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Article 5
Article 5
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RESEARCH IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Volume 5, pages 321- 334
©1976 APS Publications, Inc.
PERSONALITY-BASED FACULTY
WORKLOAD ANALYSIS
Jon S. Hesseldenz, University of Kentucky, Lexington
Faculty workload analyses have been with us for many years, but no study has ever
grouped faculty by personality type or by academic rank. This paper examines the
results of a study in which faculty at a large state university were classified
according to Holland's theory of vocational choice. Multivariate analysis of variance
showed that faculty members of the five Holland types not only differed on four
self-reported measures of faculty effort, instruction, research, public service,
institutional-professional activities (all measured in hours per average week) but
that the findings were supportive of Holland's theory. In addition, analysis by rank
showed that while total hours per week were not statistically different among the
rank8, hours in instructional and institutional-professional activities varied greatly
but hours in research and public service did not. The conclusion is that changes in
instructional workload will not affect research or public service activities of faculty
members.
Key words: faculty workload, personality theory, faculty differences, rank differences
321
322 Hesseldenz
activity analysis should take place. Others like Smawley's (1965) article
outline the methods for undertaking them. Many researchers, exemplified
by Evans (1957) and Young (1965), have tried to determine the best
measures of faculty effort, with conflicting results. Most studies, however,
have been initiated by administrators for specific institutional purposes
(Stecklien, 1961), but differ greatly in the type of data gathered and in the
methods of analysis. Several detailed reviews of the literature are available
to the interested reader, notably those by Stichler (1960) and the National
Center for Higher Education Management Systems (1971). Strangely, no
researcher has dealt directly with faculty workload differences according to
academic rank, nor (perhaps not so strangely) has anyone analyzed
workload in personality-based terms.
Various topographies have been posited to differentiate effort in general
categories, such as the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences.
Biglan (1973) has suggested a three-dimensional model based on the
existence or nonexistence of an underlying body of theory subscribed to by
all members of a discipline- that is, is the discipline hard or soft- whether
the discipline deals with pure or applied research, and whether it deals
with life or nonlife systems. Physics, for example, is hard, pure, nonlife,
whereas education is soft, applied, life. Biglan's analysis suggests
remarkable differences in the output of academic departments categorized
according to this model. Lorents (1971) lists other possible groupings of
faculty and the activity data used to differentiate them in his
comprehensive compilation of workload studies. All the foregoing categor-
izations are based on demonstrated or perceived subject-matter,
discipline-related similarities.
If the superimposition of artificial groupings over existing academic
structures is not a new idea, it is neither exhausted of its possibilities.
Smart (1973) and others have applied Holland's (1973) theory of vocational
choice to studies involving college and university faculty but not to work-
load analysis. This study seeks to overlay Holland's theory with the
prevailing, classical structure of academic organization at a more or less
typical university. It is believed that valid as the studies which deal
primarily with discipline-related similarities and differences may be
analysis based on personality-dependent factors can add another
dimension to an already complicated problem- a dimension which should
not be overlooked.
Holland's theory is based on empirically derived data which suggest that
persons with similar personality characteristics tend to choose occupations
which are suitable to their temperaments and that these persons and
occupations fall into six general personality categories: realistic, investig-
ative, social, conventional, enterprising, and artistic. Fortuitously for
Faculty Workload Analysis 323
METHODOLOGY
This study was conducted at a large state university through a central
administrative unit. An institutionally devised self-report instrument was
used to collect the following data from all full-time academic personnel: (1)
average hours spent per week per class both in and out of the classroom,
(2) average hours spent per week advising undergraduate and graduate
students, (3) average hours spent per week in research, (4) average hours
spent per week in public service activities, (5) average hours spent per
week in administrative activities, (6) average hours spent per week in pro-
fessional activities (organizations, etc.), (7) average hours spent per week
in institutional services (especially committee work).
Virtually 100% of the full-time faculty responded. The instruments were
signed and reviewed by the department chairmen and deans of the colleges
and returned to the central administrative unit. For the purpose of this
study, the data were reduced to average hours per week, per faculty
member, in the following categories: (1) instruction, including advising; (2)
research; (3) public service (4) institutional-professional, including admin-
istrative, professional, and institutional service activities. Holland types
were assigned to each department and thus to each faculty member within
the department, a department representing an occupation. (There is no
Holland occupation, professor, rather there is professor of physics,
chemistry, sociology, etc.) Only five Holland types were included, the
sample space being too small in the conventional type to yield statistically
reliable results. Assignment of departments to Holland types is shown in
Table 1.
Faculty members were also classified according to their academic rank.
Department chairmen were excluded from the analysis. The number of
persons of each rank assigned to each of the Holland types is shown in
Table 2. The method of analysis was nonorthogonal, fixed-effect multi-
variate analysis of variance with two factors and four dependent variables,
according to the techniques specified by Bock (1963).
