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![On the particular challenges of managing professionals 5
professionally, most are happy/lucky amateurs in management, having limited formal skills
and no actual leadership training to draw on.
THE VIRTUES OF ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP?
There is no doubt that managing academics is a challenging proposition, given the typical
characteristics of high professionalism; a passion for their work; self-reliance; assuredness
of their worth; and a low boredom threshold. In addition, Goffee and Jones (2007) argue that
these knowledgeable individuals “won’t thank you.” “Even when you’re leading them well,
clever people will be unwilling to recognize your leadership,” they note, adding: “Remember,
these creative individuals feel that they don’t need to be led. Measure your success by your
ability on the fringes of their radar.”
Many academics would admit to being self-centered, considering ‘What’s in it for me?’ if
asked to participate in a specific project or to contribute to a task. An important element of
academic leadership, then, is the ability to read and understand researchers and what drives
them. Empathy and understanding are critical tools in managing these professionals.
Of course, most managers in universities are academics themselves and have been (and
perhaps are still) active researchers. This is typically true of presidents, deans, heads of depart-
ment, and study board directors. And sharing that background provides important insight into
those they must now lead, as well as bringing credibility to the role. As Sveiby and Lloyd
(1987) argue, “It is impossible to lead professionals without being professional yourself.”
Assumed within this view is the primus inter pares (first among equals) perspective: that
a leader of professionals must earn their spurs. For Sveiby, a worthy leader “is all but a patri-
arch.” This manifests as “a creator of the work environment and a tutor, who creates opportu-
nities for his employees”; someone who “channels intellectual energy, maintains a clear sense
of direction and is the guarantor of continuity and security in [the] organization.”
Whether it is definitively the case that the leader of professional teams must be an old hand
at the given discipline is up for debate, since effective leadership comes down to how an indi-
vidual exercises their role. But of course, having proven research credentials can be helpful in
winning over larger egos.
In their book Aligning the Stars (2002), Lorsch and Tierney argue that outstanding leaders
in professional service organizations aren’t necessarily “the smartest, nor the most successful,
nor the most experienced in their firm.” Rather, what characterizes these individuals is “who
they are as human beings,” the authors note, adding that character, judgement, and intuition
are common traits; that and their ability to exercise influence rather than control.
Set against this context, I will now share some of my own observations about what consti-
tutes good leadership in an academic environment, based on my own studies and experiences.
These are summarized below as a series of eight ‘leadership virtues’ I have identified.
Setting the Direction
One of the key tasks of a leader is to direct the future development of the organization. For, as
the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland points out, “If you don’t know where
you are going, any road will take you there.” For obvious reasons, employees within an organ-
ization need to know where they are going, which means that someone – the leader – must](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/26897140-250515002904-886b34a4/85/How-To-Lead-Academic-Departments-Successfully-Adam-Lindgreen-39-320.jpg)
![On the particular challenges of managing professionals 5
professionally, most are happy/lucky amateurs in management, having limited formal skills
and no actual leadership training to draw on.
THE VIRTUES OF ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP?
There is no doubt that managing academics is a challenging proposition, given the typical
characteristics of high professionalism; a passion for their work; self-reliance; assuredness
of their worth; and a low boredom threshold. In addition, Goffee and Jones (2007) argue that
these knowledgeable individuals “won’t thank you.” “Even when you’re leading them well,
clever people will be unwilling to recognize your leadership,” they note, adding: “Remember,
these creative individuals feel that they don’t need to be led. Measure your success by your
ability on the fringes of their radar.”
Many academics would admit to being self-centered, considering ‘What’s in it for me?’ if
asked to participate in a specific project or to contribute to a task. An important element of
academic leadership, then, is the ability to read and understand researchers and what drives
them. Empathy and understanding are critical tools in managing these professionals.
Of course, most managers in universities are academics themselves and have been (and
perhaps are still) active researchers. This is typically true of presidents, deans, heads of depart-
ment, and study board directors. And sharing that background provides important insight into
those they must now lead, as well as bringing credibility to the role. As Sveiby and Lloyd
(1987) argue, “It is impossible to lead professionals without being professional yourself.”
Assumed within this view is the primus inter pares (first among equals) perspective: that
a leader of professionals must earn their spurs. For Sveiby, a worthy leader “is all but a patri-
arch.” This manifests as “a creator of the work environment and a tutor, who creates opportu-
nities for his employees”; someone who “channels intellectual energy, maintains a clear sense
of direction and is the guarantor of continuity and security in [the] organization.”
Whether it is definitively the case that the leader of professional teams must be an old hand
at the given discipline is up for debate, since effective leadership comes down to how an indi-
vidual exercises their role. But of course, having proven research credentials can be helpful in
winning over larger egos.
In their book Aligning the Stars (2002), Lorsch and Tierney argue that outstanding leaders
in professional service organizations aren’t necessarily “the smartest, nor the most successful,
nor the most experienced in their firm.” Rather, what characterizes these individuals is “who
they are as human beings,” the authors note, adding that character, judgement, and intuition
are common traits; that and their ability to exercise influence rather than control.
Set against this context, I will now share some of my own observations about what consti-
tutes good leadership in an academic environment, based on my own studies and experiences.
These are summarized below as a series of eight ‘leadership virtues’ I have identified.
Setting the Direction
One of the key tasks of a leader is to direct the future development of the organization. For, as
the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland points out, “If you don’t know where
you are going, any road will take you there.” For obvious reasons, employees within an organ-
ization need to know where they are going, which means that someone – the leader – must](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/26897140-250515002904-886b34a4/75/How-To-Lead-Academic-Departments-Successfully-Adam-Lindgreen-39-2048.jpg)
How To Lead Academic Departments Successfully Adam Lindgreen
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- 6. How to LeadAcademic Departments Successfully
- 7. For my daughtersVictoria and Elizabeth, you make me proud every day— Adam For Maja, who makes it all worthwhile—Alan For Anette with thanks for inspirational support—Flemming For Thomas, the best leader I know—Thyra
- 8. Cheltenham, UK •Northampton, MA, USA How to Lead Academic Departments Successfully Edited by Adam Lindgreen Professor, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark and Extraordinary Professor, Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, South Africa Alan Irwin Professor, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark Flemming Poulfelt Professor Emeritus, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark Thyra Uth Thomsen Professor, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
- 9. © Adam Lindgreen,Alan Irwin, Flemming Poulfelt and Thyra Uth Thomsen 2021 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Published by Edward Elgar Publishing Limited The Lypiatts 15 Lansdown Road Cheltenham Glos GL50 2JA UK Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. William Pratt House 9 Dewey Court Northampton Massachusetts 01060 USA A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Control Number: 2021947842 This book is available electronically in the Business subject collection http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781789907155 ISBN 978 1 78990 714 8 (cased) ISBN 978 1 78990 715 5 (eBook)
- 10. v Contents List of figuresviii Listof tablesix List of contributorsx Introduction to How to Lead Academic Departments Successfully xix PART I CHALLENGES OF BEING AN ACADEMIC LEADER 1 On the particular challenges of managing professionals 3 Flemming Poulfelt 2 Relevant leadership: the dynamic equilibrium of managing and leading academic departments 14 Rickie A. Moore 3 The role of academic leaders of a business school: an internal tensions perspective19 Matthew J. Robson PART II TRANSFORMATIONAL AND PERFORMANCE LEADERSHIP 4 The head of department as the key transformational leader 29 Asbjørn Busk J. and Søren Barlebo Rasmussen 5 Leading with purpose: developing the first business school for public good 52 Martin Kitchener 6 Leading academic departments 68 Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones 7 Individual performance management: enabler or threat to academic performance?79 Andreas Werr and Katja Einola 8 Deploying systems thinking to create a ‘triple-crown’ business school 98 Michael C. Jackson OBE
- 11. How to leadacademic departments successfully vi PART III INCLUSIVITY, TEAM SPIRIT AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT 9 ‘Don’t think you can be everyone’s friend’: dealing with conflict in an academic department 117 Alan Irwin 10 Smells like team spirit: a user’s guide for department heads 127 Peter Kjær 11 ‘Now you see it’: gender, inclusion and diversity 137 Maja Horst 12 Leading faculty as teachers 147 Hanne Andersen 13 Inclusive onboarding in academic departments 164 Daniel J. Petzer, Nicola S. Kleyn and Michele Ruiters PART IV BUILDING, LEADING AND FUNDING RESEARCH GROUPS 14 Building research groups 182 Adam Lindgreen, C. Anthony Di Benedetto, Roderick J. Brodie and Peter Naudé 15 Dilemmas in university management: the case of Copenhagen Business School 211 Nanna Mik-Meyer 16 Pathways to external funding at departments: how to strengthen a change of culture by empowerment, supportive organizing and leadership? 226 Enno Hofeldt PART V COLLABORATION WITH OTHER DISCIPLINES AND PRACTITIONERS 17 Collaborating with practitioners 246 C. Anthony Di Benedetto, Adam Lindgreen, Marianne Storgaard and Ann Højbjerg Clarke 18 Leading academics in a public–private partnership: balancing value and performance-based leadership in times of (climate) change 263 Morten W. Jeppesen 19 Undertaking cross-disciplinary research 275 Adam Lindgreen, C. Anthony Di Benedetto, Roderick J. Brodie and Michel van der Borgh
- 12. vii Contents PART VI LEADERSHIPIN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS 20 Framing business schools as a socio-technical system: issues around complexity and emergence 285 Denis Fischbacher-Smith 21 Business school leadership in an era of change and uncertainty: complex structures, executive education and accreditation 302 Kai Peters 22 Academic leadership: the Danish case 313 Jacob Kjær Eskildsen and Børge Obel PART VII PERSONAL LEADERSHIP REFLECTIONS 23 Responsibilities of the department chair: lessons from the frontline 325 Thomas G. Cummings 24 How to lead an academic marketing department: some personal observations and reflections 342 Gerrit van Bruggen 25 From head to dean: academic leadership 353 Peter Møllgaard Index370
- 13. viii Figures 2.1 Quinn’s competingvalues framework 18 4.1 Science in society 30 4.2 Universities on the periphery of society during the classic phase (earlier) 32 4.3 Universities in the vortex of society during the excellence phase (today) 35 4.4 Universities mobilizing the societal transformation during the impact phase (future) 41 6.1 Combining skill and authenticity 77 8.1 HUBS as a viable system 107 8.2 The University of Hull as a viable system 109 8.3 A rich picture outlining the multiple pressures on staff in HUBS 111 8.4 A rich picture to help explore the strategic positioning of HUBS 112 19.1 Domains of knowledge and levels of theory 277 19.2 Interfaces for theorizing 277 20.1 Core questions around systems design 288 20.2 Elements of the design of socio-technical systems 290 20.3 Framing a business school as a system 295 25.1 Comparison of four CBS departments in 2016 365
- 14. ix Tables 4.1 Roadmap ofthe classic, excellence and impact phases 31 4.2 Changes in the role as the Head of Department 46 5.1 Criticisms of business schools by function 53 5.2 Purposeful innovations at Cardiff Business School 60 8.1 Constitutive rules for the critical systems practice (CSP) multi-methodology 104 12.1 Example of a CV format that parallels teaching and research achievements 149 12.2 Extract from the Pedagogical Competence Profile developed at the University of Copenhagen 151 12.3 Entry-level qualifications for different career levels at the University of Copenhagen155 12.4 Definition of progressive levels of teaching achievements according to the Career Framework for University Teaching 156 13.1 Critical incidents leading to positive experiences of inclusion 171 13.2 Critical incidents leading to experiences of exclusion 173 13.3 A summary of reflections beyond the critical incidents 176 13.4 Actions of heads of departments in enabling inclusive faculty onboarding 177 14A.1 IMP research: selected books and journal articles and number of citations 207 14A.2 CMP research: journal articles and number of citations 208 16.1 Project Model Canvas 238 20.1 Elements of Checkland’s CATWOE acronym 298 23A.1 Faculty feedback to chair 341
- 15. x Contributors EDITORS Adam Lindgreen Adam Lindgreencompleted a Ph.D. in Marketing from Cranfield University (in 2000), with 18 months spent at the University of Auckland’s Business School. Since 2016, Lindgreen has been Professor of Marketing at Copenhagen Business School, where he also heads the Department of Marketing. In addition, he is Extraordinary Professor in the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science. He serves as co-editor-in-chief for Industrial Marketing Management. Lindgreen’s publications have appeared in California Management Review, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of World Business, and Organization Studies, among others. Furthermore, his 30+ books include The Emergence and Rise of Relationship Marketing, A Stakeholder Approach to Corporate Social Responsibility (with Kotler, Vanhamme, and Maon; 2012), Memorable Customer Experiences (with Vanhamme and Beverland; 2009), Not All Claps and Cheers (with Maon, Vanhamme, Angell, and Memery; 2018), Public Value (with Koenig-Lewis, Kitchener, Brewer, Moore, and Meynhardt; 2019), and Sustainable Value Chain Management (with Maon, Vanhamme, and Sen; 2013). Beyond these academic contributions to marketing, Lindgreen has discovered and excavated settlements from the Stone Age in Denmark, including the only major kitchen midden – Sparregård – in the south-east of Denmark; because of its importance, the kitchen midden was later excavated by the National Museum and then protected as a historical monument for future generations. He is also an avid genealogist, having traced his family back to 1390 and published widely, includ- ing eight books and numerous articles in scientific journals (Personalhistorisk Tidsskrift, The Genealogist, and Slægt Data), related to methodological issues in genealogy, accounts of population development, and particular family lineages. Alan Irwin Alan Irwin is a professor in the Department of Organization at Copenhagen Business School. From 2015 to 2018, he was also the school’s Vice-President of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Between 2007 and 2014, he was Dean of Research and, for a period, served as the Acting President. His Ph.D. is from the University of Manchester, and he has held academic positions at Manchester, Brunel, and Liverpool. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a foreign member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. He is currently the principal investigator on a research project examining research and innovation
- 16. Contributors xi policies inChina, Denmark, and the United States. He has published in Environment and Planning A, Minerva, Public Understanding of Science, Science, Technology, Human Values, Research Policy, Social Studies of Science, and The Sociological Review, among others. Flemming Poulfelt Flemming Poulfelt is Professor Emeritus at Copenhagen Business School and a former Vice Dean of Research Communication. He has served in university faculties across Europe, the USA, and Australia. Poulfelt has held various leadership positions, including head of depart- ment, study board director, and leader of a research center serving four universities with more than 60 researchers. He has published in Business Ethics: A European Review, Human Relations, International Journal of Business Strategy, Scandinavian Journal of Management, and The Service Industries Journal and more than 25 books on strategy, management, and management consulting. He has been a frequent conference speaker, has consulted widely, and serves on various corporate boards. Thyra Uth Thomsen Thyra Uth Thomsen is Professor (MSO) of Consumer Research in the Department of Marketing, Copenhagen Business School. From 2017 to 2020, she was deputy head of the department, with a special focus on the delivery and development of marketing education. Her research interests lie primarily in consumer transformations and consumption-related individ- ual and societal well-being. In the past, her research has mainly been conducted within the domain of food consumption, particularly related to consumer vulnerabilities and resources. Moreover, she has a keen interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning. She has pub- lished in leading journals such as Journal of Business Ethics, European Journal of Marketing, Psychology Marketing, Management Learning, and Journal of Business Research. CONTRIBUTORS Hanne Andersen Hanne Andersen is Professor in Philosophy of Science and has served as head of the Department of Science Education at the University of Copenhagen and as head of the Department for Science Studies at Aarhus University. She works on the structure and devel- opment of 21st-century science, including the importance of interdisciplinarity, innovation, and digitalization, and her work has been published in journals such as Philosophy of Science, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Synthese, and Erkenntnis. She is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and corresponding member of l’Academié Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences.
- 17. How to leadacademic departments successfully xii Søren Barlebo Rasmussen Søren Barlebo Rasmussen is Managing Partner for Mobilize Strategy Consulting, a Nordic strategy consulting firm specializing in strategy development in knowledge-intensive organi- zations. He holds a doctoral degree from Copenhagen Business School and has been an asso- ciate professor in research and innovation management, head of department, and dean at that school. He has published many books and articles on strategy and leadership in research-based organizations, such as universities, hospitals, professional service organizations, and pharma- ceutical firms. Roderick J. Brodie Roderick J. Brodie is Professor of Marketing in the Department of Marketing at University of Auckland. His 120-plus journal articles have appeared in leading international journals including Industrial Marketing Management, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Service Research, and Management Science, among others. He is an associate editor for Journal of Service Research and former associate editor for Marketing Theory. He has served on the editorial boards of Journal of Marketing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, and other leading international journals. He was the first president of ANZMAC, and in 2004, he was made a founding fellow; in 2011, Brodie also was made a fellow of EMAC. Asbjørn Busk J. Asbjørn Busk J. is currently an administrative officer in the Rector’s Office at Roskilde University. He is also a recurring guest lecturer on paradox management at Copenhagen Business School. Previously, he worked as a business developer for the Danish Court Administration and project assistant at Mobilize Strategy Consulting. He has also been a research assistant at the Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design, Conservation. He holds a Masters of Science in Social Sciences in Political Communication and Management from Copenhagen Business School. Ann Højbjerg Clarke Ann Højbjerg Clarke is Associate Professor of Marketing and former Head of the Department of Entrepreneurship Relationship Management, University of Southern Denmark. She has published in European Journal of Marketing, European Management Journal, Industrial Marketing Management, and Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing. Her research interests center on firms’ commercialization competences and management of innovation, including market segmentation, commercialization, stakeholder involvement, innovation in networks, and innovation ecosystems. In recent years, Højbjerg Clarke has focused more on public–private innovation. She has a strong record in fundraising, societal impact, and man- agement of research projects, as well as broad management experience through her work on advisory boards and steering committees, including leading some boards.
