Leading Professors: professorial academic leadership as it is perceived by ‘the led’

Leading Professors:professorial academic leadership as it is perceived by ‘the led’ A study funded by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, with the SRHE as supporting partner Linda Evans, Matt Homer and Steve Rayner, University of Leeds; Oxford Brookes University

“My daughter, who’s studying politics at a Russell Group university, rang me at work to say, ‘Dad, what d’you have to be to be a professor?’ – a completely unsolicited call. And I said, ‘Why?’ but then dived on to say, ‘a professor needs to be … published… and in journals … and at conferences … very well known for what he does …’. Then I said, ‘Why?’ again, and she said, ‘Well, he’s just taken over semester 2 lectures, and he’s absolutely awful!’ I said, ‘Oh, why, what’s he like?’ And she said, ‘Well, we’ve had one hand-out that isn’t really a hand-out, and you can’t make any sense of his lectures.’ And she was quite bright and diligent. … And so I said, ‘Well, to be a professor, nobody’s going to ask or even look at how good a teacher you are, but how d’you know it’s not just you?’ She said, ‘Well, it’s all my little gang. We’re all completely at sea, and after three lectures we’ve stopped going’. And then I met up with her and she said, ‘He’s absolutely awful; presentation’s all over the place; we don’t understand what he’s on about’. And that’s always made me giggle, but that professor is highly esteemed at his university, and that department is an old RAE 5*.” (Graham, senior lecturer in law, post-92 university)

The ‘Leading Professors’ project • Funded by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education • 1-year small project • Research team of three • Strong focus on dissemination across the sector

Plan for the day • Introduction – Linda Evans • What we know already: the field as it stands – Steve Rayner • Our research design – Steve • The questionnaire – Matt Homer • Questions to Matt / brief discussion • The interview data – emergent findings • selected data sample • drawing out methodological and conceptual issues • Discussion and sharing of experiences

Some questions for consideration • Do we need professors? • What role(s) do they perform? • What role(s) should they perform? • Is the professorial role continuing to evolve? • What does professorial professionalism look like? • from whose perspective? • Who should decide or have a say in how professors carry out their work? • what role(s) they perform? • Are (in danger of) asking/demanding too much of professors? • Is there uniformity in what the professorial role involves? • criteria for being a professor? • What makes a ‘leading’ professor? • How rare or how commonplace are ‘leading’ professors?

Clare’s story • The case of the nasty professors? • Misuse of ‘power’? • … or taking advantage of less powerful colleagues? • Abrogation of responsibility? • Shirking of responsibility? • Conflicting perceptions of the professorial role and responsibilities?

David “… the more I’ve been here, the more, I suppose, that kind of happy-go-lucky, ‘well-it-doesn’t-really-matter’ attitude has hardened a little bit into thinking, y’know, you guys are paid very, very well … . Er … internal reviews have formally recognised that the majority of, y’know, kind of admin roles - often quite big main admin roles - are done by early to mid-career staff. Er … there’s a sentiment – I know it’s shared, it isn’t just me, it’s the way things are - that junior lecturers, teaching fellows, people on teaching- and admin-only contracts … to some extent, senior lecturers … er … do the majority of the work. … And … some professors are quite open – effectively saying, ‘well, y’know, we have earned our right to be in that position … we’re prestigious … we need to be allowed to pump out the research …’.” (David, Spanish lecturer, pre-1992 university

David “… a view from my own current head of department, who’s also a professor, is that young staff need to be given responsibilities to build their CVs … er … in her case, that means not just kind of benevolently helping people to build their careers, it’s in some cases – in the worst cases – dumping on people … and it leads to colleagues I know who have … er … panic attacks in the middle of the night … you know, who’ve got over-anxious … they’re stressed … er, so, really it’s not just about building people’s CVs – I don’t know whether it’s a genuine misconception or whether it’s actually a more malicious … er … sort of strategy just to kind of look after oneself … but, you just have to get on with it. I mean, again, I’m blessed with a relatively large amount of resilience and I just get on with it, and if I’m drowning I say, well, y’know, ‘Hey, I’m drowning!’ But there are one or two others in this building who … er … who’ve been quite open in staff meetings and said, ‘well, y’know, I’ve got … mental health issues’ – I mean, low level, not, y’know, ‘I’m going to kill myself’ … but, yeah, stress – work-related stress. “

Clare’s account:wider issues • Construct validity – academic leadership • Separating the ‘professorial’ factor: • confusing academic leadership with management ? • Reluctance to be specific • Seniority - wider range of experiences: • more negative experiences

