Academic Management Seminar

Samuel O. Dekolo
Asst. Director, Academic Planning (Quality Assurance)
Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, Lagos
E-mail: sam.dekolo@gmail.com
CAPACITY WORKSHOP FOR MANAGERS OF ACADEMIC PROGRAMME
MOSHOOD ABIOLA POLITECHNIC, ABEOKUTA.
9TH-10TH MARCH, 2015

Objectives of this
presentation
Linking the institution’s mission statement
with the work of the individuals
Identify the roles of heads of academic
and academic support units in achieving
the mission statement
To offer practical tips on key areas of
good practice in human resource
management and leadership

WHAT IS A MISSION
STATEMENT?
 A mission statement is
a statement of the
purpose of an
organization or person;
its reason for existing; a
written declaration of
an organization's core
purpose and focus that
normally remains
unchanged over time

Our Mission Statement
To produce skilled technological
and professional manpower for
self-reliance and community
service by developing and deploying
appropriate technologies and
competencies with adequate
linkages and partnerships.

Our Vision
To be “a reference point
in technological,
scientific, and
entrepreneurial
education, accessible
to all, for sustainable
national development”.

Our Core Values
 Excellence shall be the
Hallmark of every aspect of
our service delivery.
 Commitment to producing
truly educated, skillful,
useful and decent
personalities who are
equipped for significant
contributions to the moral
and economic development
of the society.

Everyone Matters
 Excellence and Commitment
of individual Staff
(academic or academic
Support) is required to
achieve this Mission
 As leaders and managers
in an academic Institution,
we need to know our roles
and best practices in
managing human and non-
human resources to achieve
the institutions mission

What is the Nature of
Academic Institutions?
 Academic Institutions are knowledge and skills based
organisations
 Academic and support services staff are pivotal in imparting skills
and knowledge
 Product Cycle may take up to two years or more (i.e. each
student that graduates is a product)
 Academic freedom makes the system loosely coupled
 Regulatory Environment (internal and external) will tighten the
loose ends
 Measurement of success and performance of institutions are
reflected in the quality of outputs or products (graduates).
 How self-reliant or employable are our graduates
in today’s technology driven world?

Service Delivery vs. Customers
(student) satisfaction?
 self reliance or Employability
 Are they satisfied with the curriculum and
teaching-learning process
 Are they satisfied with other academic/non-
academic inputs
 Feedback about the institution in relation to
peer institutions (how do they rate MAPOLY?)
 Alumni engagement

Characteristics of
Academics
 The have high need for autonomy
 They expect support from the leader/manager
 They want to participate in most decision
making activities
 Even though they are team members, their
activities are individualistic
 They have their own reputation with students
 They strongly believe in their professional
wisdom and would take time to accept views
that contradict their beliefs

ROLES OF HEADS OF
ACADEMIC AND SUPPORT
SERVICES UNIT

Academic Development and
Representation Roles…
 To provide academic leadership in the development of
departmental research priorities, plans and programmes
 To encourage staff to produce top quality research work and
ensuring that they have the time to do so.
 To ensure continuous review of teaching and research
performance with global standards.
 To develop departmental development plans, covering
teaching, research, staffing and resources for submission to
management.
 To prepare annual budget as the ‘spending officer’ of the
department. Also, ensure that expenditure of non-personnel cost
are in-line with the budget provisions.
 To provide leadership in ensuring that programmes remain
attractive to students, are innovative, up to date, and of a
high quality

…Academic Development and
Representation Roles
 To liaise with the polytechnics admission office on student
enrollment.
 To have oversight of the department’s appointments procedure and
strategy (consult with colleagues, decide appointment priorities and
ensure that top-class staff are appointed.
 To provide leadership in the development of appropriate alternative
internally generated revenue (IGR).
 To ensure that adequate preparations are made and represent the
department at the Academic Board meetings
 To conduct regular departmental meetings to addressed
matters of general concern and to alert staff to key ACB issues
 To represent the Department, as required or ensure appropriate
representation various functions