- 18. Contributors xiii Thomas G.Cummings Thomas G. Cummings is Professor of Management and Organization at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California. He has contributed to knowledge about stra- tegic change and high-performing organizations with more than 80 articles and 25 books, including the critically acclaimed Self-Designing Organizations: Learning How to Create High Performance (with Mohrman) and Organization Development and Change, 11th edition (with Worley). Cummings was President of the Western Academy of Management, Chair of the Organization Development and Change Division of the Academy of Management, and Founding Editor of the Journal of Management Inquiry, as well as the 61st President of the Academy of Management, the largest professional association of management scholars in the world. He is listed in American Men and Women of Science and Who’s Who in America. C. Anthony Di Benedetto C. Anthony Di Benedetto is Professor of Marketing and Supply Chain Management and Senior Washburn Research Fellow at the Fox School of Business, Temple University. He has held visiting professorships at Bocconi University, Politecnico di Milano, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Kansai University, Yonsei University, WHU, St Petersburg State University, Edhec Business School, and IESEG School of Management. In 2010, Di Benedetto was named the Fulbright-Kathryn and Craig Hall Chair in Entrepreneurship and spent a semester at the Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien. Di Benedetto is co-editor-in-chief of Industrial Marketing Management and editor-in-chief of Journal of International Consumer Marketing. He served as editor of Journal of Product Innovation Management for nine years. Katja Einola Katja Einola is a postdoctoral researcher at Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki. Her 20-year international career outside academia focused on project management, marketing, and resource management, as well as consulting. Since acquiring her doctoral degree in 2017, she has published articles on leadership and teamwork in Human Relations, Leadership Quarterly, and Organization Studies, among others. Jacob Kjær Eskildsen Jacob K. Eskildsen is Professor and Head of Department at the Department of Management, Aarhus University. He is the author of several books and articles in Scandinavian and interna- tional journals, including Strategic Management Journal and International Journal of Human Resource Management. Denis Fischbacher-Smith Denis Fischbacher-Smith is Professor of Risk and Resilience at the University of Glasgow, where he is currently Deputy Head of the Business School. He has previously served as the director of two business schools at U.K. universities. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester and his DLitt from the University of Glasgow. His work has been
- 19. How to leadacademic departments successfully xiv published in, among others, Journal of Management Studies, Environment and Planning A C, Public Administration, Public Management Review, Financial Accountability and Management, Public Money and Management, Management Learning, and Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. Rob Goffee Rob Goffee is Emeritus Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Kent. He served as Chair for the Organisational Behaviour Group, Deputy Dean and Governor, Director of the Innovation Exchange, and Faculty Director of Executive Education. Goffee has published 10 books and hundreds of articles in the areas of entrepreneurship, managerial careers, organization design, lead- ership, and corporate culture. His articles feature in Harvard Business Review, Leader to Leader, European Business Forum, Business Strategy Review, Management Today, People Management and The Financial Times. His books (with Jones) include The Character of a Corporation; Why Should Anyone Be Led By You?; Clever—Leading your Smartest Most Creative People; and Why Should Anyone Work Here? Enno Hofeldt Enno Hofeldt (M.Sc., Public Governance) has worked as Chief Research Advisor, Head of Secretariat, and deputy to the Head in the Department of International Business Communication at Copenhagen Business School and University of Copenhagen. His professional focus areas include strategic leadership, department management, research support, and project man- agement. With his background in pedagogy and Folk Highschool Teaching, he approaches these topics from a perspective of change management, (inter‑)cultural communication, and narrative leadership. Maja Horst Maja Horst is Professor of Responsible Technology at DTU, Technical University of Denmark. From 2011 to 2019, she was Head of Department of Media, Cognition and Communication at the Faculty of Humanities in University of Copenhagen. Previously she worked at Copenhagen Business School, where she obtained her Ph.D. in 2004. Her academic field is science and technology studies, and she has published in journals such as Public Understanding of Science, Science Communication, Journal of Responsible Innovation, Science Technology Human Values, Social Studies of Science, and Science as Culture. Michael C. Jackson OBE Michael C. Jackson is Emeritus Professor at the University of Hull and MD of Systems Research Ltd. He graduated from Oxford University; gained an MA from Lancaster University and a Ph.D. from University of Hull; and has worked in civil services, academia, and as a consultant. Between 1999 and 2011, Jackson was Dean of Hull University Business School, leading it to triple-crown accreditation. He has been President of the International Federation
- 20. Contributors xv for SystemsResearch and the International Society for the Systems Sciences. In 2011, he received an OBE for services to higher education and business. In 2017, he received the Beale Medal of the U.K. Operational Research Society. He has been central to the development of critical systems thinking. Morten W. Jeppesen Morten W. Jeppesen is Director of the Danish Hydrocarbon Research and Technology Centre at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). He has an M.Sc. in Geology from Copenhagen University and an Executive MBA from DTU. Prior to joining DTU, he held various interna- tional and Danish senior leadership roles in Maersk Oil. Gareth Jones Gareth Jones was a visiting professor at IE Business School, Madrid. He held academic appointments at London Business School, INSEAD, and Henley. He received his MA and Ph.D. from the University of Kent. His business career included positions as Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources, at Polygram and Director of Human Resources and Internal Communications at the BBC. With Rob Goffee, he was a founding partner of Creative Management Associates, a consultancy focused on leadership, culture, and innovation. Dr. Gareth Jones passed away in 2021. Martin Kitchener Martin Kitchener (FCIPD, FLSW, FAcSS) is Professor of Management at Cardiff Business School. He is currently collaborating on a European Union Horizon 20/20 study of public service innovations, co-created with citizens, and he serves as Chair of the Chartered Association of Business Schools’ Task Force on Business Schools for the Public Good. Peter Kjær Peter Kjær is Pro-rector at Roskilde University. His main areas of responsibility are research, innovation, and external collaboration. Kjær has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Stockholm University. His research has focused on institutional change in public and private organiza- tions, including firms, business associations, and business media and healthcare organizations. Nicola S. Kleyn Nicola S. Kleyn is a former dean and Professor of Marketing at the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science, as well as Dean Designate: Executive Programmes at Erasmus University’s Rotterdam School of Management. Along with her academic leadership, Kleyn is an active teacher in the area of corporate marketing and has published in Journal of Business Ethics, European Journal of Marketing, and California Management Review.
- 21. How to leadacademic departments successfully xvi Nanna Mik-Meyer Nanna Mik-Meyer is a professor at Copenhagen Business School, where she also serves as Vice Dean of Research. Mik-Meyer received her doctoral degree from the Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen. Her main research focus is identity work in organiza- tions. She has published several books, as well as in journals such as Human Relations; Work, Employment, Society; Sociology of Health and Illness; Gender, Work and Organization; and British Journal of Sociology. Rickie A. Moore Rickie A. Moore (Ph.D.) is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Business and Management Innovation at Emlyon Business School (France) and had led several pedagogical teams comprised of full-time and adjunct faculty. He has also served as Chair of the Management Consulting Division of the Academy of Management. Peter Møllgaard Peter Møllgaard is Dean and Professor of Industrial Organization at Maastricht University, School of Business and Economics. He is also chair of the Danish Council on Climate Change. Møllgaard received his doctoral degree from the European University Institute in Florence. He previously worked as Professor and Dean of Research at Copenhagen Business School and, before that, at the University of Aarhus. He has published in Economic Journal, Economics Letters, Journal of Industrial Economics, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Industry and Innovation, and Beta, among others. Peter Naudé Peter Naudé graduated in Marketing from the University of Cape Town and then in operations research from the University of Sussex. After teaching at the Graduate School of Business in Cape Town, he went to Manchester Business School where, after completing his Ph.D., he joined the staff. Between 1999 and 2005, he was Professor of Marketing at the University of Bath’s School of Management, before returning to Manchester Business School in 2006. Naudé was Deputy Director of Manchester Business School between 2006 and 2012, and he retired in 2017. He currently holds joint appointments at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School and with the Discipline of Marketing at the University of Sydney. Børge Obel Børge Obel is a professor in the Department of Management, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University (Denmark) and professor at EIASM (Brussels). He has held leadership positions in multiple academic institutions, including Dean for the Faculty of Social Sciences, Odense University, and Rector for the Aarhus School of Business. He holds a Ph.D. and a Dr. Oecon. from Aarhus University. His research interests pertain to strategy, management, and organizational design. Obel has published several books, including Organizational Design: A Step-By-Step Approach (with Burton and Håkonsson), as well as many academic
- 22. Contributors xvii papers injournals such as Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, ASQ, and Management Science. Kai Peters Kai Peters is Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Business Law and of International Development at Coventry University, as well as a member of the Coventry University Group Leadership Team. Previously, he was Chief Executive of Ashridge Business School and Dean of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, where he obtained his MBA. His research interests focus on management development and leadership. Daniel J. Petzer Daniel J. Petzer is a professor at Henley Business School (South Africa). He holds a Ph.D. in Services Marketing and Consumer Behavior. He publishes in reputable international journals and is an associate editor of the European Business Review. Matthew J. Robson Matthew J. Robson is Professor of Marketing and International Management at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University. He also earned his Ph.D. at Cardiff Business School. Robson’s teaching and research interests focus on international, strategic, relationship, and retail marketing. He has published in many journals of international repute, including British Journal of Management, International Marketing Review, Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Marketing, Journal of World Business, Management International Review, and Organization Science. He currently serves as Associate Editor of Journal of International Marketing. Michele Ruiters Michele Ruiters is a senior lecturer at the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science, where she teaches courses on women and leadership, diversity, and inclusion. Ruiters received her Ph.D. from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She has published in Agenda and Development Southern Africa. Marianne Storgaard Marianne Storgaard is an associate professor at the University of Southern Denmark. She originally graduated in Engineering and later was awarded her Ph.D. in Management from Aarhus School of Business. Her work has been published in journals such as Advances in International Management, Global Strategy Journal, Multinational Business Review, and Organization Studies. Her research and teaching interests include international management, change management, and critical management studies.
- 23. How to leadacademic departments successfully xviii Gerrit van Bruggen Gerrit van Bruggen is Professor of Marketing at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. He studies the way marketing strategy and decision making can exploit the opportunities offered by advances in information technology. He has published in premier academic research journals, in both marketing (i.e., Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, and Journal of Marketing Research) and information systems (i.e., Management Science, MIS Quarterly, and Information Systems Research). He co-authored the book Marketing Management Support Systems (with Wierenga). He has been a visiting scholar at the Smeal College of Business Administration, Pennsylvania State University, and was an ISBM (Institute for the Study of Business Markets) Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the same uni- versity. Van Bruggen has taken on various administrative responsibilities (doctoral director, Department Head, Dean of Faculty, Vice Dean) and was President of the European Marketing Academy. Michel van der Borgh With a Ph.D. from Eindhoven University of Technology, Michel van der Borgh is Associate Professor of Marketing at the Department of Marketing, Copenhagen Business School. He serves as Associate Editor of the European Journal of Marketing and is part of the review board of Industrial Marketing Management. His research focuses on the management of front-line employees and covers topics such as new product selling, ambidexterity, solution sales, and servitization. He has published in several journals including the British Journal of Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Service Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Journal of Product Innovation Management. Andreas Werr Andreas Werr holds the Lars Erik Lundberg Chair in Business Administration, focused on Human Capital Management, at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), where he also heads the Department of Management and Organization. He received his doctoral degree from SSE, and his research has been published in Governance, Industrial Marketing Management, Organization Studies, Personnel Review, and Sloan Management Review.
- 24. xix Introduction to Howto Lead Academic Departments Successfully Ask any group of academic heads of departments about their current projects and their current challenges, and a surprisingly large range of responses will follow. In preparation for an executive teaching program aimed at university heads, two of this book’s editors collected feedback on exactly this. From a group of 20 departmental leaders, we received a total of 30 different projects and challenges. What was particularly interesting was not just the number of separate responses but also their diversity. We will not list all the responses. However, some sense of this diversity can be taken from just a few examples: • Retention and recruitment; • Research underperformance; • Academic citizenship; • Own research time; • Educational reform and development; • Institutional accreditation/quality assurance; • Organizational change; • Trust and collaboration. The list went on, citing generational shifts, working with industry, scientific impact, and external funding. Of course, we did our best to cluster these topics, but it is difficult to squeeze together international collaboration, time management, and societal challenges, for example, under one heading. The point – which these 20 department heads agreed with, once they saw the entire list – is that each challenge is recognizable, but together, they look formidable. This moment sowed the seed and inspiration for this collection. In a practical sense, we uncovered a key question: How can we use the experience of heads of department, and others with relevant expertise, to help current academic managers increase their own efficiency and effectiveness? For those who are new to (or just curious about) this crucial position, how can we help them understand more? And for experienced academic leaders, how can we provide new ideas and reflections – and even some inspiration? Projects and challenges are unlikely ever to go away completely, nor is that a relevant goal. But how can we, as academic leaders, improve our knowledge and practices so that we can deal with them successfully? In subsequent discussions with participants in the executive course, some additional shared challenges emerged. Roughly, we can group them under four headings. First, strategic chal-
- 25. How to leadacademic departments successfully xx lenges confront every departmental leader. Typically, they are not either/or questions but related to how to tackle multiple issues at the same time. Thus, leaders must balance between: • Research and teaching requirements; • National and international requirements; • Research quality and quantity; • Senior and junior staff; • Top-down and bottom-up management styles. Academic leaders note they cannot focus on just one “bottom line” but instead must deal with multiple factors, in what can become a messy process that appears to lack clear prioritization. Second, these difficulties lead into the next set of issues, pertaining to the roles and respon- sibilities of the department head. Across the range of inputs, we derived some key require- ments related to this task. The head of department must ensure: • The department’s contribution to the overall university research strategy; • The long-term development of the department’s main research, educational, and dissemi- nation activities; • Good internal working relations, based on inclusion, team spirit, and career development; • Efficient coordination among staff at different career stages and with different administra- tive and academic competences. The general point here is that good leadership must be exercised across several groups, includ- ing research staff and teachers, administrative personnel, and external stakeholders. Third, there are leadership challenges associated with being head of department. For many new leaders, these represent the toughest challenges of all. If one is promoted into this posi- tion, how does one then take over responsibility for one’s colleagues? If one is hired from the outside, how does one gain authority among the local academic and administrative commu- nity? Why would anyone be led by you? Put simply, we can think of this as: • Leading upward to deal with senior managers, including deans and presidents; • Leading downward to work with the staff over whom one has formal responsibility; • Leading out among external stakeholders and collaborators; • Leading across by making connections with heads of department and other internal colleagues; • Leading oneself by working constructively with one’s own strengths and weaknesses. Fourth, notably, the role of the department head varies across contexts. In some countries, for example, department heads are classed as administrative personnel, even if they must have academic qualifications in order to be appointed. In other settings, a rotating leadership tradition requires each professor to take a turn, sometimes for a relatively short period of time. Even within a country, different departments and universities vary substantially in their size, complexity, and organizational culture. Each one of us also has our own motivation for the position. For some, this will be a (hopefully) rewarding experience for a fixed period. Others might be considering the position of department head as one stepping-stone on a career path leading to the role of dean, vice
- 26. Introduction xxi president oruniversity president – and even beyond. In the following chapters, we try to take account of these different contextual and personal factors. Even as we specify these four categories of challenges, we also acknowledge that the job is never static. Issues come and go. However, some questions – including those pertaining to diversity management, social inclusion, ethics, and integrity – have grown so much in importance that they are unlikely to fade. In this sense, we also are reminded that the univer- sity might seem like a world unto itself, but it both reflects and responds to broader societal developments and changes. One other example of this is the increasing use of indicators, both across different staffing levels and as applied to leaders themselves. There can be benefits here, but many university leaders experience performance measurement as adding to their work pressures. We think we have made the basic point that academic leadership is not the easiest task. As the chapters of this book explore in considerable depth, the range and diversity of challenges can be daunting, especially to a new leader, but also to those who have been in the position for some time. The old cliché about herding cats comes to mind. As several contributors argue, an over-directive, top-down leadership style is unlikely to succeed in most academic settings. At this point, current departmental leaders and those thinking of accepting the task might be tempted to stop reading. If the challenges are so great, why would anyone want to take on such a role? Why bother to read further in this book? We offer three arguments for doing so, all of which flow through the subsequent chapters. First, departments (or schools, institutes) are the foundation on which universities are built. When asked about their work environment, most academics describe their “home” department, whereas the university seems more distant from their everyday professional life. Thus, the departmental setting is extremely important, and in turn, the department head is extremely important. Our collective experience of working in and around university departments strongly indicates that the performance of a department head can make a huge difference, whether in shaping a positive, inspirational setting or (as can happen with remarkable speed) in sending a negative message of limited opportunities and restricted possibilities. Sometimes, the work of a departmental head is invisible and taken for granted. Nevertheless, the argument through- out the following chapters is that the potential of each department head to make a difference cannot be underestimated. Second, as our previous discussion of projects and challenges reveals, serving as a head of department can be demanding. It provokes new personal and intellectual demands. However, it also offers a unique opportunity to see the academic world in a fresh light, viewing the university from the perspective of the whole, not just one’s own point of view. The change in perspective can be startling, unsettling, and downright tiring. Yet it also can be a tremendous opportunity to develop new skills and learn new things (not least, about oneself). Just as one example, a common experience is that one does not stand alone as a leader. Instead, successful heads of department operate within a network of colleagues, with different positions, competences, and attributes. For those used to working alone, or perhaps as part of a very small group of teachers and researchers, such teamwork can be surprising and difficult to embrace. It can also be a source of great satisfaction and consolation when (as inevitably happens) the best prepared plans begin to crumble.
- 27. How to leadacademic departments successfully xxii Third, we can learn from experience. In general, the chapters that follow do not offer a how-to guide or quick fix. Instead, many contributors have taken this opportunity to make sense of their own experience and offer the kinds of advice that they likely would have appre- ciated when they were starting their own personal leadership journey. The ensuing chapters are grouped by broad themes, in what we hope is a coherent fashion. But we encouraged the contributors to express themselves in their own way. This diversity of approaches ideally makes the book engaging but also illustrates the central point that no recipe or formula for success exists. There are general lessons to learn, but no two leaders will follow exactly the same blueprint. The book title, How to Lead Academic Departments Successfully, suggests though that beyond the diverse challenges of leadership, we will also cover its successes. Just as there is no exclusive bottom line, success takes different forms. Leadership involves a choice of focus and key goals, which requires asking about what is most important in any specific setting and what can, at least relatively, be assigned less emphasis. The following chapters present varied approaches to success, both personally and in organ- izational terms. Together, they provide a practical, and hopefully stimulating, guide to success as a practicing or aspiring departmental head. We also hope this book is instructive for readers who want to understand how this crucial role in academia operates. Our experience, as editors, is that each contributor has introduced important new dimensions of this role, thereby showing us how much we still have to learn about this fascinating, and we would say crucial, leadership position in some of our most important institutions. PART I: CHALLENGES OF BEING AN ACADEMIC LEADER As mentioned in the introduction, the challenges that confront academic leaders in practice are numerous, particularly considering the developments taking place in academia but also what is happening in the external environment that affects universities. When asked whether it is more difficult or complex to be an academic leader today, compared with 20 years ago, the answer is not simple though; rather, because the context of leadership is constantly evolving, the best response is that “it is different.” Furthermore, because there is no recipe for how to be a leader, whether in academic settings or in the corporate world, leadership always must be situational and aligned with followers. Leadership is not a mechanical device but a way to encourage each person’s professional and personal talent in orchestrating a group of different actors and personalities. In the first section, three contributions thus highlight key issues, challenges, and rewards of being an academic leader, together with good advice for how to demonstrate successful leadership. For example, Poulfelt challenges the myth that academics do not want to be managed or led. Rather, they require a particular kind of management, which eliminates the possibility of applying out-of-the-box solutions. This discussion “On the Particular Challenges of Managing Professionals” presents eight leadership virtues for academic settings, based on leadership theory and informed by the author’s observations gained from four decades of experience with academic leadership. These virtues should inform leaders’ daily practice, to increase their management success rate. As Moore argues, because no perfect method exists for how to prepare academic leaders to helm the department, they encounter perpetual surprises, discoveries, and work-in-progress.