Holland's types are embodied in model personality and environment
324 Hesseldenz
Professor 47 61 40 25 35 208
Associate
professor 57 74 53 28 43 255
Assistant
professor 49 78 114 34 57 332
Total 153 213 207 87 135 795
measure of the generalizability of the findings. Since space does not permit
the complete listing of Holland's profiles of personality types and environ-
ments, abridged profiles of all types (excluding the conventional) follow:
Artisticpersonsperceivethemselvesas expressive,original,intuitive,
feminine,nonconforming, introspective,independent,disorderly,having
artisticandmusicalability(acting,writing,speaking).Theyvalueesthetic
qualitiesandacquireartisticcompetencies,such as language,art, music,
drama,andwriting,to the deficitof clericalor business systemcompe-
tencies. Personsin an artisticenvironmentare moresusceptibleto
personalandimaginativeinfluencesandare attractedto roles in which
theycanbe expressiveandunconventional.
RESULTS
The maineffects of personalitytype and rankwere each significantat the
0.0001alphalevel. Therewas no significantmultivariateinteraction.A
summaryof the resultsof analysisof varianceis given in Table3.
All variablescontributedsignificantlyto the effect of personalitytype,
whileall variablesexceptpublicservicehourscontributedto the rank
effect. The univariateresultsfor each individualvariablein Table3 are
shownaftera stepdownprocedure(eliminatingfromeach variablethe
variancecommonto precedingvariables)was applied.Thatis, the signifi-
canceof the resultfor eachvariableis independentof that variable's
contributionto the multivariateresults. The significanceof the interaction
betweenrankandHollandtype on the variable,researchhours,was not
enoughto producea multivariateinteraction.Meansandstandard
deviationsfor each variableat each level are shownin Table4. Combined
meansfor each level are given in Table5.
Faculty Workload Analysis 327
Rank
Professor 25.08 13.85 1.55 13.84 57.32
Associate prof. 27.07 14.65 1.59 10.79 54.10
Assistant prof. 30.91 13.85 1.57 8.71 55.04
Hollandtype
Realistic 20.95 16.27 1.55 10.03 48.80
Investigative 25.37 17.67 .90 10.12 54.06
Social 30.40 10.61 2.36 13.12 56.49
Enterprising 27.27 13.99 2.56 9.63 53.47
Artistic 37.82 11.46 .82 9.48 59.58
328 Hesseldenz
DISCUSSION
The value of the findings of this study does not lie in the fact that there is
a difference in the way effort is distributed among the various faculty ranks
and the Holland personality types. Probably with any group this size, if the
persons were randomly assigned to cells in numbers proportionateto those
in this study, significant differences could be found. The importance of the
findings lies in the magnitude of the differences among groups, in the
pattern of differences in the rank categories, and in the way in which the
differences among departmental groups can be interpreted in light of
Holland's theory of vocational choice. Holland has proposed six model
work environments coinciding with the personality types: realistic, in-
vestigative, social, conventional, enterprising, and artistic. The
classification of work environments depends on the predominance of the
personality types in the occupations within it. University departments lend
themselves to such environmental classification because only one easily
definable occupation resides in each, that of teacher (of physics, sociology,
etc.). Therefore, this discussion of differences among Holland types can be
applied not only to the characteristics of the persons but also to the
characteristics of work environments, namely departments. In other words,
inferences about individual departments may be made using this theory
(Holland, 1973).
Each variable will be considered in turn to determine the extent to which
the results on each conform to the personality and environment profiles of
each Holland type. Before entering into this discussion, however, it is
important to note that the purpose here is not to attempt to explain the
differences found purely in personality terms. Obviously there are
fundamental differences in the nature of the disciplines represented.
Whenever appropriate in the following narrative, alternative explanations
will be given and possible intervening variables will be noted. To differing
extents, each of the dependent variables represents a certain degree of
involuntary participation, that is, where university, college, or department
standards require a minimal participation in a type of effort. This
involuntary participation is perhaps most evident in instructional effort
where a relatively universal standard of minimum hours of contact with
students in the classroom is specified. Unpublished data indicated a
general equality of average assigned contact hours when Holland classif-
ications were superimposed over the existing structure at the institution
where the study was directed (Hesseldenz, 1974).
It is hypothesized by this author and is implicit in Holland's theory that
the Holland types are differentiated by the amount of voluntary time spent
in an area of effort. Given the inherent similarity in assigned instructional
time over all Holland types, differences in this area of effort will reflect the
Faculty Workload Analysis 329
occur in this area. Huge lower-division lecture classes are not particularly
evident in the fields that make up this category. It may be a unique
situation in this university. If an attempt were made to explain this
phenomenon in personality based terms, it could be postulated that enter-
prising persons would encourage larger classes as a manifestation of their
affinity for roles of leadership and dominance.