Quality Assurance Roles
 To ensure that the teaching, research student
supervision and examination of the department are
organized to fulfill obligations.
 To ensure that the quality of educational provision is
maintained and where possible enhanced (surveys and
other information about course delivery and lecturers
performance may be introduced).
 To ensure that preparations are made for internal and
external moderations and reviews of teaching quality
and educational processes

Personnel Management Roles
 Ensure fair and reasonable allocation of teaching and
administrative workloads amongst departmental staff
 To ensure that staff are able to take advantage of their entitlements
(e.g. annual, maternity and paternity leave) while appropriate cover is
available to meet teaching obligations.
 To ensure that appropriate mentoring of academic staff on what is
expected of them, including training, career development, etc.
 To review staff performance annually (APER) and ensure each
staff get promotion or salary increment as at when
 To take steps to ensure the maintenance of staff morale and
harmony within the Department (manage and diffuse interpersonal
conflicts and staff grievances which arise from time to time.
 To ensure that any cases of redundancy, poor performance,
incapacity, grievances, misconduct or harassment are dealt with
according to the appropriate codes of conducts and procedures

Academic Support Service Roles
Academic support provides all students
supportive services including study skills
help, time management training, reading
skill development, individual and group
tutoring, academic coaching, academic
advising and counseling, as well as
resources for students with disabilities.

TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE
ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP AND
MANAGEMENT

Leadership vs Management
 The terms 'leadership' and 'management' are
often used interchangeably, but they are two
distinct and complementary processes.
 Although ‘leadership’ is often considered a
superior role to ‘management’, both are essential
to all organisations, regardless of size.
 By understanding the key differences and
strengths of each discipline, organisations can be
better placed to make effective use of both.

Leadership vs Management
Leadership
 Leadership is the capacity
to influence people, by
means of personal
attributes and/or
behaviours, to achieve a
common goal.
Management
 Management is a set of
processes that can keep a
complicated system of
people and technology
running smoothly.
 Leadership is required to create a vision and encourage
widespread support, but management is required to actually turn
that vision into a reality.
 All organisations need both to succeed. The real challenge is to
combine strong leadership and strong management and use
each to balance the other.

You need to be both!
 At times ‘leaders’ will need to manage tasks and
projects, and ‘managers’ will need to influence and
inspire people.
 Managers are not confined to management and
leaders are not restricted to leadership. The
critical issue is about getting the right balance for
the job you do.
 Management is generally seen to involve overseeing
day-to-day operations, accomplishing goals and
achieving tasks, while leadership spans a wider remit
that includes influencing and inspiring others,
generating ideas and defining a strategy and vision.

What is your Leadership Style?

Leadership Styles – what the manager would say
Coercive “Don’t ask questions. Just do it!”
Coaching “How about doing it like this?”
Pace-setting “Come on, keep up!”
Democratic “What do you think?”
Affiliative “Okay guys, let’s work together on this.”
Authoritative “This is what I see. I want you to see it too,
and I’ll need your help to get us there.”

How to Lead
 adaptable – in other words, being flexible and
demonstrating an ability to cope with change
 self-confident – having faith in your own abilities and
ideas (not to be confused with arrogance!)
 proactive – the ability to spot opportunities and come
up with ideas and improvements, and to take on
additional work or responsibility unprompted
 reliable – performing consistently well and delivering
on promises
 ambitious – having a clear idea about where you are
going and how to achieve your goals

Becoming a manager (Head of
Department/Unit ) represents a
significant milestone in your career. With
your new role will come a number of
exciting new challenges and
responsibilities and you will need to utilise
all your professional and interpersonal
skills to tackle them effectively

Tips for New Managers
 Establish what is expected of you
 Set clear performance expectations
 Plan ahead
 Start with small changes
 Treat people fairly
 Be prepared to have difficult conversations
 Focus on your personal development
 Build your network.
 Get some support (know your team, Seek input from your team)
 Give credits and get regular feedback
 Work on your communication skills
 Improve your decision-making skills
 Keep workplace friendships professional
 Manage your stress levels

Manage your department/unit
but your CAREER also!
Your career may well be the primary
vehicle for satisfying many of your
personal needs-Look to it!