- 28. Introduction xxiii In “RelevantLeadership: The Dynamic Equilibrium of Managing and Leading Academic Departments,” the author proposes that department chairs are like frontline workers, required to assume multiple roles, responsibilities, and functions, and those functions often compete, collide, or contradict one another. To train and survive, while also learning how to do the job, effective leaders need to embrace the dynamic equilibria; this chapter offers some suggestions for how. Similarly, Robson argues that a successful leader recognizes and heeds the tensions that arise across inevitable faultlines, at the business school and institutional level. Taking a dia- lectical view on “The Role of Academic Leaders of a Business School: An Internal Tensions Perspective,” Robson identifies three specific faultlines in business schools: managerialism/ optimization versus entrepreneurialism/creativity; the individual versus the collective; and research versus teaching. Some leaders seek to rock the proverbial boat by introducing extreme policies, but best practices allow conflicting values to coexist within a broader equilibrium, which helps ensure institutional stability and success. The chapter therefore offers some ideas for how leaders might find some balance at the three identified faultlines. PART II: TRANSFORMATIONAL AND PERFORMANCE LEADERSHIP Leadership is not static; it occurs in environments that are constantly developing, sometimes very turbulently. This situation imposes pressures on leaders to ensure the organizational unit, whether a research group, a department, or a university, copes with the complexity and changes productively. Such leadership often is referred to as transformational, a form of leadership that emphasizes the capability to make meaningful changes that set the course of the organization and secure engagement and acceptance among most employees. It sounds easy. In practice, it is very demanding, particularly because the transformational leadership agenda requires a focus on performance at all levels – university, faculties, departments, and individual researchers. But such an intense focus on performance also creates new leadership challenges, including the need to balance autonomy with control. Therefore, this second section offers five contributions pertaining to the leadership roles and tasks required to secure valuable transformations and productive performance, by providing observations from the field, new insights, and valuable advice. To start this section, Busk J. and Barlebo Rasmussen ask, what will it mean to be the head of department in the future? They note historical trends that suggest the answer will reflect contemporary perceptions of science in future society. Whereas in the recent past, the head of department mainly served a collective of autonomous faculty members, and then became something like an overseer managing a research factory, today they regard “The Head of Department as the Key Transformational Leader.” Recognizing that the relationship between science and society continually changes, they identify growing demands for research with societal impact, which in turn means that the university’s organization, strategy, and manage- ment must shift to meet them. As a key transformational leader, the head of department can lead this transformation and take on practical, meaningful management roles. Kitchener agrees with the notion that society demands new roles of the university, which must ensure that its pursuit of accreditation or revenue does not distract it from its primary, societal purpose. He thus recommends “Leading with Purpose: Developing the First Business
- 29. How to leadacademic departments successfully xxiv School for Public Good.” With a personal account of efforts to achieve purposeful change at Cardiff Business School (United Kingdom), the author highlights the urgent need for business schools to undergo repurposing. In line with corporate purpose literature, three approaches can promote the development of purposeful organizations: a chief purpose officer, purpose statements, and multi-capital reporting. In describing the applications of these approaches, this chapter explains how Cardiff became the first business school to focus on enhancing the public good and thus offers insights for how other academic leaders might lead a similar repurposing. Taking a broad view on “Leading Academic Departments,” Goffee and Jones propose three fundamental axioms of leadership: it is contextual, relational, and non-hierarchical. But in academic work contexts, filled with “clever” academics, leadership must take unique forms to support their success. In particular, leaders must balance benevolent guardianship against discipline. In the effort to “be yourself, more, with skill,” they also need to find ways to engage in authentic self-expression while also connecting successfully with others. Continuing the focus on managing academics, Werr and Einola ask “Individual Performance Management: Enabler or Threat to Academic Performance?” To ensure the quality and quan- tity of academic output, universities often ask department heads to manage members’ individ- ual performance and conduct systematic performance reviews. But traditional performance management systems and appraisals do not match well with academic contexts. The middle managers have little power; the employees (academics) naturally exhibit multiple loyalties and demand freedom and autonomy. Noting emerging trends and research evidence about the consequences of performance management practices, this chapter offers several suggestions for adapting individual performance management methods to university settings. Another option for adapting and applying external concepts to academic settings, as detailed in “Deploying Systems Thinking to Create a ‘Triple-Crown’ Business School,” relies on critical systems thinking. Jackson provides an account of his experiences as the first dean of a UK business school that achieved remarkable progress between 1999 and 2011. Following from its foundation, when Jackson left in 2011, the school had hired 165 staff, attracted 3,500 students, and earned £28 million annually. With an excellent reputation for teaching, research, and reach, it had gained three key accreditations and a ranking among the top 1% of business schools worldwide. As Jackson describes it, systems thinking, and particularly critical systems thinking, was essential to bringing about this success. PART III: INCLUSIVITY, TEAM SPIRIT AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT Among the diverse, relevant topics that find their way onto the agenda of academic leaders, dealing with conflicts represents a particularly complex theme. It arises for leaders of research groups and departments and requires consideration of different factors, including professional- ism, rationalities, and emotions. Limiting the amount of conflict and resolving those that arise in a constructive way can ensure engagement, energy, and a team spirit. A team spirit in turn can have tremendous impacts on achieving optimal outcomes. Even though most academic institutions claim they want to attract the best academic researchers and staff, achieving that goal also represents a critical challenge, especially when addressed in conjunction with diver- sity goals. Therefore, this section, with five contributions, offers case stories, examples, and recommendations for dealing with these issues in practice.
- 30. Introduction xxv The titleof the first chapter in this section offers a clear caution: “‘Don’t Think You Can Be Everyone’s Friend’: Dealing with Conflict in an Academic Department.” The author con- tests conventional views of conflict as an inevitable characteristic of academia that demands a rational, planned approach. Rather, the complexities linked to conflict in practice give rise to three stories, related broadly to interpersonal conflict, departmental conflict, and institu- tional conflict. Irwin argues that conflicts often cannot be neatly classified or defined but may encompass various directions, sometimes over considerable time; with personal insights, this author offers some further perspectives and advice. The next title is evocative too: in “Smells like Team Spirit: A User’s Guide for Department Heads,” Kjær proposes ways to leverage team spirit, defined as a sense of belonging among members of a department, using concrete examples from his experience as the head of a department in a Danish university. He lists several relevant tools, reflecting different dimen- sions of managerial practice, to help departmental members make sense of and connect to the collective entity, as well as some dilemmas and paradoxes that arise in this process. Even if a leader’s normative framework centers on fairness and equality, as is the case for the author of this article, achieving inclusion and diversity can be challenging. Horst details three factors in “‘Now You See It’: Gender, Inclusion and Diversity” that emerged from her efforts to do so: structural decoupling, which reflects disconnects between diversity and other required managerial activities; unconscious bias, pertaining to implicit expectations of others; and recruitment. Using this framework, Horst also details what should have done differently. Other leaders can take inspiration from this to inform and improve their diversity efforts. In Andersen’s chapter, “Leading Faculty as Teachers,” the focus is on two elements of leading academic departments that must offer both teaching and research, even though these two projects evoke different valuations. First, leaders must lead faculty in their career progres- sion as teachers. Second, they must help faculty manage their workload distributions when allocating teaching duties. As heads of departments, these leaders have unique mediating functions, between institutional and faculty perspectives on the importance of teaching. Another critical factor for leading faculty members is ensuring their integration into their departments, to achieve “Inclusive Onboarding in Academic Departments.” By exploring the lived experiences of new faculty members in an academic department in a business school environment, Petzer, Kleyn, and Ruiters seek to understand the perceptions that new faculty develop, in terms of feeling included and assimilated. The qualitative data, gathered from new, full-time faculty members of a South African business school, reveal critical incidents that produce positive inclusion experiences, but also some evidence of exclusion. These incidents in turn indicate which actions heads of departments should undertake to guarantee inclusive faculty onboarding. PART IV: BUILDING, LEADING AND FUNDING RESEARCH GROUPS Strong and distinct research profiles can enhance a university’s standing and competitive appeal, but research is rarely performed in isolation. High-profile research groups are critical, but to establish them, universities need methods for attracting and retaining the best talents and scholars, as well as sufficient external funding for those groups. Such efforts inevitably involve dilemmas, as the three contributions in this section acknowledge. In addition to high-
- 31. How to leadacademic departments successfully xxvi lighting fundamental issues associated with building and leading research units, from research and practice perspectives, these chapters continue to offer leadership advice. When it comes to “Building Research Groups,” Lindgreen, Di Benedetto, Brodie, and Naudé propose that attracting the top research talent requires a successful research environ- ment first, which promises academic researchers that they will be able to produce a sustainable research stream. In turn, this environment demands several antecedents, including a clear business school research strategy, leadership, governance, and policy. To illustrate the con- ditions that can support the long-term success of research programs, the authors elaborate on two active research institutions: the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) Group and the Contemporary Marketing Practices (CMP) Group. These examples in turn reveal which environmental conditions are most conducive to sustainable business school research, as well as the gatekeeping role of journal editors. The Bologna initiative aims to standardize higher education policies. Its implementation by universities in Denmark has been relatively substantial, such that they offer a leading example of the dilemmas that this legislation has created. Copenhagen Business School provides an illustration in “Dilemmas in University Management: The Case of Copenhagen Business School.” Mik-Meyer draws on her experience as Vice Dean of Research to highlight the ben- efits and detriments of using key performance indicators of research quality. Another international issue is external funding, which departments and universities increas- ingly must seek, such that this pursuit shapes their organizational discourses and research practices. Hofeldt argues that departments are like “shop floors,” where organizational cul- tures of support and empowerment can be established. Hofeldt phrases the question in terms of “Pathways to External Funding at Departments: How to Strengthen a Change of Culture by Empowerment, Supportive Organizing, and Leadership?” By also analyzing barriers to change, erected by both researchers and department managers, the author derives an integral, concrete, three-level approach, spanning the personal, the organizational, and the managerial levels. He also proposes a new project design tool, the Project Model Canvas, which reveals both individual-level competencies and strategic support and leadership frameworks at the departmental and university levels. PART V: COLLABORATION WITH OTHER DISCIPLINES AND PRACTITIONERS The three contributions in this section address cross-disciplinarity and collaborations, as increasingly popular methods for dealing with complex problems that pertain to multiple disciplines. Furthermore, many universities actively work to expand their community ties to exploit the notable benefits that can accrue from involving external stakeholders, such as corporations, public sector organizations, or nonprofit actors in research projects. Yet these developments also put additional pressure on academic leaders to develop new interaction and collaboration modes; working with practitioners in particular often requires a different approach on both sides, as Di Benedetto, Lindgreen, Storgaard, and Højbjerg Clarke describe in “Collaborating with Practitioners.” Their meta-perspective on collaborations between academics and businesspeople suggests ways to encourage them. In particular, they show that academics often take the university perspective, intuitively and implicitly, when talking about collaborative research. They consider why, how, and what questions. But an outside, business
- 32. Introduction xxvii perspective onthe same collaboration might focus more on innovations. Comparing these two perspectives reveals not just their differences but also the learning opportunities they create. Taking a finer-grained view, Jeppesen reviews a collaboration involving oil and gas indus- try firms and the Danish Hydrocarbon Research and Technology Centre at the Technical University of Denmark. In so doing, he proposes a new model for cross-disciplinary collab- orations, as a response to the challenges that arose during the first six years of the collabo- ration. That is, “Leading Academics in a Public–Private Partnership: Balancing Value and Performance-Based Leadership in Times of (Climate) Change” outlines how, to deal with the difficulties, they fundamentally rejected a classic academic organization and embraced a closely managed, open collaboration model, then adapted the research and innovation strat- egy to reflect industrial and societal needs as they shifted. To do so, the project participants relied on professional portfolio and project management approaches, as well as leaders that took care to balance value against performance. Similarly, business-to-business research is inherently cross-disciplinary, because theories about business relationships, systems, and markets come from economics, psychology, sociology, and management disciplines. When “Undertaking Cross-Disciplinary Research,” academic researchers therefore need to overcome functional silos, which likely create dif- ferences in the collaborators’ incentives, culture, terminology, and jargon, as well as a risk of opportunistic or counterproductive behaviors. Lindgreen, Di Benedetto, Brodie, and van der Borgh therefore seek recommendations for how to undertake cross-disciplinary research that advances the business-to-business literature stream, namely, by elaborating on theorizing processes and actively breaking down cross-disciplinary boundaries. PART VI: LEADERSHIP IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS Leadership is contextually bounded; it must be exercised in a way that reflects the needs and situations of each specific organization or group. This is not to say that leaders cannot learn from others’ examples, but they still must be able to transcend and translate these insights into specific contextual and organizational actions, as a form of contextual intelligence. The contributions in this section similarly call for contextual leadership, such that the lessons they provide should be translated to reflect readers’ own leadership environment. For Fischbacher-Smith, the dominant context reflects a systems approach. Calling for “Framing Business Schools as a Socio-Technical System: Issues around Complexity and Emergence,” this chapter frames each school as a socio-technical system that contains various elements, reflecting its design. A change to the designed state then can push the system toward a new state, as can alterations to the operating environment. In combination, such shifts might generate control fractures that require attention from leaders and managers. Another issue arises from competing views of core processes, such that various members of the system generate sometimes incompatible demands. For Peters, the context with the greatest relevance is the internal institution and the range of activities it must undertake. For example, undergraduate and some masters programs are more like consumer markets, but executive education often entails a business-to-business transaction. In “Business School Leadership in an Era of Change and Uncertainty: Complex Structures, Executive Education and Accreditation,” Peters notes the different paths to market, delivery modes, staffing approaches, and skill sets required by these programs. For example,
- 33. How to leadacademic departments successfully xxviii many executive education providers confront severe financial limitations, prompting mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring. In the parent university, similar pressures are leading to cen- tralization initiatives that challenge business schools’ control over their own destinies. Such changes ultimately will require accreditation bodies to review their expectations about institu- tional autonomy to develop more realistic requirements. Finally, for Eskildsen and Obel, Denmark provides a meaningful context. Whereas aca- demic institutions had remained basically stable for hundreds of years, a 1970 law prompted a long-running wave of dramatic, significant changes. As they recount in “Academic Leadership: The Danish Case,” the new rules created new governance structures, financing models, incentives, academic roles, and leadership conditions. With a historical view on their own academic leadership experience, they use a theoretical framework to describe these changes and their implications for academic leadership, from 1968 to 2020. PART VII: PERSONAL LEADERSHIP REFLECTIONS Finally, the three contributions in this section offer personal observations and reflections on being an academic leader. These authors take readers to the frontlines of the leadership battle and offer hearty food for thought for anyone involved in leadership, whether as a newly appointed head or someone with vast experience. Cummings cites 21 years of experience as department chair to offer advice for performing this role, based on six “Responsibilities of the Department Chair: Lessons from the Frontline”: (1) norming, (2) strategizing, (3) guiding, (4) complying, (5) developing, and (6) behaving. This list, along with concrete examples, provides a useful summary of topics worth consider- ing by department chairs. Van Bruggen’s reflections and insights on “How to Lead an Academic Marketing Department: Some Personal Observations and Reflections” combine into what he calls a “big plea”: keep things simple, let go of control, and cherish other people’s power and creativity by giving them freedom to work on what they really care about. Accordingly, van Bruggen argues that an academic leader’s main purpose is to challenge, encourage, trust, and facilitate, so even if incentives and extrinsic rewards are nice, helping followers find their intrinsic motivations and realize their potential is really the key. Finally, Møllgaard describes the journey “From Head to Dean: Academic Leadership” by outlining its purpose. That is, the purpose of leadership is to prioritize the activities of those they lead, over their own. Such purpose (or rationale for action) is not just essential but also essential to communicate. But leaders also confront dual loyalties, to protect the department from senior management and to embrace senior management when sharing information with the department. With good training, a dean can meet seven prominent challenges: selecting the right department heads, delegating managerial tasks, coaching, facilitating dialogue about departmental performance, allocating resources across departments, managing boundaries between them, and co-creating a purpose. CLOSING REMARKS We extend a special thanks to Edward Elgar and its staff, who have been most helpful throughout this entire process. Equally, we warmly thank our contributors with whom we
- 34. Introduction xxix have workedclosely. They have exhibited the desire to share their knowledge and experience with this book’s readers – and a willingness to put forward their views for possible challenge by their peers. We hope that this compendium of chapters and themes stimulates and supports colleagues in their teaching, learning, and leadership development.
- 35. ‘Few things –if any – are more important to universities than departments and their capacity to provide the organizational framework for successful scholarly collectives. Hence, department heads are key personnel in any academic institution. How to Lead Academic Departments Successfully offers multiple perspectives and insights into the art and craft of being an effective head of department. The book holds a unique collection of astute and inspirational chapters and the volume should be of great interest to anyone with an interest in academic leadership.’ Jens Ringsmose, Southern University Denmark ‘Few colleagues plan (and prepare) to be an academic leader at the start of their career. But, almost inevitably, many of us will be asked to take up a major leadership role at some point, and often unexpectedly. Managing professionals within a distinct organisational climate, with unique practices and politics, against the backdrop of a dynamic marketplace is no small matter. It is, in fact, often a sink-or-swim experience. But, have no fear, How to Lead Academic Departments Successfully is here. The book is a rich source of information that offers actionable advice and perhaps comfort for those of us who are about to face the challenges of academic leadership or are trying their very best at it every day. The book’s content provides lucid and eclectic answers to the question posed in its title. It will be an inspiring companion of travel for any colleague on a leadership journey.’ Ko de Ruyter, King’s College London, UK ‘This is an important book addressing many central issues regarding how to effectively lead academic departments, thereby also pointing towards what might become the business school/academic institu- tion of the future. The area of managing academic institutions is largely both under-researched as well as being largely void in the literature. The book makes a significant contribution by filling much of this gap. Specifically, it is a major message of the book that firm, clear leadership and strategic vision is called for by department heads (as well as deans and rectors), and thus that the widely shared view that professors should be left to themselves may not be enough!’ Peter Lorange, IMD and Lorange Network ‘Being head of an academic department has not become less challenging in the 21st century with growing and changing demands on the universities from society. Drawing on the collective knowledge and experience of leaders and scholars from the university sector, this book provides a treasure chest of perspectives, ideas and real-life experiences that are both highly relevant and very useful for any current (or future) head of department – and for anyone with an interest in leadership in academia.’ Nikolaj Malchow Møller, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark ‘Academic life sometimes appears to be a riddle hidden inside an enigma. Universities should be relevant to the local community, attractive to global students, visible in the finest academic journals, collegial in style yet run by accountable leaders. This hybridized academy is in urgent need of a guide from which the frustrated insider can get consolation and advice. This is the book, drawing on personal experience and a wide range of sources filtered through the analytic lens of seasoned social scientists. A twist of humour makes it even more essential, and it will be of equal importance to the higher educa- tion scholar and to the professional in need of perspectives.’ Mats Benner, Lund University, Sweden
- 36. PART I Challenges ofbeing an academic leader
- 37. 3 1. On theparticular challenges of managing professionals Flemming Poulfelt1 We need to allow intelligent people to have freedom to think, while also recognizing that education’s social role requires organization and management. (An anonymous academic: professor and former associate dean, 2015) INTRODUCTION Management and leadership together make up an interesting discipline. Running or orchestrat- ing an organization in a smart way, to make it innovative, productive, effective, and attractive, has always been on the agenda for businesses and in the public sector. Principles around how to manage and lead have been proposed in thousands of textbooks and articles. Some of these are quite specific, directed at particular industries or vertical sectors; some toward certain kinds of organization; and others are geared to the different levels of management (e.g. directors, middle managers). For the purposes of this chapter, we will focus on approaches to leading or managing professionals, with an emphasis on the academic world. THE PARTICULAR CHALLENGE OF MANAGING PROFESSIONALS: REALITY OR MYTH? It is accepted wisdom in leadership circles, and particularly in academia, that ‘professionals’ are impossible to manage, and/or that they don’t like to be led. The rationale is that these are people who are likely to have sizeable egos; who consider themselves masters of their domain. They believe they know the right way to go about things, and what not to do – without being instructed or guided. In an article published some years ago, managing professionals was likened to ‘herding cats’ (McKenna Riskin, 1995). As cats are thought to be highly inde- pendent, generally suiting themselves, the simile would appear perfect. In an article appearing in Harvard Business Review (written by two London Business School professors) about the particular challenges of attempting to lead intelligent people, the authors note a characteristic resistance to suggestion, or to perceived interference. “If clever people have one defining characteristic, it is that they do not want to be led,” the authors note. “This clearly creates a problem for you as a leader,” they warn (Goffee Jones, 2007). From the TV or theater actor who behaves like a prima donna, to the lawyer who is certain of the truth in court, to the university professor with their already confident assessment, it can be dif- ficult to influence these individuals’ perspective or to encourage them to entertain alternative thinking or ways of behaving. They can seem defiantly and belligerently set in their ways.
