the academic dialogue and reveals possibilities
for scholarship and enhanced teaching
• Opens opportunities for collaboration
http://www.advance.vt.edu/Climate.html
WHY FULL, FAIR, AND TRANSPARENT
EVALUATION MATTERS
• Assures improvement of the academic planning
process and the performance of faculty members
and research teams.
• Provides a basis for salary adjustments, retention,
and promotion and tenure decisions.
• A large percentage of junior faculty say
performance evaluation is important to their career
progress.
WHY EFFECTIVE AND SUPPORTIVE
COMMUNICATION MATTERS
• Critical in retaining and promoting faculty.
• Fosters the generation of knowledge by introducing
new ideas for research, teaching, outreach and
service.
• Supportive conversations strengthen bonds
between faculty and administrators and remind
faculty of their importance to the institution.
• Importance of mentoring as a vehicle for
communication; mentored junior faculty tend to
have higher job satisfaction.
WHY EFFECTIVE POLICIES MATTER
• Guides a shared sense of purpose among
department members.
• Well documented policies and decisions ensure
and illustrate equity and fairness in the
treatment of all faculty.
• Transparency through written policies is
especially valued by women and faculty of
color.
WHY WORK/LIFE INTEGRATION
MATTERS
• The ability to balance work and personal life has a
strong affect on faculty job satisfaction throughout
an academic career.
• The ability of an institution to attract and retain the
best faculty depends on a culture that values and
supports work/life integration.
PART II
WH A T D O C O A C H E D A T A T E L L U S ?
THE ACADEMIC CULTURE
1. Everyone is “so busy.”
2. Autonomy vs. isolation
3. Departmental politics and personal agendas
4. Weak support systems
5. Asking questions raises red flags
COLLEGIALITY
• Collegiality can be analyzed through three forms
within higher education:
• collegial culture (local expectations of supportiveness),
• collegial structure (access to grievance and governance
systems, among others), and
• collegial behavior (actions that reflect prosocial and
trusting values and that exceed typical workplace norms).
Bess, J.L. (1988). Collegiality and bureaucracy in the modern
university: The influence of information and power on decisionmaking structures. New York: Teachers College Press.
DEPARTMENT COLLEGIALITY
CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS BY GENDER
Women
Men
Satisfaction with my department as a
place to work
.719 (1)
.689 (2)
Departmental colleagues “pitch in” when
needed
.672 (2)
.695 (1)
Departmental colleagues are committed
to diversity and inclusion
.617 (3)
.598 (3)
How well you “fit” in your department
.614 (4)
.585 (4)
I would recommend my department to a
faculty candidate
.608 (5)
.582 (5)
COACHE Data: ~11,000 Full-time tenure-track and tenured faculty
Public research universities; 2011-12 and 2012-13 cohorts
DEPARTMENT SATISFACTION
CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS BY GENDER
Women
Men
Department collegiality
.763 (1)
.754 (1)
Would recommend my department
to a faculty candidate
.728 (2)
.712 (2)
Sense of “fit”
.703 (3)
.682 (3)
Would choose this institution again
.652 (4)
.655 (5)
Department leadership
.630 (5)
.659 (4)
Appreciation and recognition
.615 (6)
.641 (7)
Department quality
.610 (7)
.646 (6)
Satisfaction with the institution as a
place to work
.575 (8)
.628 (8)
DEPARTMENT COLLEGIALITY
CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS BY RACE
URMs
Asians
Whites
Department colleagues “pitch in”
when needed
.689 (1)
.750 (1)
.681 (2)
Satisfaction with my department as a
place to work
.687 (2)
.734 (2)
.696 (1)
Department colleagues are
committed to diversity and inclusion
.613 (3)
.679 (3)
.592 (3)
How well you “fit” in your department
.593 (4)
.646 (4)
.591 (4)
I would recommend my department
to a faculty candidate
.576 (5)
.631 (5)
.587 (5)
DEPARTMENT SATISFACTION
CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS BY RACE
URMs
Asians
Whites
Department collegiality
.790 (1)
.789 (1)
.750 (1)
