At a recent meeting for academic leaders, the No. 1 piece of advice for running faculty searches was, “Get the human-resources folks involved as quickly as possible and have them stay involved.” The legal experts said this (to avoid liability issues related to interview questions and other factors), the presidents said this (to ensure that the searches went smoothly and quickly), and the chief academic officers said this (to make certain that credentials and references were actually checked).
There seems to be, however, a resistance from many academic-search committees to any involvement in the process by the human-resources office. Many academics view this as an inappropriate encroachment on the process by the administration. More than one faculty member has claimed that his or her particular discipline’s traditions for searches trumps the institution’s posted policies about how searches should be conducted (an attitude, I might point out, that can create huge legal liabilities). On the other hand, I’ve heard HR leaders say that they should be able to run the entirety of faculty searches, giving the search committee a short list of acceptable candidates and letting them choose from that abbreviated list.
What is the best way to harness the strengths of HR offices and academic-search committees? How can we help both groups know where to defer to the expertise of the other?
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8 Responses to HR Leaders and Faculty: Friends or Foes?
powelc2 - December 14, 2010 at 9:32 am
This is a great article. First and foremost, there has to be a collaborative effort between HR and the academic leaders in recruiting the best talent for the academy. Of course there are the legal issues, but what is the picture you are painting for the perspective candidate – one of partnership or dissention? Most perspective candidates are very much interested in joining a positive and engaging work culture and environment.
Who wants to join a disfuntional organization to continue their career goals?
hmcneece - December 14, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Say Halleluia! I have been working with both HR and Dean’s of Faculty (as well as Procurement professionals) for decades and it is a far more successful recruiting, relocation and retention process when everyone is colloborating. Core competencies should be taken advantage of, not overlooked and definitely not snubbed! Sometimes it requires a third party to facilitate a meeting of the minds…. that’s where a program like our HERS Higher Education Relocation Specialists can help!
trainer12 - December 16, 2010 at 11:18 am
But it is hard for HR to collaborate with Faculty, when some members of the Faculty have a negative view of the human resource function or administration in general. Some faculty members view HR, legal, regulatory, university policy and procedures as “administrivia”. Some professors think that we just arbitrarilly make up rules and regulations to interfere with their work, when our job is to prevent legal and regulatory problems for the university community and its members. How do we get out of these sterotyped boxes or silos? How do we build a bridge between faculty and HR or administration?
sgreen49 - December 16, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Collaboration is essential and communication is the key. The problem is that HR and Academic Affairs are often sealed off from each other without a structure and language for the required communication.
My advice:
1) The university needs a strong and well-versed HR director who has experience in dealing with faculty and the authority to sort out contractual and hiring issues.
2) The HR process needs to take into account how faculty hiring occurs and most importantly that is quite different from most other types of HR hiring.
3) The Faculty need to respect the needed HR protocols for a fair search. This respect needs to be built on educating faculty.
philostitute - December 16, 2010 at 12:23 pm
If HR screens candidates in fields for which they have absolutely no expertise and presents a short list, then autonomy is taken away from the search committees. How could this be a good thing? It’s the department that has to live with the hire and their choice should be honored unless there is a serious concern raised by HR.
libr1527 - December 16, 2010 at 1:46 pm
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lee77 - December 22, 2010 at 7:45 am
I remember a situation, fortunately a few years back, when HR came back with an assessment of a position and said it was non-exempt. The dean said that was unacceptable – that as far as he was concerned, the position was exempt, and it didn’t matter what DOL said. Anyway, I concur with the view that a balance needs to be achieved – HR should neither be excluded from the search process nor be running the show.
asa_phelps - December 28, 2010 at 3:09 pm
This all predicates an HR staff that is capable and competent. If the HR folks are incompetent politically appointed drones inventing useless hoops to jump through and with the sole goal of imposing their power then any involvement of HR is doomed to be painful.