- 38. How to leadacademic departments successfully 4 In addition, professionals often expect to be involved in and give an opinion on everything. I recall the case of a law firm where the consensus was that the partners ‘always knew best’ – even down to the right color for the office curtains. With so much anecdotal evidence to draw on, could it be that there is something about professionals that makes them fundamentally more difficult to lead or manage, or is this a self-perpetuating myth? As it turns out there is considerable evidence to support the view that professionals expect to be left to manage themselves and decide what is right (self-management). But it is possible too that some bias has crept in along the way, and that this perspective may have been exag- gerated. With this in mind, it feels appropriate to dig a little deeper. For instance, there is also considerable anecdotal evidence – from both the corporate world and across the academic domain – to suggest that many professionals do actually want to be led. The determining factor seems to be how. Professionals’ willingness to be led appears closely linked to the type of management and leadership they are exposed to. If there is a chance this will be ‘wrong,’ ‘bad,’ ‘weak,’ or ‘incompetent,’ professionals are more likely to be resistant. Unfortunately, responsible management has too often been found to be lacking in many professional organizations, both private and public. Maister (1994) suggests that, typically, “professional service firms have been managed in one or two ways: badly or not at all.” Having worked with professional organizations (including consulting firms, law firms, and engineering firms), I readily concur. More recent studies and analyses show that well-educated people would often welcome more management – with the caveat that those providing it are suitably qualified. In the cor- porate world there is a saying that “people leave managers, not companies,” which highlights the critical role played by good management; and conversely the risk of poor or absent man- agement or leadership. In the academic world in particular, McCormack, Propper and Smith (2014) support this view in the context of managing researchers. They note: “Our results … point to the impor- tant aspects of good management in the use of incentives … to motivate academics. This contrasts with the commonly-held view that these individuals are impervious to good (or bad) management.” The point being made is that successfully managing professionals requires leaders that are capable of setting the direction, orchestrating the people and the organization, and driving strong performance. And it turns out that this is less about micro-managing these highly skilled people, and more about giving them the direction, freedom, and support to excel. Jetley (2016) writes: “Manage less. The more you manage professionals, the more they will resist. Let them sweat it out. If they need help, they will ask. If they are really overworked, they will tell you. If they need reassurance, they will seek it.” Jetley goes on to use a judo metaphor, urging leaders to harness the strength of the professionals rather than trying to fight it. “If you do this well, they will make all the effort and you will bask in the glory of the results they achieve,” he writes, adding the disclaimer, “But do not expect any gratitude from them. They will still think of you as the chief clerk.” It seems quite incredible that universities function as well as they do when so few research- ers have formal competency in leadership and management. It could be argued that if the same were true in a private company, in most markets that business would struggle to develop the competitiveness needed to survive and prosper. While academics leaders tend to be passionate
- 39. On the particularchallenges of managing professionals 5 professionally, most are happy/lucky amateurs in management, having limited formal skills and no actual leadership training to draw on. THE VIRTUES OF ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP? There is no doubt that managing academics is a challenging proposition, given the typical characteristics of high professionalism; a passion for their work; self-reliance; assuredness of their worth; and a low boredom threshold. In addition, Goffee and Jones (2007) argue that these knowledgeable individuals “won’t thank you.” “Even when you’re leading them well, clever people will be unwilling to recognize your leadership,” they note, adding: “Remember, these creative individuals feel that they don’t need to be led. Measure your success by your ability on the fringes of their radar.” Many academics would admit to being self-centered, considering ‘What’s in it for me?’ if asked to participate in a specific project or to contribute to a task. An important element of academic leadership, then, is the ability to read and understand researchers and what drives them. Empathy and understanding are critical tools in managing these professionals. Of course, most managers in universities are academics themselves and have been (and perhaps are still) active researchers. This is typically true of presidents, deans, heads of depart- ment, and study board directors. And sharing that background provides important insight into those they must now lead, as well as bringing credibility to the role. As Sveiby and Lloyd (1987) argue, “It is impossible to lead professionals without being professional yourself.” Assumed within this view is the primus inter pares (first among equals) perspective: that a leader of professionals must earn their spurs. For Sveiby, a worthy leader “is all but a patri- arch.” This manifests as “a creator of the work environment and a tutor, who creates opportu- nities for his employees”; someone who “channels intellectual energy, maintains a clear sense of direction and is the guarantor of continuity and security in [the] organization.” Whether it is definitively the case that the leader of professional teams must be an old hand at the given discipline is up for debate, since effective leadership comes down to how an indi- vidual exercises their role. But of course, having proven research credentials can be helpful in winning over larger egos. In their book Aligning the Stars (2002), Lorsch and Tierney argue that outstanding leaders in professional service organizations aren’t necessarily “the smartest, nor the most successful, nor the most experienced in their firm.” Rather, what characterizes these individuals is “who they are as human beings,” the authors note, adding that character, judgement, and intuition are common traits; that and their ability to exercise influence rather than control. Set against this context, I will now share some of my own observations about what consti- tutes good leadership in an academic environment, based on my own studies and experiences. These are summarized below as a series of eight ‘leadership virtues’ I have identified. Setting the Direction One of the key tasks of a leader is to direct the future development of the organization. For, as the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland points out, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” For obvious reasons, employees within an organ- ization need to know where they are going, which means that someone – the leader – must
- 40. How to leadacademic departments successfully 6 define that destination. With the pace of change accelerating all the time, leaders must also be able to review and reconfirm the roadmap over time, to ensure that employees know how they can contribute to getting to the target end point and what their performance achievements should be along the way. The long-term perspective or strategy is today well-anchored within most universities and departments. This is inevitable as universities must think ahead to set priorities and plan resources. The strategy will also inform stakeholders about how the institution will contribute to society going forward. Defining the organization’s path will usually involve defining (or redefining) the institu- tion’s purpose and vision, as well as the priorities around achieving these ambitions. Effective leaders will need to develop a clear vision of where they want to go; be able to describe this future in simple language; and provide meaningful guidance about how to move forward. In most academic environments this should not be a lone exercise; rather, it should serve as a way to engage and secure the commitment of researchers to a shared course. “Nothing makes professionals more cynical than a manager who is weak, uncertain and lacking direction,” writes the leadership author Jo Owen. “But once you have set the direction and goals, do not micro-manage,” he warns. “Be firm on the goals, flexible on the route they use to get there … let their professional pride and paranoia motivate them to achieve the outcome” (Owen, 2009). LEADING BY EXAMPLE? It is often argued that strategies are too ambitious, too ambiguous, or too complex, and therefore difficult to communicate. In contrast, the strategy at a Scandinavian university some years ago was a good deal more focused. In addition to setting out a vision for the university, the strategy comprised three clear priorities for the institution. These were for- mulated in such a way that most researchers could readily recall them, and were able to map their work to these priorities. This in turn saw the strategy come alive and make sense for the majority of employees. On the other hand, I have also experienced strategies that have been formulated primarily at the top of institutions, without being anchored in the wider organization. In such cases, the scope to use the university strategy as a relevant and valuable leadership vehicle will decrease; rather, strategy feels more like an ethereal aspiration to show off to those looking in from the outside. Making Meaningful Decisions Leadership involves making decisions. Good leaders understand and know how to balance reason with emotions, and how to make decisions meaningful. Making grounded decisions that make logical sense is important in academic environments. Without sound reasoning, it will be hard to win acceptance and commitment from researchers. Unfortunately, many academic leaders seem to confuse the right to make decisions (given their power) with making them legitimate and accepted.
- 41. On the particularchallenges of managing professionals 7 LEADING BY EXAMPLE? Structural changes within the academic world are always tough because, generally, (too) many researchers have a say on the proposed changes. No wonder so many major reorgani- zations (e.g. department mergers; a new faculty structure; or a major educational reform) are subject to critique and resistance. Yet the scenarios inviting the most critical behavior tend to be those that are the least meaningful to researchers. That is, the ‘narrative’ behind the changes is insufficient, inviting dissent. If the structural changes were more clearly framed, backed by a meaningful and well-articulated rationale, they might be more palatable. Creating Continuous, Two-Way Communication In the academic world, communication – whether written or oral – is a vital part of what goes on in both teaching and research. It is equally critical in management. To be effective and to sustain trusted relationships, managers must ensure ongoing communication with all employ- ees, from researchers to administrative personnel. There is a strong argument, when hiring a manager, that good communications skills should be sought as a high priority – not only to build trust, but also to enable influence/persuasion, allow clear assignment of responsibility, and motivate and provide support to teams. Miller (2012), for example, argues that managers will typically spend 75% of their time on communication with their teams and others within the organization. Few would argue with this. Yet, still, in academic environments complaints are rife about the quality and fre- quency of management communication. It may come too late; lack precision; and/or involve too much talking and not enough listening. Leaders’ communication styles matter greatly. McKenna and Riskin (1995) urge leaders to “crank up the communication effort,” noting that, “We routinely underestimate the amount of communication necessary to make our efforts successful.” Winston Churchill, former and acknowledged British Prime Minister once said, “the difference between mere management and leadership is communication,” indicating that communication skills are at the heart of effective leadership. The importance of truly listening should not be underestimated, as this is how leaders will understand the context and the individual needs they are working with. My own observation over the years has been that while many leaders – including consultants and academic manag- ers – make very good listeners, this tends to be primarily to themselves. Securing Real Involvement Involving people more integrally in activities that affect them has long been part of the leader’s toolbox, on the basis that this is likely to motivate people, giving them a sense of ownership of the outcome. This accepted wisdom has been exercised in most university environments. Yet, ‘involving’ people can also lead to dysfunction if the gestures of inclusion prove to be little more than lip-service, and if expectations are not clarified in advance.
- 42. How to leadacademic departments successfully 8 LEADING BY EXAMPLE? A newly appointed president at a Scandinavian university launched a process for a new strategy. Various taskforces were formed, comprising 6–7 people (primarily researchers), to take on specific themes. Initially there was a lot of goodwill and engagement. The process was scheduled to last for 3–4 months, including a pit-stop with the top management and the taskforce chair. During the process a consultant (from one of the top consulting firms, working on a pro bono basis) was assigned to each group – even though the group could not readily see the benefit of this resource. At the end of the allotted period, the groups sub- mitted their report to the president. A fortnight later all the groups were invited to a strategy seminar – at which, to the surprise of most people there, a new strategy for the university was unveiled! No discussion had ensued since the submission of reports and in fact very few from the groups attending were able to recognize their contribution in the presented material. A project originally intended to increase engagement ultimately had the opposite effect: a drop in morale and poor support for the eventual strategy. The hard lesson is that if you are going to invite people to participate in a project, it is vital that the intentions are sincere and that the mandate and associated expectations are clear. Inspiring, Recognizing and Supporting Best Performance The ability to inspire is perceived to be among the most important leadership traits, as this infuses energy, passion, commitment, and connection to an organization’s mission and vision. According to Garton (2017), “inspired employees are themselves far more productive and, in turn, inspire those around them to strive for greater heights.” An inspiring leader believes in others and themselves. They have a personality which can create passion, optimism, and enthusiasm. They believe in the mantra: ‘If you want to change the way of being, you have to change the way of doing.’ LEADING BY EXAMPLE? The most inspiring leaders within universities, to my recollection, have always been those able to make speeches in a convincing, optimistic, and meaningful way with profound in- sights – typically spiced up using humor. At the same time these leaders were able to hold conversations face to face, creating energy, optimism and action. In the academic world there is a tendency to underestimate the value of recognizing people for their achievements, whether these are big or small. Sometimes there seems to be an assump- tion that acknowledgment is not necessary; that being an academic itself is a gift and source of passion. I disagree. I believe that recognition is a very inexpensive way of incentivizing people and of motivating researchers.
- 43. On the particularchallenges of managing professionals 9 LEADING BY EXAMPLE? During my time as vice-dean of research communication, I used to write thank-you notes to those researchers who voluntarily offered their involvement at a national event with the focus on disseminating research. What surprised me was the number of notes I received in return, commenting how good it had felt to be recognized. My conclusion was that this kind of acknowledgment is shown too seldom. Leaders can afford to be generous with their recognition. As McKenna and Riskin (1995) put it, “If you can’t find something to recognize on a daily basis, you don’t know how to look.” The importance of showing acknowledgment and appreciation cannot be understated. “Like world-class athletes, professionals have an almost insatiable need to know how they are doing: the more able they are, the keener their need,” write DeLong, Gabarro and Lees (2007). They continue: “One highly-regarded mentor in a law firm reflected, ‘For some of my best perform- ers, I have to tell them how well they are doing on Monday, and again on Thursday. No amount of feedback is enough.’” Certainly, management support is important to employees: and not just in words. Meaningful support in academia means enabling researchers to do – and to excel in – their job. When they fail to provide this, managers inadvertently signal a lack of support. Demonstrations of support can take other forms too. It might be caring for a post-graduate student who is struggling to finalize his/her Ph.D. project. It could be supporting a research application for funding, or the initiation of a new research project. A colleague of mine once introduced the concept of ‘management by mothering’ as part of her leadership role, emphasizing the value of nurturing people as they grow. After all, the most important resources universities possess are their people – so why wouldn’t an institution and its leaders do everything it takes to help them flourish? LEADING BY EXAMPLE? A president at a Scandinavian university took the view that good research initiatives should always be supported – as long as they were exceptionally good. This mindset encouraged innovation among the institution’s researchers, inspiring new research initiatives. If some- one had a solid idea and a strong outline they could approach the president for a meeting, always with the assurance that they would not have to wait for weeks. If their ideas were deemed to be sound and well-articulated, the researchers received support, often a small amount of seed money too – with the expectation that the individual would seek additional funding externally. It was common for people to leave these meetings feeling engaged, keen, and optimistic that research money would be found. Another way of demonstrating managerial support is to shield researchers from ‘organiza- tional rain’: that is, from the burden of policies and procedures imposed by the administration – so that researchers are able to concentrate on their principal tasks of research, education, and the dissemination of findings and knowledge.
- 44. How to leadacademic departments successfully 10 Creating Engagement Leaders of today could be thought of as being in the human energy business. Extending the metaphor, it should be a priority for leaders to maximize the human ‘wattage’ they generate – and to ensure this is sustainable energy (that does not burn brightly, only to soon lose its spark). Put a different way, leaders need to be proactive and strategic in creating engagement and drive within the organization, bearing in mind that its most valuable resources are the people who work there. Employee engagement is a subject Gallup has surveyed extensively over the years (Gallup, 2019). Its studies show that typically less than a third of all employees, worldwide, could be categorized as engaged. Gallup’s findings also highlight the common drivers of engagement. One is that “people want purpose and meaning from their work …; to be known for what they’re good at.” Academic environments have something of an advantage here, in that most researchers already attach meaning to their own work. However, they still need to feel part of an organization where engagement levels are high, and fuel everyday work. LEADING BY EXAMPLE? The question of what makes and keeps people engaged tends to be more involved than some leaders realize. Conversely, disengagement is achieved relatively easily. I have observed this first hand in research organizations where the role and behavior of the top manager has had a detrimental effect on researchers’morale. Even in universities where self-management and an inherent passion for people’s own work are typically the norm, overall engagement levels can be damaged by poor decision-making – leading to disengagement, dissatisfac- tion, and discouragement. Promoting True Collaboration Analyses show that great leaders know the value of cooperation and how to collaborate effectively with colleagues and employees. Analyses also show that leaders who cooperate, share, and foster belonging will be more influential and successful over time. A willingness to cooperate includes sharing of information. Openness and transparency almost always pay off, although of course there will be some information that cannot be made public. When employ- ees feel they are part of the network, and that they are ‘seen’ and appreciated, their sense of belonging and loyalty will be elevated. Academics are used to cooperating as part of research projects and educational programs. However, their ability to foster a collaborative culture, and to truly engage people so that they feel they belong and want to give their all, may vary considerably.
- 45. On the particularchallenges of managing professionals 11 LEADING BY EXAMPLE? On his appointment, a department head announced that one of his ambitions and personal strengths was creating a cooperative environment, which he believed gave rise to strong re- sults. Both the researchers and the administrative staff were enthusiastic, sensing the dawn- ing of a new era for the department. Others were more skeptical, having heard some rumors about their new leader’s personality. Things started well but soon the spirit of cooperation morphed into a culture of order and control. This discrepancy between the promised culture and the reality created anger and frustration among the staff. The head had also begun to show favoritism toward certain researchers; a small group became so upset by this that they decided to leave the department. It is one thing to talk the talk about establishing a collaborative culture, but if leaders promise one thing and deliver another, they have only themselves to blame if staff stage a mutiny! Another important point is that being a ‘cooperative leader’ should include being willing to share the ‘spotlight.’ Some leaders struggle with highlighting the work and achievements of others ahead of their own. But a smart leader recognizes that their power and status is best demonstrated by the success of those around them. LEADING BY EXAMPLE? As has already been noted, researchers have a reputation for being self-centered, unwilling to put themselves out for the wider cause unless they perceive that there is something in it for them (including glory). Some leaders exhibit these qualities too, putting themselves before their team and failing to acknowledge and hold up those who deserve honor and rec- ognition. This type of leadership typically fails in the long run: employees soon realize that where they are soon singled out and criticized for any mistakes, they are not being given credit for their achievements. Executing According to the Plan For reasons that are self-explanatory, managers have a duty to get things done and to execute the strategy and plans of the organization. In practice, this can be difficult as daily operations get in the way. Yet, the value of any plan is in the ability to realize its ambitions. Ensuring that the organization ‘lives’ its strategy is a real leadership challenge, and a continuous one – including efforts to support and follow up on the work, keeping everything on track. If there is a discrepancy between the actions and the perceived values of the stakeholders, execution can easily be shorted.
- 46. How to leadacademic departments successfully 12 LEADING BY EXAMPLE? When I was a newly appointed leader of a research center serving four universities, I ex- perienced the potential sensitivities of failing to consider other stakeholders sufficiently. The center had just been launched and we needed to advertise six positions for Ph.D. schol- arships. All of the universities were involved and had contributed toward the wording for the advert, which I asked the HR department to place in a newspaper before the summer vacation. The ad appeared, large and prominent, in the Sunday issue of the biggest news- paper in the country. I was pleased with a job well done. But then trouble started. The HR people had used the format for ads at my university, showing only our logo. Although it was not my intention to exclude the branding of the other stakeholder institutions, some (a few) people were upset. Was this a kind of power-play; an indication of an uncooperative mindset, the other universities wondered. I was able to turn the situation around, but it was a stark reminder of how even small omissions can ruffle feathers and undermine harmony. ADDITIONAL REFLECTIONS In the introduction to this chapter, we have considered whether there might be something intrinsic to professionals that makes them fundamentally more difficult to lead or manage. The ensuing discussion and supporting evidence suggests that, contrary to the view that academic professionals are especially difficult to manage, the challenge is more specifically that they require a particular kind of management to bring out their best. Leading or managing academics requires a careful blend of reason and emotion/the ability to ‘read’ the environment – as well as mindfulness that researchers are human beings with their own ambitions, needs, and expectations. Handling the subtle personal variances in personali- ties and expectations requires discernment and thought: there are no out-of-the-box solutions. The eight ‘leadership virtues’ I have distilled above are based on leadership theory sup- ported by my own observations from more than four decades of experience (on both sides of the desk) of academic leadership practice. In summary, these can be boiled down to three primary recommended leadership behaviors: • Ensuring that giving meaning to and making logical sense of strategies, plans, and requests is a priority; • Inspiring, energizing, engaging, and supporting all human resources so people feel and give their best; and • Ensuring that decisions and decision-making take place in this context. I’ll end with some refreshing advice proposed in a recent book (Leadership in Higher Education, 2019) by Kouzes and Posner – both very experienced leadership authorities. “Decide to do something different that will make you an even better leader,” they propose. “Then hop off the log and get into the water!” The point being that it is only through our action that we are able to improve, learn, and perform.
