Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment

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Exploring managerial skills of Pakistan Public

Universities (PPUs)’ middle managers for campus
sustainability

Syed Kaleem Ullah Shah Bukhari , Rani Gul , Tayyaba Bashir , Sumaira Zakir
& Tariq Javed

To cite this article: Syed Kaleem Ullah Shah Bukhari , Rani Gul , Tayyaba Bashir , Sumaira
Zakir & Tariq Javed (2021): Exploring managerial skills of Pakistan Public Universities (PPUs)’
middle managers for campus sustainability, Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, DOI:
10.1080/20430795.2021.1883985

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/20430795.2021.1883985

Published online: 10 Feb 2021.

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JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE FINANCE & INVESTMENT
https://doi.org/10.1080/20430795.2021.1883985

Exploring managerial skills of Pakistan Public Universities

(PPUs)’ middle managers for campus sustainability
Syed Kaleem Ullah Shah Bukharia, Rani Gul b
, Tayyaba Bashirc, Sumaira Zakird and
Tariq Javede
a
School of Education, Minhaj University Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan; bDepartment of Education, University of
Malakand, Chakdara, Pakistan; cDepartment of English, University of Kotli AJ&K, Kotli, Pakistan; dDepartment
of Mass Communication, FABS, BUITEMS, Quetta, Pakistan; eManagement Sciences, UOM, Chakdara,
Pakistan

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Management of an institution determines its success or failure. Received 17 December 2020
Educational management and administration borrow the Accepted 27 January 2021
characteristics of business model with reference to the operations
KEYWORDS
of higher education institutions. Managerial skills in this regard Managerial skills; technical
for campus sustainability are of great significance. However, there skills; interpersonal skills;
is a lack of study that comprehensively explores these skills. This campus sustainability;
study aimed at exploring the managerial skills to promote capacity building; training
campus sustainability at Pakistan Public Universities (PPUs). The and development
qualitative case study research design was employed to gain a
deeper understanding of middle managers from PPUs. Semi-
structured interviews and thematic analysis of documents were
used to gather the data. Results found three types of managerial
skills: technical skills, interpersonal skills and training and
development. Challenges were found to create hurdles to
improve these skills. Being the first qualitative study in Pakistan
perspectives, the findings cannot be generalized but can be
transferable to other public universities in Pakistan.

1. Introduction
Management of an institution determines its success or failure (Rue, Byars, and
Ibrahim 2012). The management of educational institutions and business organiz-
ations are different and similar to each other (Calma and Davies 2014). It is
different with reference to the final beneficiaries. It is similar with reference to their
operations and practices. Thus, the managers have a pivotal role in running the insti-
tutions and achieving the desired objectives. Their skills with regard to their perform-
ance can have a lasting impact on the image building and sustainability of the
organization (Porter and Kramer 2006; Wikström 2010). In this study, we are refer-
ring to the higher education management that is quite similar and common to the
business organizations in the current era. The second major variable in this study
is campus sustainability.

CONTACT Rani Gul dr.rani27@gmail.com

© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 S. K. BUKHARI ET AL.

Higher education management and campus sustainability are a complex combination

(Fleischmann et al. 2010; Disterheft et al. 2015). As said above management of higher
education institutions (HEIs) are very similar to that of any business enterprise. Contex-
tually, all the aspects to run an HEI are based on the top management which set the goals
for the extension of knowledge and betterment of the nation (Dyer and Dyer 2017). The
phrase campus sustainability has long history but short profile and especially the least
understood concept with reference to the comparison of developing and developed
countries (Kates et al. 2001). It is the extension of the concept sustainability that consists
of economy, ecology and society or people, planet and profit (Hart 2000). Campus sus-
tainability is a combination of academic sustainability, operational sustainability,
financial sustainability and administrative sustainability. Simply, teaching and learning,
research, day to day non-academic activities, resources to execute the functions and
administration of the institution, respectively, describe these kinds of sustainability.
This combination works together to assist HEIs in achieving their objectives.
The importance of campus sustainability had never been realized at HEIs as it is done
so now. The major reason for its importance is linked with the standardization and inter-
nationalization of higher education (Beringer and Adomßent 2008). Another major
reason is the budget cuts and to do more with less due to the access of higher education
to the masses. Thus, campus sustainability has become an inevitable concept for HEIs to
understand it and take initiatives for it. Resultantly, HEIs’ managers are challenged more
than ever before (Bonn and Fisher 2011). It is meant that how they take initiatives to
promote campus sustainability with reference to equip themselves with the needed
skills. As this study was conducted in Pakistan, campus sustainability is in infancy
phase and there is a scarcity of literature on this concept. This is one of the reasons
that this study was conducted based on the qualitative approach, as developing studies
are always best explored and understood using qualitative research.
The countries which have well-established academic histories have excelled in this
concept and transitioned from multidisciplinary to inter-disciplinary (Abd-Razak et al.
2011; White 2014; Washington-Ottombre, Washington, and Newman 2018; Subahi
et al. 2020; Xiang et al. 2021). They have not only well-defined patterns, dynamics and
aspects of sustainability at HEI but also drawn a clear boundaries between campus sus-
tainability types (Piasentin and Roberts 2018; Khalaf and Abdulsahib 2020). They have
developed case-based and standardized yardsticks to measure the efforts of HEIs for
campus sustainability. Being in Pakistan and especially, in Asian perspectives, campus
sustainability is an overlooked concept that is neither theoretically well-established nor
practically observed. This is an initial study in this regard that will attempt to determine
a path for managers of HEIs to promote campus sustainability. Thus, the objective of this
study is to explore that to what extent the middle managers of Pakistan Public Univer-
sities (PPUs) are equipped with the managerial skills to deal with the issue of campus
sustainability.