Would recommend my department
to faculty candidates
.720 (2)
.730 (3)
.716 (2)
Would choose this institution again
.685 (3)
.745 (2)
.640 (4)
Department quality
.651 (4)
.672 (7)
.622 (6)
Appreciation and recognition
.629 (5)
.692 (5)
.628 (5)
Department leadership
.625 (6)
.723 (4)
.641 (3)
Institution as a place to work
.622 (7)
.686 (6)
.599 (7)
COLLEGIALITY CORRELATION
COEFFICIENTS BY RANK
Assistant
Associate
Full
Department as a place to work
.687 (1)
.704 (1)
.700 (1)
Department colleagues “pitch in”
when needed
.682 (2)
.673 (2)
.700 (1)
Department colleagues are
committed to diversity and inclusion
.610 (3)
.604 (3)
.601 (4)
How well you “fit” in your department
.562 (4)
.595 (4)
.608 (3)
DEPARTMENT SATISFACTION
CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS BY RANK
Assistant
Associate
Full
Department collegiality
.769 (1)
.750 (1)
.753 (1)
Would recommend my
department to a faculty
candidate
.736 (2)
.708 (2)
.711 (2)
Would choose this institution
again
.699 (3)
.634 (4)
.639 (6)
Department leadership
.643 (4)
.636 (3)
.654 (3)
Appreciation and recognition
.640 (5)
.606 (6)
.640 (5)
Institution as a place to work
.612 (6)
.574 (7)
.622 (7)
Department quality
.602 (7)
.627 (5)
.645 (4)
DISCUSSION
For Gender, Race and Rank
1. What are the main points?
2. What confirmed what you thought?
3. What most surprises you?
4. What are some implications for practice?
PART III
LIFE IN AN ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT AND BEST PRACTICES
SOCIALIZATION
• “A process over time that enables a new faculty
member to understand the norms, attitudes, and beliefs
of a group” (Trower 2012, p. 125).
• For newcomers, socialization facilitates an
understanding of departmental expectations and
customary behavior within the department.
• Begins to occur in graduate school, but mostly socialized
to research, not teaching or service.
Socialization: the process by which newcomers
transition from being outsiders to being insiders.
Newcomers must learn to adapt
through uncertainty reduction.
Bauer, T.N. and Green, S.G. (1994). “Effect of newcomer
involvement in work-related activities: A longitudinal study of
socialization,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(2): 211-223.
Role clarity
Social
acceptance
Self-efficacy
Job satisfaction
Job performance
Institutional
commitment
Intention to remain
Turnover
IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP
• “The chair’s job is to make sure that his or her faculty are
as productive as possible. Productive faculty are
satisfied faculty.” (Trower, 2005)
Trower, C. (2005). “Gen x meets theory y,” The Department Chair,
16(2), Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company.
• Sound leadership is the key to effective and successful
socialization.
• Leaders must be intentional in their efforts to understand
and improve the experience of newcomers.
• The department chair plays the most pivotal role in
setting the tone and determining departmental climate.
THE CHAIR
• Climate is the chair’s responsibility
•
•
•
•
Is a model of expectations
Serves the faculty and students
Should work transparently
Should be:
•
•
•
•
•
Objective
Respectful
Humble
Open
Positive/upbeat
• Must be:
• Credible/trustworthy
• Knowledgeable
ADVANCE @ NORTHEASTERN
From: Graham's Corner/Chair's Corner -- August 2013-volume 4, issue 12
As I reread chapter 1 of “Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women”, I
was reminded it is my responsibility to show value for everyone's comments
in a meeting and ensure everyone has equal "voice" whether a small group
meeting or a larger departmental meeting. I can do this by making a
follow up comment, by asking for comments from those who have not yet
contributed, and/or giving credit for ideas to those who originally gave
them (not necessarily the one who reiterated them later in the
conversation). I have this responsibility as chair, but each member of the
faculty also shares this responsibility in every group meeting. Rereading
social science research seems to increase my understanding over time.
