Leadership for Academic Units: A Performance Improvement Model for Department Chairs, Deans, and Academic Vice Presidents (and those who aspire to be)

Rightsizing Faculty Allocations

Personnel costs, in particular faculty salaries, are the largest single budget component for universities. In private industry, labor often accounts for the largest “controllable” cost (Heuter and Swart, 1998). However, the tenure system and the rules and regulations covering state employees do not make personnel costs in academia “controllable,” except through attrition and special circumstances. Rightsizing can be achieved over time by determining how many faculty positions each department should have, based on each department’s requirements; comparing that number to the number of positions it currently has; and then allocating new positions to the unit when they become available if it is understaffed in relation ...