2. Literature review
Academic administration borrows the characteristics of business model with reference to
the operations of HEIs. Academic administrators in this study refer to the middle man-
agers who can be the dean, directors and principals and play a bridging role between the
 JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE FINANCE & INVESTMENT 3

top-management and the faculty. Scott, Coates, and Anderson (2008) are of the view that
there is scarcity of studies that can guide about the middle managers’ skills, especially,
their training and development in terms of managing change in the complex world of
higher education. Their effectiveness depends upon the skills that have an impact on
their roles and responsibilities related to campus sustainability. According to McGoey
(2007), the middle managers in HEIs’ management and administration need to have
understanding of institutional processes and the ways of attracting resources for insti-
tutional effectiveness. His study highlighted presidential effectiveness with reference to
the perceptions of all key stakeholders (Board of governors, trustees and the presidents)
of HEIs. Though the study quantitatively found positive perceptions for institutional
effectiveness (Gul et al. 2020), however, it lacks in predicting the developing states of
an HEI at the level of middle management. Thus, it is questionable that how middle man-
agers’ effectiveness can be gauged in one of the developing countries, Pakistan, in Asia.
Different studies have shown different findings with regard to the effectiveness of
middle managers. For instance, Michael, Schwartz, and Balraj (2001) and Khalaf, Abdul-
sahib, and Sabbar (2020) found that knowledge of higher education, capacity to attract
resources for institutional development, healthy relationships with key constituents
and management skills were found the top most required elements for running an
HEI. Similarly, Birds (2014) conducted a study to find out the effectiveness of middle
managers to bring about change in HEI. The study found the role of reflexivity under
training and development in supporting middle managers to understand and facilitate
change management. The study further explained that training and development of
middle managers enable them to have deeper understanding for local circumstances
and make informed decisions. Wepner et al. (2014) found the need and importance of
interpersonal skills of middle managers in UK higher education perspectives using quali-
tative research. The study revealed that middle managers communicate inside and
outside HEI to achieve the organizational objectives. Critically analyzing these studies
found the managerial skills in part and there is lack of such studies that can explore
all the skills in one study. Thus, there is a need to conduct such study where the top man-
agement and the aspiring middle managers at HEIs can be guided well and enlightened
on their required performance.
The relationship of managerial skills such as technical skills, interpersonal skills and
training and development with campus sustainability is of great importance (Carmeli
and Tishler 2006; Chiang, Han, and Chuang 2011; Gul and Rafique 2017; Gul,
Kanwal, and Khan 2020). As discussed in introduction, campus sustainability is the
extension of sustainability that can only be integrated into HEIs if the leadership and
management of HEIs are ready to do so. There is plethora of literature on the need,
importance and purposes of campus sustainability at HEIs (e. g. Atherton and Giurco
2011; Savelyeva and McKenna 2011; Mintz and Tal 2014; Lozano et al. 2015; Croog
2016; Washington-Ottombre, Washington, and Newman 2018; Gul, Khan, and Akhtar
2020). However, there is lack of such studies that can highlight the relationship of
campus sustainability and middle managers’ skills for the said purpose. In this
context, it is a novel concept, especially for the developing countries, as the developed
countries have taken such initiatives and are leaders in this movement. Interestingly,
there are a number of studies on transition management with reference to sustainability
and sustainable development and again these are from the developed countries (e.g.
4 S. K. BUKHARI ET AL.