Howard “One [professor]treats me with contempt – or certainly has done – and he’s … well, like other people, he’s been … there’s been bullying by him. … There was one occasion in particular when I was asked by the then director of research in the faculty to be so-called ‘impact champion’, which I agreed to do. And this guy was head of research in the department, and we did have an exchange of emails about it – he’s clearly not really very happy. And then he burst into my room – knocked heavily at the door and burst into my room – started shouting at me for copying various people into an email: ‘Why did you copy so-and-so in?’ But that was because it related to a part-time job that I had, and it had implications, and he was just very … sort of … dismissive … angry… er … telling me I shouldn’t do things that I knew I should do … and I found that very disconcerting, because it came suddenly. There’ve been other occasions … when we’ve had meetings or email exchanges … and he’s been very abrasive and dismissive … er … about my views. And if I felt I was wrong I would, sort of, have recognised that I was wrong … but I don’t think I was. And there’s another member of staff - another professor – who’s the deputy head of the department, and … er … he’s never been at all supportive – he’s not been a bully, but he doesn’t regard me as being … a very significant contributor.” (Howard, teaching fellow in archaeology, pre-1992 university)

Isobel The case of the uncooperative professors?

Eleanor “… for me, leadership is something more than simply doing your job; it’s about, kind of, showing people a way forward, and, kind of, being an example. Er … and in that respect, yes, I do think it’s important to maintain a contact with your colleagues and to, y’know, demonstrate how things are done actually, and part of that is supporting younger colleagues and students within your own department as well as being a leading researcher outside your department and outside your institution. So … er … in a sense you can be a very good professor without necessarily being a kind of leader in that sort of way.” (Eleanor, French senior lecturer, pre-1992 university)

Mentoring and guiding • Whose responsibility is it to mentor and guide junior colleagues? • Does it matter who provides the mentoring and advice? • Are junior colleagues/early career academics disadvantaged if they’re not mentored by a leading professor? • Effective professorial mentoring was identified as a huge benefit.

Alan “… having time for junior members of staff and supporting them in developing their careers, I think’s extremely important. …That’s what I think the ideal professor would be.” (Alan, reader in chemistry, pre-1992 university)

Eleanor “… the good thing about having an active research culture in the department is that you’ve also then got to support early career researchers, because one of the hardest things, I found – and I know a number of other peoples who’ve said the same thing – er … one of the hardest transitions to make is going from PhD to a job. Because you’re trying to figure out what you do next after your thesis without repeating yourself … er … you’re also, y’know, just learning the ropes … er … and not losing sight of why you’re doing the job is actually quite difficult when you’re in the middle of it all. So, having a research culture that helps you to feel that, y’know, you can work things through, or you can see what other people are doing … you can talk to them about your research … and their research … er … and just, sort of, not feeling completely cut off, is really important. “

David “I’ve found … that, as a junior lecturer, I’ve been offered things that for various reasons I thought I should say ‘yes’ to … and that they’ve probably spread me a bit more thinly than I would’ve liked to have been. I could probably have said, ‘no’ to a few articles and chapters … er … and ended up with four really strong items for the REF, rather than what I’ll probably find, which is that I’m struggling to finish the book, and have maybe up to eight article-length items which are all more or less the same quality, so … on the kind of 3* scale – possibly even 2*…”

David “… promotion again is something that professors … er … well it’s just completely absent, really, from … from the discourse. Y’know, I’m not particularly fussed about status or money … er … and I think a lot of junior lecturers in this building are the same, but there are people sat around who’re thinking, I could just do with a friendly, y’know, nudge, or chat … y’know … ‘you should think about: a) promotion, b) your REF, kind of, profile …’. I think the other key area in which I really think there’s just a total absence of direction … real leadership … is funding applications. So, the message is a very general one that comes through on a regular basis… I mean, basically, you must apply for things … you must secure funding … . That’s fine, but there’s … there’s no one formally assigned to sit down with any level of staff member – junior or senior – and say, ‘well, how about going for this particular grant’ or ‘let me have a full look at your proposal before you send it …’. “

Eleanor “… some of the best professors I’ve encountered – one of them was my supervisor, actually – this is in [X city ]… and I don’t think I really, kind of, realised how good he was until I went to work for him. Er … but he was very good at not only, sort of, encouraging other people in their research … er … but he was very collegial; he, kind of, did his bit within the department … er … he was head of department several times … and he was very, sort of, present, and very supportive, and I know that was appreciated by his colleagues. … Er … but he also managed, in addition to that, to, y’know, have roles outside the university, and also to be very respected for his research. So, in that respect I think, y’know, in some ways I was sort of a bit spoilt (laughs) when I was a graduate student.”

