Workload allocation models and “collegiality” in academic departments
Journal of Organizational Change Management
ISSN: 0953-4814
Article publication date: 1 January 2006
Abstract
Purpose
To present empirical research on the adoption of workload allocation models (WAMs) within the UK university system and relate these to the broader context of the new public management (NPM).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on the historical sociology of the professions to highlight the dilemmas posed by the adoption of WAMs.
Findings
University managers and academics are faced with some difficult choices. Managers are faced with a requirement to develop, implement and if necessary challenge a range of new tasks, business processes, projects to be managed and teams to be led. For staff, the choice is to accept the increased workloads or to lobby for increased resources. However, calls for “increased resources” is likely to entail further bureaucratisation. A more transparent and accountable approach to academic work may offer a more viable way forward than that implied by recourse to the fundamentally elitist notions of “collegiality”.
Originality/value
The paper presents new research on WAMs and NPM.
Keywords
Citation
Hull, R. (2006), "Workload allocation models and “collegiality” in academic departments", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 38-53. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534810610643677
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited