Working with academic motivation: Harvesting expertise
King's College London
The outputs from this project form the basis of a Leadership Foundation Management Development Resource (MDR) - Working with Academic Motivation - available to all LF members from 2016.
Project Summary
Staff developers in universities have to work closely with colleagues in academic roles across the university to achieve change. This can be challenging – the gap between academic departments and central support can be wide. Variations in values and behaviour relating to discipline make the picture more complex. A previous small development project identified academic departments as a key level for working.
This project provides practical advice and guidance on working with academic communities, taking into account their disciplinary orientation and other motivational aspects, including academic prestige. The project will harvest the expertise of experienced development professionals and make it available for the staff development community.
The project will:
- Identify successful attributes and behaviours of staff developers in working with academic departments in relation to disciplinary orientation and other motivational
- Develop advice and guidance that will assist staff developers in engagements with academic communities
The project will lead to:
- Better understanding of academic motivation and more effective engagement by staff developers
- Development communities better equipped to facilitate change
The project will produce
- A short report on key issues with brief case studies, suitable for induction and continuing professional development for staff
- Conference presentations
- In-house seminar
- Academic article on methodology, process and outcomes
- Article in Engage
- Website with all project outputs