Kemp, Loorbach, and Rotmans 2007; Loorbach 2010). These studies indicate the need of
an attempt to bridge the gap between middle management and campus sustainability.
The skills required to promote campus sustainability are greater and far more signifi-
cant than the general skills in the context of an organization. Management skills such as
planning, organizing, leading, directing, coordinating and staffing are theoretically the
general skills and needed in every organization (Robbins, Coulter, and Vohra 2009).
While the managerial skills such as technical, interpersonal, reflective practice and train-
ing and development enable the managers to deal with unprecedented issues and chal-
lenges such as of campus sustainability, effectively. The literature has shown that these
skills enable the managers to visualize the future and devise the strategy, using their
skills, to reach there (Baumgartner and Korhonen 2010; Sá and Tamtik 2012; Marginson
2015; Kundu and Bairi 2016; Yoshida, Shimoda, and Ohashi 2017). Having reviewed the
need of middle managers for campus sustainability, it reveals that management, strategic
management and transitional management are contextually important for achieving the
objectives of an organization. However, in integrating seamlessly the concept of campus
sustainability (teaching, learning, research and development, environment, finance,
administration and greening the campus) in HEIs’ existing functions require trans-dis-
ciplinary approach of thinking and eventually the skills that bring about a paradigm
shift on the landscape of HEIs in Pakistan perspectives (Holton, Swanson, and Naquin
2001; Halse 2011).
In the process of promoting managerial skills among the middle managers, there is a
gamut of challenges such as specific program to train them, lack of finance and lack of
implementation of human resource management (HRM) practices at HEIs (Rowley
and Sherman 2003; Stachowiak-Kudła and Kudła 2017). These challenges demand per-
sistence from the middle managers with the view to promote the campus sustainability at
PPUs. Though the studies conducted in other than Pakistan have indicated a confusing
status among middle managers. However, how it is hampering the middle managers at
PPUs is less investigated that needs to be explored well.
Based on the literature review, this research question can be conceptualized, ‘in leader-
ship of the university requires special specific expertise. Did you get any specific training
in this regards in acquisitions of managerial skills?’. This research question facilitated the
participants (middle managers) to enlighten us on their experiences about their skills.
Under the qualitative research design, it was worthwhile to confirm to explore the
skills of middle managers/academic administrators at PPUs to promote campus sustain-
ability. The following section describes in detail the research methodology for this study.

3. Methodology
The concept of campus sustainability in comparison of managerial skills at HEIs is least
investigated in Pakistan perspectives. Being an initial study, our purpose was to explore
the effectiveness of middle managers qualitatively with regard to promote campus sus-
tainability at PPUs. Thus, we used a qualitative case study research design to gain
deeper understanding of the managers. By nature, case study design is used when
there is a need for exploring the process of complex phenomenon (Yin 2009), as the
case of managerial skills of academic administrators for campus sustainability was
unfolded in this study. Thus, the sample size for this study was kept small to manage
 JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE FINANCE & INVESTMENT 5

the data effectively and know the in-depth status of managerial skills. The criterion pur-
posive sampling technique was used to explore the issue (Patton 2002). In setting the cri-
teria to select the participants, the following characteristics were considered at top
priority. Thus, those participants were selected who were having:

(1) Doctorate in the field of sustainability.

(2) The position of middle managers.
(3) Minimum 10 years teaching experience.
(4) Adequate research experience.
(5) Served or be serving currently in public sector universities.

Following the above characteristics, six middle managers of PPUs participated in

this study. Semi-structured open-ended interviews and documents were used to
collect data to explore managerial skills for campus sustainability at PPUs. Research
ethics such as the confidentiality of the participants and their institutions was
assured, and their viewpoints were solely used for the purpose of this research. More-
over, the consent form was provided with these participants to seek their permission
to record the audio-interviews. During the interviews, we explored the main question,
‘In leadership of the university requires special specific expertise. Did you get any
specific training in this regard in acquisitions of managerial skills’, with two following
sub-questions?

(1) There is a rapid explosion of knowledge in all disciplines of natural and applied and
social sciences. How do you keep yourself aware of that and how do you propose to
meet this challenge in terms of global competition?
(2) Holding an important position in the institution, how do you ensure that teaching
staff is updating themselves regarding the quality of teaching and learning process
and research?

Data analysis process was carried out based on thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke
2006). In this regard, firstly, each interview was listened, re-listened and transcribed care-
fully in Microsoft Word Application Program. Secondly, each interview was read meti-
culously and then coded. At this stage, all the documents were read, re-read, coded and
matched with the codes of interviews transcripts. Finally, similar codes were arranged,
rearranged in the form of themes to understand the issue of management skills at
PPUs’ level. Thus, the findings are given in thematic form.

4. Findings
The purpose of data was to gain deeper understanding of the managerial skills that aca-
demic administrators use to promote campus sustainability at PPUs. Data shows that
these skills are vital to maintain campus sustainability. Based on the thematic analysis
framework, the data has shown that these skills are of three kinds: technical skills, inter-
personal skills and ways of training and development. However, the participants face
challenges, too, in order to maintain these skills and make efforts for campus
6 S. K. BUKHARI ET AL.

sustainability at PPUs. The following figure exhibits these themes.

5. Technical skills
This theme shows that technical skills are needed when there is a need of planning, bud-
geting and controlling the tasks. To plan well, to secure sufficient budget, and to control
the things, middle managers need to have these skills. The following quotes present how
these skills work at PPUs.
In the light of that feedback, after that we have to make planning. (P 12)

We are utilizing at a very rapid speed. I mean, in the annual plan, in the last meeting we
evaluated how far we have been able to achieve what we demanded from government of
the Punjab or HEC. So, we saw that most of the projects were either underway or we
were about to start. (P 13)

Management skills the planning, leading, organizing and controlling is the must thing …
You should [be] very much clear about how you should plan your departments. How
you direct your departments. (P 14)

… . the planning for budget … ..the important features for managerial skills and sustainabil-
ity. (P 15)

