Managing ‘academic value’: the 360-degree perspective

ABSTRACT

The raison d'etre of all universities is to create and deliver ‘academic value’, which we define as the sum total of the contributions from the 360-degree ‘angles’ of the academic community, including all categories of staff, as well as external stakeholders (e.g. regulatory, commercial, professional and community interests). As a way to conceptualise these complex relationships, we present the ‘academic wheel’ to illustrate the structural nature of them. We then discuss the implications of the different – and sometimes difficult – perspectives of academic, professional and administrative groups in the context of a number of important social psychological processes. We ask whether it is possible to reconcile, what is sometimes perceived as, managerial Taylorism with the academic freedom of (Laurie) Taylorism. We conclude that recognition and active management of these processes are required for each university to optimise its own brand of core academic value.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic value
• community
• student experience
• social psychological processes
• professional services
• managers
• administrators

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Margaret R. Wilson is Faculty Manager of Business and Management at Regent's University London. She is a member of the Chartered Association of Business Schools as well as the Association of University Administrators. Margaret started her career in HE in 1993, at Swansea University, as a junior administrator, where she rose quickly to became School Manager in 1996 - during which time, amongst other qualifications, Margaret studied for professional management status, Law Society Accredited Mediator and Person Centred Counsellor. Whilst at Swansea University, Margaret achieved the ‘overall best student experience award’ in the first year of the NSS. After Swansea University, Margaret gained further valuable managerial experience working at the University of East Anglia, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (University of London), and University College London.

Philip J. Corr is Professor of Psychology (Behavioural Economics) at City University London since 2013, and previously he held professorial positions at the University of East Anglia (2009-2013; where he was Head of Psychology) and Swansea University (2004-2009; where he served as Head of Department). He has published over 150 papers and book chapters, and has five books to his credit. Philip is a Chartered Psychologist (C.Psychol.) of the British Psychological Society (BPS; and also an Associate Fellow), Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Chartered Scientist of the Science Council (CSci), and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). Philip takes a keen interest in university administration and attended the annual conference of the Association of University Administrator held in Manchester in 2014.