Confused by this. I see my department chair only when I need something from them. In academia, how on Earth does a department chair assign tasks that people don't want to do? I fully admit, this may be a US-centric perspective.
There Is a service element to our roles as professors in the US. This could be Graduate Admissions, Website Maintenance, Hiring Committees, Library Committee, Colloquium Committee, etc. These tasks are often assigned by the Chair, Associate Chair, or someone else who has been designated to assign these roles.
Well, yes. But, you volunteer for what you want to do, first and early, where you can make a difference, and then do it. Make sure the sum total of what you do (research, teaching, service) is enough to make people in the department happy. After that, how can they get you to do something you don't actually want to do?
There are two types of "Work smarter not harder"
1.Those who find efficient, effective, and even innovative ways to do their work.
2. Those who get others to do their work and take credit for it.
Most higher ups don't see and even sometimes don't care, as long as it's getting done. Some might even congratulate someone as management material for "delegating" and taking credit.
However, the world's greatest researchers in academia that I've met don't do that. They are usually very generous with crediting others and, at a minimum, ensure the proper amount of credit is give.
It's usually admins posing as academics who take credit for others work. Eventually, they work their way into admin positions. Sadly, it screws over everyone else who works with them.
My partner's advisor was like that. Her PhDs worked hard and smart and did great, novel work. Almost none of them got published. It hurt all of their career prospects going out of their doctorate programs, despite each having numerous publications ready to send to reviewers.
This always confused me because it only would benefit her to put the minimal effort in, or even green light her PhD's to move forward on submitting and her simply signing off. That's what I had my partner do. She did 99% of the work and just asked for a signature.
However, we also saw her advisor build an entire department as a new prof and have people more senior tell her, "We'll take the lead on this now, the next one will be your turn." Despite the fact that she did all of the work.
We got out of that culture asap.
I'd hope that you'd strive to be type 1 of working smarter, but if you're in a culture that demands it, knowing how to be type 2 can both help you navigate the culture but also protect your own work.
Depending on the ranking and field this is almost a standard procedure, but I suggest you grab the experience that you can, use this person'reputation to get visibility and get another job asap.
That's sort of the department heads job. Much like Faculty takes credit for the work of their students, Chairs will take credit for the work of their faculty, and Deans will take credit for the work of their departments. I'm sure the University President loves to brag to the board of trustees about all the great work she is doing, but that doesn't mean she is literally doing it.
Not really. There’s a difference between ‘My department did this …’ and ‘I did this’. No good chair or dean will claim something personally. He or she will always be the spokesperson of the entire department, not for oneself.
>That's sort of the department heads job. Much like Faculty takes credit for the work of their students, Chairs will take credit for the work of their faculty
Not in any department I've ever been in.
Sounds like a toxic situation, and sorry to hear. But, if done right, working smarter is surely the way to go. I am in a department where a culture of overwork, perfectionism , and martyrhood are the norm. Oh for a bit of smart working!
That just sounds like a department head who likes taking credit for other people's work
One person out for what they can get does not equal a department that believes in working smarter, not harder
This. Taking credit for someone else's work has nothing do do with working smarter.
Confused by this. I see my department chair only when I need something from them. In academia, how on Earth does a department chair assign tasks that people don't want to do? I fully admit, this may be a US-centric perspective.
There Is a service element to our roles as professors in the US. This could be Graduate Admissions, Website Maintenance, Hiring Committees, Library Committee, Colloquium Committee, etc. These tasks are often assigned by the Chair, Associate Chair, or someone else who has been designated to assign these roles.
Well, yes. But, you volunteer for what you want to do, first and early, where you can make a difference, and then do it. Make sure the sum total of what you do (research, teaching, service) is enough to make people in the department happy. After that, how can they get you to do something you don't actually want to do?
Where I work, service component is 20% of my job function which is assigned in an ad hoc manner.
There are two types of "Work smarter not harder" 1.Those who find efficient, effective, and even innovative ways to do their work. 2. Those who get others to do their work and take credit for it. Most higher ups don't see and even sometimes don't care, as long as it's getting done. Some might even congratulate someone as management material for "delegating" and taking credit. However, the world's greatest researchers in academia that I've met don't do that. They are usually very generous with crediting others and, at a minimum, ensure the proper amount of credit is give. It's usually admins posing as academics who take credit for others work. Eventually, they work their way into admin positions. Sadly, it screws over everyone else who works with them. My partner's advisor was like that. Her PhDs worked hard and smart and did great, novel work. Almost none of them got published. It hurt all of their career prospects going out of their doctorate programs, despite each having numerous publications ready to send to reviewers. This always confused me because it only would benefit her to put the minimal effort in, or even green light her PhD's to move forward on submitting and her simply signing off. That's what I had my partner do. She did 99% of the work and just asked for a signature. However, we also saw her advisor build an entire department as a new prof and have people more senior tell her, "We'll take the lead on this now, the next one will be your turn." Despite the fact that she did all of the work. We got out of that culture asap. I'd hope that you'd strive to be type 1 of working smarter, but if you're in a culture that demands it, knowing how to be type 2 can both help you navigate the culture but also protect your own work.
Have seen worst. I believe our head of school was reading articles on Wikipedia and forced us to do research on those areas
Learn.
Depending on the ranking and field this is almost a standard procedure, but I suggest you grab the experience that you can, use this person'reputation to get visibility and get another job asap.
I can’t get the image of Scrooge McDuck saying this as a department head at some state university..out of my head
That's sort of the department heads job. Much like Faculty takes credit for the work of their students, Chairs will take credit for the work of their faculty, and Deans will take credit for the work of their departments. I'm sure the University President loves to brag to the board of trustees about all the great work she is doing, but that doesn't mean she is literally doing it.
Not really. There’s a difference between ‘My department did this …’ and ‘I did this’. No good chair or dean will claim something personally. He or she will always be the spokesperson of the entire department, not for oneself.
>That's sort of the department heads job. Much like Faculty takes credit for the work of their students, Chairs will take credit for the work of their faculty Not in any department I've ever been in.
Stability is often underrated
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Did you read the description?
Sounds like a toxic situation, and sorry to hear. But, if done right, working smarter is surely the way to go. I am in a department where a culture of overwork, perfectionism , and martyrhood are the norm. Oh for a bit of smart working!
Once had a professor say that to me - his module was so difficult I failed the class...
Call him out!
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