Why University Administration Is So Difficult & What to do About it. - Friday, December 05 2008
Universities are complex, ambiguous, paradoxical and at times infuriating places. They also have a nobility of purpose and offer a richness of experience – intellectual, cultural and social – that are found in few organizations. In this environment the university administrator, especially one not from the academic ranks, is constantly struggling with a difficult, dynamic balance. The academic community is a primary source of the very richness we value, but many of its members tend not to embrace "corporate" priorities and perspectives. The administrator is expected to protect the particular interests of the members of this community, and at the same time serve the goals of the institution as a whole. This requires the achievement of a complex equilibrium in the face of unrelenting budget pressures, the uncertainties and upheavals associated with a much more competitive world, and the ever sharpening focus of public accountability. Self-fulfillment also demands a balance in personal life if one is to avoid succumbing to the enormous pressures that arise. Consequently today’s university administrator faces unprecedented personal and organizational challenges.
Universities are complex, ambiguous, paradoxical and at times infuriating places. They also have a nobility of purpose and offer a richness of experience – intellectual, cultural and social – that are found in few organizations. In this environment the university administrator, especially one not from the academic ranks, is constantly struggling with a difficult, dynamic balance. The academic community is a primary source of the very richness we value, but many of its members tend not to embrace "corporate" priorities and perspectives. The administrator is expected to protect the particular interests of the members of this community, and at the same time serve the goals of the institution as a whole. This requires the achievement of a complex equilibrium in the face of unrelenting budget pressures, the uncertainties and upheavals associated with a much more competitive world, and the ever sharpening focus of public accountability. Self-fulfillment also demands a balance in personal life if one is to avoid succumbing to the enormous pressures that arise. Consequently today’s university administrator faces unprecedented personal and organizational challenges.