Careers rarely move forward by
themselves. While you are busy as a
manager or leader, it is ultimately
your responsibility to achieve your
long-term career goals

Know Yourself!
 The way in which you perform at work is
influenced by many factors, not just your skills
and knowledge. How you conduct yourself, the
way you interact with others and your needs
around rewards, all play a significant part in your
overall effectiveness.
 Knowing and understanding these aspects of
your personality can be highly beneficial to
yourself and others.

Your Image has Impact
• Appearance
• Behaviour
• Attitude

Communicate openly and honestly

From the way you respond to problems or
challenges, to how you manage your workload
and conduct your relationships, your approach
to work can have a big influence on your team.
 As a leader or manager, the way you approach
your role can also have an impact on your team
members’ motivation; if you put in 100%,
your team should be inspired to do the same.

Help team members to
grow and develop

Providing team members with
opportunities to grow, develop and use
their skills in new ways will help to ensure
that motivation levels remain high.
It’s important, however, to offer individual
employees challenges and opportunities
that are appropriate to them.

Recognising and celebrating success in
your team is one of the most effective ways of
inspiring everyone to keep up the good work.
Saying a simple ‘thank you’ or ‘well done’ to
team members can help to boost motivation on
a day-to-day basis and will reassure them that
their efforts have not gone unnoticed.

Delegate!
It is not unusual for
people to feel anxious
about delegation,
either through fear of
losing control over
the quality or
timeliness of their
work, or because they
feel guilty about
increasing another
person’s workload.

Why Delegate?
 making your workload more manageable, allowing you to get on
with essential work that only you can do
 increasing your chances of meeting deadlines by removing the
distraction of non-essential work
 providing a development opportunity to the employees to whom
you delegate, particularly if the work is something they wouldn’t
normally have the chance to get involved with
 empowering and motivating employees by showing you trust
them to undertake important tasks for which you have
responsibility
 gaining a new perspective or fresh ideas about your work, as a
result of the employee’s input

Plan!
Fail to plan and plan to fail

Authority, Accountability,
Responsibility

Authority, Accountability, Responsibility
 As a manager, you have the authority to allocate
resources, make decisions and take certain
actions.
 You may be held accountable for doing so, and
also be required to take responsibility for seeing
that the job gets done.
 You may be held accountable for doing so, and
also be required to take responsibility for seeing
that the job gets done.

Good, regular feedback within a
team can be an essential tool to help
improve performance and morale –
yet many people shy away from it.

Coaching and mentoring are both
forms of one-to-one paired support
relationships aimed at facilitating
personal development

Being Credible and Professional

A credible and professional person ...
 is concerned about their reputation. They understand the
importance of being reliable, honest, trustworthy and organised.
 makes good decisions that take into consideration all
relevant factors. They make choices and judgements based on
what will work for a team, project or organisation as a whole - not
just for them as an individual.
 shoulders responsibility, and supports the team they are
working with. They understand the importance of being
responsible for their own actions.
 is an effective worker who works hard to achieve
objectives. They are aware of the goals expected of them and put
plans in place to meet these.

How do you deal with conflicts?

Fact about Conflicts
 Conflict is an inevitable fact of life.
 It is borne out of differences and will arise in any
situation where people are required to interact
with one another.
 Conflict is generally regarded as an impediment
to progress.
 However it is not always a bad thing and can be a
creative force for an organisation when managed
effectively.

The Ethical Dilemma
Sometimes you will find you have to make decisions where
personal and organisational priorities are in conflict. These
can be immensely difficult dilemmas to resolve.
HOW ETHICAL ARE YOU?

 Greet people when you come into work
 Be approachable throughout the day
 Manage your mood
 Say sorry if it’s warranted
 Share knowledge
 Offer help and advice
 Use your position constructively
 Be sensitive to the moods of others
 Thank colleagues for their hard work

Ergonomics is the application of
scientific information concerning
humans to the design of objects,
systems and environment for human
use (posture, eye care,
musculoskeletal injuries, stress)
Health and Safety

Academic Management Seminar

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