Academics and Administrators: Competitive Collaborators?

Published in Volume 7, No. 2, 01 September 1998

Full article

Maree Conway

Abstract

Many works on higher education management describe the relationship between academics and administrators with terms such as “conflict”, “competitive”, “tension” or “negative”. Some even describe the often dysfunctional relationship as an organisational characteristic. Yet none of these works, even those written by administrators, go much beyond such surface descriptions. While there is considerable goodwill on the part of individual academics and administrators, the relationship between the two groups is frequently competitive, particularly in times of resource scarcity.

University are being challenged for their perceived ineffective and cumbersome management practices. Fuzziness around the boundaries between academic and administrative roles in institutional management does not help such perceptions. Academics and administrators need to clarify their roles and collaborate in management today and in the future. The need for this collaboration is urgent if we are to effectively defend the university and its uniqueness against those who would unthinkingly impose corporate business practices on an organisation which simply does not fit the corporate mould.

This paper investigates the relationship between academics and administrators in institutional management, why it is not regarded as a positive relationship, and what steps both groups might have to take to reduce competition and improve collaboration in the future.