Here’s what a search committee looking for a department chair can’t tell from a curriculum vitae or answers to interview questions: How well can the candidate mediate the sticky situations that crop up when managing colleagues?
One way to get a more accurate read of that ability is to role-play, according to a new article in the journal Academic Medicine. To better understand how a potential manager actually manages, the authors of the article simulated a typical interaction between a department chair and a faculty member.
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Here’s what a search committee looking for a department chair can’t tell from a curriculum vitae or answers to interview questions: How well can the candidate mediate the sticky situations that crop up when managing colleagues?
One way to get a more accurate read of that ability is to role-play, according to a new article in the journal Academic Medicine. To better understand how a potential manager actually manages, the authors of the article simulated a typical interaction between a department chair and a faculty member.
Candidates in four department-chair searches in Pennsylvania State University’s College of Medicine were asked to respond to this scenario: A faculty member was frustrated by how his increasing clinical load had left too little time to pursue academic interests. The candidates, who were aware it was a simulation, were told that the faculty member had good teacher ratings and was liked and respected by residents and medical students, but his clinical productivity was lower than that of his peers. The frustrated faculty member also hadn’t published since joining the faculty 18 months earlier.
The simulation called for the frustrated professor to be ‘modestly to moderately upset.’
The frustrated faculty member — played mostly by Daniel E. Shapiro, lead author of the article — followed instructions that called for him to be “modestly to moderately upset” and to avoid raising his voice, the article says. He was supposed to mention that the hours set aside for academic work were often usurped by clinical demands, and that his progress on two manuscripts had stalled. Life outside of work was fine, and he generally liked his colleagues, but he was supposed to be “puzzled at how they appear to function clinically more efficiently.”
When the potential department chairs offered suggestions, the faculty member was supposed to “agree politely, but not enthusiastically,” unless they were vague.
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Then, for 10 minutes, each candidate and the frustrated faculty member talked.
Other industries have embraced simulation as a way to learn a lot more about a candidate.
“Other industries have embraced simulation as a way to learn a lot more about a candidate,” said Shapiro, vice dean of faculty and administrative affairs at Penn State’s College of Medicine. “Interviewing is just not enough.”
About two-thirds of the 29 candidates who went through the simulation fared well and advanced in the search. And two department chairs have been hired as a result.
The candidates received the scenario two weeks in advance since most difficult conversations between faculty members and department chairs occur with some notice, Shapiro said. Before the simulation, the candidates were asked to explain to the search committee their goals for the interaction. Afterward, they were to share their impressions of the exchange and how they would follow up.
Shapiro said about one-third, or nine candidates, did poorly on the simulation. In one example of troubling behavior, according to the journal article, a candidate spoke harshly about the faculty member’s low productivity, without considering the professor’s concern about having enough dedicated time for research. Another candidate asked about the professor’s marriage and other irrelevant personal issues.
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Department chairs, known as the middle managers of academe, have a wide range of responsibilities, including mediating conflicts between colleagues and managing the workloads of professors. But many department chairs, who often don’t receive formal training for the job, find themselves unprepared.
“Physician-leaders frequently lack the fundamental administrative and people skills required for their positions,” the article says. “If they misread key situations and misspeak, they may hemorrhage key talent, alienate critical allies, and doom themselves to a short tenure.”
Standardized simulation scenarios are now a routine part of the hiring process for department chairs at Penn State, the article says. Of course, time — and real-life experience — will reveal just how well those simulations truly predict performance.
Audrey Williams June is a senior reporter who writes about the academic workplace, faculty pay, and work-life balance in academe. Contact her at audrey.june@chronicle.com, or follow her on Twitter @chronaudrey.
Audrey Williams June is the news-data manager at The Chronicle. She explores and analyzes data sets, databases, and records to uncover higher-education trends, insights, and stories. Email her at audrey.june@chronicle.com, or follow her on Twitter @audreywjune.