Managing a Department

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Managing a department is very different from managing your own academic career. As the head or chair of a department, it is your job to prepare budgets, allocate resources, help resolve problems, evaluate your colleagues, and more. Unless you had a previous career in management, you'll be learning many of these skills on the fly. The resources and references below can help.

Jump down to Managing Budgets and Physical Resources | Managing Conflict

General Resources

• Academic Leader is an online newsletter for academic deans and department chairs.
• Suggestions for Making Chair Work More Satisfying and Attractive
  This article, also from the Tomorrow's Professor Mailing List, offers a number of suggestions for strategies to reduce the workload of being a department chair and its impact on one's other responsibilities.

Managing Budgets and Physical Resources

• Managing Tight Budgets
  This article, from the Tomorrow's Professor Mailing List, offers strategies that chairs can employ to successfully meet department revenue needs with tight budgets.

Managing Conflict

• A Departmental Approach to Addressing the Problem of Sexual Harassment and Assault in Field Experiences
  Dr. Walter Robinson (North Carolina State University) describes work the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences has taken to address the problem of harassment and assault during field experiences department wide and what he has learned in the process.
• Sexual Harassment in the Sciences: A Call to Geoscience Faculty and Researchers to Respond
  This JGE Editorial calls on geoscience educators and mentors to take a stand again sexual harassment in the geosciences community. As the authors say, "how we behave and what behavior we tolerate by others sets a tone and becomes a behavioral model for the undergraduate and graduate students with whom we interact." Taking a stand against illegal, unethical, and unacceptable behaviors "says a lot about who we are and what we value as individuals and as a community of practice."
• ADVANCEGeo Partnership: Empowering geoscientists to transform workplace climate
  The Earth Science Women's Network, Association for Women Geoscientists, and American Geophysical Union have partnered to address the problem of sexual harassment in the Earth, space, and environmental sciences. The ADVANCEGeo Partnership has developed a suite of online resources about relevant research and tested strategies to respond to sexual harassment, bullying, and discrimination in the geosciences.
• Sexual Harassment in the Sciences Resources
  The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geosciences Institute, the American Chemical Society, the Association for Women Geoscientists, and the Earth Science Women's Network joined AGU and cosponsored a workshop entitled "Sexual Harassment in the Sciences: A Call to Respond" on 9 September, 2016 in Washington, D.C. This resources website is one of many outcomes of the workshop.
• One Geoscience department chair who saw department members engaging in uncivil behavior toward each other wrote a Decorum Policy for the department.
  
  Show Decorum Policy
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  In accordance with the College policy on decorum that states:
  
  "[Our institution] is committed to proper treatment of all members of the college community. The college can achieve its educational mission only in an atmosphere of mutual respect that is free from intolerance and that offers equal opportunity to all. Every member of the college community shares the responsibility for addressing incidents of disrespect for the dignity of others and acts of discrimination, racism, bigotry, harassment, exclusion, abusive language, or mistreatment of individuals or groups."
  
  The Department's Policy on Decorum is in place in order to ensure our collective and individual successes, and the success of our programs. This Policy includes assurances that faculty and staff have the right to fair and equitable treatment from and to each other within our department, and on campus. The department personnel are held to a standard of behavior where decorum and professional behavior are upheld at all times, including in meetings, within offices, and in the hallways and classrooms. We must maintain an atmosphere of mutual respect, where disagreements can occur. However, in the course of our business, disruptive behavior is not tolerated. Raised or agitated voices, and derogatory personal comments directed toward or about members of the department are not permitted. It is the responsibility of each member of the department to enforce this Policy.
• Conflict: A Most Difficult Task
  This article, from the Tomorrow's Professor Mailing List, suggests strategies for preventing conflict as well as for managing it when it arises.
• Conflict Management and Problem Solving as Chair
  This article, from the Tomorrow's Professor Mailing List, casts conflicts as problems to be solved, and suggests that chairs focus on finding a solution (without necessarily identifying the source of the problem).
• Helping Others Put Out Their Own Fires: The "Stop, Drop, and Role" Approach to Conflict Management
  This article, from the Tomorrow's Professor Mailing List, suggests three steps to helping department members (students, faculty, or staff) identify the issues of concern in a conflict and think about how they will communicate these concerns to the other party.