Eleanor “Well I think obviously it had a very real impact upon my own work – my research – ’cos, y’know, he was very encouraging while also being quite demanding … er … there was never a sense that he was patronising me – y’know, he would expect me to come and deliver the goods – but, yeah, he was, y’know, very, sort of, encouraging and very involved in the research culture of the department – y’know, he’d take the initiative when it came to organising things like reading groups at lunch times, and he was, y’know, a very good teacher. I think this is part of the reason why that department has so many graduate students now in his field … er … he’s very committed to teaching, and also to developing students as potential researchers while they’re still undergraduates.

Eleanor “… well, I think the thing about him was that he was very good at doing that without making you aware that he was doing it, actually (laughs) … so, when I first started … er … something I was very struck by, actually, was the way he … he was very attentive to … just, sort of, everyday things that might’ve had an impact on my ability to work. So, y’know, he made sure that I had somewhere to live, and that I had access to the libraries, and that sort of thing, rather than just, sort of, y’know, dumping work on me when I first arrived … er … and we met up very frequently in those first two weeks. And he would just – he wouldn’t necessarily just talk about my project; we’d just talk generally about work-related things and ideas he was having. And that helped me, I think, to both settle in and develop a relationship with him without feeling too under pressure … and so … becoming aware of things outside my direct areas of interest. So, I think, actually, although I wasn’t actually necessarily writing very much at that point (laughs), that was quite important in some ways, because, y’know, he made sure I wasn’t just looking at this one very detailed thing that I was working on … y’know, I was pushed into … other, sort of, interests, and he made sure that I did critical theory, as well as looking at all the literature. And so, that actually was – that has been – hugely important for my work, from graduate level onwards … because, y’know, I’d say it was one of the characteristics of what I do now – taking critical, theoretical approaches and seeing how they work.”

Role confusion/blurring:a methodological issue • Confusion of the supervisor role and the professorial role • very common – particularly among early career interviewees • Do professors make better supervisors than non-professorial academics? • Are all very good supervisors destined /worthy to become professors? • Are people’s perceptions or recollections of their supervisors clouded? • What do people want from their supervisors? • Are they expecting or looking for the same things from their professors? • Are views on what makes a good professor influenced by views on what makes a good supervisor?

Eleanor “… something that I’ve found really useful, actually – for a year I’ve been on the committee for the [X] society – which is a national association – er … and, y’know, there are a number of people on the committee who are professors, but in other institutions, and there are lots of people there I could … y’know, pick out as very positive examples of professorial leadership, actually.” “Well, I think in each case it’s slightly different, but there are certain common, sort of, traits, if you like … er … I think for me it’s about a commitment to one’s subject, actually, which isn’t simply about career development; it’s, y’know, it’s the people who really believe in what they’re doing who tend to actually encourage other people – regardless of whether or not they’re working directly in their area – to, y’know, explore their own area, and give them support … whether that be pushing them in the direction of certain kinds of funding, or just, sort of, giving moral support, actually. Er … and … yeah, the people whom I’m thinking of on the committee … are all, sort of – well, they’re all leaders in their field, and they’re all doing research themselves, but they also encourage other people and are very committed to … to the discipline, actually. And that’s been really important, I think, for me … to see how people think about the discipline broadly, rather than just their own subject area.”

Eleanor Interviewer: Can I just push you a little bit further? In what ways does this commitment to the discipline manifest itself? “Well, obviously, the very fact of being on this committee suggests that people, y’know, do have that sort of commitment already. Er … and many of them give up their time – ’cos obviously it’s not paid – so you just, sort of, give up your time and take on an additional administrative burden … er … y’know, because you believe it’s important … er … and I suppose … what’s remarkable about it is that in some cases people are doing fairly banal things, actually – y’know, like assessing funding applications, and reading through things like that - but they take it very seriously, there’s no sort of sense that it’s beneath them, y’know, they do it well, and it’s always very efficient … and so, y’know, you get the impression people are shouldering a burden that they … y’know, they’re doing that for a reason, which is that they believe that has a kind of importance for, y’know, the greater good, as it were – which I think is … quite inspiring, actually. So, leadership, for me, is not necessarily about … y’know, just being out there as the pioneer, leading the way, it’s also about doing things which demonstrate your commitment to something – which aren’t necessarily very impressive – but that you nonetheless take on.”

