The Future of University Management:

Integrating academic and administrator beliefs about how work gets done

• Maree Conway

Me

• Almost 30 years as a university manager in CAEs, TAFE and universities.

• Involved in ATEM, and building levels of professionalism in university management.

• Published on the relationship between academics and administrators– perceived lack of respect, parity of esteem– but previously focus on the CLA Litany level

• Understanding how today's management models emerged

• Exploring convergence and divergence in beliefs about university management held by academics and managers: now manifesting itself as a 'divide'

• Exploring how universities and their management might evolve into the future (2030)

• From perspective of people doing the work

•Testing the proposition that the management structures, systems and processes we have in place today will not work in the future university.

•Understand nature of possible future university types, and corresponding management models needed - or not.

•What are the drivers of change that will shape the future university?

•What will the future university look like?

•What management models will be appropriate?

•Will future universities need to be managed at all?

• If yes, who will manage the future university?

Frameworks

• Integral – to get holistic view of the present state of university management to identify where the gap is, and to organise data

• Causal Layered Analysis – understanding the conversations around university management

•Evolution of capitalism demonstrates how universities have become corporatised – what will be the impact on universities as capitalism continues to evolve?– impact on academic work– emergence of new occupational

profession (Abbott 1988).

Values Beliefs

Assumptions

'Knowledge processes'

Management processes

Idea of the universityRules of the game

LanguageTraditions

External drivers of change, eg:

- evolution of capitalism- technology

Interior Exterior

Individual

Collective

Clashes/interactionshere not fullyexplored

Current literature/research focuses heremainly

Researchspace

Methodology

• Qualitative – engage people about their experience – moving beyond interviewing and surveys– narrative inquiry?

• Small scale study – 3 academics, 3 administrators telling stories of a positive and negative interaction