As many of you know, I came to academic life relatively late, i.e., after 25+ years working in the public sector, the private sector, and as an independent management consultant. The initial transition was not smooth, and there are a number of people who say it is incomplete :).
One of the biggest surprises to me was around the related question of teamwork and contribution. Outside the academy in absolutely every working environment there were clear teamwork expectations. Of course there was a predictable variation in capacity and contribution, but a combination of performance review processes and peer pressure tended to keep most people on track.
I've talked to many academics about the issue of differential contributions by people; the general view holds the following things to be true:
- there is often a huge variation in the practices and in performance among academic units, and among individuals ostensibly of the same rank and approximately the same pay;
- local peer pressure at the unit level is more likely than anything institutional;
- "social loafing" - to use the organizational behavior term - seems more acceptable in some academic settings.
I had a look in scholar.google.com for research on the last matter. A quick review yielded lots of studies on student social loafing, "free riding", "coat-tailing" - pick your noun of choice, but I could not find one studying the phenomenon among faculty members. The phenomenon surely exists. Does anyone know of any research on the topic?
One of the consequences is that we continue to depend on a group of committed contributors for the many "service" needs we have in Grad Studies, needs such as:
- members for a nominating committee for Faculty Council;
- members for an award committee to adjudicate winners of academic and service awards (many of the volunteers on the committee deserve to be nominated for the service award they are judging!);
- members to serve on the search committee for the next Dean.
This last bullet is especially problematic. The choice of decanal leadership is a serious opportunity and risk too. The inimitable Marsha Scott, the administrator in the office, brightly suggested that the selection of the Dean could be delegated to university staff instead of faculty. She's pretty sure she could round up a panel of volunteers in about 15 minutes, even on a Friday afternoon.
Maybe that's worth considering...
In the meantime, one rule continues to be true. If you want something done, you have to ask a busy person. We in FGS are truly grateful for the busy folks on FGS Council that continue to prove the rule. We can name a dozen people who are carrying the load for a hundred.
Sunny