Managing Academics
Lucy Kellaway (one of my favorite columnists) writes in the FT last Monday on “Why academics make an unfit subject for management.” (I can’t link to it due to the fact it’s hidden behind FT’s subscriber wall…) She comes up with seven things that make them particularly ill-suited to behave in the context of a modern, flexible organisation:
* They are very clever. This is not an advantage in most institutions as it means they can think for themselves. (They may not actually be that clever, but they think they are – which may be worse.)
* Some have spectaculary low levels of emotional intelligence, which is often more important than IQ in getting things done.
* They are not team players, to put it mildly. Many are introverted. Moreover, the structure of university life means their colleagues (in most subjects save science) are their rivals.
* Criticism is a way of life. The mind of the academic is trained to pull holes in things. So when presented with a new initiative, they question if and deem it a waste of time as a matter of course.
* There is no line of authority. In a big company everyone sucks up to their bosses and agrees with them. In a university, there is less to be gained from brown-nosing, so disagreement prevails.
* They are complacent and have an interest in the status quo that has given them their secure jobs and pensions.
* Because their status largely depends on their research, which may only be understood by a tiny number of people, insecurity, pettiness and bitchiness often result.
The funny thing is, if you replace university with investment bank, at least the first four points and possibly the last would probably apply! It also might explain the common wisdom in the industry of the difficulty in managing quants and/or exotic derivative specialists (who are often cut from the same cloth in many respects as academics.) While I sympathise with Lucy’s questioning why anyone in their right mind would want to manage a university, joking aside, I think their is something for industry to learn from universities in terms of how to get the best out of their smart people. Not suggesting their is a magic formula, but perhaps by adapting some of the organisational and motivational paradigms from universities might make for both happier and more productive employees in cases where you are dealing with people who’s skills and mindsets are similar to those of academics.