HEC may be compassionate enough, you see, that it takes to its bodies of fund allocation and
the money is allocated for that purpose. So, this is how is a mix. (P 16)

The above quotes present what and how of technical skills with reference to campus sus-
tainability. The word technical highlights the proficiency of the participants in a specific
activity such as planning in the budget and the implementation of that planning. The par-
ticipants in the above quotes showed that planning is based on feedback and it (planning)
is vital to demonstrate different kinds of campus sustainability activities. For instance, the
planning to secure the budget and the planning to run the departmental activities were
presented as the technical skills. Planning was in line with organizing different activities,
leading these activities and controlling the situation within the specification and expertise
of the participants’ areas.
Besides planning for specific activities, the performance appraisal system was high-
lighted as the major part of the technical skills. The performance appraisal system is con-
sidered under the technical skills because of monitoring and evaluating the performance
 JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE FINANCE & INVESTMENT 7

of faculty members at departmental level with reference to campus sustainability. The

faculty members’ performance was in the area of teaching activities as per the mechan-
ism. As said in the below quotes,
These skills should be like that first of all we have the feedback program. For every decision
we have to get feedback. (P 12)

You know one thing I believe that I got to be very pro-active … . Being head you got to be
very proactive, vigilant. (P 13)

… . have to monitor and implement the rules and regulations, the policies and other
decisions for the betterment. (P 15)

In this regard I can say that getting feedback from students and getting feedback from the
faculty for academic sustainability. Being pro-active, the planning for budget, the capacity
building; these are the important features for managerial skills and sustainability in our
campus. (P 15)

… several procedures … prescribed and … . several performances to assess periodically that

how things are going on. (P 18)

The participants in the above quotes highlighted three important aspects of performance
appraisal system: monitoring, evaluation/appraisal and feedback. Monitoring was con-
sidered as the most fundamental part of performance appraisal to evaluate whether the pre-
scribed procedures, rules and regulations for the task are being implemented or not.
Monitoring with the characteristic of being pro-active was presented as an effective tool
that facilitated the evaluation process. Upon the monitoring process, feedback was
carried out. The participants focused that the feedback was from different stakeholders
such as the students and the faculty to improve the activities of campus sustainability.
The feedback was also in line with the prescribed guidelines and procedures that HEC
has developed to improve the relationship of middle managers’ skills and campus sustain-
ability at PPUs. Thus, to take the data on these prescribed procedures, relevant stakeholders
such as faculty and students are given the proformas which are filled in by them. That is
how at campus level, these stakeholders provide the data to understand, assess and
grade the performance of academic administrators. This data also helps to know if the
HEC procedures are fulfilled or not. Thus, it can be stated that the performance appraisal
system was carried out in a systematic way that meets two purposes. Firstly, it is meant that
performance appraisal system guides to further planning and planning needs implemen-
tation to address the unaddressed areas and assess the completion of the task with
respect to management. Secondly, such feedback can work as an instrument to ensure
the quality of academic activities (teaching and learning). Additionally, when such assess-
ment is done at a large scale at PPUs, it can be said that the quality of instruction can also be
enhanced. Moreover, the extent of the success of completed tasks is determined by such
assessment of the relevant stakeholders. This shows that technical skills help the partici-
pants to manage the activities of campus sustainability in a systematic way.

6. Interpersonal skills
The second kind of skills that participants highlighted was interpersonal skills. The
rationale to call these skills as interpersonal skills was that the participants expressed
8 S. K. BUKHARI ET AL.

these skills to communicate and cooperate effectively with the faculty members as a team
member to get done campus sustainability activities. As stated in the below quotes,
Interpersonal skills, communication skills and all these are the must thing for the human
resource interaction. (P 12)

… have a very close relationship with my faculty, with my students … . you got to be in
contact with all those three things, I mean, faculty, students and yourself. (P 13)

How you coordinate with your sub-ordinates. And how you like to make things better in
terms of human resource especially because your sub-ordinates are your assets and you
must clearly identify that their domains of working should be this this and this. (P 14)

Then of course there are you see areas related to communication. And I have a very strong
communication with those who are working in private and also with the military. (P 16)

The participants in the above quotes highlighted the effective communication and
friendly relationship with the students and the faculty. The focus on interpersonal
skills was based on the effective behavioral relationship with the faculty members with
reference to campus sustainability. Since the faculty members are closely linked with
the student in order to deliver knowledge, the satisfaction of faculty members regarding
the communication with the academic administrators is important. That is why the skills
of interpersonal relationship for academic administrators are significant. Thus, these
skills help academic administrators establish a friendly and cooperative relationship
with faculty members for the purpose of campus sustainability.
The need of interpersonal skills was expressed as a must thing, as the participants
entitled the faculty members as an asset because everything including the university
policy, vision, mission and the objectives of the curriculum are met by the appropriate
and efficient management of the faculty members. It is also accepted without any doubt
that efficient faculty members perform their duties better on virtue of strategic leadership
of the academic administrators. Based on the strategic leadership, academic administrators
can plan, manage, develop, train and retain the faculty members as an asset, as the partici-
pants stated that academic administrators have close contact with the faculty members.
Thus, the effective and cooperative communication and relationship of the academic
administrators with the faculty members determine the success of the entire organization.
Critically observing the technical and interpersonal skills, it becomes evident that these
are interrelated to each other and it is quite possible that middle managers are using more
than one skills (planning when he is, per say, conducting a meeting for budget proposals or
for curriculum revision) at a time. Similarly, when he is planning for an academic, non-aca-
demic or administrative activity, he has to convey his idea either in the written form or in
the oral form. For that, he needs to have interpersonal and communication skills. In this
way, technical and interpersonal skills support the academic administrators not only to
manage the human relationship but also to accomplish campus sustainability activities.