- 47. On the particularchallenges of managing professionals 13 NOTE 1. Disclaimer: The title of the chapter refers to management rather than leadership, which is not intended to confuse the reader. Of course, ‘management’ and ‘leadership’ can have different connotations in business literature. ‘Management’ tends to be characterized as the ‘hard (and dull) part’ while ‘leadership’ is more ‘soft (and creative)’. Some will argue that management is about administration, planning, organizing, performance, and control while leadership is about developing the vision, inspiring and engaging people, coaching, communication, and trust. As former President Dwight Eisenhower said, “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” While the distinction is important, I would argue that a successful leader/manager will combine and balance the two sets of qualities. A ‘boss’ (perceived negatively) is likely to have placed too much emphasis on the management part, where a more liberal leader may not always achieve results in the most effective way, it could be argued. Both of these standpoints are open to debate. In this chapter, the use of the terms leader and manager are applied with an element of discretion. REFERENCES DeLong, T.J., Gabarro, J.J. Lees, R.J. (2007). When Professionals Have to Lead. Harvard Business School Press. Gallup (2019). http://www.gallup.com. Garton, E. (2017). How to be an inspiring leader. Harvard Business Review. April 25. Goffee, R. Jones, G. (2007). Leading clever people. Harvard Business Review. March 2007. Jetley, V. (2016). What’s the main obstacle in managing professionals? https:// www .bayt .com/ . Kouzes, J.M. Posner, B.Z. (2019). Leadership in Higher Education. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Lorsch, J.W. Tierney, T.J. (2002). Aligning the Stars: How to Succeed when Professionals Drive Results. Harvard Business School Press. Maister, D. (1994). Managing the Professional Service Firm. The Free Press. McCormack, J., Propper, C. Smith, S. (2014). Herding cats? Management and university performance. The Economic Journal. August. McKenna, P.J. Riskin, G.A. (1995). Herding Cats. The Edge Group. Miller, P. (2012). Leadership communication – the three levels. Today’s Manager, Singapore Institute of Management. Issue February–March. Owen, J. (2009). 5 ground rules for managing professionals. CBSNews. Sveiby, K.-E. Lloyd, T. (1987). Managing Knowhow: Add Value by Valuing Creativity. Bloomsbury.
- 48. 14 2. Relevant leadership:the dynamic equilibrium of managing and leading academic departments Rickie A. Moore It has been widely accepted that one of the foremost of the multi-faceted/multi-dimensional missions of education institutions is to educate citizens and to disseminate knowledge that would prepare them for the future. Educational excellence, through its various manifestos, is thus a key objective of these institutions, as they pride themselves on the performance of their graduates. Over the years, there have been and continue to be extensive debates among stake- holders about the purpose, virtues and values of education. According to the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), research in several academic disciplines has enhanced organizational success in a number of areas, and the knowledge produced has taken on new dimensions as newer inquiries test the management techniques to validate or invalidate their pertinence and effectiveness. As a loci and a motor of the university ecosys- tem, academic departments thus play a critical role in helping universities and institutions of higher education to fulfill their societal missions in providing educational excellence to their members and beneficiaries. Among the many journeys of academic life, some academics are entrusted with the oppor- tunity of leading an academic department and with a mandate to facilitate the mission of the department and institution. Whether by recruitment and selection, invitation, nomination or cooptation, the mandate of leading an academic department is one of the most challenging missions an academic can undertake, and the journey is very often kaleidoscopic in emotions and rich in experiences. A litany of questions and reflections shape the decision of identifying the leader. Who should be chosen, why and on what basis? What criteria or qualification? What role should the leader play? Would the person be able to lead the department effectively and get the best from the staff? Would the leader be able to navigate the competing pressures of the job? Academic departments are doubtless one of the most important units in a univer- sity, yet the process of preparing their leaders leaves much to be desired. While training can help with the preparation, there is so much that needs to be prepared and trained for, that many institutions either train the leaders a minima or not at all, before they assume their mandate, or may eventually resort to the basic minimum a posteriori. With no perfect method on how best to prepare academic leaders for the job at the helm of a department, the result is a perpetual journey of surprises, discovery and work-in-progress.
- 49. Relevant leadership 15 THEACADEMIC DEPARTMENT AND ITS LEADER Whether you agree with Lane (2018) who argued that “the academic department is often the unheralded powerhouse of a college or university,” it is difficult to dispute his analogy that “academic departments are to universities what mitochondria are to cellular organisms. Each cell is full of these little entities called mitochondria, which collectively are responsible for regulating the metabolism of the cell through respiration and energy production. In the same way, academic departments serve as the regulators of an institution’s metabolism – they ulti- mately determine whether an institution operates at peak performance or not.” Given the importance of the function of the department head and the role that she or he is expected to play, it is arguably essential that the most ideally suited individuals are awarded the job. With the scope of job descriptions ranging from the very general but vague, to the rarely very specific, in many instances being a department chair is a “tour of duty” mission. No one really wants the job, but someone has to sacrifice themselves and do it. In their 2005 article, Wolverton et al. drew upon studies conducted by Jackson (1999) and Eley (1994) who indicated that “most individuals that become department chairs have neither prior leadership preparation nor a clear understanding of what the job entails … Academic departments reach into their faculty pools … to insert some unsuspecting target into this crit- ical leadership position.” The candidate may understand departmental idiosyncrasies and the cartography of the department and organization, but may not be inclined toward effective lead- ership of individual and collective talent and capabilities. While being knowledgeable of the institution and organizational history, culture and context can be an asset for leadership, failure to grasp the fundamentals of effective leadership can often lead to numerous roadblocks and even extensive conflict. When faced with competing and contradictory pressures, especially in resource-strapped organizations, the lack of effectiveness of the leader can quickly become a debilitating handicap especially when implementing change that may be imposed by top management or as requested from the faculty. With the demanding role as the interface between the management of the institution and the department faculty, department chairs are thus “front line” workers that are required to assume a multiplicity of roles, responsibilities and functions while remembering that they are also faculty. Navigating between being good shepherds and administrators, department chairs are the “glue” and conduit of alignment and communication. How can they exercise their effectiveness? How can they be efficient in the discharge of their functions? How can they get the best from their staff? IDENTITY AND LEGITIMACY: MANAGER OR LEADER? Throughout history, Management Education in particular has been regarded as the bedrock for the creation of knowledge about organizations. One of the most existential debates in management theory is on management and leadership – whether a manager is a leader or vice versa. There is an abundance of literature that has extensively investigated and continues to explore these two concepts and their qualities. The manager, based on the historical precepts of management, is tasked with ensuring efficiency in a given system of production. The leader, on the other hand, is expected to coordinate the actions of the group toward achieving a common objective. While some argue that they are exclusionary roles and profiles, others
- 50. How to leadacademic departments successfully 16 argue in favor of the opposite. Is it possible to be both at the same time? When should one demonstrate more of the former as opposed to the latter, or vice versa? The essence here seems to be one of balance and appropriateness. When to allow freedom of initiative and when to exercise control? How to inspire and initiate and when to hold to account? When to conform to policy and when to take risk or to innovate? Championing a vision or strategy is very different from spearheading its implementation and appropriate skillsets are required for each phase. Persuasion is not execution. Usually the first port of call in ensuring the department works smoothly, department heads are not necessarily academic leaders in their own right. One important notion is the distinction between a department leader or chair, who is typically a member of faculty, and an academic leader who is someone recognized by her/his peers and the wider academic community as being either a thought leader or experienced academic with significant experience in the field. With considerable decision-making power, department chairs are able to influence and can even define the composition, roles, expectations and appraisals of their faculty and staff. However, exercising such power without the requisite legitimacy serves to undermine the credibility and validity of the appointment. One of the most critical responsibilities of an aca- demic chair is to lead by example. Yet too often, many chairs fail in this regard and ultimately impair the very essence of the leadership initiative. Being an exemplary leader often requires appropriate emotional intelligence, people skills and mastery of the art of negotiation, as exer- cising the role can often lead to organizational conflict – “being exemplary in the eyes of top management” may not necessarily align with being exemplary for the department. Very often, department leaders find themselves in a dilemma where they “talk the talk” but do not “walk the walk.” Consequently, this dilemma destroys their credibility, legitimacy and leadership effectiveness. At the locus of a dynamic equilibrium between being a manager or leader, and leading and managing individual faculty and a department as a unit, the department chair must also be trustworthy and show empathy toward the members. Department chairs must also implement and demonstrate an appropriate and effective approach to autonomy and control – what leeway should be afforded to whom and under what conditions, when exceptions can be tolerated and when should the rules apply, and so on. With significant ability to initiate and influence changes in the department, the exemplarity of the leader is put into question should there be a lack of or insufficient transparency in decision making, as the situation becomes quickly perceived as one of cloakroom and secretive deals and arrangements. HOW CAN ONE REALLY TRAIN AND SURVIVE THE JOB OF HEADING AN ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT? Given all that a department chair is required to learn and implement, it is perhaps a delusion to think that one will be appropriately trained and prepared to lead an academic department – too many centripetal and centrifugal forces at play. Alternatively, it may be more appropriate to explore how one can learn to do the job. 1. Accept that the challenge is a special assignment and commit to working hard to succeed. This would mean stepping out of your comfort zone, taking risks, being challenged and accepting criticism, while seeking to be the best. Thrust at the core of a myriad of centrif- ugal and centripetal pressures, the academic leader is often at the interface of competing
- 51. Relevant leadership 17 rolesand responsibilities. As a member of the faculty corps, the department chair has to assume profiles that would otherwise be considered as irreconcilable. This situation leads to significant tensions where the leader has to navigate between control and autonomy while catering to individual development and collective progress. 2. Take time to discover and comprehend the scope of the “system” (the unit) and the ecosys- tem in which the unit is located. Get to know the members of the department, their moti- vations and aspirations, while understanding the rules and bureaucracy of the institution. In academia, the environment is extremely complex and there are often many “unwritten” rules. 3. At a minimum, identify and understand the various roles and profiles you may be required to assume. The academic chair is often caught in the “eye of the storm” where she/he is required to integrate and navigate the clashing needs of the institution, the unit, the individuals and her/his own. One of the more insightful approaches to identifying and understanding how to respond to the challenges of the storms while demonstrating appro- priate leadership is Quinn’s competing values framework (Figure 2.1). Drawing upon the categorization of several factors of organizational effectiveness (flexibility/autonomy and stability and control), and focus (individual (internal) and external (unit)), Quinn (1988) integrated several leadership behaviors and roles to create a competing value framework which provides useful insight in guiding the department chair’s actions. For Quinn, effec- tive managers are not only required to perform all of the eight roles listed, but they will often play multiple ones which compete and contradict, simultaneously, and this requires agility, dexterity and adaptability. Academic leaders are therefore encouraged to com- prehend the similarities, differences and expectations that underlie each role in order to better balance and execute them while promoting a culture of excellence. However, such a combination is not necessarily simple, nor without consequences. Given the diversity of the roles and expectations, and assorted behaviors, it is quite normal for the department chair to be seen as having a “personality disorder” or multiple personalities, as department members try to comprehend and decode the chair’s actions. It is also not unusual that the competency and capability of the chair can be called into question as department members seek clarity, coherence and consistency in the decision making. Such a dilemma can often undermine the leadership effectiveness of the chair. To offset the conundrum, department chairs who are transparent and empathetic in explaining their actions, are able to obtain the endorsement and support of the department, especially in times of adversity. 4. Develop a support network of mentors and opinion leaders on whom you can rely for inspiration and support. They would be able to share their past experiences and help you decode and formalize your ideas and initiatives. 5. Demonstrate empathy and admit doubt. Once members feel confident in your approach to their situation, you will be able to earn their trust. Should you have a doubt, one useful approach is to reach out to members and seek their input. Beyond the empathy and engage- ment, they will bring new ideas to the table and help shape the outcomes of the decision. There is no need to reinvent the wheel when one might already exist and you did not ask! In short, running a department is like being an athlete in a decathlon. It is perhaps impossi- ble, and almost a certainty, that you will encounter problems. Therefore, the incoming chair needs to be aware and sensitive to their biases. As the head of an academic department, one is entrusted with a multi-dimensional portfolio of responsibilities: pastoral, managerial, leader-
- 52. How to leadacademic departments successfully 18 ship, mentor, facilitator, negotiator, and so on. Executing these responsibilities is often a ballet of conflicting values, norms, and political, managerial and organizational pressures. Given the diversity of backgrounds, qualifications and experience, the challenge then becomes how to ensure everyone is treated fairly and equally for their work. Whether it be, for example, teaching schedules, administrative duties or budget allocation, keeping the playing field level and equal becomes a daunting exercise. The issue is therefore how to harmonize the function- ing of the faculty and minimize managerial and leadership biases. Ultimately, serving as the academic chair is the inevitable writing of a chapter in the history of the department. History, like the department members, will be your judge! REFERENCES Eley (1994) “Management Training for the University Head of Department”, International Journal of Educational Management, 8(2): 20–22. Jackson, M.P. (1999) “The Role of the Head of Department in Managing Performance in UK Universities”, International Journal of Educational Management, 13(3): 142–155. Lane, J. (2018) Transforming Academic Leadership: It Starts with Department Chairs, Higher Education Leadership Lens (24 April), https://sunysail.org/2018/04/24/transforming-academic-leadership-it -starts-with-department-chairs/. Quinn, R.E. (1988) Beyond Rational Management: Mastering the Paradoxes and Competing Demands of High Performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Wolverton, M, Ackerman Holt, S. (2005) “Preparing for Leadership: What Academic Department Chairs Need to Know”, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 27(2): 227–238 Figure 2.1 Quinn’s competing values framework
- 53. 19 3. The roleof academic leaders of a business school: an internal tensions perspective Matthew J. Robson But you must not change one thing, one pebble, one grain of sand, until you know what good and evil will follow on that act. The world is in balance, in Equilibrium. A wizard’s power of Changing and Summoning can shake the balance of the world. It is dangerous, that power … It must follow knowledge, and serve need. (Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea) INTRODUCTION The above quote sets out a guiding theme of Le Guin’s book, namely Taoism, and its fun- damental principle of living in harmony. The central character laments a foolish decision made during his youth to be a wizard that acts rather than a wizard content to simply be. I would argue that such a sentiment applies to academic leadership. Universities are not like businesses, despite the efforts of regulators and corporate sector-focused academic leaders to introduce market mechanisms. The sector tends toward continuity and stability rather than disruption and change. An important university alumnus once said to me, “Mat, someone from the staff said some- thing terrible to me. He said, ‘Because that worked so well this year, we should do exactly the same thing next year’. This person doesn’t get it. The University needs to be more dynamic.” I realized as I was being told this that the person who had said that was probably me. Whether or not he knew this, what he had meant was that in his line of work – as a hugely successful entrepreneur operating in the fast-moving world of fintech and, before that, advertising – value creation needs to be dynamic, otherwise competition will catch up. But this is not the way academic processes work; these are resistant to direct competition and radical changes, often with good reason. Leadership does not have to be about multifarious actions and the worst form of leader is one who acts without understanding the pattern of actions over time and the effects of extreme actions. Academic institutions are complex places. They have complicated and divergent goals, structures, staff, and stakeholders. The history of an academic institution is a history of its fault lines – between colliding agendas of different groups of staff and stakeholders and forms and levels of management. Indeed, there are often tensions between a business school and its university, with the latter being uncomfortably reliant on the scalability of the former’s programs and resultant cash flows (Pitelis, 2019). Academic leaders of schools and faculties, who act in extreme ways that fail to take into consideration the rich context of the academic grouping, do not tend to do well. A transitional
- 54. How to leadacademic departments successfully 20 type of Dean might say that, “I was recruited by the Vice Chancellor to do X, and I achieved X”, but their actions can destroy the ethos and harmony of a school and damage its trajectory long after they themselves have left. Good academic leaders are adept at managing upwards to maintain good conditions for a school, but also at managing downwards to the faculty using contextual knowledge and subtle, nuanced, and well-judged approaches. So how can an academic leader successfully be, in managing downwards? My own expe- riences as a leader – a Department Chair and faculty executive board member in the U.K. for several years – suggest the answer involves taking a dialectical view of academia. According to the dialectical view, the world is the unity of opposites. Within any entity, there are colliding events, forces, or values that compete against each other for primacy and control (Van de Ven, 1992). Opposing forces may well attempt to create an either/or position, but the reality is that the organization has an equilibrium orbit. Organization theorists assert that stability comes through striving for the unity of opposites (Das and Teng, 2000). For a school’s academic leader to successfully be, they must be sensitive to the dialectics of their own institution and not act in extreme ways that pull the organization out of its equi- librium orbit. A starting point in this is to fully understand major fault lines within the school and university. This chapter discusses three major ones that I have come across to date – ones that have occupied my time and thinking. These reflect the circumstances of business schools and the university sector in the U.K., but also apply in other countries. Of course, these and other fault lines exist to a greater or lesser extent in any given school and university, given the importance of context. MANAGERIALISM/OPTIMIZATION AND ENTREPRENEURIALISM/CREATIVITY Managerialism is about taking control and the measurement of actions and outcomes, estab- lishing hierarchy and accountability within line management structures, and optimizing to achieve things by doing more with less (Sandgren, 2012). Entrepreneurialism, on the other hand, is about freeing up the staff to be the best they can be creatively. This implies carefully delimiting managerial control, decentralizing decisions, and instilling a culture of staff taking responsibility for their own creative work in the classroom and journals. In my experience, and from speaking to acquaintances at many business schools in many parts of the world, different institutions are at different places in terms of these two forces. How can you tell which type of academic institution you are at? When a new staff member attends induction at their new school, if the Dean appears and focuses their talk on a list of gongs and trophies achieved on their watch, it is safe to say there is a more managerial style. Such an approach suggests there are top-down objectives and rules and your role is to fit into the agenda of maintaining these and, possibly, adding others. If the Dean instead talks more broadly about the culture of their school and how you might fit in as a learned academician, there is a more entrepreneurial style at play. In such a school, the staff do not expect to be closely managed – they are their own highly educated centers of activity. Do academic institutions expect to be managing their staff, that is, encouraging performance improvements in line with management’s goals? Line management in academic institutions does not always work well. In some countries, academic positions are temporary all the way through to full Chair-level staff. It stands to reason that staff on lengthy tenure tracks, fearing
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- 56. Ainsi lorsqu'un mortelsur qui son dieu s'étale —Quand ils voulaient faire des vers, je persiste à croire qu'ils ne se faisaient pas attacher sur un fougueux cheval nourri d'herbes marines: ils avaient encrier, plume et porte-plume, et papier, comme tout le monde. Et ils s'asseyaient à leur table sur une chaise, comme tout le monde, excepté celui qui travaillait debout. Et ils travaillaient, comme tout le monde. Et le génie exige la patience à travailler, docteur, et plus je vais, citoyen, moins je crois à l'efficacité des soudaines illuminations qui ne seraient pas accompagnées ou soutenues par un travail sérieux, moins je crois à l'efficacité des conversions extraordinaires soudaines et merveilleuses, à l'efficacité des passions soudaines,—et plus je crois à l'efficacité du travail modeste, lent, moléculaire, définitif. —Plus je vais, répondit gravement le docteur, moins je crois à l'efficacité d'une révolution sociale et extraordinaire soudaine, improvisée merveilleuse, avec ou sans fusils et dictature impersonnelle,—et plus je crois à l'efficacité d'un travail social modeste, lent, moléculaire, définitif. Mais je ne sais pas pourquoi vous abordez d'aussi grosses questions, que vous avez vous-même réservées, quand je vous demande seulement des renseignements sur les raisons et sur les sentiments que vous avez eus la semaine passée. —Pardonnez-moi, citoyen qui découpez des interrogations: pardonnez-moi d'échapper parfois à vos limites provisoires; pardonnez-moi sur ce que le réel n'est pas seulement fait pour se conformer à nos découpages. Mais ce sont nos découpages qui parfois sont conformes aux séparations du réel, et souvent sont arbitraires. —Particulièrement arbitraires quand nous traitons des hommes et des sociétés qu'ils ont formées.—Avez-vous au moment du danger pensé à ceci: à l'immortalité de l'âme ou à sa mortalité?
