CLIMATE OF AN ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT
| Date | 01 January 1982 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009856 |
| Published date | 01 January 1982 |
| Pages | 98-116 |
| Author | R.H. JUCHAU |
| Subject Matter | Education |
THE
JOURNAL
OF
EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
VOLUME
XX,
NUMBER
1
WINTER, 1982
CLIMATE OF AN ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT
R. H. JUCHAU
This paper reports an investigation into climate of an academic department of an
English polytechnic. Background discussion is provided on "departmental" and
climate concepts and the research approach and perspective employed for the
investigation detailed.
To
collate and summarize
"climate"
data, a climate "cobweb"
model is presented and then employed to examine and sum the data to form a multi-
faceted climate picture of the department.
INTRODUCTION
Academic departments, as one of the core organizational units in tertiary
institutions, exist in difficult environments where resources are limited and
where the challenge to survive academically is forever present. Within
such environments, departments carry out their tasks of teaching,
consulting and research as well as satisfying the behavioural requirements
of departmental participants. A department's capacity to satisfy these
requirements depends not only on the provision of an appropriate
technical and material infrastructure, but also on the presence of an
internal environment (milieu) or climate which is supportive of participants'
goals,
needs and abilities. The significance of climate is seen in its "power"
as an intervening variable, moderating the influence of a department's
structure, technology and management style on participation effort and
performance.
This investigation gives an account of the climate of an academic
department in an English Polytechnic. The investigation was designed to
generate data to describe a climate of the department during November,
1978.
The methodology employed in the investigation is outlined in a later
section of this paper.
One problem for the investigation was to design an approach to
measure or "get at" situational characteristics which enable a climate to be
described. In measuring climates, two major theoretical/methodological
traditions exist1 - objective and perceptual. The objective approach utilises
the "stimulus situation" of individuals, wherein interaction effects between
individual and situational factors are studied through the obtaining of
situational measures independently of the individual perceptions of them.
The perceptual (sometimes referred to as subjective) approach involves
the tapping of people's perceptions directly - obtaining views of a
ROGER JUCHAU is Principal Lecturer and Head of the Division of Finance and Information
Systems, Nepean College of Advanced Education.
Departmental Climate 99
department as it is perceived by its participants.2 The latter tradition was
employed in this investigation. The rationale for its adoption and a
description of its implementation in the investigation are explained in later
sections.
The investigation, conducted in Winter Term, 1978, was approved by
the department's Head, who made the necessary introductions and
arrangements for interviewing staff during two weeks of November. Other
staff members of the department assisted with arrangements for data
gathering amongst the relevant student body. Eleven academic staff
members (total in department), the departmental secretary and ten
students were interviewed during the investigation period.
This paper is divided into four sections. The first section reviews and
outlines the nature and scope of the concepts of climate and department.
The next section details the overall research strategy and perspective that
has been adopted. The third section discusses the outcomes of the
project's investigation and introduces the "climate cobweb". The final
section summarises the discussion, presents a summary "climate cobweb"
and outlines some implications of the study for the department and future
research endeavour.
DEPARTMENT
AND
CLIMATE
The locus of this investigation was, as indicated, a department
(discipline-accounting) within a major polytechnic. The broad focus of the
project was on organizational dynamics, in particular, the outcomes of
departmental dynamics. The specific focus was the dynamics relating to
climate which is in a sense the "personality" or "internal environment" of
the department as seen by its participants. "Personality" emerges from the
affective responses of members (staff and students) to the dynamics of
interaction of the department's structure and each participant's goals,
needs and abilities.
a) Department.
The department was regarded as a convenient locus for the kind of study
of climate entailed in this investigation. As a unit of organisation, it can be
clearly delineated both in the formal and informal structure of the
polytechnic. In systems terms, its tasks, organisational and sentient
boundaries largely coincide, and its identity and purpose of are clearly
discernible. In broad terms, the department coordinates activities of
members around a discipline(s) and plays a substantive role in academic
decision making. Its significance to both staff and students must ultimately
rest on its fundamental role of linking a discipline(s) with an institution.
According to Trow, it is "the central link - between an organised body of
learning - and the institution in which teaching and learning is carried
on".3
For the
staff,
the department provides the scholarly association and
grouping for decision making about fundamental issues of instruction and
research.4 It is the focal point for the intellectual life of the academic.
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