Graham Jones, Chair and Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology,
ADVANCE Co-PI
Valian, Virginia. Why So Slow?: The Advancement of Women. The MIT Press, 1999
EFFECTIVE PRACTICES
• Tenure process clarity
• Make sure your department has clearly documented
criteria.
• Provide sample dossiers of successful tenure bids.
• Provide clear, written policy for tenuring joint appointments.
• Establish three- and five-year work plans with each faculty
member.
• Provide clear annual evaluations of pre-tenure faculty that
include strengths and weaknesses.
• Ensure that the midterm review is on target, clear, and is
provided in writing.
EFFECTIVE PRACTICES
• Time management
• Tell faculty when they should hold off on developing new
courses to focus on research.
• Talk to new faculty about which committees are
worthwhile; give them permission to “blame the chair”
when declining.
• Allow new hires a year off before they start to teach.
• Tread lightly with new faculty around their first sets of
teaching evaluations.
• Schedule department meetings for Fridays at noon (and
provide lunch), rather than early mornings or evenings.
EFFECTIVE PRACTICES
• Initiate formal or informal mentoring and opportunities to
form networks and collaborations for tenure-track
faculty.
• Ensure that senior faculty mentor junior faculty in positive
fashion. Do not allow bullying.
• Have faculty develop mentoring mosaics where they take
an active role in deciding where they need help and who
can best provide it.
• Invite a tenured faculty member from outside the institution,
but from the same field as a pre-tenure faculty member, to
campus.
• Encourage junior faculty to attend conferences.
EFFECTIVE PRACTICES
• Stress the importance of community and provide a
culture of support.
• Keep an open door.
• Lunch with junior faculty monthly; meet each individually once
per semester.
• Signal the acceptability of requesting resources or asking
questions.
• Hold sponsored social events.
• Invite guests and visiting scholars.
• Encourage collaborative course teaching, joint grants (Co- PI),
joint publications.
• Provide faculty professional development opportunities.
• Raise a small amount of money to fund projects important to
junior faculty.
• Develop a chair to succeed you; foster other leadership.
EFFECTIVE PRACTICES
• Work-family support
• Do not schedule meetings during times when faculty parents
may need to drop off or pick up children.
• Be aware of all campus policies and procedures.
• Strive to foster a supportive departmental climate for the worklife needs of all.
• Beware of supporting faculty parents at the expense of
burdening child-free faculty.
• Be mindful of caregiving relationships other than that of
parent-child.
• Encourage conversations between faculty about the
challenges of dual careers, child care, elder care, and juggling
demands.
• Implement policies equitably, fairly, and consistently.
EFFECTIVE PRACTICES
• Teaching expectations
• Hold discussions with all department faculty about how
teaching assignments are made and ensure that
assignments are transparent and equitable.
• Share syllabi and course notes on core courses with new
faculty.
• Pair senior with junior faculty to team-teach a course during
the first year on campus.
• Review exams for appropriate level of difficulty.
• Offer to observe junior faculty who would like you to do so in
order to provide feedback.
EFFECTIVE PRACTICES
• Research expectations
• Encourage new faculty to apply for awards, requests for
proposals, and other grant opportunities that come to your
attention.
• Offer to lend equipment and supplies.
• Read manuscripts and research proposals; provide
constructive criticism.
• Petition publishers and academic presses on behalf of pretenure faculty.
• Sponsor substantive brown-bag sessions on such topics as
writing an effective grant proposal, supervising graduate
students, and managing a lab.
PART IV
DISCUSSION
TABLE TALKS
• About what are you most optimistic?
• About what are you most concerned?
• What are two things you plan to do?
• What could stop you? hurdles? Resistance
• What might propel action? Enablers?
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