- 57. —Non, docteur, puisqueje vous ai dit que je ne me représentais pas que je partirais, que je quitterais, qu'ensuite je serais sans doute absent. Quand j'étais en province au lycée en ma première philosophie, un professeur âgé, blanc, honorable, très bon, très doux, très clair, très grave, à la parole ancienne, aux yeux profondément tristes et doux, nous enseignait. Nous lui devons plus pour nous avoir donné l'exemple d'une longue et sérieuse vie universitaire que pour nous avoir préparés patiemment au baccalauréat. Il traitait simplement et noblement devant nous les questions du programme. L'immortalité de l'âme était sans doute au programme. Il traita devant nous de l'immortalité de l'âme. 11 ne s'agissait de rien moins que de savoir si son âme à lui, à lui qui promenait régulièrement son corps en long et en long dans la classe, et qui plaçait régulièrement le pied de son corps sur les carreaux en brique de la classe,—donc il s'agissait de savoir si son âme à lui était immortelle ou mortelle; et il ne s'agissait pas moins de savoir si nos âmes à nous, qui utilisions diligemment les mains de nos corps à copier fidèlement le cours,—il ne s'agissait pas moins de savoir si nos âmes à nous étaient immortelles ou mortelles. Ce fut un grand débat. Le professeur équitable nous présenta les raisons par quoi nous pouvons penser que les âmes humaines sont immortelles; puis il nous présenta les raisons par quoi nous pouvons à la rigueur penser que nos âmes humaines sont mortelles: et dans ce cours de philosophie austère et doux les secondes raisons ne paraissaient pas prévaloir sur les premières. Le professeur équitable penchait évidemment pour la solution de l'espérance. Tout l'affectueux respect que nous lui avons gardé ne nous empêchait pas alors de réagir. Continuant à protester contre la croyance catholique où l'on nous avait élevés, commençant à protester contre l'enseignement du lycée, où nos études secondaires finissaient, préoccupés surtout de n'avoir pas peur, et de ne pas avoir l'air d'avoir peur, nous réagissions contre la complaisance. Nous étions durs. Nous disions hardiment que l'immortalité de l'âme, c'était de la métaphysique. Depuis je me suis aperçu que la mortalité de l'âme était aussi de la métaphysique. Aussi je ne dis plus rien. Le souci que j'avais de l'immortalité individuelle, et qui selon les événements de ma vie a
- 58. beaucoup varié, mereste. Mais l'attention que je donnais à ce souci a beaucoup diminué depuis que le souci de la mortalité, de la survivance et de l'immortalité sociale a grandi en moi. Pour l'immortalité aussi je suis devenu collectiviste. —On ne peut se convertir sérieusement au socialisme sans que la philosophie et la vie et les sentiments les plus profonds soient rafraîchis, renouvelés, et, pour garder le mot, convertis. —C'est une angoisse épouvantable que de prévoir et de voir la mort collective, soit que tout un peuple s'engloutisse dans le sang du massacre, soit que tout un peuple chancelle et se couche dans les retranchements de bataille, soit que tout un peuple s'empoisonne hâtivement d'alcool, soit que toute une classe meure accélérément du travail qui est censé lui donner la nourriture. Et comme l'humanité n'a pas des réserves indéfinies, c'est une étrange angoisse que de penser à la mort de l'humanité. —Reste à savoir, mon ami, s'il vaut mieux que l'humanité vive ou s'il vaut mieux qu'elle meure. —Pour savoir, docteur, s'il vaut mieux que l'humanité vive ou s'il vaut mieux qu'elle meure, encore faut-il qu'elle vive. On ne sait pas, quand on ne vit pas. On ne choisit pas, quand on ne vit pas. —La proposition que vous énoncez ici, mon ami, est à peu près ce qu'on nomme une lapalissade. —Mieux vaut proclamer une lapalissade que d'insinuer une erreur. —Ou plutôt il n'est pas mauvais de proclamer une lapalissade, et il est mauvais d'insinuer une erreur.—Vous avez sans doute ici les Dialogues philosophiques de Renan? —Bien entendu, docteur, que je les ai. —Voulez-vous me les donner?
- 59. Comme je n'avaispas encore la permission de sortir, on monta chercher les Dialogues. Le docteur moraliste posa sur ma table ronde le livre qu'il avait apporté, ouvrit les Dialogues et fragments philosophiques, s'arrêta aux Dialogues, les parcourut, les relut, relut des passages, entraîné continûment des certitudes aux probabilités et des probabilités aux rêves. Cela dura longtemps. —Il faudrait tout citer. Ces dialogues ont un charme étrange et une inconsistance merveilleuse, une admirable continuation de l'idée acceptée à l'idée inacceptable. On ne saurait, sans fausser le texte, isoler un passage, une idée, un mot. Les propositions ne sont pas déduites, ne paraissent pas conduites, s'interpénètrent, s'internourrissent. Étrange mutualité de l'incontestable et de l'indéfendable. Jamais nous ne saisirons dans ce tissu la formule entièrement fausse et plusieurs fois nous y subissons la certitude entièrement vraie. Mais la certitude même y laisse place à la défiance. Écoutez. Je lis presque au hasard: Euthyphron ... Le nombre des corps célestes où la vie peut se développer à un moment donné est, sans doute, dans une proportion infiniment petite avec le nombre des corps existants. La terre est peut-être à l'heure qu'il est, dans des espaces presque sans bornes, le seul globe habité. Parlons d'elle seule. Eh bien, un but comme celui dont vous venez de parler est au-dessus de ses forces. Ces mots d'omnipotence et d'omniscience doivent être laissés à la scolastique. L'humanité a eu un commencement; elle aura une fin. Une planète comme la nôtre n'a dans son histoire qu'une période de température où elle est habitable; dans quelques centaines de milliers d'années, on sera sorti de cette période. La Terre sera probablement alors comme la Lune, une planète épuisée, ayant accompli sa destinée et usé son capital planétaire, son charbon de terre, ses métaux, ses forces vives, ses races. La destinée de la Terre, en effet, n'est pas infinie, ainsi que vous le supposez. Comme tous les corps qui roulent dans l'espace, elle tirera de son sein ce qui est susceptible d'en être tiré; mais elle mourra, et, croyez-le, elle mourra, comme dit, dans le livre de Job, le sage de Théman, «avant d'avoir atteint la sagesse». —Je reconnais, docteur, et je ressens cette sérénité. Mais Renan...
- 60. —Il ne s'agitpas de Renan, mon ami. Voyez sa préface: ...Je me résigne d'avance à ce que l'on m'attribue directement toutes les opinions professées par mes interlocuteurs, même quand elles sont contradictoires. Je n'écris que pour des lecteurs intelligents et éclairés. Ceux-là admettront parfaitement que je n'aie nulle solidarité avec mes personnages et que je ne doive porter la responsabilité d'aucune des opinions qu'ils expriment. Chacun de ces personnages représente, aux degrés divers de la certitude, de la probabilité, du rêve, les côtés successifs d'une pensée libre; aucun d'eux n'est un pseudonyme que j'aurais choisi, selon une pratique familière aux auteurs de dialogues, pour exposer mon propre sentiment. —J'entends, docteur; et je n'adresserai ma réponse qu'à ce philosophe Euthyphron; cet homme au sens droit, qui, dans les premiers jours du mois de mai 1871... —Vive la Commune! citoyen. —...qui dans les premiers jours du mois de mai 1871, accablé des malheurs de sa patrie, se promenait dans une des parties les plus reculées du parc de Versailles, avec le philosophe Eudoxe, l'homme à la bonne opinion... —... et le philosophe ami de la vérité, le citoyen Philalèthe. —Si ce citoyen philosophe avait parfaitement aimé la vérité, il eût opposé une résistance un peu moins complaisante aux probabilités de celui qui vint le lendemain, le deuxième jour, de Théophraste, qui sans doute parlait de Dieu. —C'est que ce Théophraste en réalité introduisait ses probabilités sur les certitudes que ce Philalèthe avait posées. L'objection de l'homme au sens droit n'atteint pas ce Théophraste: «Nous ne disons pas que l'absolu de la raison sera atteint par l'humanité; nous disons qu'il sera atteint par quelque chose d'analogue à l'humanité. Des milliers d'essais se sont déjà produits, des milliers se produiront; il suffit qu'il y en ait un qui réussisse. Les forces de la Terre, comme vous l'avez très bien dit, sont finies.» Et il recommence. Et encore:
- 61. «Du reste, peuimporte. Il est très possible que la Terre manque à son devoir ou sorte des conditions viables avant de l'avoir rempli, ainsi que cela est déjà arrivé à des milliards de corps célestes; il suffit qu'un seul de ces corps accomplisse sa destinée. Songeons que l'expérience de l'univers se fait sur l'infini des mondes.» —Ne poursuivez pas, docteur, vos citations insaisissables. Nous ne pouvons pas critiquer cela ainsi. C'est proprement un charme. 11 faudrait le rompre. Il faudrait lire du commencement à la fin, mot par mot, puis phrase à phrase, puis dialogue à dialogue, puis d'ensemble, et à tous les degrés on commenterait et on critiquerait cet admirable texte comme un texte ancien. Au peu que vous m'avez cité, docteur, que de commentaires et que de critiques! Sous l'apparente humilité de la forme, sous la sérénité imposante et charmeuse des mots, sous la savante impartialité de la proposition, quelle présomptueuse autorité de commandement, quelle usurpation, conduisant à quelles tyrannies! Nous n'avons jamais eu de plus grand ennemi que ce Théophraste, qui se promenait à Versailles, sinon le Versaillais qui se promena le troisième jour avec eux, Théoctiste, celui qui fait la fondation de Dieu. Les réactionnaires les plus dangereux n'ont jamais prononcé sur tout ce que nous aimons, sur tout ce que nous préparons, sur tout ce que nous faisons, surtout ce pour quoi nous vivons, des paroles aussi redoutables, d'une injustice élégante aussi profonde que ces deux idéalistes. Il ne suffit pas de sous-intituler un dialogue Probabilités ou Rêves: il convient que l'incertitude réside au cœur des probabilités, et que l'improbabilité réside au cœur des rêves. —N'oublions pas l'Avenir de la Science. Renan l'annonce lui-même en note: «Je publierai plus tard un essai, intitulé l'Avenir de la Science, que je composai en 1848 et 1849, bien plus consolant que celui-ci, et qui plaira davantage aux personnes attachées à la religion démocratique. La réaction de 1850-51 et le coup d'État m'inspirèrent un pessimisme dont je ne suis pas encore guéri.» —Je ne crains pas beaucoup que M. Jules Roche ait fait campagne au Figaro contre le socialisme. Je crains un peu plus que Macaulay
- 62. intervienne au débat.Mais je redoute que ce Théophraste et que ce Théoctiste prononcent assurément leurs propositions inintelligentes admirablement vêtues. Je redoute que ces probabilités soient présentées sur un certain mode comme si elles étaient certaines, et que ces rêves ne soient pas présentés vraiment sur un mode improbable. Donnez-moi ces Dialogues. Merci. Écoutez ce Théophraste en ses probabilités. Attendez un peu. Je vais le trouver. Le voici. Écoutez bien: «Voilà pourquoi les pays où il y a des classes marquées sont les meilleurs pour les savants; car, dans de tels pays, ils n'ont ni devoirs politiques, ni devoirs de société; rien ne les fausse. Voilà enfin pourquoi le savant s'incline volontiers (non sans quelque ironie) devant les gens de guerre et les gens du monde. Le contemplateur tranquille vit doucement derrière eux, tandis que le prêtre le gêne avec son dogmatisme, et le peuple avec son superficiel jugement d'école primaire et ses idées de magister de village.» —Il me paraît certain que ce Théophraste ingénieux n'avait pas imaginé l'affaire Dreyfus, ni connu M. Duclaux. —Considérons seulement comme une probabilité qu'il n'avait pas imaginé cette malheureuse affaire. Je ne lui en fais pas un reproche, mais je lui ferais volontiers un reproche, ayant oublié d'imaginer cette imminente affaire, d'avoir assurément généralisé, présomptueusement prophétisé, d'avoir annoncé les temps éternels, d'avoir escompté l'espace infini. C'est un peu de l'astrologie qui avait oublié un puits très terrestre. Il y a beaucoup de puits. Et je lui reproche, ayant fait cet oubli, d'avoir aussi dédaigneusement négligé ma socialisation des moyens d'enseignement. «Le peuple avec son superficiel jugement d'école primaire et ses idées de magister du village»: voilà qui est bientôt dit, mais, monsieur,—c'est à ce Théophraste que je parle, et non pas à Renan, qui depuis nous a donné cet Avenir de la science, qu'il avait produit au temps de sa jeunesse—mais, monsieur, toutes vos généralités deviennent improbables si nous réussissons à donner au peuple cette culture que nous lui devons, que nous n'avons pas toute, que nous
- 63. recevrons et quenous nous donnerons en la lui donnant. Cela sera long. Cela sera difficile. Mais cela n'est pas impossible. Et même cela est plus facile à organiser que les communications interplanétaires. Et cela n'est pas, en un sens, moins intéressant. Et j'irai plus loin, monsieur—c'est toujours à ce M. Théophraste que je m'adresse, et non pas à M. Renan—je dirai plus: en attendant que nous ayons socialisé, universalisé la culture, si je m'arrête à la considération du présent soucieux et d'un avenir prochain, dans le village où nous demeurons, celui que vous nommez le magister, celui qu'on nommait naguère le maître d'école, et que nous intitulons sérieusement l'instituteur n'est pas un homme insupportable au contemplateur tranquille. Et il est un auxiliaire indispensable au contemplateur inquiet, que nous nommons communément homme d'action. L'instituteur au village ne représente pas moins la philosophie et la science, la raison et la santé, que le curé ne représente la religion catholique. Si ce village de Seine-et-Oise ne meurt pas dans les fureurs et dans les laides imbécillités de la dégénérescence alcoolique, si l'imagination de ce village arrive à surmonter les saletés, les horreurs et les idioties des romans feuilletons, nous n'en serons pas moins redevables à ce jeune instituteur que nous n'en sommes redevables au Collège de France. Et encore nous n'en sommes redevables aux corps savants que parce qu'ils n'ont pas accompagné Théophraste en ses probabilités et Théoctiste en ses rêves. Sinon... —Vous avez raison, mon ami, mais vous vous excitez. Puisque nous sommes revenus à parler des morts collectives, traitons posément, le voulez-vous, des morts collectives? Il vaut mieux faire ce que l'on fait. —Pas encore, citoyen, je veux dire tout ce que je veux dire à ce M. Théophraste. Et que ne dirai-je pas à son ami M. Théoctiste. Écoutez un peu, docteur, ce qu'il me dit: «En somme, la fin de l'humanité, c'est de produire des grands hommes; le grand œuvre s'accomplira par la science, non par la démocratie. Rien sans grands hommes; le salut se fera par des grands hommes. L'œuvre du
- 64. Messie, du libérateur,c'est un homme, non une masse qui l'accomplira. On est injuste pour les pays qui, comme la France, ne produisent que de l'exquis, qui fabriquent de la dentelle, non de la toile de ménage. Ce sont ces pays-là qui servent le plus au progrès. L'essentiel est moins de produire des masses éclairées que de produire de grands génies et un public capable de les comprendre. Si l'ignorance des masses est une condition nécessaire pour cela, tant pis. La nature ne s'arrête pas devant de tels soucis; elle sacrifie des espèces entières pour que d'autres trouvent les conditions essentielles de leur vie.» Voici ce qu'il dit. —Le fait est, mon ami, que les paroles de ce Théoctiste ne sont pas beaucoup favorables à nos récentes universités populaires. Il avait encore dit: «Qu'importe que les millions d'être bornés qui couvrent la planète ignorent la vérité ou la nient, pourvu que les intelligents la voient et l'adorent?» Nous avons connu, depuis, combien il importe que quarante millions de simples citoyens n'ignorent pas et ne nient pas la vérité, non seulement la vérité scientifique, mais aussi la vérité historique—pour Théoctiste surtout la vérité historique est partie inséparable de la vérité scientifique- nous avons connu qu'il ne suffit pas que quelques intelligents la voient; nous avons renoncé à toute adoration, même à l'adoration de la vérité. Tout se tient ici. Parce que Théophraste et parce que Théoctiste n'ont pas imaginé l'affaire Dreyfus, ils prononcent des paroles défavorables à ce grand mouvement salubre des universités populaires. Comme leurs propos sont éloignés de cette heureuse, de cette saine allocution qu'Anatole France prononça naguère à l'inauguration de l'Émancipation, et que vous avez mise au commencement du troisième cahier. On m'a dit que le même citoyen parlerait bientôt à la fête inaugurale de l'Université populaire du premier et du deuxième arrondissement. Attendons, si vous le voulez, qu'il ait participé à cette inauguration. Nous aurons encore plus de courage à ne pas accompagner le deuxième, l'annonciateur, le Baptiste, en ses probabilités et le troisième, le fondateur, en ses rêves. Un charme de vérité nous protégera contre un charme d'erreur.
- 65. Ayant ainsi parlé,le docteur me souhaita une heureuse convalescence. Quand il revint, le mardi 6 courant, au matin, j'allais un peu mieux de la rechute que j'avais eue la veille. Le docteur ne me fit pas ses compliments. —Je vous reconnais bien là, me dit-il. Nous avons à peine essayé d'éclaircir le tout premier commencement de votre chute, et vous me faites une rechute. On m'avait bien dit que vous allez toujours trop vite. Vous n'attendez jamais les enregistrements ni les explications. —Pardonnez-moi, docteur, et supposons que je ne suis pas retombé. Ainsi nous continuerons ce que nous avons commencé, comme si de rien n'était. La Petite République d'hier matin, datée d'aujourd'hui mardi 6 mars, nous a donné l'allocution attendue. Devons-nous la relire ici-même ou devons-nous la garder pour quand nous recueillerons les documents et les renseignements pour et contre les universités populaires. —Mieux vaut, mon ami, les relire aujourd'hui. Cette allocution de France accompagne aisément celle que vous avez déjà donnée. Enfin, quand nous causerons des universités populaires, nous négligerons un peu, si vous le voulez bien, celles qui sont nées glorieuses pour étudier attentivement celles qui sont restées ordinaires. —Lisons donc. Et entendons: PROLÉTARIAT ET SCIENCE Hier, dans l'après-midi, a eu lieu, sous la présidence d'Anatole France, la fête inaugurale de l'Université populaire du premier et du deuxième arrondissement. Le préau de l'école de la rue Étienne-Marcel était trop étroit pour contenir tous les assistants, qui débordaient dans la cour. Les citoyens Allemane et Jaurès ont prononcé des discours très applaudis. Nous sommes heureux de donner le texte complet de l'allocution d'Anatole France, dont les principaux passages ont été acclamés: Citoyens,
- 66. En poursuivant samarche lente, à travers les obstacles, vers la conquête des pouvoirs publics et des forces sociales, le prolétariat a compris la nécessité de mettre dès à présent la main sur la science et de s'emparer des armes puissantes de la pensée. Partout, à Paris et dans les provinces, se fondent et se multiplient ces universités populaires, destinées à répandre parmi les travailleurs ces richesses intellectuelles longtemps renfermées dans la classe bourgeoise. Votre association, le Réveil des premier et deuxième arrondissements, se jette dans cette grande entreprise avec un élan généreux et une pleine conscience de la réalité. Vous avez compris qu'on n'agit utilement qu'à la clarté de la science. Et qu'est en effet cette science? Mécanique, physique, physiologie, biologie, qu'est-ce que tout cela, sinon la connaissance de la nature et de l'homme, ou plus précisément la connaissance des rapports de l'homme avec la nature et des conditions mêmes de la vie? Vous sentez qu'il nous importe grandement de connaître les conditions de la vie, afin de nous soumettre à celles-là seules qui nous sont nécessaires, et non point aux conditions arbitraires, souvent humiliantes ou pénibles, que l'ignorance et l'erreur nous ont imposées. Les dépendances naturelles qui résultent de la constitution de la planète et des fonctions de nos organes sont assez étroites et pressantes pour que nous prenions garde de ne pas subir encore des dépendances arbitraires. Avertis par la science, nous nous soumettons à la nature des choses et cette soumission auguste est notre seule soumission. L'ignorance n'est si détestable que parce qu'elle nourrit les préjugés qui nous empêchent d'accomplir nos vraies fonctions, en nous en imposant de fausses qui sont pénibles et parfois malfaisantes et cruelles, à ce point qu'on voit, sous l'empire de l'ignorance, les plus honnêtes gens devenir criminels par devoir. L'histoire des religions nous en fournit d'innombrables exemples: sacrifices humains, guerres religieuses, persécutions, bûchers, vœux monastiques, exécrables pratiques issues moins de la méchanceté des hommes que de leur insanité. Si l'on réfléchit sur les misères qui, depuis l'âge des cavernes jusqu'à nos jours encore barbares, ont accablé la malheureuse humanité, on en trouve presque toujours la cause dans une fausse interprétation des phénomènes de la nature et dans quelqu'une de ces doctrines théologiques qui donnent de l'univers une explication atroce et stupide. Une mauvaise physique produit une mauvaise morale, et c'est assez pour que, durant des siècles, des générations humaines naissent et meurent dans un abîme de souffrance et de désolation.
