The University as a Sociopath

Previously I wrote about the Loyalty Tax on Academic Staff. The idea being that staff who are loyal to the institution are not rewarded with loyalty, or good conditions, but instead exploited. This may be because, I suggest, the institution suffers from Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), commonly referred to as sociopathy. It may seem odd to attribute a human condition to an organisations. But organisations are legal persons, in that they can enter contracts, employ people & in the case of educational institutions shape the behaviour of their students. 

Organisations, like sociopaths, may lack empathy & seek to exploit people by manipulating their emotions for their own benefit. This can be seen in advertisements where organisations claim to care about their customers. Obviously an organisation can't really care and is using this marketing device to attract customers. The same can apply to the staff of universities: the university is not capable of caring about the staff, but pretending to do so may be cheaper than providing good wages and conditions. 

This is not to suggest universities are inherently evil. However, we should be careful not to project characteristics, such as care and empathy, ontio an organisation. Staff and students of universities need to carefully check what they are signing up for: what is it agreed they will get. Unwritten understandings are not worth the paper they are not written on. 

There have been numerous studies of ASPD amongst university leadership, such as Perry (2015) and Forster & Lund (2018). However these address the problems individuals can cause within an organisational structure, not the behaviour of the organization itself.

References

Forster, N., & Lund, D. W. (2018). Identifying and dealing with functional psychopathic behavior in higher education. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 38(1), 22-31. https://doi.org/10.1002/joe.21897

Perry, C. (2015). The “dark traits” of sociopathic leaders: Could they be a threat to universities? The Australian Universities’ Review, 57(1), 17–25. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.306702837325703

Loyalty Tax on Academic Staff

There are frequent expression of concern and even despair on social media, from casual academic staff at universities who feel taken for granted. They don't have high or secure pay, and feel they are not consulted. The usual solution put forward is collective action to force management to improve conditions. However I usually respond by suggesting they ensure they have employment options outside academia, & encourage their research students to do likewise. Some academics find this offensive: of course they know they could get a job elsewhere but they love working in academia, or their field is not one in demand elsewhere. But I suggest they need to consider if they are paying the loyalty tax. 

Well known in the services industry, the loyalty tax is where customers keep their account with the same supplier, year after year. The customer may be told they will receive discounts for loyalty, but instead the supplier knows they can put up prices and reduce service. Occasionally I will hear an academic complaining about being treated badly by their employer after many years of loyal service. But if the employer know the staff member will not quit, there is no reason to provide good conditions. 

It occurred to me academics are paying a loyalty tax. I thought I might write a paper about it, but found many had done so years before:

"The gratitude or loyalty tax describes the expectation that URMM faculty forgo promotion or advancement at other institutions out of a sense of obligation to their current institution [8]. In addition to preventing URMM faculty from achieving career advancement, this may cause the URMM faculty member to experience unhappiness, low work performance, and low work satisfaction." Campbell, Hudson, Tumin, pp.202–206, 2020).

"Lois Defleut used the phrase "loyalty tax" to describe the cost incurred by the faculty who remain at the same university for many years (Blum, 1989). As discussed by Botsch and Folsom (1989), this built-in loyalty tax penalty will be the greatest in the academic fields with the highest demand for faculty." (Fraas, p. 3,1993). 

 'In fact the phenomenon of salary compression is often referred to as a "loyalty tax".' (Barbezat, p. 761, 2004).

This is not to say that staff organisations should not press for improved conditions and individual academics should just give up and bale out to jobs in industry. However, it is in the power of each person to improve their own conditions & those of their students by being ready and able to work elsewhere. If you are teaching research students with ambitions of working in academia, point out to them the very small chances of a well paid, secure job this way. Help look at the alternatives and get the skills and qualifications needed. Such training will still be of use if they are not of the lucky few who get a permanent university job.

References

Barbezat, D. A. (2004). A Loyalty Tax? National Measures of Academic Salary Compression. Research in Higher Education, 45(7), 761–776. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40197392

Campbell, K.M., Hudson, B.D. & Tumin, D. Releasing the Net to Promote Minority Faculty Success in Academic Medicine. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 7, 202–206 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00703-z

Fraas, J. W. (1993). A Faculty Consistency Pay Program. ERIC Number: ED362108 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED362108

University of Canberra Reviewing Contingent-Continuing Academic Employment

The University of Canberra (UC) has announced an independent review of "Contingent-Continuing" academic employment, to be chaired by Professor Kevin Hall, from University of Newcastle.

Unfortunately the UC media release announcing the review (appended), doesn't explain what "Contingent-Continuing" employment is. Andrews, Bare, Bentley, Goedegebuure , Pugsley and Rance (p 15, 2016) offer a description of contingent continuing employment as "continuing employment but with easier termination arrangements":

"Fixed-term employment is almost invariably used for academic staff funded by research grants, although larger research-based universities have recognised the negative impact of contingent employment on researchers, and have introduced a “contingent continuing” employment category that provides continuing employment but with easier termination arrangements in the event that the researcher misses out on being engaged under a subsequent grant. The severance payments for this form of employment are also lower than the standard academic redundancy payment entitlements"

From: Andrews, Bare, Bentley, Goedegebuure , Pugsley and Rance (p 15, 2016)

Putting it more crudely, this is a form of indefinite temporary employment. While the uncertainty over research grants to fund employees has been the primary rationale for not employing academics permanently, the uncertainty around the need for teaching staff may also be a factor. Australian universities have experienced a boom in enrollments, due to government funding for domestic students, and demand from international students.  However, neither of these sources of income are certain to continue into the future. Also the use of new teaching techniques and educational technology, are changing the number of teaching staff required, and their skills. Most academics currently at Australian universities are not trained or qualified to teach in this new environment.

