http://ombudsfac.unm.edu/Article_Summaries/Becoming_a_Department_Chair.pdf
Becoming a Department Chair: To Be or Not To Be
"While you were a faculty member, you probably had at least one colleague whom you were in the habit of avoiding. As chair, you cannot continue such conduct. You are obligated to maintain the same standards of fairness and professionalism toward every member of the department, regardless of your personal preferences."
Tomorrow's Professor Msg.#741 Becoming a Department Chair: To Be or Not To Be
Folks:
The posting below looks at
becoming a department chair. It contains the executive summary and an
excerpt on the need to restructure one's relationships when
becoming a department chair, from
Becoming a Department Chair: To Be or Not To Be?, by Irene W. D. Hecht in the monthly series
Effective Practices for Academic Leaders. The series is available in an electronic publication that can be
networked on a campus system to enable everyone on a campus to access the briefings at their desks
when needed, for use both as guidance for administrators and as a development materials for faculty and
others. The electronic license allows individual copying without need for permission, thus the individual
briefings lend themselves to use in workshops and seminars. For online subscription information go to:
Volume 1, No.3, March, 2006. Copyright © 2006, Stylus Publishing, LLC. Reprinted with permission.
Regards,
Rick Reis
reis@stanford.edu
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Becoming a Department Chair: To Be or Not To Be
By Irene W. D. Hecht
Executive Summary
This briefing is an exploration of the path an individual might take in deciding to become a department
chair. It gives advice concerning the challenges, rewards, and strategies for success and survival to
prospective chairs (and their deans). It discusses some basics about the job, and the motivation
expressed by chairs as they undertake this responsibility. It asks: "Do you really want this job?" and
explores that issue through a series of questions. It also looks at steps to take once you have said, "yes."
Introduction
Department chairs often take up their responsibilities with a sense of obligation. However, even in such
cases-perhaps even more urgently in such circumstances-prospective chairs should give careful
consideration to the nature of the work they will be taking on. The thoughts shared here derive from
twelve years of work with the American Council on Education (ACE) Department Leadership Program.
This paper is the distillation of insights gained from department chairs over informal "breakfast
conversations" and "table topic" lunch meetings and through questionnaires used at each workshop.
Excerpt:
Restructuring One's Human Relationships
While you may expect to meet new challenges in terms of tasks and time management as a new chair,
the transformation of human relationships can be a shock. These redefinitions include the following:
o Relationships with colleagues
o Relationships with students
o Relationships with staff
o Relationships with the dean's office
o Professional relationships beyond the department
o Personal relationships
Relationships with Colleagues
Comments by enrollees in the ACE national workshops for department chairs reveal that for some chairs
changes in attitude, particularly on the part of their colleagues, comes as a cruel blow. The jokes about
"going to the dark side" are hard to brush aside when behind the humor you sense a seriousness of
intent. It is not funny to be thought of as something akin to a traitor at the very moment you have
accepted complex responsibilities from the noblest of motives. To add to your misery, you may find that
conversation with your colleagues has become more formal. You may not feel welcome at the Friday
night wine bar or tavern stop. To your astonishment, you may start knowing sides of your colleagues of
which you were unaware, as they come to you with requests and complaints that they expect you to tend
to-with the solutions they want. Some will even try to pressure or maneuver you to become a party (on
their side, to be sure) to quarrels that in the past you have ignored.
It is important to keep in mind that your professional conduct toward your colleagues may also need to
change.
While you were a faculty member, you probably had at least one colleague whom you were in the habit
of avoiding. As chair, you cannot continue such conduct. You are obligated to maintain the same
standards of fairness and professionalism toward every member of the department, regardless of your
personal preferences. That does not mean you tolerate unacceptable, disruptive behavior, or that you
turn a blind eye to the neglect of professional duties. It does mean that every colleague deserves an
objective hearing and courteous responses. If a colleague needs to hear a tough message, it must be
delivered without personal invective or humiliating scorn.
Dealing with your departmental friends may pose an even greater challenge. A chair who is perceived as
playing favorites sows dissension in the department. The result over time will be a dysfunctional group
of colleagues. Once you realize that you need to re-align your attitudes and behaviors toward your
colleagues, you can begin to see their "cold shoulder" as a normal-and desirable-realignment of
relationships that serves your interests as you strive to create, preserve, or enhance your department's
quality.
Relationships with Students
In all likelihood you will continue to teach. You will have your undergraduate majors or graduate
students whom you are seeing through to the completion of their studies. You may have enjoyed an
open-door policy, whereby students dropped by at will for a chat. As chair you will find that precious
spontaneity curtailed.