7. Training and development

The third kind of managerial skills was the ways of training and development. The word
training indicates to affect middle managers’ knowledge, skills and attitude to improve
team and organizational effectiveness. However, the word development refer to the
 JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE FINANCE & INVESTMENT 9

personal growth of middle managers knowledge and skills. Here training and develop-
ment refers to the process of enhancing their skills. The participants expressed that
they could train and develop themselves with different kinds of activities such as teaching
and research. As was stated,
Secondly, any teacher who has to prepare for his lecture, he has to study what is new in that
one. And in this they are fortunate that everyone is provided with the computer, internet
facilities sitting in their own rooms they can study, even download the material and
study and printers are available not separately but certainly in groups. There, they can
take out the print. (P 16)

… you are indulged in research, you go to other countries to present your research and in
this way you get certain exposure. (P 13)

I am always in touch with my MPhil and PhD students and the research that goes on. So, this
is another way of developing yourself. (P 13)

I feel so that the best idea as far my job and my capacity is concerned is by the better super-
vision to the research students. Probably if I want to keep myself more updated regularly in
my particular field I will be more stick to my supervision. (P 17)

The above quotes indicate two major sources of training and development: teaching and
research. Through these sources middle managers perform the activities related to aca-
demic aspect of campus sustainability. The participants expressed that teaching is an
instrumental source through which they develop themselves. As to deliver a lecture,
the participants stated that they had to prepare it well. Well in the meanings that they
had not only to have the conceptual understating of the topic, area and contents but
also grasp it critically that how this area of the study link with other areas and what
can be its future directions. They needed to have clarity in their thought on that topic
so that students could meet the instructional objectives. In this way, teaching is one of
the sources that helped them groom and develop in their relevant areas.
Another source of training and development has stated the supervision and research. As
effective supervision is only possible when the supervisor has a thorough understanding of
their areas and critical mind to extend the knowledge. It demands a deeper understanding
of related literature review. The participants enhanced their professional development by
supervising their students in an effective way. The above-stated quotes indicate the knowl-
edge extension by the participants in the form of contributing some good research in
addition to the supervision. Though the reason behind the participants’ research progress
was the institutional requirement or their personal interest to get promotion, it supported
the participants to enhance knowledge in their relevant areas of knowledge.
Apart from the teaching and supervision sources of training and development, the
participants shared the efforts being made by HEC for training and development
purpose. Faculty and middle managers keep themselves up-to-date by taking advantage
of the HEC faculty development (FD) program. The HEC programs are of two types:
short term and long term. As the participants stated,
The training of the teachers is arranged by the HEC. (P 15)

Then the teachers go for doctorate and post-doctorate for five years with full pay along with
the scholarship. (P 15)
10 S. K. BUKHARI ET AL.

Then of course, our teachers compete for HEC scholarships. Our teachers compete for inter-
national scholarships. Our teachers compete for the scholarships announced by the univer-
sities. University encourages grants leave with pay for permanent teachers. And they can go
any of the university for HE. (P 16)

Based on the responses, the HEC provides the financial support to the faculty to acquire
the higher studies. However, the participants are required to fulfil the set conditions and
criteria to achieve these scholarships. The sad fact of this good initiative to promote the
faculty and academic administrators’ training and development is that this initiative has
started few years back. This argument is strengthened when it is matched with the below
quote from the documents,
In the absence of pre-service mechanism, In-service Strategic Training Programs are
designed and conducted for the Continuous Professional Development of the Academia
and Management. (documents)

Based on the above quote, it can be stated that the In-service Strategic Training Programs
have recently been initiated and these are not compulsory for faculty and middle man-
agers/academic administrators to enter into academic administration. However, these
programs are offered to them once they are in academic administration position.
These programs offered by the HEC are of two types, short-term and long-term pro-
grams. For short-term, the training courses in the form of workshops and/or short
refresher courses are arranged. These programs focus on pedagogical skills, communi-
cation skills, computer skills, assessment methodologies and subject-specific skills. For
long-term professional development programs, courses are arranged by the HEC with
the collaboration of universities. As it was stated,
The department aims to improve the quality of teaching at universities in Pakistan through a
range of innovative programs geared towards capacity development of HE faculty members.
These include both short and long-term training programs focusing on key areas such as
improvement in pedagogy, enhancement of communication and computer skills, advanced
assessment methodologies and enhancement of subject knowledge. (documents)