Dr Inger Mewburn (ANU), has proposed a study into  the nature and extent of academic work. Such a study would be useful for informing the UC review, as well as likely future government inquires into the Australian university system.

'University of Canberra

Media Release 

28 March 2019 

VICE-CHANCELLOR ANNOUNCES INDEPENDENT ASSISTANT PROFESSOR PROGRAM REVIEW

The University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Deep Saini, has today announced an independent review of Contingent-Continuing academic employment—commonly referred to as the Assistant Professor program—to evaluate and improve the program.

Assistant professors comprise approximately 22.5 per cent of the academic staff at the University of Canberra through a unique program in Australia. The scheme allows assistant professors to fast track to promotion to associate professor within seven years via two performance reviews.

The independent review will aim to ensure that participants are valued, supported, professionally developed and well managed to continue to be successful.

 “Whilst the basis of the contract is sound and has delivered success for many of our academic staff in fast-tracking their careers, we endeavour to deliver the best possible experience and results in this Australia-first program—both for the assistant professors and the students they teach,” said Professor Saini.

“I have personally consulted with many assistant professors in the program to hear their suggestions on how the implementation and experience of the program can be improved.”

 “We have used input from the assistant professors, staff and the National Tertiary Education Union to develop the scope of the review.”

The Review Panel consists of four members, including three external independent members and one internal member.

Professor of Chemistry and Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor and Vice President at University of Newcastle, Kevin Hall, will act as chair with Professor of Psychology and Education Director at University of Sydney, Marie Carroll, as member, and Workplace Relations and Employment Law specialist, Dr Graham Smith, as an external consultant to the panel.

Professor of Biomedicine at University of Canberra Reena Ghildyal will be an internal consultant, having personal experience of the Assistant Professor program at the University of Canberra. The scope of the review includes, but is not limited to:

• Examining new policy and procedures, terms and conditions and compliance with legislation;
• Attracting the right talent for successful outcomes;
• Frameworks for review and promotion;
• Supervision and mentoring, including appropriate training for supervisors and managers;
• Assessing if workload and performance-based remuneration encourages work/life balance;
• Examine the success of the scheme from talent attraction, development and retention;
• Ensure diversity, equity, access and inclusion;
• Highlight the positive outcomes and identify the areas for improvement. 

The Review will be provided to the Vice-Chancellor within 12 weeks of the panel commencing. '

From: Media and Communication, University of Canberra, 28 March 2019

Reference

Andrews, S., Bare, L., Bentley, P., Goedegebuure, L., Pugsley, C., & Rance, B. (2016). Contingent academic employment in Australian universities. LH Martin Institute. URL https://melbourne-cshe.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/2564262/2016-contingent-academic-employment-in-australian-universities-updatedapr16.pdf

 

University Training for Casual Academics

As one of the "permanent casuals" of Australian academia, I found Baik, Naylor and Corrin's work on how to support us of great interest (2018). I was a reluctant student of education, but when on to complete the ANU Graduate Certificate in HE. As the Authors point out, most university teaching is carried out by non-permanent staff. This has its advantages, as experts from industry can share their current experience with students. Also those with more recent experience as a student (such as graduate students) make better teachers. The Authors focus on a Framework for
sessional teachers at the University of Melbourne. 

It was not clear how much Professional Development the Baik, Naylor and Corrin had in mind for staff. There is mention of a "paid induction program as well as two hours of paid ongoing PD". However, it is not clear how extensive the induction program is, or if it is part of a formal educational qualification.

One area where I don't agree with the authors is on the role of online and face-to-face training for teaching. They suggest an online option should be provided, but only as a fall-back for those who can't come to class. I suggest this policy is outdated. Most students in Australian university courses are now blended and students don't come to class if there is an online alternative. Those teaching need experience in what it is like to be an online student, as that is what most of their students are. They best way to learn to teach online is by being an online student.

ps: In my own case, I like that as an Adjunct I am considered part of the academic staff, but I mostly don't have to go to meetings. However, the lack of permanent employment can have a corrosive effect on early career academics. When asked about postgraduate programs I suggest to prospective students they look at masters coursework programs and professional doctorates, which will qualify them for careers outside academia. With a secure job in industry they then have the option of being part time academics. However, those who instead choose the PhD path have only a very slim chance of ever getting a secure job as an academic and will not be as well qualified for industry.

Reference

Chi Baik, Ryan Naylor & Linda Corrin (2018) Developing a framework for university-wide improvement in the training and support of ‘casual’ academics, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, DOI: 10.1080/1360080X.2018.1479948