The work of academic managers in HE

This study examines the work of hybrid managers in universities - the academic staff that hold management roles, overseeing the work of other academics.

In higher education institutions, the hybrid manager role is a crucial link between academics and senior management and is responsible for helping deliver organisational strategy. As the connection between senior leadership and those on the ground, they are critical in the contribution they make to knowledge brokering, strategy formation and implementation and facilitation of change - particularly at a time when the macro environment in which higher education exists is subject to considerable pressures, scrutiny and change.

A critique of the existing hybrid manager research highlights a reductionist approach and it has been suggested that referring to hybrids as ‘reluctant managers’ doesn’t reveal all the very different forms or shapes that reluctance can take, nor does it account for those who are more enthusiastic about the role.

Further, much of the research to date has been located amongst hybrid managers in healthcare, whilst little is known about this leadership cadre within the higher education context.

Hybrid managers are increasingly common in public sector organisations and the growth of this group is linked with the introduction of ‘new managerialism’, which represents government public policy that encourages the application of managerial techniques within public organisations to improve organisational performance. Professionals in these sectors have strong existing role identities (e.g. physicians) and frequently experience identity-related challenges.

In 2011 UK higher education as a sector contributed £73b to UK economy and employed over 378k people. As a major recipient of public funding, universities cannot ignore the crucial role of its ‘hybrid managers’ in ensuring effective resourcing and providing the connection between senior leadership and those on the ground.

This study examines the role of hybrid managers in academia, focusing on the motivations of university heads of department, challenges that affect their successful enactment of the role, their relationship with power dynamics and their development needs for undertaking leadership as a hybrid.

An appropriate lens through which to understand the tensions HODs are subject to in their hybrid role is institutional logics. Malhotra and Reay (2019:2) explain “institutional logics provide ‘rules of the game’ that guide the behaviours and daily activities of both organizations and individuals.” Universities, like other professional bureaucracies, are subject to multiple logics and as such, tensions and conflict are inevitable, since individuals must interpret which rules should be followed.  Universities are characterised by both professional logics and managerial logics.

Professionalism and managerialism can be thought of as ‘competing institutional logics’ since professionals have historically resisted new ways of organising professional work that challenge professional dominance and autonomy. Individuals negotiate tensions among multiple institutional logics by identifying with certain logics and distancing from the others.

HODs who identify with managerial logics will emphasise their managerial identity, whereas HODs who embrace professional logics will emphasise their professional identity.

A pilot qualitative study has been conducted which has identified 5 tentative types of heads of department according to the emphasis they place on their ‘professional’ or ‘managerial’ identities. We have also identified enablers and obstacles to performing the role effectively, as well as a set of development needs.

We have received funding from the BA / Leverhulme Small Research Grants scheme to enable us to expand the project over the next two years, ending March 2024. The next phases will explore the HoD types previously identified, and the motivations and challenges of the hybrid role in this context. We will also examine power and the means through which HoDs enact their role effectively. We aim to create and trial evidence-based development for HoDs to enable them to thrive in their roles and to produce a freely-available toolkit for universities to support their HoDs more effectively.

Publications

Paper accepted for the 81st Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, 29 July - 4 August 2021: Budjanovcanin, Alexandra and Denney, Fiona: Hybrid Managers in Higher Education: Power, Identity and Challenges

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Project last modified 28/11/2023