In some systems such as the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, public funding bodies
have sought strategies that will mitigate the effects of uncertainty and maximise the performance of
staff. In the United Kingdom, for instance, there have been initiatives by the Higher Education
Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funding the development of good practice in Rewarding and
Developing Staff (HEFCE, 2005), and in Leadership, Governance and Management (HEFCE, 2003).
At the same time, a Higher Education Role Analysis scheme (HERA) (www.hera.ac.uk) is being
implemented to enable the incorporation of all staff on a single, national pay spine by August 2006.
This is to ensure compliance with European Community equal opportunities directives, and to meet
government and funding council policies. It has focused attention on the comparability of role content,
as well as on pay and conditions (Prudence and Deer, 2005).
Universities are also faced with conflicting pressures. For instance, even allowing for inter-
national variance, they face encouragement to both collaborate and compete with each other and this
has led to operational as well as disciplinary complexities (Barnett 2003, p. 184-185). These
complexities relate not only to structures and systems, but also to the organisation and development of
staff, both in terms of workforce planning and the local management of individuals. The regulatory
and policy background for higher education systems has also become more complex, particularly in
respect of legislation relating to employee and employer rights and obligations, and equity issues
around, for instance, disability, race and gender.
At the same time, approaches to work and working life are changing. Staff in their 20s and 30s
are said to value access to information, opportunities for networking, and a balanced lifestyle as much
as the traditional milestones and status offered by a professional career. Additionally, a proportion of
younger staff do not necessarily anticipate a career for life, and look to acquire experience that will be
distinctive, equipping them for a future that is more uncertain than it was for their predecessors
(McCrindle, 2005; 2006). Globalisation has, therefore, contributed to changed individual expectations
and work styles. However, despite an expanding literature on the effects of these changes on
universities’ teaching and research activity (Scott, 1995; Readings, 1996; Blake et al., 1998; Douglass,
2005), and contractual and employment issues (Slaughter and Leslie, 1997; Rhoades, 1996; 1998),
there has been less focus on their implications for human resource management.
Professional contexts
Academic staff
This evolving environment is impacting on higher education institutions around the world,
although there are substantial geographical and intra-sectorial differences in the pace of change, the
precise nature of the implications for staff, and the reactions of staff and other stakeholders. What
some may see as threats, others may perceive as liberating or legitimising developments. Much has
been written on the intensification of academic work (Harman, 2003; McInnis, 1999), pressures to
adapt roles and practices, resistance to such forces (Shattock, 2000), and a tendency to favour change
strategies of accumulation and accretion (Coaldrake and Stedman, 1999). Perhaps not surprisingly,
given the foregoing points, the literature also reports growing concerns about workloads, stress, issues
of work-life balance, and widespread opposition to a perceived increase in unwanted bureaucracy.
Kogan, Moses and El-Khawas (1994) noted increasing diversification of academic tasks
(teaching, scholarship, research, consultancy, community service and administration). Thus, the range
of roles that an academic may be expected to undertake can include: “teacher, scholar, practitioner,
demonstrator, writer, model, discoverer, inventor, investigator, designer, architect, explorer, expert,
learner, developer, collaborator, transformer, facilitator, enabler, evaluator, critic, assessor, setter,
guide, colleague, supervisor, mentor, listener, advisor, coach, counsellor, negotiator, mediator, juggler,