ED 387

1/24/09 Discussion Notes

Chapter 8: Role of the Middle Manager (Program Director):

Ed thinks this is one of the most important chapters of the Sandeen book
-these probably are one of the most important people at the school
-key distinction b/t “front line staff” and “middle manager”: responsibility and authority
-responsibility
-authority

Authority –your boss’s authority is predicated on the fact that you assume he has authority;
you can’t delegate authority; you can delegate responsibility or you can delegate your authority
when you are willing to give up some of your responsibilities. This is why the middle manager
role is so central. (Does this make sense?)

Problematic area(s): teamwork. How do you deal with collaborative work?

- ability to create, ability to delegate, ability to trust, ability to make mistakes
- leadership style: what kind of leadership style does your middle manager and the other
managers have
- Time management: discretionary time (20% of your time you have control over); the
rest of the time is sucked by meetings

Possible methods to resolve: teambuilding

-staff retreats; social events (dinners, outside work events), goal setting/program evaluation
and assessment

 Defining middle mgmt. In student affairs

o Managing Information: know the culture of the institution/department, MM
receives/disperses information (dissemination of information – ex. budget);
types of essential information include demographic data for admissions,
retention, housing, and financial aid; effects of technology; remember the old
adage: “Information is Power”
o Managing funds: the budget is the basic document the MM uses to implement
plans and to develop strategies to achieve objectives (p. 137); changing priorities
within a fiscal year should occur only in unusual circumstances and with approval
of executive level officers; need for budget integrity (to use to funds for which
they were appropriated for)
o Influencing the culture
o Managing a career: professional development; skill building; work-life balance
 Role issues for middle management
o Authority
o Supervision of staff: must be a leader
 o Planning: when will you hold meetings (when is an optimal time of the day for
you to hold meetings for creativity, problem solving?); working with your staff,
being a problem solver (when does your “body work”); making effective
meetings (holding about 1 hour meetings; meeting etiquette; setting beginning
and end time; an agenda; setting tasks and meeting accomplished something –
closure, conclusion, meeting minutes leads to credibility, group memory)
o Staff Development
o Ethics & credibility
 Relationships with the supervisor
o Responsibility
o Communication
o Accountability
o Reengineering
 Middle Manager as politician
o Decision-making
o Competition
 Mobility
o Professional Development
o Career Issues

Supervisor/Manager (could be a leader but doesn’t have to be, biz model) vs. Leader (think
followership model; leader can be a personal characteristic): Differences

Chapter 9: Selecting, Training, Supervising, & Evaluating Staff: this will be covered in depth in
the HR Class!
Ed’s bias: selection is the most important – among the 4
- what did we do wrong? if the organization did something wrong in selecting the
wrong staff; sometimes the organization failed them
 Organization Climate & Culture
o “You’ve got eyes to see and wisdom not to see”
 Human Behavior within Organizations
o “The old sheep wonders where the yarn socks come from”
 Organizational Culture & Leadership
o ”Tomorrow might be the carriage driver’s day for plowing”
o Rituals
o Language
o Stories
o Values
o Beliefs
 Multicultural Awareness
 Employee Selection
 Human Relation & Technology
 Staff Hierarchy
 Employee Turnover
  Career Advancement
 Performance Appraisal
 Behavioral Evaluation: a good evaluation evaluates the process and the behavior
 Legal Issues
 Guidelines

Chapter 10: Political Dimension of Decision Making

 Basic Concepts: coercive, reward, expertise, referent, and legitimate power (p. 181)
Coercive: natural consequences; usually thought of with negative consequences; sanction;
ability to punish (dismiss, demote)
Reward: incentive based; performance, accomplish based
Expert: specialized knowledge about issues or activities of interest to the organization
Referent: based on identification with other another person
Legitimate: someone who has positional authority
 Political Model
 Types of Power
 Important Elements of Higher Education Institutions
 Perspectives and strategies
o President and senior colleagues
o Roles, issues and the institution
o Importance of competence
o Proper positioning
o Relationships
o Time requirements
o Accepting conflict
o Fighting or the rules of battle: pick and choose your battles; remember your
battles will be public, esp. on the college campus; keep it in perspective; there
will be a price to pay
o Integrity
o Staff education
o Clear purpose and values
o Performance
 Faculty
 Communication
 Ethical Considerations
 Special Considerations
o Gender & ethnicity
o Institutional size
o Mission
Paper: What recommendations would you have:
to improve the program? nagging questions? day to day ; go beyond the descriptive

WASC self-studies (org chart) – Wasc web.org (senior commission) - follow the money