Title: Academic Cultures
1Academic Cultures
Perceptions
- Taking Your Liaison Program to the Next Level
Strategies for Outreach and Integration - ACRL National Conference
- Baltimore, Maryland
- March 29, 2007
- Craig Gibson
2What is Culture?
3Culture Definitions
- Social or normative glue that holds an
organization together (Smirchich) - The invisible tapestry that weaves together
parts of an organization (Kuh and Whitt)
Smirchich, L. 1983. Concepts of Culture and
Organizational Analysis. Administrative Science
Quarterly 28 339-58.
Kuh, George, and Elizabeth Whitt. 1988. The
Invisible Tapestry Culture in American Colleges
and Universities. ASHE-ERIC Report no. 1.
Washington, D.C. ASHE.
4Culture Features
- Distinctive beliefs, ways of interacting and
behaving - Unspoken assumptions, tacit knowledge
- The predominant paradigm that helps those within
it make meaning and understand the environment
5Culture Hows it Manifested?
- Its the unconscious infrastructure (Kuh and
Whitt) - stories, myths, organizational sagas
- rituals, ceremonies
- specialized terminology
- systemic behavior patterns by those within an
organization, over time
6Layers of CultureExplicit and Tacit Knowledge
- Tacit knowledge
- Attitudes, beliefs, skills below the level of
awareness - Subjective insights, hunches, intuitions
- Explicit knowledge
- Words, numbers written down
- Reports, manuals, products
7Academic Cultures
Institutional Culture
Student Culture
Faculty Culture
Library Culture
Administrative Culture
8Academic Cultures
9Faculty Culture
- Identify a recent experience with a faculty
member that shows a systemic aspect of faculty
culture. What words would you use to characterize
that culture?
10Relevant Cultural Aspects
of Faculty Culture
- Emphasis of most academic disciplines on
research, content, and specialization - Deemphasis on teaching, process,and undergraduates
11The Five Core Academic Values
(of Faculty)
- Collegiality participation, consensus, the
collegium the company of equals - Autonomy individual faculty members ability to
make decisions without coercion or outside
intervention - Academic freedom substantive intellectual work
requires freedom to choose and profess in ones
discipline
12Five Core Academic Values (contd)
- Specialized expertise basis for authority,
credibility, prestige, recognition, and rewards
within the academy - Reason/scientific method the basis for
developing knowledge and expertise - Barbara Walvoord, Academic Departments
How They Work, How They Change. ASHE-ERIC Higher
Education Report, v. 27, no. 8. San Francisco
Jossey Bass, 2000, pp. 15-17.
13How do faculty view librarians?
- Process, procedure-oriented
- Rule-bound
- Service role rather than educational one
- Not seen as equals
- Not aware of instruction that librarians already
do
14Student Culture Values
- Collaborative, peer influences
- Credentialism and careerism
- Whats in it for me?
- NetGen/Millenials priorities
15Library Culture
- Order, predictability
- Standards, expertise
- Mature organizations barrier to innovation
(Deiss) - Replicability of experience more important than
risk and uncertainty (Deiss)
Kathryn Deiss, Innovation and Strategy Risk and
Choice in Shaping User-Centered Libraries,
Library Trends, vol. 53, no. 1, summer 2004, pp.
17-32.
16Administrative Culture
- Strategic planning
- Educational outcomes
- Efficiency in resource use
- Sensitivity to external pressures governing
boards, employers, the public, alumni - Rationalized myths (subjective interpretations
and analyses given logical veneer) - Symbolic action, ceremony
17Coexisting and overlapping
institutional cultures (chronological order)
- Collegial epitomizes the five core academic
values the core culture of the academy - Managerial administrative demands for
efficiency, outcomes, accountability an emergent
value system - Negotiating relationship, sometimes adversarial,
between faculty and administration - Developmental professional growth, student
development and services -
- Bergquist, W.H. (1992). The Four Cultures of
the Academy. San Francisco Jossey-Bass.
18Academic Cultures Positioning
Liaison and Outreach
19Perceptions
20Perceptions
- Asymmetrical disconnection
between
librarians and faculty
Lars Christensen, Mindy Stombler, and Lyn
Thaxton, A Report on Librarian-Faculty Relations
from a Sociological Perspective, Journal of
Academic Librarianship, 30/2 (March 2004)
116-121.
21Perceptions
- Librarians value contact with faculty and attempt
to increase it - Faculty often dont understand the work of
librarians - Librarians see lack of communication with faculty
as problematic, a challenge to be overcome - Faculty are often so preoccupied that they dont
identify lack of communication with librarians as
a problem
Lars Christensen, Mindy Stombler, and Lyn
Thaxton, A Report on Librarian-Faculty Relations
from a Sociological Perspective, Journal of
Academic Librarianship, 30/2 (March 2004)
116-121.
22Realities
- Faculty are affiliated with their discipline
and/or academic department - Librarians are affiliated with an agency that
serves information/research needs of everyone - Faculty have more flexible schedules
- Librarians work more standard (40 hours per
week) schedules
Lars Christensen, Mindy Stombler, and Lyn
Thaxton, A Report on Librarian-Faculty Relations
from a Sociological Perspective, Journal of
Academic Librarianship, 30/2 (March 2004)
116-121.
23Cultural gaps and perceptions
- Librarians are attuned to collaboration,
cooperation, sharing - Faculty culture is often more individualistic,
isolated, and proprietary - Librarians are not seen as true subject experts
by faculty even if librarians have academic
preparation and/or degrees - Faculty are not seen by librarians as truly
competent/conversant with I.T., searching, or
teaching (in some cases)
Lars Christensen, Mindy Stombler, and Lyn
Thaxton, A Report on Librarian-Faculty Relations
from a Sociological Perspective, Journal of
Academic Librarianship, 30/2 (March 2004)
116-121.
24Culture, Belief, and Change
- Change doesnt come from following a procedural
plan or a cookbook approach -
- Change comes from deepening the beliefs or
internal commitments of people -
- Change comes from a collaborative learning
process (shared expertise) -
- The role of the leader is to increase
organizational capacity
25Core Change Strategies within the
Academy
- Senior Administrative Support
- Collaborative Leadership
- Robust Design
- Staff Development
- Visible Actions
Adrianna Kezar and Peter Eckel, The Effect of
Culture on Change Strategies in Higher
Education, The Journal of Higher Education, vol.
73, no. 4 (July/August 2002), pp. 435-460.
26Transformational Change
Visible Actions
Robust Design
27Robust Design
Resources
Flexible Picture of the Future
Change Strategies compatible with the culture
Strategic Directions and Positioning
28Other Change Strategies . . .
- Persuasive communication
- Incentives, rewards
- Long-term orientation
- Connections and synergy
- Working within the organizational culture
- Bringing in outside perspectives
- Using external factors
- Capitalizing on unforeseen opportunities
29Other Change Strategies . . .
- Moderating momentum
- Establishing new expectations
- Using changes in administrative processes
- Resocializing groups
- Placing local change in broader context
Adrianna Kezar and Peter Eckel, Examining the
Institutional Transformation Process, Research
in Higher Education, vol. 43, no. 3, June 2002,
pp. 295-328.
30Whats Your (Librarys Prevailing) Culture?
- (Cultural Audit exercise)