… HEC especially devises different training from time to time and we must attend those
trainings. From the international speakers and from the international trainers. (P-14)

It is noticeable that both the short-term and long-term programs are for faculty and aca-
demic administrators (when they are in academic administration position). According to
the above quotes, faculty members are equipped with the necessary areas of training and
development with respect to quality of HE. For academic administration, the programs
are being conducted to improve the management and leadership of PPUs. As it was
stated,
… is playing an important role to equip the university management with latest governance
tools and to bridge the gap between management and academia. (documents)

The major focus of HEC has been on the faculty development. Although the programs of
training and development for academic administrators are well-documented by HEC, the
participants being middle managers did not show their participation in training and
development programs. The important authority with regard to planning and arranging
such programs is the university chief executive, as it was stated,
 JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE FINANCE & INVESTMENT 11

- … HEC schedules educational activities for each quarter of the year. If any institution or
department wants to conduct a course, a written request approved by HEIs’ Competent
Authority along with the detailed proposal needs to reach at least one month in advance
… . No course will start unless a letter of approval. (documents)

Documents on training and development from the HEC speak clearly and offer avenues
to train all the stakeholders (faculty, academic administrators, managers and others),
while the initiative from universities’ authority possibly show a lack of interest. Apart
from the HEC effort to offer faculty development programs, the access to online data-
bases by the HEC was expressed as an effective tool for professional development by
the academic administrators. As it was stated,
Our digital library is established as a good library. And HEC is also providing financial
assistance for these digital resources. (P 12)

… Other than this the different databases are available to all the public sector university by
the HEC. (P 14)

The teachers get the knowledge from internet facilities. (P 15)

Yes, one thing good, for example, HEC is and also the development of this networking or
internet, or Google or you see similar databases. For example, there is a quick access of
knowledge to the teachers. … ..But any research paper any book that is well-worth on
that, can be downloaded by him through a log and log is with him. (P 16)

Based on the responses, the HEC provides the access of online databases to the middle
managers. The financial expenses to subscribe these databases are borne by the HEC.
The access of online databases is linked with the above stated two sources of the training
and development: teaching and research. Since, both teaching and research at HEIs
demand the middle managers to update themselves with the novel, cutting-edge and
multidisciplinary ideas, the need of online database is vital.
Critically observing the above stated three kinds of the managerial skills – techni-
cal skills, interpersonal skills and ways of training and development – it becomes
evident that technical skills are achieved by having a deeper knowledge in one’s
areas. The interpersonal skills were considered to manage the human resource to
bring about effectiveness in the entire organization. The ways of training and devel-
opment by HEC are insufficient and linked with middle managers. The need of these
skills was realized more prime for middle managers as they have to interact with the
sub-ordinates and also to update their higher-ups. The participants also shared the
challenges that middle managers face in achieving the managerial skills. How these
challenges affect the managerial skills is discussed in the following paragraphs.

8. Challenges
Challenges to managerial skills are those factors that do not support to develop
these skills. These factors work as hurdles in training and developing the middle
managers in relevant areas. There were four challenges that participants expressed
in response to developing the managerial skills: lack of managerial skills, lack of
finance, lack of professional development and HEC role in HRM. The detail is
given as below:
12 S. K. BUKHARI ET AL.

The first challenge was lack of managerial skills. When participants were asked about
the acquisition of managerial skills with respect to their leadership expertise, the
responses showed that only one participant had the doctorate degree in leadership and
management and the rest of the participants did not acquire any management training
or experience before entering to the academic administration. As the participants stated,
There was no training workshop managed by the university. (P-15)

Well, you see I never got any course on managerial skills. (P-16)

I have my degree in leadership and management. So, when you have a Ph.D. in leadership
and management you got to be a leader (P-13).

The above quotes highlight that participants realized the lack of managerial skills with
respect to fulfilling campus sustainability activities. It is vital to mention here that the
ways of training and development analyzed above were related to the teaching and
research-related activities and processes. While, the training with respect to managerial
skills such as, technical and interpersonal skills was missing, and the skills discussed
above were achieved by the participants when the participants were performing their
duties. Thus, a separate system of training or experience before entering to the academic
administration was not a practice. Here, it indicates an issue of inefficient recruitment
criteria for middle managers. Thus, the real challenge of inefficient recruitment criteria
and inefficient recruitment for academic administration is in practice at PPUs. Moreover,
this problem links with the quality issues since such criteria and inefficiency in manage-
rial skills cannot support to bring about quality in HE and consequently sustainability in
academic aspects of campus sustainability is affected. The second challenge indicated the
lack of finance as the participants stated,
A reasonable budgetary figure is not provided to our university particularly for the enrich-
ment of the programs. (P 12)

… .lack of finance is the main hurdle to achieve the goals. (P 15)

However, the provided funds to execute the decision making are insufficient. (P 16)

