This article explores the complex academic-administrative role of the associate dean in US higher education administration. Previous research in Australia, UK and USA indicates that these academic middle managers experience significant conflict and ambiguity due to their roles and responsibilities as faculty members and administrators. Victor…

From the perspective of role theory and its attendant construct role strain, we examine open-ended survey responses to an online survey from 47 program coordinators at a R1 university conducted during the 2021-2022 academic year. Results suggest that beyond the era-specific challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and satisfactions realized from…

This study is a hermeneutic investigation into the phenomenon of organizational role conflict as experienced by five long-term department chairpersons, four long-term department heads, and two former long-term department chairpersons working at universities and colleges located in Indiana, Illinois, and Massachusetts. Organizational role conflict…

Academics have historically been members of socially dominant groups--white, cisgender, heterosexual men, from middle- to upper-classes, who identify as able-bodied and able-minded. Members of other groups are often disadvantaged. In two larger studies, semi-structured interviews were conducted with professionals from marginalized groups. Here we…

Academics in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE), similar to their counterparts in other disciplines, receive little formal preparation when they take on academic leadership positions. Yet such career changes require different skill sets and expose academics to complex challenges of leadership. We (three academics) initiated this study to…

Universities in most countries have become more managerial, but in different ways, for different reasons, and with different results. This article explores the collegial and managerial roles and qualifications of Canadian university deans. The study analysed 223 job advertisements published between 2011 and 2015. The analysis distinguishes between…

The three essays in this dissertation each examine how aspects of contemporary administrative structure within American research universities affect faculty outcomes. Specific aspects of administrative structure tested in this dissertation include the introduction of new administrative roles, administrative intensity (i.e., relative size of…

Literature shows that the role of academic middle managers (AMMs) has been a subject of contestation for a long time the world over owing to the fact that there has not been a clear cut articulation of what exactly this role constitutes or means. Such a situation according to literature has tended to affect the way the AMMs enact their role in…

This article provides a detailed description and analysis of how one Canadian institution used groups of department heads as change agents to address their most acute department head role tensions. It is demonstrated that this institution's change initiative aligned very closely to the recommendations proposed, in both the literature pertaining to…

This study explored the types of stressors prevalent in the self-reports of university research administrators (URAs) and examined whether or not the degree or type of role stress was influenced by: a) the affiliation of their office unit within their institution, or b) their type. Randomly selected members of NCURA were invited via e-mail to…

The chair of the marketing department serves a critical role in balancing the needs of the university with those of the faculty. Because most department chairs are drawn from the faculty in their departments, the administrative role they take on conflicts with their desire to maintain their academic roles as teacher and researcher. Although there…