Academic Middle Management in Higher Education: A game of hide and seek?

Abstract

Fourteen academic middle managers at the level of Dean of Faculty or Head of Department or its equivalent were interviewed in one of the 'newer' universities in the UK. One strand of the interviews related to the extent to which these middle managers felt that they could be transparent in their dealings with their superiors and their subordinates. Although they stated that they were in principle overwhelmingly in favour of transparency, they nevertheless acknowledged that they felt obliged at times to proceed in more covert ways. They consider that this is partly forced upon them by the need to act as entrepreneurs in a competitive marketplace where showing their hands too early could seriously disadvantage them and their organisations in the acquisition of new business. They also felt that they were treated in similar secretive ways by their own senior management. This article considers some of the forms which the hiding process may take, and explores some of the issues of trust which may influence the degree of concealment which takes place. In the process some of the nature of academic middle management in current higher education is revealed.