The career psychological experiences of academic department chairpersons at a South African university

The existing research on the academic department chairperson focuses on the structure of the position more than on the role in terms of career, psychological functioning, coping and well-being of the incumbent. The objective of this research was to describe the career psychological experiences of academic department chairpersons (ADC) in their organisational role. A qualitative and descriptive research design was chosen for a case study of 24 chairpersons. Data were gathered using a focus group followed by thematic analysis. The manifesting themes were crossing the boundary into the career of an ADC, relationships, experienced confl ict and loss in the role, personal well-being and future career as an ADC. A psychological profile was constructed, and the data were interpreted on the basis of various stress coping models. It was concluded that these ADCs did not cope well psychologically, which significantly influenced their work performance. Research on the depth psychology role analysis of the ADC was recommended, followed by an inter-university investigation into the career dilemmas experienced, resulting in their lack of work satisfaction and productivity.

Exploring Saudi English Departments’ Beliefs on Language Use at Department Level: When and Why?

In Saudi Arabia, staff members in higher educational English departments communicate with one another and with students outside the domain of the classroom on a daily basis using English (L2) and/or Arabic (L1) languages in different departmental encounters. The existence of English Language Policies (henceforth ELPs) in Saudi English departments is expected because of the nature of the work and the likelihood of the presence of non-Arabic-speaking members. The literature does not offer any account of the existing beliefs of staff members in Saudi English departments regarding the reasons for the timing and contexts in which English and/or Arabic should be used. This serves as the purpose of the current study. This study adopted a mixed method approach. The total number of participants comprised 216 staff members affiliated to the Saudi higher educational English departments. They were of different specialties, ranks, genders, ages, and from different regions. A total of 208 participants responded to an online survey, which was composed of a background section and five questions. Furthermore, semi-structured interviews comprising two questions were conducted with eight interviewees (seven male department chairpersons and one female vice chair). The main conclusions of the study include that majority of staff members prefer to use English on every possible occasion. However, they also believe Arabic should not be banned from use at department level. Other findings, implications, and recommendations for future research are provided.

Correlates of Role Enactment among the Academic Chairpersons of Selected Institutions in Bukidnon

The chairpersons’ role and approaches to conflict management, strategies in communication and techniques in program implementation are enacted by the department Chairpersons. The study aimed to investigate the correlates of role performance of the chairpersons as perceived by the role incumbent and role partners. The study used the descriptive design involving the incumbent deans, department chairpersons and faculty members of the HEIs. The study utilized the non-probability sampling design .The mean, standard deviation, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation were used. Results showed that the level of role conception of academic chairpersons within the same range as that of the role enactment as perceived by the deans and their role partners (faculty). The approaches to conflict management, strategies in communication and techniques in program implementation are correlates of administrative role, leadership role, interpersonal role, resource development role, role enactment of academic chairpersons. The study concludes that the chairpersons’ level of role conception in their administrative roles, leadership roles, interpersonal roles and resource development roles is congruent with their perceived role enactment as assessed by the deans and faculty. The extent chairpersons used approaches to conflict management, strategies to communication and techniques in program implementation determines the adequacy of role enactment of academic chairpersons as they perform. Keywords - Education, role performance, higher education, correlates, descriptive design, Philippines

Accounting Department Chairpersons Perceptions Of Business School Performance Using A Market Orientation Model

This manuscript is part of a stream of continuing research examining market orientation within higher education and its potential impact on organizational performance. The organizations researched are business schools and the data collected came from chairpersons of accounting departments of AACSB member business schools. We use a reworded Narver and Slater (1990) market orientation scale and the Jaworski and Kohlis (1993) overall performance scale for use in the current research. 101 chairs of accounting departments whose schools are members of AACSB responded to the survey. The manuscript details the data collection and analysis processes, the statistical findings, along with implications and a call for additional subject matter research.