Tuesday, April 25, 2006
[IWS] ILR IMPACT BRIEFS: FACULTY TENURE & the GAP between POLICY & PRACTICE [April 2006]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
The following is the sixth document in a new publication series produced by the ILR School.
ILR Impact Briefs
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/impactbrief
The ILR Impact Brief series highlights the research and project based work conducted by ILR faculty that is relevant to workplace issues and public policy.
BRIEF #6 / APRIL 2006 / WWW.ILR.CORNELL.EDU
Faculty Tenure and the Gap between Policy and Practice
by PAMELA S. TOLBERT
Professor of Organizational Behavior (ILR)
WESLEY D. SINE
Professor, Johnson Graduate School of Management (Cornell)
SANGCHEN PARK
ILR School
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/impactbrief/6/
Research question:
What factors influence the use of tenure systems for faculty employment in colleges and universities?
Conclusion :
Almost all four-year institutions of higher education have adopted the tenure system as a formal policy for faculty employment. The degree to which tenure systems are actually implemented, however, depends on resource flows and institutional pressures. Fewer resource constraints (i.e., greater per-student revenues and larger endowments) increase the proportion of professors employed on tenure-track lines; likewise, a stronger research orientation positively affects the share of faculty in tenure-track slots. Colleges and universities that rely more heavily on tuition for revenues and those with larger numbers of accreditations (from professional and occupational associations) generally employ fewer tenure-track professors. Other variables also matter: Tenure is more prevalent at public, older, and more complex universities and colleges and is less widespread among institutions that enroll larger numbers of students and among those that include a medical school. And finally, the share of tenure-track faculty declines on campuses with a larger pool of graduate students who are available to teach.
Workplace impact:
The hiring of temporary and contract workers is increasing in many professional occupations. Understanding the forces that shape academic institutionsÂ’ implementation of tenure systems provides insight into the conditions that affect the ability of professions, in general, to shape employment practices in their fields. The research here also begins to explain why organizations may only partially put into practice the policies and systems they have formally adopted. A combination of resource constraints that raise the costs of implementation plus ambiguities about how and when to actualize tenure (or family leave, flextime, continuing education, and the like) tend to reduce the use
of these policies.
AND MORE....
Suggested Citation
Tolbert, P.S., Sine, W.D., & Park, S. (2006). Faculty tenure and the gap between policy and practice (IWS Issue Briefs). Ithaca, NY: School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University.
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/briefs/6/
[ILR Impact Briefs are written and/or edited by Maralyn Edid]
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky *
Director, IWS News Bureau *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor *
New York, NY 10016 *
*
Telephone: (607) 255-2703 *
Fax: (607) 255-9641 *
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu *
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
The following is the sixth document in a new publication series produced by the ILR School.
ILR Impact Briefs
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/impactbrief
The ILR Impact Brief series highlights the research and project based work conducted by ILR faculty that is relevant to workplace issues and public policy.
BRIEF #6 / APRIL 2006 / WWW.ILR.CORNELL.EDU
Faculty Tenure and the Gap between Policy and Practice
by PAMELA S. TOLBERT
Professor of Organizational Behavior (ILR)
WESLEY D. SINE
Professor, Johnson Graduate School of Management (Cornell)
SANGCHEN PARK
ILR School
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/impactbrief/6/
Research question:
What factors influence the use of tenure systems for faculty employment in colleges and universities?
Conclusion :
Almost all four-year institutions of higher education have adopted the tenure system as a formal policy for faculty employment. The degree to which tenure systems are actually implemented, however, depends on resource flows and institutional pressures. Fewer resource constraints (i.e., greater per-student revenues and larger endowments) increase the proportion of professors employed on tenure-track lines; likewise, a stronger research orientation positively affects the share of faculty in tenure-track slots. Colleges and universities that rely more heavily on tuition for revenues and those with larger numbers of accreditations (from professional and occupational associations) generally employ fewer tenure-track professors. Other variables also matter: Tenure is more prevalent at public, older, and more complex universities and colleges and is less widespread among institutions that enroll larger numbers of students and among those that include a medical school. And finally, the share of tenure-track faculty declines on campuses with a larger pool of graduate students who are available to teach.
Workplace impact:
The hiring of temporary and contract workers is increasing in many professional occupations. Understanding the forces that shape academic institutionsÂ’ implementation of tenure systems provides insight into the conditions that affect the ability of professions, in general, to shape employment practices in their fields. The research here also begins to explain why organizations may only partially put into practice the policies and systems they have formally adopted. A combination of resource constraints that raise the costs of implementation plus ambiguities about how and when to actualize tenure (or family leave, flextime, continuing education, and the like) tend to reduce the use
of these policies.
AND MORE....
Suggested Citation
Tolbert, P.S., Sine, W.D., & Park, S. (2006). Faculty tenure and the gap between policy and practice (IWS Issue Briefs). Ithaca, NY: School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University.
http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/briefs/6/
[ILR Impact Briefs are written and/or edited by Maralyn Edid]
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 11:44 AM