If personality differentiation is a significant factor in workload analysis,
what are the practical uses of such differentiations, if there are any?
Recognizing that discipline-related factors probably have more to do with
the differences found in this study than do personality factors, it is never-
theless maintained that the personality characteristics of those who choose
to work in a field must be considered when effort is analyzed. That is to
say, it is the unique nature of each discipline that draws persons who feel
comfortable and fulfilled within its milieu. It is submitted that while the
superimposition of Holland's theory over an existing academic structure
does little to explain differences in effort in academic disciplines, it does
contribute to the understanding of the persons who inhabit each. Person-
ality differences do not "cause" the behavior of persons in a discipline, but
they may influence and even amplify the differences among disciplines.
The validity of other approaches does not diminish the value of person-
ality-based explanations. Holland argues that it is such differences that
draw people to their fields, that is, the different kinds of personalities
reflect field differences. Administrators should be aware that persons in an
enterprising field, for example, are motivated by different stimuli than are
persons in an investigative field. A productive approach in one field might
be counterproductive in another. Neither should personality factors be
ignored when discipline-related decisions are made. Whitney and Holland
(1969) have proposed a reorganization of curriculums in two- and four-year
colleges according to Holland types. Their belief is that this six-cluster
scheme would capitalize on the similarity between teacher and student
interests. The results of this study indicate that the cluster approach might
be feasible. But even if a university cannot reorganize by Holland types,
overlay categorization of faculty by Holland type within the traditional
academic structures could still be beneficial due to the fact that each
separate department constitutes a Holland environment. Workload assign-
ments, for example, in instruction or research might be made with consid-
eration of personality type differences between departments.
The second main effect studied, that of rank differences, likewise yielded
reasonable, interpretable results, although no theory or assumptions could
be found by the writer for comparison. Interestingly, there is no statistical
difference among the total hours put in by each rank, although large
differences occur among some of the variables. Professors spend less time
332 Hesseldenz
in instructional activities than do associate professors, who in turn spend
less time than do assistant professors. The lower number of hours in
instruction activities for the higher ranks is not complemented by more
hours in research and public service. There is no statistical difference
among the ranks in the number of hours spent in public service activities,
and very little difference occurs in the research area, although it is signif-
icant at the 0.05 level.
The differences occur in the institutional-professional activities area
where professors show a markedly higher average number of hours than do
associate professors, who show a greater number of institutional-profes-
sional hours than do assistant professors. Instructional hours and insti-
tutional-professional hours then are complementary, with research and
public service hours remaining static. An implication of this phenomenon is
that changes in instructional assignments are not reflected in research or
public service activities, but in the institutional-professional activities
which faculty members pursue. More explicitly, an increase in
instructional workload should not result in a decrease in research time,
unless the increase is of a magnitude to eliminate entirely the institutional-
professional hours buffer. Possibly faculty members undertake other
activities only to the point that they are not detrimental to the major
functions of research and public service. The writer assumes that
instructional workload is the causal agent in this phenomenon. It may be
the other way around- that is, increases in the institutional-professional
activities may force the decreases in instructional workload. A longitudinal
study where changes in instructional workload are evident is required to
find the causal agent. Since time in many activities, such as supervision
and advising of graduate students, administrative duties, committee work,
and professional activities (learned societies, etc.), make up the variable
"institutional-professional hours" it might be useful to break down the
variable into its component parts to determine which of the activities are
affected most.
To counter the possible interpretation that it is somehow inappropriate
for higher ranked faculty to spend less time in teaching and more time in
other areas of effort, the following is offered. That professors should spend
more time on discipline, profession-related activities, administrative and
supervisory duties, and committee work than their lower ranked colleagues
is entirely reasonable. Factors such as age, status, and stage of profes-
sional development cannot be measured in a study of this kind, but must
nonetheless be considered when effort by rank is concerned. Neither can a
study like this contend with individual departmental and institutional
policy that certainly structures the workload distribution among the ranks.
Let it suffice to state that this study merely documents that rank
Faculty Workload Analysis 333
CONCLUSIONS
The conclusions that can be drawn from this study are as follows:
Differentiations in the four measures of faculty effort conform in general
to the differentiations suggested in Holland's personality and environment
profiles and thus provide general support to Holland's theory of vocational
choice.
Total effort, research effort, and public service effort are undifferent-
iated overall when faculty effort is analyzed by rank, but complementary
differences occur in the instructional and institutional-professional areas of
effort. That is, as instructional effort goes down for a rank, institutional-
professional effort goes up, or vice versa. The cause and effect relation-
ships are undertermined.
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