A case study of the changing role of the academic middle manager in higher education: between hierarchical control and collegiality?

Abstract

Fourteen academic middle managers in one of the newer universities were interviewed about their perceptions of their roles. As part of the semi-structured interviews they were asked questions about the extent to which collegiality was still a significant factor in the university's internal decision-making process. No other cluster of questions raised responses that went more to the heart of the managers‘ perceptions of their roles, although the article's arguments about these roles also draw on responses to a wide range of other questions. The interviewees pointed to many of the difficulties they encountered in collegial decision-making and noted its general imperfections when trying to pursue new initiatives with some staff who were resistant to change. They understood, therefore, why the collegial processes were often bypassed or subverted, although they tended to see those above the head of department level in the managerial hierarchy as more prone to act in these non-collegial ways. Nevertheless, they considered that collegiality was the most appropriate form of decision-making in Higher Education mainly because it was important to win the hearts and minds of staff in favour of the necessary changes if the university were to flourish. There is further consideration of the relative vulnerability of the academic middle manager. The writers argue that the best way to make sense of the interviewees’ responses in these respects is to invoke the theories about organizational cultures of Harrison and Handy. In effect, the case study university appears to be operating more of a ‘people culture’ in the management of academic full-time staff on ‘permanent’ contracts, but the middle managers‘ perceptions of the management of themselves by their superiors seem more akin to organizational life within a ‘power culture’. In conclusion, the possible effects of these perceptions are explored in a world in which the role of the university middle manager is becoming ever more complex and demanding.