Managing academics: A question of perspective

Abstract

Managing Academics contrasts three alternative perspectives of managing (professionalism, quality of worklife, prosocial identity) with the dominant perspective of managerialism in higher education institutions. The intention of the contrast is to: (1) challenge the notion that managing academics is a unitary, values-free process; (2) raise awareness of managing as a social process in which values and identity questions resonate as issues of importance to managers and the managed; and (3) help academic-managers influence and balance "hybrid" perspectives of managing and scholarship.