- 67. En leur longueenfance, les peuples ont été asservis aux fantômes de la peur, qu'ils avaient eux-mêmes créés. Et nous, si nous touchons enfin le bord des ténèbres théologiques, nous n'en sommes pas encore tout à fait sortis. Ou pour mieux dire, dans la marche inégale et lente de la famille humaine, quand déjà la tête de la caravane est entrée dans les régions lumineuses de la science, le reste se traîne encore sous les nuées épaisses de la superstition, dans des contrées obscures, pleines de larves et de spectres. Ah! que vous avez raison, citoyens, de prendre la tête de la caravane! Que vous avez raison de vouloir la lumière, d'aller demander conseil à la science. Sans doute, il vous reste peu d'heures, le soir, après le dur travail du jour, bien peu d'heures pour l'interroger, cette science qui répond lentement aux questions qu'on lui fait et qui livre l'un après l'autre, sans hâte, ses secrets innombrables. Nous devons tous nous résigner à n'obtenir que des parcelles de vérité. Mais il y a à considérer dans la science la méthode et les résultats. Les résultats, vous en prendrez ce que vous pourrez. La méthode, plus précieuse encore que les résultats, puisqu'elle les a tous produits et qu'elle en produira encore une infinité d'autres, la méthode vous saurez vous l'approprier, et elle vous procurera les moyens de conduire sûrement votre esprit dans toutes les recherches qu'il vous sera utile de faire. Citoyens, le nom que vous avez donné à votre Université montre assez que vous sentez que l'heure est venue des pensées vigilantes. Vous l'avez appelée le Réveil sans doute parce que vous sentez qu'il est temps de chasser les fantômes de la nuit et de vous tenir alertes et debout, prêts à défendre les droits de l'esprit contre les ennemis de la pensée, et la République contre ces étranges libéraux, qui ne réclament de liberté que contre la liberté. Il m'était réservé d'annoncer votre noble effort et de vous féliciter de votre entreprise. Je l'ai fait avec joie et en aussi peu de mots que possible. J'aurais considéré comme un grand tort envers vous de retarder, fût-ce d'un instant, l'heure où vous entendrez la grande voix de Jaurès. —Nous n'avons pas entendu la grande voix de Jaurès, mais nous avons eu de lui, le même jour, un article bref et significatif: UNIVERSITÉS POPULAIRES
- 68. Elles se multiplientà Paris, et les prolétaires assistent nombreux, fidèles, aux leçons et séries de leçons que leur donnent de bons maîtres. Le prolétariat aspire évidemment à sa part de science et de lumière; et si limités que soient ses loisirs, si accablé que soit son esprit de toutes les lassitudes du corps, il ne veut pas attendre l'entière transformation sociale pour commencer à penser. Il sait que ce commencement de savoir l'aidera dans son grand effort d'émancipation révolutionnaire. Ce n'est pas seulement dans l'interprétation de l'univers naturel, c'est dans l'interprétation de l'univers social que le prolétariat, selon le conseil excellent d'Anatole France, doit appliquer la méthode libératrice de la science. Dans l'ordre social aussi il y a une théologie: le Capital prétend se soustraire à l'universelle loi de l'évolution et s'ériger en force éternelle, en immuable droit. Le capitalisme aussi est une superstition, car il survit, dans l'esprit routinier et asservi des hommes, aux causes économiques et historiques qui l'ont suscité et momentanément légitimé. Dans l'ordre social aussi, les fantômes de la peur troublent le cerveau des hommes. Ce ne sont pas seulement les possédants qui s'effraient à l'idée d'un changement complet dans le système de propriété: il y a encore une part du prolétariat qui a peur de tomber dans le vide si on lui retire soudain la servitude accoutumée où s'appuie sa pensée routinière. Voilà pourquoi la science, en déroulant sous le regard des prolétaires les vicissitudes de l'univers et le changement incessant des formes sociales, est, par sa seule vertu, libératrice et révolutionnaire. Nous n'avons même pas besoin que les maîtres qui enseignent dans les Universités populaires concluent personnellement et explicitement au socialisme. Dans l'état présent du monde, c'est la science elle-même qui conclut. On me dit qu'il y a des socialistes qui voient encore un calcul machiavélique de la bourgeoisie et un piège pour les travailleurs dans les universités populaires, comme ils voient un piège dans la coopérative, dans le syndicat. Oh! qu'ils ont peu de confiance en la force historique du prolétariat: à l'heure où nous sommes, il ne peut plus être dupe: car les ruses mêmes qui seraient imaginées contre lui ne serviraient qu'à accroître sa force. Est-ce que notre parti aussi serait transi par la peur des fantômes? Et allons-nous, décidément, nous retirer de l'action dans la crainte vague d'être égarés par des feux follets sur des chemins de perdition? Pour nous, quelles que soient les interprétations venimeuses, nous sommes absolument résolus à continuer, d'accord avec le prolétariat militant et agissant, l'œuvre d'organisation ouvrière et d'émancipation intellectuelle
- 69. qui est lacondition même de la Révolution, et même un commencement de Révolution. —Oh! oh! docteur, voilà des paroles un peu fortes, surtout venues de Jaurès. Mais laissons cela. Nous reparlerons de l'action socialiste. Nous reparlerons de l'unité socialiste. J'ai relu attentivement depuis la dernière conversation que nous avons eue, les Dialogues philosophiques. J'ai lu aussi Caliban. Je m'en tiens à ce que nous avons dit. —Vous avez raison. Il conviendrait de commenter ces dialogues au moins aussi scrupuleusement que l'on commente en conférences les dialogues de Platon. Ils valent ce commentaire. Alors on distinguerait les discontinuités de la pensée admirablement voilées sous la continuité de la phrase, du mouvement. Alors on apercevrait les inconsistances de la pensée admirablement maintenues par la tenue de la forme. Alors on demanderait au moins quelques définitions préalables. —Il est vrai, docteur, que ces dialogues, souples et merveilleux, réconcilient avec ces excès de définition que présentent certains dialogues platoniciens, moins souples et moins merveilleux. Ils réconcilieraient presque avec les manies scolastiques. Ils réconcilient avec tous les échafaudages de Kant. Ils font aimer plus que jamais les bonnes habitudes scolaires des honnêtes professeurs de philosophie. Et même ils feraient aimer les gens qui ont eu souci de baralipton. Et ils feraient pardonner aux jésuites leurs distinguo. —Vous parlez de Kant, mon ami: quelle ignorance—voulue—ou quelle méconnaissance des frontières kantiennes, frontières non revisées pourtant, et frontières sans doute inrevisables. Tout comme l'auteur, ayant inscrit Probabilités au fronton du second dialogue et Rêves au fronton du troisième, a négligé un peu dans son texte même que les probabilités n'étaient pas certaines et que les rêves étaient improbables, tout à fait ainsi, ayant nommé Kant, par Eudoxe, au commencement des Certitudes, se heurtant aux
- 70. antinomies de Kant,par Euthyphron, à la fin des Rêves, il a dans son texte même oublié un peu ce que je me permets de nommer la prudence et que l'on pourrait aller jusqu'à nommer la mégarde kantienne. Et même avant Kant. Eudoxe, au commencement du premier jour, portait sur lui un exemplaire des Entretiens sur la métaphysique, de Malebranche. Mais ces grands philosophes avaient un soin préalable de leurs définitions et de leurs distinctions. Une simple distinction du très grand, de l'indéfini et de l'infini, une simple distinction du perdurable, du temporel indéfini, du temporel infini et de l'éternel annulerait plusieurs paroles de Théophraste, plusieurs fondations de Théoctiste: elle endommagerait ainsi le Dieu qu'ils annoncent et qu'ils fondent. Au courant de ses probabilités, le citoyen Théophraste esquisse une théorie des probabilités qui n'est pas incontestable. Une simple définition de la proportion mathématique, une simple définition ou distinction de la nature et de la morale, distinction considérable au moins, immobiliserait beaucoup de comparaisons dégénérant en assimilations et en identifications. L'impératif catégorique est un peu facilement englobé. En vérité, ce Renan me ferait aimer le pédantisme. Je ne suis pas très partisan des spéculations immenses, des contemplations éternelles. Je n'ai pas le temps. Je travaille par quinzaines. Je m'attache au présent. Il en vaut la peine. Je ne travaillais pas dans la première et dans la deuxième quinzaine de mai 1871. Comment l'aurais-je fait, si je n'étais pas né? Je travaille dans les misères du présent. Mais quand on se fonde sur l'immensité des rêves éternels pour démolir ma prochaine socialisation des moyens d'enseignement, je ne puis m'empêcher d'examiner un peu si les rêves sont rêvés selon les lois des rêves humains: car il y a des lois des rêves humains, il y a des frontières des rêves humains. Et si ces rêves ne sont pas humains, si on les nomme surhumains, je les nomme inhumains, et j'en ignore: Je suis homme, et rien de ce qui est inhumain ne m'est concitoyen. —Et quand on se fonde, citoyen, sur l'immensité des rêves éternels pour me distraire de la considération des mortalités prochaines, je résiste invinciblement. Et quand on se fonde sur
- 71. l'immensité de l'espéranceéternelle pour me consoler de la prochaine épouvante, je refuse. Non pas que l'inquiétude et l'angoisse ne me soit douloureuse, mais mieux vaut encore une inquiétude ou même une épouvante sincère qu'une espérance religieuse. Tous ces fils de Renan, qui dialoguaient, étaient des savants religieux. —Ou plutôt une inquiétude et même une épouvante, si elle est sincère, est bonne; au lieu qu'une espérance enchanteresse est mauvaise. Ne nous laissons pas bercer. Croyons qu'une souffrance vraie est incomparable au meilleur des enchantements faux. Ne soyons pas religieux, même avec Renan. —Ne nous retirons pas plus du monde vivant pour considérer les sidérales promesses que pour contempler une cité céleste. Il me paraît que l'humanité présente a besoin de tous les soins de tous les hommes. Sans doute elle aurait moins besoin de nos travaux si les hommes religieux qui nous ont précédés avaient travaillé un peu plus humainement et s'ils avaient prié un peu moins. Car prier n'est pas travailler. Il me paraît incontestable que l'humanité présente est malade sérieusement. Le massacre des Arméniens, sur lequel je reviendrai toujours, et qui dure encore, n'est pas seulement le plus grand massacre de ce siècle; mais il fut et il est sans doute le plus grand massacre des temps modernes, et pour nous rappeler une telle mort collective, il nous faut dans la mémoire de l'humanité remonter jusqu'aux massacres asiatiques du Moyen-Age. Et l'Europe n'a pas bougé. La France n'a pas bougé. La finance internationale nous tenait. Nous avons édifié là-dessus quelques fortunes littéraires et plusieurs succès oratoires. Pas moi. Ni vous. Ni le peuple. Mais ni le peuple, ni vous, ni moi, nous n'avons bougé. La presse infâme, vendue au Sultan, abrutissait déjà le peuple. Et puis, cause d'abstention plus profonde: l'Europe est malade, la France est malade. Je suis malade. Le monde est malade. Les peuples et les nations qui paraissaient au moins libérales s'abandonnent aux ivrogneries de la gloire militaire, se soûlent de conquêtes. La France a failli recommencer les guerres de religion,—sans avoir même la foi.
- 72. Les jeunes civilisations,comme on les nommait, sont plus pourries que les anciennes. Les rois nous soûlaient de fumées, comme on le chante encore, selon Pottier. Mais à présent, ce sont les peuples qui se soûlent de gloire militaire, comme ils se soûlent d'alcool, eux- mêmes. Auto-intoxication. La pourriture de l'Europe a débordé sur le monde. L'Afrique entière, française ou anglaise, est devenue un champ d'horreurs, de sadismes et d'exploitations criminelles. Réussirons-nous jamais à racheter les hideurs africaines, les ignominies commises par nos officiers au nom du peuple français. Mais non, nous ne le pourrons pas. Car il n'y a pas de rachat. Ceux qui sont morts sont bien morts. Ceux qui ont souffert ont bien souffert. Nous n'y pouvons rien. C'est à peine si nous pouvons atténuer un peu le futur. Par quels remèdes? Nous essayerons de l'examiner plus tard. Mais quand je vois toutes ces morts collectives menaçantes, quand je vois l'empoisonnement alcoolique et l'épuisement industriel, et quand je pense à la grande mort collective qui clorait l'humanité, je refuse audience à l'enchanteur: «Qu'importe, m'a dit l'enchanteur, qu'importe que l'humanité meure avant d'avoir institué la raison? qu'importe que mille humanités meurent? Une humanité réussira.» Quittons, docteur, je vous en prie, quittons la morale astronomique, et soyons révolutionnaires. Préparons dans le présent la révolution de la santé pour l'humanité présente. Cela est beaucoup plus sûr. Travaillons. En vérité, je vous le dis, ce Théophraste et ce Théoctiste sont parmi nos plus grands et nos plus redoutables ennemis. Tous les deux ils sont de grands détendeurs de courages. —On peut et on doit relâcher les courages qui seraient tendus contre la justice et contre la vérité. J'admets que l'on soit détendeur de courages, que ce soit un métier. Mais je n'admets pas que l'on séduise les faibles et que l'on relâche les courages par des enchantements faux pour des enchantements indémontrables. Laissons, mon ami, puisque ainsi vous-même l'avez demandé, laissons l'espérance intersidérale et continuons à causer de ce
- 73. monde malade. Connaissez-vousdes gens qui n'aient pas pour la mort les sentiments que vous avez eus. —J'en connais, docteur, et j'en ai connu beaucoup, parce que j'ai connu beaucoup d'hommes. Il me souvient d'un camarade que j'avais et qui sans doute serait devenu mon ami, un tuberculeux, un poitrinaire, qui mourait depuis longtemps, grand, gros, doux, barbu d'une barbe soyeuse et frisée assez, très doux, bonne mine, calme et fort, très bon, l'un des deux hommes les plus bons que j'aie connus jamais. Il mourait lentement en préparant ponctuellement des examens onéreux. Il était très bon envers la vie et envers la mort, sans croyance religieuse et tout dévêtu d'espérance métaphysique ou religieuse. A peine s'il disait qu'il retournerait dans la nature, qu'il se disperserait en nature. Il est mort jeune embaumé de sérénité comme un vieillard qui a parfait son âge. Aucun de ses camarades, aucun de ses amis, quels que fussent déjà nos sentiments divergents, n'omettait de l'admirer, de l'aimer. Il avait évidemment pour la vie et la mort des sentiments tout à fait étrangers aux sentiments que j'ai, que j'avais ces jours-ci étant malade... —Et que vous ne m'avez pas dit. —J'y viendrai. Aucun de nous qui n'admirât cette singulière et laïque santé des sentiments au déclin de sa vie ordinaire et patiente. —Cette admirable soumission patiente, cette admirable conformation consciente, ne serait pas sans doute aussi rare parmi nous si l'invasion des sentiments chrétiens ne lui avait rapidement substitué la soumission fidèle. Comparez la Prière pour demander à Dieu le bon usage des maladies avec la résonance de certaines résignations stoïciennes. —Je ne sais pas d'histoire, docteur. Je ne connais pas l'histoire de l'invasion chrétienne au cœur du monde ancien. —Au cœur de la Ville et du Monde. Comparez seulement ces textes authentiques, la Prière au Manuel. Avez-vous pu analyser les
- 74. sentiments, étrangers àvous, que votre ami avait sur la vie et la mort. Je suis assuré que ces sentiments étaient apparentés aux sentiments stoïciens. —Je pourrais les analyser, docteur, mais non pas sans faire des recherches longues et difficiles parmi les souvenirs de ma mémoire. Et quand dans les connaissances de ma mémoire je me serais représenté les images des sentiments de mon ami, j'aurais à vous les présenter. Comment vous présenter ces nuances parfaitement délicates? Comment vous conter ces événements doux, menus, profonds et grands? A peine un roman pourrait-il donner cette impression. Et s'il vous faut un roman, docteur, allez le demander à mes amis Jérôme et Jean Tharaud. C'est leur métier, de faire des romans. Chacun son métier. Continuons la conversation. —Quelles personnes avez-vous connues encore, mon ami, qui n'avaient pas les mêmes sentiments que vous devant la mort? —Je ne saurais, docteur, vous les citer toutes. —Pouvez-vous m'en citer une au moins dont l'histoire ait fait sur vous plus d'impression. —Oui, docteur. J'étais tout petit quand cette histoire s'est passée. Aussi ne l'ai-je pas entendue à mesure que je l'ai connue. Quand j'étais petit je l'ai connue et suivie attentivement, parce que je sentais confusément qu'elle était sérieuse. Quand je fus devenu grand je l'ai à peu près entendue. Elle est simple. C'était une pauvre femme, une assez vieille dame, riche, mariée à un officier de l'Empire, qui vivait en retraite, un pur voyou, comme il y en avait tant parmi les officiers de l'Empire. La malheureuse était tombée dans la dévotion. Quand je dis tombée, je cède à l'habitude, car je ne sais nullement si elle en fut remontée ou descendue. Elle devint en proie aux bons Pères, comme ou les nommait, qui avaient une petite chapelle dans le faubourg. —Était-ce déjà les révérends pères Augustins de l'Assomption?
