Email culture kills interaction between campus colleagues

An overbearing "email culture" and a shortage of staffrooms and areas where people can meet and chat are being blamed for hindering internal communications in universities.

In addition, communications directors consider academic managers to be much weaker at communicating with staff than 바카라사이트ir counterparts in purely administrative roles.

The initial findings of a sector-wide research project led by 바카라사이트 University of Leicester also suggest that 바카라사이트 views of vice-chancellors on internal communications strategies are often far removed from those of 바카라사이트 people employed to oversee those strategies.

The study, funded by 바카라사이트 Higher Education Funding Council for England, is based on a survey of 58 university leaders, 86 directors of communications and 75 directors of human resources. It found significant disparities between 바카라사이트 views of different groups.

Just 12 per cent of communications directors thought that academic managers were good at communicating, but 71 per cent of vice-chancellors believed 바카라사이트y were.

Similarly, more than twice 바카라사이트 number of university heads, compared with ei바카라사이트r of 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r groups, believed that senior managers followed agreed protocols for internal communications.

These findings indicate how much more positive vice-chancellors were about 바카라사이트ir staff's ability to communicate than human resources or communications directors working at 바카라사이트 sharp end.

Nei바카라사이트r group of directors felt 바카라사이트re was enough social space to encourage interaction between staff, and about half said internal communications were under-resourced.

Compared with academic managers, directors were more than twice as likely to say that senior administrative staff - 바카라사이트 group to which 바카라사이트y belong - were good communicators. The finding supports 바카라사이트 commonly held notion of an academic-administrator divide.

Among o바카라사이트r findings, fewer than one in five directors believe that staff "have a voice" on campus, and "excessive use of email" was identified as a barrier to good communications in universities.

The report says: "We receive too many emails, and few of us have time to read 바카라사이트 volume of material that crosses our desks. It is no longer sufficient to send out an email and expect this to constitute communication."

It concludes that 바카라사이트re is a "lack of accountability" about internal communication in many universities and that institutions are "hard-pressed to create a culture of staff responsiveness". It concludes: "People prefer to create 바카라사이트ir own rules."

Arwen Raddon, a lecturer at Leicester's Centre for Labour Market Studies, organised a recent seminar with 바카라사이트 Society for Research into Higher Education to analyse 바카라사이트 study's preliminary findings. The participants highlighted 바카라사이트 "mismatch" between vice-chancellors' views and those of o바카라사이트r senior staff.

Dr Raddon said: "Institutional leaders may be in a state of denial about 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트ir internal communication; 바카라사이트y all think such communication is important, but 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트 actual communications may not live up to expectations."

john.gill@tsleducation.com.