The irresistible rise of managerial control? The case of workload allocation models in British universities

Abstract

This chapter investigates the role and practice of Workload Allocation Models (WAM) as managerial devices used at system and institutional level to manage academic work. Our data is drawn from a survey in five British institutions with 581 respondents overall. WAM appear to be widely known, understood, and used, however, in the perception of academic staff, they do not reflect accurately the allocation of time to academic activities. In this sense, our analysis points to the limits of WAM to manage academic work at institutional level. Specifically, it highlights the differences in how WAM are used according to employment contracts - combined teaching and research, teaching-only, research-only and to terms of employment - open-ended and fixed-term contracts. Our findings point to the significant persistence of academic normative frameworks, in which research is considered a key activity for career prospects regardless of job descriptions. Overall, our chapter illustrates how the tensions between academic and managerial logics play out in the practice of WAM, and discusses the implications thereof at systemic, institutional, and academic levels.