- 75. —Non, citoyen, c'étaientles pères Lazaristes. J'ai connu beaucoup de gens qui croyaient qu'il y a un Paradis comme je crois que je cause avec vous. Mais je n'ai connu personne au monde qui se représentât aussi présentement le bon Dieu, les anges, le diable et tout ce qui s'ensuit. Cette pauvre femme avait ainsi la consolation dont elle avait besoin. Mais je vous donnerais une impression un peu simple et vraiment fausse, docteur, si je vous laissais croire que la malheureuse croyait par égoïsme inconscient ou conscient, simple ou compliqué, particulier ou collectif. Elle croyait. Cette croyance étant donnée, elle y avait sa consolation. Elle attendait impatiemment que son Dieu lui accordât la permission de passer de ce monde militaire et misérable aux saintes douceurs du ciel, adorables idées. Je pense que beaucoup de chrétiens sont ainsi. Elle se livrait à des exercices extraordinaires qui tuaient son corps et délivraient son âme. Les bons Pères attendaient le testament. Dans la vie ordinaire et un peu facile du faubourg, cette malheureuse dame riche me paraissait surnaturelle et difficile. Tous les matins, hiver comme été, avant l'heure où les pauvres femmes allaient laver la lessive chez les patrons, pour vingt sous par jour, non nourri, autant qu'il me souvienne, la déplorable chrétienne s'en allait à la première messe, dans la neige imbalayée ou dans la fraîche tiédeur du matin païen. «Avoir des rentes comme elle et se lever si matin!» disaient les femmes qui allaient laver la lessive, «au lieu de rester au lit: faut-il qu'elle soit innocente!» Cette innocente eut ce qu'elle devait avoir. Son Dieu lui fit la grâce de la rappeler à lui pendant la sainte semaine. Elle n'eut pas la grippe, encore ininventée; un jour de la semaine des Rameaux, le printemps étant froid, elle eut un courant d'air dans la petite chapelle. Quand son médecin lui annonça qu'elle avait une fluxion de poitrine, elle en reçut la nouvelle comme l'annonce et la promesse du tout proche bonheur éternel. Elle entra en béatitude. La fluxion de poitrine l'emporta au bout de ses neuf jours, comme tout le monde. Je crois qu'elle fut sérieusement complice de sa mort. Elle était profondément malheureuse et chrétienne. J'en conclus que les chrétiens peuvent avoir une soif religieuse et faire un commencement d'exécution de cette mort que nous redoutons.
- 76. —Cette conclusion généraleme paraît admissible, mais seulement parce qu'elle n'engage que les possibilités. Je suis d'accord avec vous que beaucoup de chrétiens sans doute ont ainsi désiré le ciel jusqu'à faire un commencement d'exécution,—involontaire et parfois presque volontaire—de leur mort individuelle. Mais je ne vous accorderais pas que cette conduite soit proprement chrétienne. J'ai peur, mon ami, que vous n'ayez mal entendu la Prière pour demander à Dieu le bon usage des maladies. J'ai peur que vous n'ayez interprété cette soumission parfaite comme je ne sais quelle complaisance, quelle facilité à la mort, comme une complicité. Vous avez tellement peur de la mort que ceux qui n'en ont point cette peur vous paraissent en avoir le désir. La position de ce chrétien géomètre était, comme il convient, rigoureusement exacte. Avez- vous cette petite édition des Pensées où vous avez lu le texte? Merci. Vie de Blaise Pascal, par madame Perier (Gilberte Pascal), sœur aînée de Pascal,— —Histoire un peu favorable— —Histoire où transparaît la piété fraternelle, presque un peu maternelle, sévère comme en ce temps, chrétienne et janséniste. —La Prière pour demander à Dieu le bon usage des maladies a été composée en 1648: Pascal avait alors vingt-quatre ans. Ce que je vais vous dire paraît se rapporter au même âge: «Cependant mon frère, de qui Dieu se servait pour opérer tous ces biens, était travaillé par des maladies continuelles, et qui allaient toujours en augmentant. Mais, comme alors il ne connaissait pas d'autre science que la perfection, il trouvait une grande différence entre celle-là et celles qui avaient occupé son esprit jusqu'alors; car, au lieu que ses indispositions retardaient le progrès des autres, celle-ci au contraire se perfectionnait dans ces mêmes indispositions par la patience admirable avec laquelle il les souffrait. Je me contenterai, pour le faire voir, d'en rapporter un exemple. »Il avait, entre autres incommodités, celle de ne pouvoir rien avaler de liquide qu'il ne fût chaud; encore ne le pouvait-il faire que goutte à goutte: mais comme il avait, outre cela, une douleur de tête insupportable, une chaleur d'entrailles excessive, et beaucoup d'autres
- 77. maux, les médecinslui ordonnèrent de se purger de deux jours l'un durant trois mois; de sorte qu'il fallut prendre toutes ces médecines, et, pour cela, les faire chauffer et les avaler goutte à goutte: ce qui était un véritable supplice, qui faisait mal au cœur à tous ceux qui étaient auprès de lui, sans qu'il s'en soit jamais plaint. »La continuation de ces remèdes, avec d'autres qu'on lui fit pratiquer, lui apporta quelque soulagement, mais non pas une santé parfaite; de sorte que les médecins crurent que pour se rétablir entièrement il fallait qu'il quittât toute sorte d'application d'esprit, et qu'il cherchât, autant qu'il pourrait, les occasions de se divertir. Mon frère eut de la peine à se rendre à ce conseil, parce qu'il y voyait du danger: mais, enfin, il le suivit,— écoutez bien:—croyant être obligé de faire tout ce qui lui serait possible pour remettre sa santé, et il s'imagina que les divertissements honnêtes ne pourraient pas lui nuire; et ainsi il se mit dans le monde. Mais, quoique par la miséricorde de Dieu il se soit toujours exempté des vices, néanmoins, comme Dieu l'appelait à une grande perfection, il ne voulut pas l'y laisser, et il se servit de ma sœur pour ce dessein, comme il s'était autrefois servi de mon frère lorsqu'il avait voulu retirer ma sœur des engagements où elle était dans le monde.» Et plus loin: «Il avait pour lors trente ans, et il était toujours infirme; et c'est depuis ce temps-là qu'il a embrassé la manière de vivre où il a été jusqu'à la mort.»—Ici M. Ernest Havet rectifie que Pascal avait alors non pas trente, mais trente et un ans, car sa seconde et dernière conversion s'accomplit à la fin de l'année 1654. Voici qui semblerait confirmer un peu ce que vous avez dit: «Les conversations auxquelles il se trouvait souvent engagé ne laissaient pas de lui donner quelque crainte qu'il ne s'y trouvât du péril; mais comme il ne pouvait pas aussi, en conscience, refuser le secours que des personnes lui demandaient, il avait trouvé un remède à cela. Il prenait dans les occasions une ceinture de fer pleine de pointes, il la mettait à nu sur sa chair, et lorsqu'il lui venait quelque pensée de vanité, ou qu'il prenait quelque plaisir au lieu où il était, ou quelque chose semblable, il se donnait des coups de coude pour redoubler la violence des piqûres, et se faisait ainsi souvenir lui-même de son devoir. Cette pratique lui parut si utile qu'il la conserva jusqu'à la mort; et même, dans les derniers temps de sa vie, où il était dans des douleurs continuelles, parce qu'il ne pouvait écrire ni lire, il était contraint de demeurer sans rien faire et de s'aller promener; il était dans une continuelle crainte que ce manque
- 78. d'occupation ne ledétournât de ses vues. Nous n'avons su toutes ces choses qu'après sa mort, et par une personne de très grande vertu qui avait beaucoup de confiance en lui, à qui il avait été obligé de le dire pour des raisons qui la regardaient elle-même. »Cette rigueur qu'il exerçait sur lui-même était tirée de cette grande maxime de renoncer à tout plaisir, sur laquelle il avait fondé tout le règlement de sa vie.» Cela semblerait donner quelque apparence à vos généralités. Mais nous distinguerons. Plus loin: «Voilà comme il a passé cinq ans de sa vie, depuis trente ans jusqu'à trente-cinq,—ici M. Ernest Havet rectifie que: il fallait dire seulement quatre ans de sa vie, depuis trente et un ans jusqu'à trente-cinq— travaillant sans cesse pour Dieu, pour le prochain, et pour lui-même, en tâchant de se perfectionner de plus en plus, et on pourrait dire, en quelque façon, que c'est tout le temps qu'il a vécu; car les quatre années que Dieu lui a données après n'ont été qu'une continuelle langueur. Ce n'était pas proprement une maladie qui fût venue nouvellement, mais un redoublement des grandes indispositions où il avait été sujet dès sa jeunesse. Mais il en fut alors attaqué avec tant de violence, qu'enfin il y a succombé; et, durant tout ce temps-là, il n'a pu en tout travailler un instant à ce grand ouvrage qu'il avait entrepris pour la religion, ni assister les personnes qui s'adressaient à lui pour avoir des avis, ni de bouche ni par écrit, car ses maux étaient si grands, qu'il ne pouvait les satisfaire, quoiqu'il en eût un grand désir. »Ce renouvellement de ses maux commença par un mal de dents qui lui ôta absolument le sommeil.» Plus loin: «Cependant ses infirmités continuant toujours, sans lui donner un seul moment de relâche, le réduisirent, comme j'ai dit, à ne pouvoir plus travailler, et à ne voir quasi personne. Mais si elles l'empêchèrent de servir le public et les particuliers, elles ne furent point inutiles pour lui-même, et il les a souffertes avec tant de paix et tant de patience, qu'il y a sujet de croire que Dieu a voulu achever par là de le rendre tel qu'il le voulait pour paraître devant lui: car, durant cette longue maladie, il ne s'est jamais détourné de ses vues, ayant toujours dans l'esprit ces deux grandes maximes, de renoncer à tout plaisir et à toute superfluité. Il les pratiquait
- 79. dans le plusfort de son mal avec une vigilance continuelle sur ses sens, leur refusant absolument tout ce qui leur était agréable: —Ne croyez pas, citoyen, que cela favorise beaucoup ce que vous avez avancé.» Je continue: «et quand la nécessité le contraignait à faire quelque chose qui pourrait lui donner quelque satisfaction, il avait une adresse merveilleuse pour en détourner son esprit afin qu'il n'y prît point de part: par exemple, ses continuelles maladies l'obligeant de se nourrir délicatement, il avait un soin très grand de ne point goûter ce qu'il mangeait; et nous avons pris garde que, quelque peine qu'on prît à lui chercher quelque viande— viande, c'est-à-dire sans doute nourriture—agréable, à cause des dégoûts à quoi il était sujet, jamais il n'a dit: Voilà qui est bon; et encore lorsqu'on lui servait quelque chose de nouveau selon les saisons, si l'on lui demandait après le repas s'il l'avait trouvé bon, il disait simplement: Il fallait m'en avertir devant, car je vous avoue que je n'y ai point pris garde. Et, lorsqu'il arrivait que quelqu'un admirait la bonté de quelque viande en sa présence, il ne le pouvait souffrir: il appelait cela être sensuel, encore même que ce ne fût que des choses communes; parce qu'il disait que c'était une marque qu'on mangeait pour contenter le goût, ce qui était toujours mal. »Pour éviter d'y tomber, il n'a jamais voulu permettre qu'on lui fît aucune sauce ni ragoût, non pas même de l'orange et du verjus, ni rien de tout ce qui excite l'appétit, quoiqu'il aimât naturellement toutes ces choses. Et, pour se tenir dans des bornes réglées, il avait pris garde, dès le commencement de sa retraite, à ce qu'il fallait pour son estomac; et, depuis cela, il avait réglé tout ce qu'il devait manger; en sorte que, quelque appétit qu'il eût, il ne passait jamais cela; et, quelque dégoût qu'il eût, il fallait qu'il le mangeât: et lorsqu'on lui demandait la raison pourquoi il se contraignait ainsi, il disait que c'était le besoin de l'estomac qu'il fallait satisfaire, et non pas l'appétit. »La mortification de ses sens n'allait pas seulement à se retrancher tout ce qui pouvait leur être agréable, mais encore à ne leur rien refuser par cette raison qu'il pourrait leur déplaire, soit pour sa nourriture, soit pour ses remèdes. Il a pris quatre ans durant des consommés sans en témoigner le moindre dégoût; il prenait toutes les choses qu'on lui ordonnait pour sa santé, sans aucune peine, quelque difficiles qu'elles fussent: et lorsque je m'étonnais qu'il ne témoignât pas la moindre répugnance en les prenant, il se moquait de moi, et me disait qu'il ne pouvait pas comprendre lui-même comment on pouvait témoigner de la répugnance quand on prenait une médecine volontairement, après qu'on
- 80. avait été avertiqu'elle était mauvaise, et qu'il n'y avait que la violence ou la surprise qui dussent produire cet effet. C'est en cette manière qu'il travaillait sans cesse à la mortification.» —Je passe pour aujourd'hui le témoignage que madame Perier nous a donné de la pauvreté, de la pureté, de la charité, le service du roi, la simplicité. Je continue: «Je tâche tant que je puis d'abréger; sans cela j'aurais bien des particularités à dire sur chacune des choses que j'ai remarquées: mais comme je ne veux pas m'étendre, je viens à sa dernière maladie. »Elle commença par un dégoût étrange qui lui prit deux mois avant sa mort: son médecin lui conseilla de s'abstenir de manger du solide, et de se purger; pendant qu'il était en cet état, il fit une action de charité bien remarquable. Il avait chez lui un bon homme avec sa femme et tout son ménage, à qui il avait donné une chambre, et à qui il fournissait du bois, tout cela par charité; car il n'en tirait point d'autre service que de n'être point seul dans sa maison. Ce bon homme avait un fils, qui était tombé malade, en ce temps-là, de la petite vérole; mon frère, qui avait besoin de mes assistances, eut peur que je n'eusse de l'appréhension d'aller chez lui à cause de mes enfants. Cela l'obligea à penser de se séparer de ce malade, mais comme il craignait qu'il ne fût en danger si on le transportait en cet état hors de sa maison, il aima mieux en sortir lui-même, quoiqu'il fût déjà fort mal, disant: Il y a moins de danger pour moi dans ce changement de demeure: c'est pourquoi il faut que ce soit moi qui quitte. Ainsi il sortit de sa maison le 29 juin, pour venir chez nous,—ici M. Havet nous renseigne: Rue Neuve-Saint-Étienne,—rue que nous nommons rue Rollin et rue de Navarre—maison qui porte aujourd'hui le numéro 22. Pascal demeurait hors et près la porte Saint-Michel—et il n'y rentra jamais; car, trois jours après, il commença d'être attaqué d'une colique très violente qui lui ôtait absolument le sommeil. Mais comme il avait une grande force d'esprit et un grand courage, il endurait ses douleurs avec une patience admirable. Il ne laissait pas de se lever tous les jours et de prendre lui-même ses remèdes, sans vouloir souffrir qu'on lui rendît le moindre service. Les médecins qui le traitaient voyaient que ses douleurs étaient considérables; mais parce qu'il avait le pouls fort bon, sans aucune altération ni apparence de fièvre, ils assuraient qu'il n'y avait aucun péril, se servant même de ces mots: Il n'y a pas la moindre ombre de danger. Nonobstant ce discours, voyant que la continuation de ses douleurs et de ses grandes veilles l'affaiblissait, dès le quatrième jour de sa colique, et
- 81. avant même qued'être alité, il envoya quérir M. le curé, et se confessa. Cela fit bruit parmi ses amis, et en obligea quelques-uns de le venir voir, tout épouvantés d'appréhension. Les médecins même en furent si surpris qu'ils ne purent s'empêcher de le témoigner, disant que c'était une marque d'appréhension à quoi ils ne s'attendaient pas de sa part. Mon frère, voyant l'émotion que cela avait causée, en fut fâché, et me dit: J'eusse voulu communier; mais puisque je vois qu'on est surpris de ma confession, j'aurais peur qu'on ne le fût davantage; c'est pourquoi il vaut mieux différer. M. le curé ayant été de cet avis, il ne communia pas. Cependant son mal continuait; comme M. le curé le venait voir de temps en temps par visite, il ne perdait pas une de ces occasions pour se confesser, et n'en disait rien, de peur d'effrayer le monde, parce que les médecins assuraient toujours qu'il n'y avait nul danger à sa maladie; et, en effet, il eut quelque diminution en ses douleurs, en sorte qu'il se levait quelquefois dans sa chambre. Elles ne le quittèrent jamais néanmoins tout à fait, et même elles revenaient quelquefois, et il maigrissait aussi beaucoup, ce qui n'effrayait pas beaucoup les médecins: mais, quoi qu'ils pussent dire, il dit toujours qu'il était en danger, et ne manqua pas de se confesser toutes les fois que M. le curé le venait voir.» La fin du paragraphe est de la pauvreté. «Il joignait à cette ardente charité pendant sa maladie une patience si admirable, qu'il édifiait et surprenait toutes les personnes qui étaient autour de lui, et il disait à ceux qui témoignaient avoir de la peine de voir l'état où il était, que, pour lui, il n'en avait pas, et qu'il appréhendait même de guérir; et quand on lui demandait la raison, il disait: C'est que je connais les dangers de la santé et les avantages de la maladie. Il disait encore au plus fort de ses douleurs, quand on s'affligeait de les lui voir souffrir: Ne me plaignez point; la maladie est l'état naturel des chrétiens, parce qu'on est par là comme on devrait toujours être, dans la souffrance des maux, dans la privation de tous les biens et de tous les plaisirs des sens, exempt de toutes les passions qui travaillent pendant tout le cours de la vie, sans ambition, sans avarice, dans l'attente continuelle de la mort. N'est-ce pas ainsi que les chrétiens devraient passer la vie? Et n'est- ce pas un grand bonheur quand on se trouve par nécessité dans l'état où l'on est obligé d'être, et qu'on n'a autre chose à faire qu'à se soumettre humblement et paisiblement? C'est pourquoi je ne demande autre chose que de prier Dieu qu'il me fasse cette grâce. Voilà dans quel esprit il endurait tous ses maux. »Il souhaitait beaucoup de communier; mais les médecins s'y opposaient, disant qu'il ne le pouvait faire à jeun, à moins que de le faire
- 82. la nuit, cequ'il ne trouvait pas à propos de faire sans nécessité, et que pour communier en viatique il fallait être en danger de mort; ce qui ne se trouvant pas en lui, ils ne pouvaient pas lui donner ce conseil. Cette résistance le fâchait, mais il était contraint d'y céder. Cependant sa colique continuant toujours, on lui ordonna de boire des eaux, qui en effet le soulagèrent beaucoup: mais au sixième jour de la boisson, qui était le quatorzième d'août, il sentit un grand étourdissement avec une grande douleur de tête; et quoique les médecins ne s'étonnassent pas de cela et qu'ils assurassent que ce n'était que la vapeur des eaux,—ici M. Havet ose remarquer qu'il ne sait si ces mots expriment une idée bien nette, de même que ceux qu'on trouve plus bas, ne lui restant plus qu'une vapeur d'eau—il ne laissa pas de se confesser, et il demanda avec des instances incroyables qu'on le fît communier, et qu'au nom de Dieu on trouvât moyen de remédier à tous les inconvénients qu'on lui avait allégués jusqu'alors; et il pressa tant pour cela, qu'une personne qui se trouva présente lui reprocha qu'il avait de l'inquiétude, et qu'il devait se rendre au sentiment de ses amis; qu'il se portait mieux, et qu'il n'avait presque plus de colique; et que, ne lui restant plus qu'une vapeur d'eau, il n'était pas juste qu'il se fît porter le saint sacrement; qu'il valait mieux différer, pour faire cette action à l'église. Il répondit à cela: On ne sent pas mon mal, et on y sera trompé; ma douleur de tête a quelque chose de fort extraordinaire. Néanmoins, voyant une si grande opposition à son désir, il n'osa plus en parler; mais il dit: Puisqu'on ne me veut pas accorder cette grâce, j'y voudrais bien suppléer par quelque bonne œuvre, et ne pouvant pas communier dans le chef, je voudrais bien communier dans ses membres.» J'aurais à ne pas lire, mon ami, la fin de ce paragraphe, où le témoignage est de la pauvreté surtout et de la charité; je le passerais, comme j'ai passé le témoignage où madame Perier nous indiquait pourquoi Pascal n'est pas devenu socialiste, je le passerais si la pauvreté n'y était liée indissolublement à la maladie et à la souffrance: et pour cela j'ai pensé d'avoir céans un pauvre malade, à qui on rende les mêmes services comme à moi, qu'on prenne une garde exprès, et enfin qu'il n'y ait aucune différence de lui à moi, afin que j'aie cette consolation de savoir qu'il y a un pauvre aussi bien traité que moi, dans la confusion que je souffre de me voir dans la grande abondance de toutes choses où je me vois. Car quand je pense qu'au même temps que je suis si bien, il y a une infinité de pauvres qui sont plus malades que moi, et qui
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