Enhancing University Staff Capacities for Critical Inquiry: Organizational Change, Professional Development and Cumulative Powers in Higher Education

Abstract

In Asia and beyond, champion-universities seek out talents that break scientific and organizational boundaries, creating openings for new ideas and designs (Chung and Evans 2013; Chen and Chen 2013; Erasmus et al. 2015; Hu et al. 2015). Both academics and administrators are expected to be not only frontline connectors of interdisciplinary cross-institutional R&D projects, but also prime advocates of the ecosystems of innovation (Honey and Kanter 2013; Gastaldi et al. 2015; Kitagawa 2015; Tierney and Lanford 2016). The best universities are often those that not only accumulate talent, but also refine and succeed in retaining it, despite growing competition for high-powered minds and skill-sets (Postiglione and Jung 2013)(). Whereas public demand grows for campuses to more effectively contribute to shaping socio-economic policies and practices, many universities fail to invest adequately and continuously in upgrading the skills of their personnel (Braun et al. 2016). In competitive extractive economies (Acemoglu and Robinson 2012), “championship”-minded universities tend to squeeze as much energy as possible out of their staff, and make them redundant when they burn out. Meanwhile, many campus offices end up with frustrated academics and administrators handling large volumes of useless bureaucracy, while lacking time for mindful engagement with their students. In conditions of neoliberal exploitation of academic labor, many departments prioritize organizational survival over the growth of innovative competencies (Clark 1998, 2001). Academics, as well as administrators, often work in silos (Trowler et al. 2012). They often fall hostage to fears of corporate misjudgment, all the while exacerbating mismatches between the knowledge produced on campuses and societal expectations (Allen and der Velden 2011).