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Goals

This note is based on the following instructional goals for teaching the GSU case:

• To examine how innovative approaches to faculty employment are developed and implemented
• To asses alternative approaches to the terms and conditions of faculty employment in areas such as salaries, workload, and post-tenure review
• To analyze emerging approaches regarding the employment of part-time faculty
• To examine how academic leaders can best encourage and facilitate changes in work life policies.

Teaching Plan

The Georgia State University case highlights the challenge and complexity of modifying faculty employment and work life policies. A list of recommended background readings on issues such as faculty workload, merit pay, post-tenure review, and part-time faculty is included at the end of this teaching note.   These readings can be used to supplement and support the instructor's teaching plan for the GSU case. Suggested discussion questions to guide participant preparation are also included at the end of this teaching note.  

1. Putting faculty employment policies-"into play"-identifying inequities and inconsistencies
2. Assessing innovative approaches to faculty work life
3. The leader's role in fostering and sustaining innovation

It is helpful to begin the conversation by discussing how the Arts and Sciences' leadership team knew there was a problem to begin with. Policy changes sometimes follow a watershed event, crisis, or heated demands for change from disenfranchised constituencies, yet this clearly was not the case at Georgia State. The initial discussion will allow students to reflect on the evolution of the new policies.

Putting Faculty Employment Policies "Into Play"-

Identifying Inequities and Inconsistencies

This opening segment can focus on how the need for new faculty employment policies actually reached the institutional agenda at GSU. The instructor can begin the discussion by posing a question about the powerful role of anecdotes and the need for firm data to measure the fairness and impact of existing, yet often unwritten, policies.

• What signs led Dean Abdelal and others to conclude that the status quo regarding salaries, workload, an evaluation was no longer acceptable?
• How did they go about confirming their suspicions?

What type of analysis did they employ?

• Was Dean Abdelal's approach to the part-time faculty's concerns consistent with his approach to other employment issues? If not, in what say was it different?

Discussion leaders can pose a number of sub questions such as: How common do you think it is for faculty employment policies to exist in practice but not in writing? Is tinkering with such practices in the absence of clamor and complaints wise? How risky do you think Dean Abdelal's actions were when we opened up this "can of worms?" What do you imagine the responses were from those faculty members who had received larger salaries, enjoyed lighter workloads, and who did not have to worry about post-tenure evaluations before the new employment policies took effect?

Assessing Innovative Approaches to Faculty Work life

The instructor should engage participants in a review and assessment of the new faculty work life policies at GSU in this segment of the case discussion.   Among the questions that might be posed are:

• Assess the strengths and weaknesses of GSU's new policies regarding salaries, workload, and post-tenure review. Do these policies adequately address some of the problems and disparities Dean Abdelal identified earlier in the case?
• Will the implementation of the new salary, workload, and post-tenure review policies result in a good outcome for GSU? For the faculty? Why or why not?
• Was the conversion of part-time faculty positions to full-time positions a good idea? Why or why not? What are the risks and benefits of doing this?

Common Responses to Questions: Participants may feel that the salary and workload policies create equity and consistency where none existed before. They may have mixed feelings about the public nature of salaries and about being assigned workload credit "numbers" based on work that may, by its very nature, be difficult to quantify. It may be useful for the instructor to explore both the positive and negative aspects of these responses

The Leader's Role in Fostering and Sustaining Innovation

This segment of the discussion focuses on Dean Abdelal's style and effectiveness as a leader and as a change agent. The following questions aim to elicit discussion of Abdelal's approach and how his leadership style affected only the development, but the ultimate effectiveness and acceptance, of his policy revisions:

• Assess the strengths and weaknesses of Dean Abdelal's leadership style and strategies in this case. Are there things you think he should have done differently? Why?
• Do the innovations developed by Dean Abdelal and his colleagues at GSU appear to be sustainable? What accounts for this? Are there particular "success factors" that have contributed to this outcome?
• What should academic leaders do to support and encourage innovations in faculty work life? Are there pitfalls they should avoid? Which?

Wrap-Up: Learning Points and Take-Aways

The instructor's concluding remarks and review of points raised during the discussion of the GSU case can include the following lessons and insights.

1. It can be helpful to take a holistic view of faculty employment policies to ensure that each policy element supports the goals of related policy elements. The GSU case highlights the important links among salaries, workload, and post-tenure review.
2. The availability of resources (financial and human) plays an essential role in the successful modification of faculty employment policies and in the conversion of part-time positions.
3. The leader's style and approach in fostering and sustaining innovation is a significant success factor in reviewing and revising faculty work life policies and practices.

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