Meanwhile, you will find yourself the arbiter over requests for exceptions from departmental
requirements. It is you whom students will seek out with their complaints. When those concern the
conduct of your colleagues, you can quickly find yourself dealing with awkward problems you wish had
never arrived at your door. Remember whenever you are listening to a compelling narrative that there
are always at least two sides to any story.
Do your best to concentrate on listening and asking questions without giving any sign of agreement with
a complainant's presentation. Hunt down facts mercilessly. If you believe the complaining student can
take appropriate steps to solve the problem, direct him or her to do so. Insist upon a report on the results.
If the issue is beyond the student's ability to rectify, state clearly the investigative steps you will take,
and set a time for the student to return. A good motto is "Don't let real problems fester, but do not permit
yourself to be run in circles by trivia." One of the keys to success is sniffing out the difference between
the two.
Relationships with Staff
Department Staff.
In a small department, staff relationships may initially involve only a department secretary. In larger
departments, staff may include several secretaries and fiscal, communications, technology, human
resources, or student services professionals, some or all of whom may report directly to the chair. The
importance of a well-grounded relationship and the obligations of a chair toward a department staff
person have already been discussed.
University Staff.
However, with the expansion of the chair-universe, you may well have interactions with many other
university staff. There are the building janitors; the institution's maintenance staff; campus security; and
office personnel throughout the campus. At every point at which your department is dependent on others
for services, there will be a person with whom you need to establish an effective working relationship.
Keep in mind that everyone wants to take pride in what he or she does, and you can contribute to that
sense of pride by recognizing what is being accomplished on your department's behalf.
With a sense of respect established, your department will fare much better when it needs special
assistance.
There are also all the college or university offices-from admissions, to finance, to the registrar, to the
dean and provost and president-on whom your department either depends or from whom it receives
requests for support. In the process of expanding your horizons, it is wise to gain at least a basic
understanding of the responsibilities and timetables that govern the work of the other branches of the
institution on which your department depends for support and to establish relationships with the people
in those offices. It is far easier to work out accommodations if you are willing to understand the
demands others are required to meet.
The Relationship with the Dean
One of the most important figures in a chair's expanded universe is the dean to whom he or she reports.
This is a special relationship deserving focused attention. Seek to know something about who your dean
is and what expectations the dean has for you. What has been the historic relationship between your
department and the dean's office? If your department and the dean have been at odds, how might you
resolve existing issues? If your goal is to change the relationship between department and dean, think
carefully about how that might be done.
It is also important to gauge how this dean likes to work. What is your desired ideal? Do you want to
"run your own show," keeping the dean apprised of your plans, decisions, and actions, but functioning
autonomously? Or are you a chair who hopes to create a mentee relationship with the dean?
Seek to find out your dean's preferences. Deans are as harried as chairs, and yours may not have the
margin to function as a sounding board or mentor. If you need a mentor and your dean is not
willing/able to fill that need, be sure to find another source of advice. What you can usually count on is
that the dean wants to be kept informed of your department's activities and problems in the interests of
not being blindsided or shown up as not "knowing what is going on." Do not be surprised if your dean
prefers that you present recommended solutions simultaneously with a problem you bring to her or his
attention.
Professional Relationships beyond the Department
In parallel with the expansion of your universe there is an expansion-and transformation-of human
relations and connections beyond the department. You may find yourself with many new stimulating
and personally satisfying professional connections. But keep in mind that these professional connections
are held together by the glue of your mutual responsibilities. If the professional identity of either of you
changes, the relationship may rapidly fade. Be prepared to distinguish between a true personal friendship
connection and a professional friendship, and do not take offense if changes in circumstances or
responsibility sever what was a professional friendship.
Personal Relationships
It can be unsettling to find that while your professional universe enlarges, your personal universe is in
danger of shrinking. There can be a sense of exhilaration from the new associations, but they cannot
substitute for personal friendship. In fact, you may need to give most particular attention to nurturing
your personal network at the very moment when your human contacts are multiplying. A safe human
space where you can "let down your hair" is a common need. For those with managerial responsibilities,
it is crucially important. New chairs may need to consciously redesign such personal human space.
You may, in fact, need two categories of friends. It is helpful to have at least one professional friend
with whom you can safely air your irritations, frustrations, and bafflement as a department chair. A
sympathetic interlocutor who will challenge your inspirations and visions is invaluable. The other
category of friends is for those who are not entwined in your professional universe. Spouses and
"significant others" often fill that role. Do not dilute their ability to nurture you by recruiting them to be
your professional sounding boards. That should not imply a taboo on talking about work; it does mean
that you want to be sure that your friend and family conversations are not overwhelmed by your work
