Around
four in 10 university employees feel unable to make their voices heard
within their institutions, according to preliminary findings from the
first Times Higher Education Best University Workplace Survey.
Analysis
of the first 2,300 responses to the survey, which is still open to all
university employees, reveals that 37 per cent disagree with the
statement: “I can make my voice heard within my university.”
The figure rises to 56 per cent when including those who neither agree nor disagree.
“There
is de facto no meaningful management at an everyday level,” says one
senior lecturer at a university in the South West of England.
“Shop-floor problems such as too few teaching staff are usually ignored
by managers and dealt with by staff ad hoc.
“There is almost no
meaningful forward planning beyond thinking about the needs of [the
research excellence framework], or branding issues such as the National
Student Survey.”
A respondent from another institution, who works
as an IT technician, sums up the concerns of many respondents, saying:
“Communication between staff and senior management tends to be a
bottleneck in both directions. Senior management makes all the right
noises – but never checks that it is happening in practice.”
However,
although many employees appear to feel overlooked by their
institution’s hierarchy, the vast majority enjoy working with their
peers. Just 6 per cent say they do not, with some 47 per cent “strongly
agreeing” when asked if they enjoy working with their immediate
colleagues.
“My department is particularly good at supporting
early career academics. I have worked at other institutions where levels
of exploitation are appalling but [my department] is especially
sensitive to the needs of [such] staff and proactive in ensuring they
get the support and career development they need,” says one academic at a
Russell Group university.
A professor at a 1994 Group institution
adds: “My line manager is an excellent, responsive, can-do sort of
person who really cares about his academic colleagues. My department has
really good morale.”
The Best University Workplace Survey is open to all UK higher education staff. John Gill, THE’s
editor, said: “The larger the number of people that participate in the
survey, the more detailed will be the picture that we piece together
about working life in our universities.
“Our intention in this
first year of the survey is simply to get an idea of the areas in which
universities are performing well as employers, and those where they need
to do more.”
From: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk
August 16, 2013
Exeter’s rankings success gained at staff’s expense
League table success at the University of Exeter may have been gained
at the expense of staff, who claim to have experienced “undue stress”,
“bullying”, sexism and a “loss of voice”, according to an internal
report.
A group convened at the request of management and led by Nicky Britten, professor of applied healthcare research at the institution, has identified a “top-down management” culture as a source of problems at Exeter.
Based on 288 responses from the university’s 3,900 staff, the report says that many people found the senior management team remote, with major decisions being “made by a small group of people behind closed doors without consultation”.
“The tone of communication (described as ‘hectoring’) might have been appropriate for managing underperformance ten years ago, but is inappropriate now,” reads the report, which was presented to the university’s council, alongside the senior management’s response, on 21 February.
Many staff felt their opinions were ignored, “with no acknowledgment or feedback”, it adds. The group also documents “some alarming reports of bullying, manipulative and unpleasant behaviour” by particular senior managers and a feeling among some that the university “is a self-perpetuating male-dominated culture” with policies such as maternity leave not taken seriously.
“There are reports of men making casual sexist remarks…referring to women as ‘girls’, promoting men over women (despite the women having equal or better CVs),” it adds.
The investigation was initiated after the university’s wider staff survey of 2012, which found that 36 per cent reported feeling unduly stressed, compared with a benchmark figure at universities conducting the same survey of 28 per cent.
The survey also found that only 60 per cent said they felt able to voice opinions, compared with a sector benchmark of 76 per cent.
Exeter vice-chancellor Sir Steve Smith told Times Higher Education that senior management would respond to the concerns identified by the group, and in many cases had already made changes.
Expanding student numbers and raising Exeter from an average ranking position of 34th in the UK during the 1990s to the top 10 today had meant being “very centralist”, he said. However, efforts were now being made to try to reverse this.
Exeter had already reinstated academic heads of discipline to decision- making positions on the university’s college executives and was on a recruitment drive that would reduce workloads, he said.
“I could have written to staff saying ‘we’ve got the [2012] survey results and we did better [than] or the same [as the benchmark] in 17 out of 25 [areas]’, but the truth is I know that there are tensions…We’re trying to be as open as possible,” Sir Steve said. The problem would now be working out how widespread the concerns were and whether or not they were historical, he added.
However, co-president of the Exeter branch of the University and College Union, Jo Melling, said the union felt that senior management’s response did “not meet the needs outlined” by the group.
“In particular, we are concerned that the vice-chancellor’s executive group has not recognised the issue about voice and governance that the group clearly flagged up,” he said, pointing to recommendations that the university commission an independent review of distribution of power within the institution.
Management has said that the university’s governance will be assessed in 2014 as part of its regular five-yearly reviews.
From: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk
A group convened at the request of management and led by Nicky Britten, professor of applied healthcare research at the institution, has identified a “top-down management” culture as a source of problems at Exeter.
Based on 288 responses from the university’s 3,900 staff, the report says that many people found the senior management team remote, with major decisions being “made by a small group of people behind closed doors without consultation”.
“The tone of communication (described as ‘hectoring’) might have been appropriate for managing underperformance ten years ago, but is inappropriate now,” reads the report, which was presented to the university’s council, alongside the senior management’s response, on 21 February.
Many staff felt their opinions were ignored, “with no acknowledgment or feedback”, it adds. The group also documents “some alarming reports of bullying, manipulative and unpleasant behaviour” by particular senior managers and a feeling among some that the university “is a self-perpetuating male-dominated culture” with policies such as maternity leave not taken seriously.
“There are reports of men making casual sexist remarks…referring to women as ‘girls’, promoting men over women (despite the women having equal or better CVs),” it adds.
The investigation was initiated after the university’s wider staff survey of 2012, which found that 36 per cent reported feeling unduly stressed, compared with a benchmark figure at universities conducting the same survey of 28 per cent.
The survey also found that only 60 per cent said they felt able to voice opinions, compared with a sector benchmark of 76 per cent.
Exeter vice-chancellor Sir Steve Smith told Times Higher Education that senior management would respond to the concerns identified by the group, and in many cases had already made changes.
Expanding student numbers and raising Exeter from an average ranking position of 34th in the UK during the 1990s to the top 10 today had meant being “very centralist”, he said. However, efforts were now being made to try to reverse this.
Exeter had already reinstated academic heads of discipline to decision- making positions on the university’s college executives and was on a recruitment drive that would reduce workloads, he said.
“I could have written to staff saying ‘we’ve got the [2012] survey results and we did better [than] or the same [as the benchmark] in 17 out of 25 [areas]’, but the truth is I know that there are tensions…We’re trying to be as open as possible,” Sir Steve said. The problem would now be working out how widespread the concerns were and whether or not they were historical, he added.
However, co-president of the Exeter branch of the University and College Union, Jo Melling, said the union felt that senior management’s response did “not meet the needs outlined” by the group.
“In particular, we are concerned that the vice-chancellor’s executive group has not recognised the issue about voice and governance that the group clearly flagged up,” he said, pointing to recommendations that the university commission an independent review of distribution of power within the institution.
Management has said that the university’s governance will be assessed in 2014 as part of its regular five-yearly reviews.
From: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk
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