Eleanor Interviewer: Can we now move onto the bad examples [of professors]? – or have there not been any? “I think I can probably think of a couple, actually. I mean, even in these cases – the thing I should probably say first is that … y’know … these people have become professors for very good reasons, and, y’know, their research is second to none … and that is beyond question, I think. But, in terms of how they fulfil their role as professor – they’re both in this department, and I suppose it’s also partly that when you know someone that much better, and you see them performing different roles, you have more of a sense of … of how they, y’know, sort of, deal with their job and it may be that some of the people I look up to perform less well when they’re back in their own institutions (laughs) – but, I suppose the things that … it’s partly to do with a commitment to one’s colleagues, and, y’know, the kind of flip side of the things I was talking about earlier … where people, sort of, use their position to wriggle out of doing certain kinds of low-level work … that they think it’s not really … sufficiently prestigious to be doing …”

Eleanor Interviewer: Could I push you for an example? “Yeah. Er … well (laughs) … and it’s often – the kind of annoying thing about this is that you often find out about these things later on – er … so, for example, when workloads are announced … and you see that people … basically, they’re co-supervising so many graduate students outside of their area, that they don’t have any undergraduate teaching, for example (laughs) … or, that, y’know … er … they, sort of, engineer things so that they’re not involved in any departmental teaching or admin, and pass that onto other people. … Er …’cos I suppose I sort of feel that everyone should pull their weight, regardless of what position they hold - and actually it’s more incumbent upon people who are on a higher salary to do that – so … yeah … I know that there have been some eyebrows raised about the amount of teaching that people do, for example.”

Eleanor “And I’m not saying that both these professors are the same, actually, ’cosone of them is certainly not … sort of, wriggling out of teaching at all, but, y’know, won’t come to things like research seminars … . I suppose that they’re doing their job, but focusing their attention on certain things, over and above other things. So I guess that the reason I would single them out as examples is that they’re not really balancing the different aspects of their jobs; they’re … y’know … focusing on one thing.” “Some people I know who become professors, actually, see that as … a different kind of job, actually. It’s not the same job that you’ve been doing up to that point. And those tend to be people who do their job better.” “People who regard being a professor as a different type of role tend to … to, sort of, shoulder more responsibility, I suppose, in some ways … regard it more seriously, perhaps.”

Alan “He gave me advice in terms of managing research groups, how to … y’know … how to deal with difficult situations in the lab … y’know, people … people fighting (laughs) … er … and, sort of, the HR, management-type side of the job as well … er … and friendship … social … y’know … we’d go out for lunch reasonably often, get invited to his house for dinner … . Those things sound trivial, but they’re not, are they? … So perhaps the most important thing was …I felt that he felt I was important … and that I was an important part of his … his … working life.”

Emerging commonalities Professors’ academic leadership is perceived to be transmitted and manifested by the extent to which they: • influence and shape culture • within their departments /institutions • in ‘the wider discipline’ • role model • as a scholar and leading academic • as a human being with integrity • support others.

Three underlying factors • Competence • Performance • Relationality • Professors are judged in relation to one or more of the above.

Expectations and proximity theory • Degree of satisfaction with professorial academic leadership is determined by the extent to which people’s expectations are met. • These expectations are shaped by multiple factors. • Underpinning them is a conception of the ‘ideal’: • the ‘ideal’ professor • the ‘ideal ‘department or university to work in • the ‘ideal’ job for oneself • one’s ideal self-conception • The closer one perceives oneself to one’s current perception of one’s ideal, the greater one’s current satisfaction. • Professorial colleagues form just one piece of the jigsaw that makes up the pictures of people’s own individual ideals. • But because of their potential power, they may have greater capacity than do other colleagues to influence an environment or work context.

Evans, L. (2001) Delving Deeper into Morale, Job Satisfaction and Motivation among Education Professionals: Re-examining the leadership dimension, Educational Management and Administration, 29 (3), 291-306

Some questions for consideration • Do we need professors? • What role(s) do they perform? • What role(s) should they perform? • Is the professorial role continuing to evolve? • What does professorial professionalism look like? • from whose perspective? • Who should decide or have a say in how professors carry out their work? • what role(s) they perform? • Are (in danger of) asking/demanding too much of professors? • Is there uniformity in what the professorial role involves? • criteria for being a professor? • What makes a ‘leading’ professor? • How rare or how commonplace are ‘leading’ professors?

Data collection: interviews • 48 interviews • All four nations represented • Pre- and post-1992 universities represented • The sample comprised: • academics (at all levels) • researchers • teachers • Interviews lasted between 30-90 minutes • average interview length was one hour • Interview schedule used but did not constrain the conversation

Leading Professors: professorial academic leadership as it is perceived by ‘the led’