Microsoft Word doctoral thesis final[1]. doc

 
(a)  
Perceptions of the role of HoD before and after assumption of role  
 
The women’s perceptions of the role of HoD before they became one themselves varied 
from naïve to critical. Generally, there were negative perceptions, such as, that HoDs are 
inaccessible, the job is tough and involves a lot of administration work.  One woman  
expected similarity between industry and university only to find that  the university 
consulting  process wastes a lot of time. However, the women acknowledged that the job 
had changed gradually as understanding of details increased. For instance, being part of a 
team, has changed the perception about the HoD’s role being aloof. Whereas Carol 
thought HoDs had given her the impression of being very “busy people with whom one 
had to make an appointment to see”, the work was in fact not about administration only, 
but  about managing the people and how to do that.  Jen’s perceptions have changed from 
thinking the job was a tough one where one had no time for personal development, to 
realising that one can delegate and share authority and also be able to develop, teach and 
research. Betsy thought the head of the school would ‘manage the school and that would 
be focused inward’, only to realise that there were ‘external constraints’ in addition to the 
‘inward responsibilities’. There was an internal and external role to play. Brooke found 
little divergence from her perceptions and the actual experience of the job. What she did 
realise though was how lonely and isolated the job could be. She also began to 
understand the difficulties previous heads had had. Cheryl had sort of a ‘broad-brush’ 
view of the job. For her nothing has changed except that she is now more aware of the 
details and complexities of the job. 
 
 Two women’s perceptions of the job were profoundly changed by their experience of it 
in a different environment. Lee came into the job expecting to manage the programme 
successfully, manage people and deal with students. But she found that it is actually a 

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‘compliance role’ rather than leading. There was less flexibility and latitude to be 
independent, instead the policies and procedures were paralysing. In her own words: 
 
There’s been a change…the policies and procedures within the university,…is 
something that I’m battling to come to grips with. – I’ve enjoyed the greater 
entrepreneurial side that has resulted – but this issue of policies and procedures 
and putting one in a straitjacket and ‘you shall not act outside of that’ is 
something that I’m battling with at the moment and I don’t think I’ll ever come to 
terms with it so it has been a change certainly in my perception of the role – 
actually. No, it’s very much a compliance role than leading. 
 
Coming from industry into a university environment, Nikki’s perceptions were that things 
would be more or less similar. In other words she thought the academic environment 
would  be less conservative than industry and people would be positive about change. 
Instead when she assumed her new role, she found that university processes were much  
slower than in  industry. People expected a consultative process, so she had to modify the 
way she did things in order to work in the academic environment. She also found strong 
resistance to change in the academic environment. In her own words: 
 
Having come back from industry , I was very surprised by the conservatism of the 
academic environment. Having worked for a company, which I felt was a 
conservative company,…where employees were quite positive about change and 
were beginning to see the benefits-- to come back to an academic environment 
where there is a lot of feeling-- that still-- the way we used to do it had to have 
been better, there’s quite a resistance to change. I hadn’t realised that that would 
be such a strong feeling, and I suppose the other issue that I have is we do things 
quite slowly in universities—it’s a very consultative process compared with 
industry. 
 
From the women’s accounts of their perceptions and experiences of the job, the  HoD 
role, as they  came to realise, entails consultation, delegation and sharing of authority, 
internal and external liaisons, managing people  and managing change. Two of the roles 

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listed here parallel those listed by Briggs (2005:31), where, among others, ‘external 
liaison’ and ‘staff manager’ are aspects of the role of middle manager. 
 
(b) Training 
 
  
 The women had different  experiences of  training. Although some of the women 
attended  workshops and courses on management and leadership, they believed that on-
the-job experience was the best training. None of them  had any formal preparation for 
the job. Of the thirty two women who participated in the study, only four (12.5 per cent) 
said they had received formal preparation. 
 
According to one of the UK participants, at her university, training is done by an outside 
trainer. The training offers courses in leadership and change management. Brooke, who 
works at this university, recommends ‘shadowing’ as a good component of the training 
system. Nikki had no specific training but currently has an executive coach who helps her 
rehearse what she should say. Brooke & Nikki are currently dean and faculty principal (cf 
5.2.1). Hence their responses may be influenced by their current experience. 
 
Otherwise, the rest of the women said, apart from workshops and induction courses, they 
had to rely on other HoDs for help and learn everything along the way.  Carol and Tanya  
both learnt from other HoDs. Jen was  in a leadership development programme where 
training is given in all aspects of leadership skills. Betsy had absolutely no training and 
she felt it would have been better if there were formal preparation programmes. Cheryl 
firmly believes that ‘experience is the best teacher’. She attended a number of courses on 
various issues concerning management, and though she found them very helpful, she did 
not think that it meant one could perform capably until one actually had first hand 
experience. Sally had no training either, but believes that learning actively in the field 
works better than learning about it. Workshops and courses are good for networking and 
listening to other people’s experiences, but learning on the job is the best way to find out 
what you do not know. Lee claims her age has helped her. She believes that one learns 
through  trial and error. 
 

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(c)     New roles and responsibilities  (and new sets of knowledge) 
 
Each of the participants experienced new roles and responsibilities in their HoD position 
consistent with those cited in the literature (cf 2.4.2.1). The task most frequently 
mentioned was that of providing intellectual leadership, restructuring the curriculum and 
designing new programmes in the department. Some descriptive excerpts follow: 
 
‘managing a complex appraisal system…’ ‘dealing with changes 
(restructuring)…’ ‘changed programmes in response to changing structures and 
approaches of National Health service’  
‘reviewing programmes in other departments…’ ‘review of  animal ethics within 
the university...’ 
 
Frequently mentioned by the participants is the external role they found  themselves 
having to play: ‘external role such as sourcing external funding, promoting the faculty 
outside…’ ‘meeting a lot of people and talking to businessmen...’ 
 
In addition to these roles, there were new responsibilities, such as: ‘increased focus on 
financial management…’ ‘more involvement in fundraising…’ ‘dealing with staff 
resistant to change…’ ‘chairing many committee meetings’. 
 
Moreover, there were fresh experiences like: ‘being part of management…’ ‘running a 
major building project...’ 
 
 
The experience of headship also brought with it new sets of knowledge, such as: ‘labour 
law, in the UK there is lots of new legislation on gender and ethnic issues…’ ‘contract 
negotiating skills…’ ‘conflict and dispute resolution skills…’ ‘university governance…’ 
‘talking to people outside [the university]…’ 
 
 
 

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