The above quotes highlight that lack of finance is a major hurdle not only to fulfil the
academic activities but also to enrich the program of enhancing the managerial skills
for the middle managers. Observing these quotes with regard to improving the
financial status for the purpose of university regulations, it becomes clear that lack of
managerial skills, especially, the skills related to budget formulation process are insuffi-
cient and not at par. Thus, the lack of technical skills along with the lack of training and
developing programs for enhancing technical skills bring about lack of sustainability in
regulating university functions. The third challenge that participants expressed was lack
of professional development. The participants stated as,
… you know unless you update them you won’t expect that you would be compatible with
the rest of the world. (P 13)

Everyone must train and develop herself or himself in terms of especially the cooperation
and communication so that one can easily be probed into someone else’s domain. (P 14)

There is feeling about it [training]. (P 17)

 JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE FINANCE & INVESTMENT 13

Yes, it will not be effective until to divide the cadres. University has something. That’s not
the bad idea as well. But the ultimate objective should be achieved by the division of the
cadres. (P 17)

The above quotes highlight that faculty and middle managers needed to enhance their
training with respect to communication and coordination. Moreover, it was highlighted
that to fulfil the academic responsibilities and to expect from the faculty, the middle man-
agers need to produce and provide the resources through which these faculty members
could be trained. Moreover, how the training process can be effective was suggested to
divide the university faculty and middle managers into different cadres. Thus, the train-
ing was felt compulsory and presently it was a challenge with respect to achieve campus
sustainability. The fourth challenge was linked with the role of HEC in HRM. The par-
ticipants stated that whatever the efforts are being done by the HEC in the form of short-
term and long-term faculty development programs are insufficient with respect to the
demand of the well-trained and developed human resource in the modern age of HE.
As stated,
There is always a room for better development for universities in terms of ranking, in terms
of institutional performance evaluation and especially in terms of making QEC more
effective and vigilant. (P 14)

HEC did a wonderful job … … But you see in their anxiety for the high quality of research
and applied research, HEC loss sight of social sciences. Social sciences in universities have
got down. … … And social sciences was suffocated. This suffocation brought you see what
we call stagnation of thought in the process. (P 16)

Universities are not keeping the balance because of HEC. (P 16)

Lack of HRM by the HEC is more challenging than the issue of professional development
and lack of finance, discussed above. Since HEC is a centralized body to regulate Pakis-
tani HE, this lack needs to be addressed timely, efficiently and effectively to bring about
positive changes in the professional development and managerial skills at PPUs. The par-
ticipants’ responses have highlighted the reason of lack of HRM that indicates the weak
relationship between the HEC and PPUs.
Apart from the effect of lack of HRM on professional development and managerial
skills at PPUs, the participants highlighted the absence of a balance between the social
sciences and the natural sciences with regard to promote social and natural sciences in
Pakistan. Observing the phenomenon of imbalance in the promotion of discipline
from the regulatory body (HEC), it becomes clear that the division of thought (uplifting
the natural sciences and underestimating the social sciences) trickles down to the prac-
tical field of life. The reason of this division and imbalance is likely that the development
in thinking through the social sciences (as the participants stated) becomes stagnant and
the impact of social sciences on society becomes equal to zero. Such situation widens the
gap between social sciences and natural sciences due to the lack of HRM. Thus, this chal-
lenge emphasized on the regulatory body (HEC) to promote the understanding and
importance of social sciences and put efforts to demonstrate the quality of social sciences
in comparison with the importance of natural sciences.
Above discussion has highlighted technical skills, interpersonal skills, ways of training
and development and the challenges to the managerial skills at PPUs. The participants
14 S. K. BUKHARI ET AL.

expressed that technical skills are in budget formulation, planning and performance
appraisal system. The interpersonal skills are helpful in communication and HRM in
order to get the things accomplished. The ways of training and development provide
resources (teaching, supervision and access to databases by HEC) to the faculty and aca-
demic administrators to keep themselves updated in the disciplinary and multi-disciplin-
ary advancement. Though these three aspects of the managerial skills were emphasized
with respect to campus sustainability, the participants highlighted four major challenges
(lack of managerial skills, lack of finance, lack of professional development, lack of HRM
from HEC) as hurdles in developing and promoting the managerial skills.

