Are universities always disorganized?

Question

I've been a faculty member at two universities. Both have been very "disorganized," generally speaking. By "disorganized," I mean things like: Faculty are not formally hired until after the semester begins (due to administrative failure to sign contracts on time); courses are scheduled in rooms that are far too small for the number of students enrolled; facilities are poorly maintained (e.g., it's not uncommon for windows to break or heat to stop working in a room and not be fixed for months); HR departments don't answer email or even phone calls; pay checks are sometimes late or inaccurate, etc.

Is this a common experience at most universities, or just the ones where I've taught? Both of the places where I have been are well-known institutions -- not elite schools, but ones that are prestigious enough, and which you wouldn't expect to be poorly run.

For that matter, does this type of stuff happen in non-academic jobs, too? I have only ever worked in academia, so I don't have a lot of perspective on just how much disorganization is normal for a workplace bureaucracy. I kind of suspect academia might be a special case because it's run in large part by administrators (department heads, deans) who typically have no actual management training. But I suppose managers in the corporate world might have little idea what they are doing, too.

These are both private universities in the United States, by the way.

Answer 1

I worked at three different Universities in Germany and I can not confirm such a level of disorganization. Of course we are having problems because we are public entities, which means e.g. that we can not freely decide where to invest or to shift money from cost center A (e.g. personal) to cost center B (buildings), or hire as many people as we like, or pay the wages we thing are appropriate, but those problems are minor issues compared to the ones described.

It is correct that many management positions are held by amateurs (like me ;-) ), but this is manly the academic part (research, dean, ...), but our "true" administration is in the hands of professionals lead by the head of administration (in Germany "Kanzler") who usually has a management background and expertise.

Answer 2

I've worked as an adjunct in the US, and it's certainly true that I didn't get my contract until the second week or so of semester on more than one occasion.

I believe it happens because academics in the US have much more freedom (fewer institutional rules to follow) than academics in other countries or in private industry. As a result, they find it hard to get around to tasks unrelated to their key interests (usually research).

Private universities in the US seem to do this more than public ones, in my experience.

Answer 3

Sure, universities are disorganized, but so are many companies. They are human organizations. The alternative is probably worse, however. Some places (both universities and companies) are rigidly hierarchical with many rules. You do what you are told to do. "My way or the highway." People, don't, in general, like to work in such places.

Good companies permit quite a lot of chaos since ideas grow out of that chaos. If you are in one of those hierarchical places it isn't a great idea to be innovative. The same is true in universities.

In most universities, much of the administration is made up of older faculty members who thought they could do a better job than they saw being done. Sometimes they are right, but not always. I was a long time into my career before I wound up at a place where I thought the administration was, at all levels, doing a good job. Unfortunately that didn't last very long as some of the good people left and were replaces with inferior models.

Another reason that universities have some chaos is that everyone there is pretty smart. Mostly, pretty smart people have ideas. Mostly they want to see those ideas implemented. Often, however, they think they are pretty smart in areas beyond their training. It can be a chaotic sort of place. It is, in a way, like a herd of horses on the move. They "organize" themselves mostly by bumping one another. Kicking is minimized, but not unheard of.

The chaos of ideas is a good thing, actually. But, no, disorganization isn't inevitable.

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However there are two additional concerns, one for public and one for private universities.

Some US publicly funded universities are severely constrained by the politics of the day and the refusal of legislators to deal with rising expenses by increasing revenue (taxes), and so default to cutting services. But that is a different, external, sort of chaos over which a public university has little control.

Private universités also have, sometimes severe, financial constraints as most have little access to public monies and depend overly on revenue obtained from student tuition. This can lead to very constrained budgets. Some take the shortfall from faculty salaries, but there is a stronger tendency to cut corners on physical plant and some services.

Education is an expensive proposition, not a profit center. Its product is a bit ephemeral.