Departments that Work: Building and Sustaining Cultures of Excellence in Academic Programs (Jossey-Bass Resources for Department Chairs) [Hardcover]

Jon F. Wergin (Author), Estela Mara Bensimon (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1882982576 | ISBN-13: 978-1882982578 | Publication Date: December 15, 2002 | Edition: 1

Evaluation in departments is widespread but often fails to spark positive change. Based on his extensive work with academic departments across the country, Wergin explains that successful department evaluation exists only when faculty and departments have a strong influence on the purposes, processes, and methods of evaluation. The central purpose of Departments That Work is how academic programs can make evaluation more useful and critical reflection more likely.

Topics include:
* How quality has become confused with such concepts as effectiveness, productivity, and marketability and how it might more constructively be conceived as focusing on the engagement of the department with its constituencies
* An examination of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators of faculty work, the concept of organizational motivation, and the factors influencing identification with the institution and motivation to contribute to it
* The three critical factors of effective department evaluation
* How academic leaders can create a culture of engagement
* How to define and negotiate academic values with diverse stakeholders
* How to ask the right questions and collect the right idea
* How to determine standards and make meaning of evaluation data
* An overall summary of specific recommendations for academic leaders and departmental faculty, including an appendix of the constructs presented in each chapter

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Realistic and inspiring, Wergin's book is about how to develop chairs into active and creative leaders who can make a difference in the quality of their departments."
—Estela Mara Bensimon, Professor of Higher Education and Director, Center for Urban Education, University of Southern California

From the Back Cover

Evaluation in departments is widespread but often fails to spark positive change. Based on his extensive work with academic departments across the country, Wergin explains that successful department evaluation exists only when faculty and departments have a strong influence on the purposes, processes, and methods of evaluation. The central purpose of Departments That Work is how academic programs can make evaluation more useful and critical reflection more likely.

Topics include:

• How quality has become confused with such concepts as effectiveness, productivity, and marketability and how it might more constructively be conceived as focusing on the engagement of the department with its constituencies
• An examination of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators of faculty work, the concept of organizational motivation, and the factors influencing identification with the institution and motivation to contribute to it
• The three critical factors of effective department evaluation
• How academic leaders can create a culture of engagement
• How to define and negotiate academic values with diverse stakeholders
• How to ask the right questions and collect the right idea
• How to determine standards and make meaning of evaluation data
• An overall summary of specific recommendations for academic leaders and departmental faculty, including an appendix of the constructs presented in each chapter

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 172 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (December 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882982576
• ISBN-13: 978-1882982578
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,068,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting suggestions for moving forward, July 5, 2007

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This review is from: Departments that Work: Building and Sustaining Cultures of Excellence in Academic Programs (Jossey-Bass Resources for Department Chairs) (Hardcover)

How to evaluate and improve a university department? That has been a perennial and contentious topic in many universities. Wergin weighs in with several observations and suggestions.

The basic idea for moving forward is simple. The faculty should be closely involved in defining and promoting a department's mission and focus. This takes advantage of a desire amongst many academics for a sense of community and purpose within their department. The biggest problem is simply that, once tenured, individuals are largely autonomous. Plus, in order to get tenure, researchers often have to be very competitive within their fields. Wergin offers ways to counteract these tendencies. Appealing in part to that sense of community. Along with the notion that faculty working together often have greater political clout within a university.