9. Discussion
The findings of this study have shown that there is lack of managerial skills. Moreover,
there is an imbalance between the managerial skills and the participants have to face chal-
lenges. While considering the significance of these skills, it becomes evident that techni-
cal skills enhance the proficiency of the participants in planning and the implementation
of that planning. In line with the planning and its implementation, the performance
appraisal system was found an important method of the technical skills to monitor,
evaluate and appreciate the performance of the faculty at the department level. These
aspects of performance appraisal were carried out for the set standards, procedures
and rules and regulations for the activities of campus sustainability. The performance
appraisal identifies the weak areas of the faculty and provides the strategic guidance to
improve them. These findings are relevant with the studies (e. g. Carmeli and Tishler
2006; Chiang, Han, and Chuang 2011) where performance appraisal is done to ensure
the appropriate use of the organizational resources.
The study showed that the participants use the interpersonal skills to communicate
with their subordinates or keeping the university top management informed. The partici-
pants in played their role as a bridge between their faculty (they may negotiate with them
to get the tasks completed), and the university top management (they use communi-
cation skills to update them about the performance and the progress of their depart-
ments). Thus, the interpersonal skills were found critical with regards to translate the
institutional vision into practice and as a result of that to accomplish the activities of
campus sustainability. These findings are supported with the study conducted by
Wepner et al. (2014) in the way that helped the middle managers to when and how to
communicate effectively. It is noticeable that, in this study the middle managers are
holding the positions of director or dean while in the study conducted by Wepner
et al. (2014), the middle managers are the deans. In this way, the current study
extends the application of these skills on the role of the directors as they also employ
the interpersonal skills to accomplish campus sustainability activities. Based on the
findings, it is implied that the effective interpersonal skills need a continuous professional
and strategic leadership development. It is also implied that the effective interpersonal
skills of the middle managers indicate the success in ensuring campus sustainability.
Training and development were found as the most critical skills in terms of promoting
academic sustainability. The study showed that training includes the knowledge, skills
and attitude to improve team and organizational effectiveness, while; the development
was solely about the personal development. These elements were updated based on
 JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE FINANCE & INVESTMENT 15

three functions of the universities: teaching, research and supervision. It was found that
these functions worked in such a way that when the middle managers were required to
deliver the lecture, do research or supervise their research students they equipped them-
selves in the relevant areas to succeed. Thus, the training and development were carried
out by performing campus sustainability activities. These findings are supported with the
studies conducted by Halse (2011) Holton, Swanson, and Naquin (2001) with regard to
strengthening the academic administrators in teaching, research and supervision. These
findings imply that if the middle managers are efficient enough in teaching and research,
they could contribute towards the knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer.
The efficiency of the middle managers is maintained by the managerial skills and the
HEC’s efforts to perform the activities of campus sustainability. However, these skills
cannot work well due to challenges such as lack of managerial skills to recruit as
middle managers. This was the biggest hurdle that indicated the ineffective recruitment
criteria for middle managers. It is argued that though the criteria are there but it needs to
be refined to recruit the capable and effective leaders. Moreover, the above-mentioned
discussion on the managerial skills was based on the participants’ experiences and
thus shows a lack of an appropriate leadership and management development
program. The second constraint was the lack of finance that discourages the arrangement
of continuous professional development for middle managers. This constraint directly
affects technical skills. In this way, the lack of finance affects every kind of activity.
Thus, there is a lack of finance due to the lack of capacity building of the middle managers
in the concerned areas. The third constraint was the lack of HRM. It is argued that HRM
is being used as per the need of the organizational studies to enhance the organizational
effectiveness employing the human capital. Since this study found the lack of capacity
building, HRM in this study can be considered as the bundle of practices that include
staffing, training and development, performance appraisal, career development and the
job design. These findings are supported by the studies of Stachowiak-Kudła and
Kudła (2017) and Rowley and Sherman (2003) in negative way to promote campus
sustainability.

10. Conclusions
Academic administrators can transform PPUs sustainably if they are equipped with the
managerial skills and keep themselves updated about these skills from time to time. This
is an initial study and found managerial skills insufficient which cannot promote campus
sustainability. Additionally, challenges such as lack of finance, lack of human resource
practices, and lack of planning regarding training have been articulated as the major con-
straints to campus sustainability. The qualitative nexus of these challenges and ineffective
recruitment criteria, lack of capacity building and lack of priority to take initiatives have
seriously called for a concerted and coordinated effort of HEC, PPUs’ top management
and the middle managers. It seems that at whichever level these skills are in the present
form they cannot transform PPUs. The study implies that serious and continuous efforts
should be taken to improve the capacity building of the middle managers in line with
HRM practices. Being a qualitative study, it has opened avenues to further expand and
determine quantitatively the need of such skills at HEIs in Pakistan. Based on the
findings, it can be suggested to revise strategy and take sustainable initiatives at top
16 S. K. BUKHARI ET AL.

university management level by getting the middle managers involved in it. This study
works as a foundation to navigate the futuristic approach by devising strategic plan to
train academic administrators at large scale in Pakistan. It also guides to conduct a quan-
titative study where the attitude of academic administrators with regard to training and
development can be evaluated. Apart from this, how PPUs work as organizations can also
be further explored. Last but not least, being a qualitative study it encourages the trans-
ferability of the findings to the public sector universities only and not the private univer-
sities and/or colleges. Thus, the study provides a platform to draw further lines of inquiry
in management, sustainability and higher education.

Limitations
As with any other study, this is not without limitations. These are as given here. We could
not take more time of middle managers as we thought of to dig more the concept of man-
agerial skills and campus sustainability. However, within the time limit, we tried our best
to explore it. Though we have tried to minimize the biasness, yet as any qualitative study
is not without biasness. The reader may find the biasness as long as the qualitative study
gives its feelings. As the study was conducted at the management level, we were limited
not to observe the managerial activities live/in real time at HEIs.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

ORCID
Rani Gul http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1951-3351

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