SNRE QUALITY OF WORKLIFE STUDY

Raymond De Young1998, 1999, 2000

REPORT ON SOURCES OF SNRE FACULTY STRESS

(Survey-1)

14 Feb 1999

Report on Faculty Stress Survey Survey-1 administered at the November 11,

1998 SNRE faculty meeting Sample N = 40 (95% return rate)

• Female N=10

• Male N=30

Eight faculty provided written comments

14 Feb 1999

Source of Survey Questions National study done in spring of 1982 Random selection from 184 doctoral-

granting universities (40 public, 40 private). Sample N=1221 (75% effective return rate). Research published by Gmelch et al.

14 Feb 1999

Categories of Stress Gmelch et al. used factor analysis to

identified 5 independent categories of stress from among 45 questionnaire items.

The 34 items making up these 5 categories were included on the SNRE survey.

We also measured global well-being.

14 Feb 1999

Categories of Stress (from Gmelch et al.)

1. TIME CONSTRAINTS (10 items)

Paperwork, meetings, phone, interruptions

A stress category generic to all professionals

Not specific to teaching, research, or service

14 Feb 1999

Categories of Stress 2. PROFESSIONAL / IDENTITY (4 items)

One’s reputation as a scholar as acquired through publications, presentations and research support

Includes an item measuring our excessively high self-expectations

14 Feb 1999

Categories of Stress 3. REWARD AND RECOGNITION (8 items)

Focus on professional recognition and rewards

Items relate to teaching, research, and service

Highlights:

Inadequate rewards

Unclear expectations

Insufficient recognition

14 Feb 1999

Categories of Stress 4. STUDENT INTERACTION (5 items)

Focus on instruction, evaluation and advising

Includes notion of students as evaluators of faculty teaching performance

14 Feb 1999

Categories of Stress 5. DEPARTMENTAL INFLUENCE (4 items)

Three items focus on relationship with chair (dean)

Last item focused on decision-making

14 Feb 1999

Five Categories of Faculty Stress

1. TIME CONSTRAINTS

2. PROFESSIONAL / IDENTITY

3. REWARD AND RECOGNITION

4. STUDENT INTERACTION

5. DEPARTMENTAL INFLUENCE

14 Feb 1999

CREATED FIVE STRESS CATEGORIES

CALCULATED MEANS AND STD. DEV.

CALCULATED CRONBACH’S ALPHA– This is a measure of the internal coherence of a group of

items. Alpha values greater than 0.60 are considered credible

SNRE Faculty Data

14 Feb 1999

RATING SCALE USED:1 = no pressure at all1 = no pressure at all

2 = slight pressure2 = slight pressure

3 = moderate pressure3 = moderate pressure

4 = high pressure4 = high pressure

5 = excessive pressure5 = excessive pressure

SNRE Faculty Data

14 Feb 1999

SNRE - All Respondents (N=40)

Category name Mean [a] S. D. Alpha

TIME CONSTRAINTS 3.45 a .70 .82

PROFESSIONAL / IDENTITY 3.39 a .81 .65

REWARD AND RECOGNITION 2.52 b .89 .87

STUDENT INTERACTION 2.40 b, c .76 .75

DEPARTMENTAL INFLUENCE 2.11 c .86 .81

[a] Based on a 5-point rating scale with higher values denoting higher perceived pressure. Means sharing superscripts are not significantly different from one another at p<.001

14 Feb 1999

SNRE-National Data ComparisonCategory name SNRE National *

TIME CONSTRAINTS 3.45 2.60

PROFESSIONAL / IDENTITY 3.39 3.11

REWARD AND RECOGNITION 2.52 2.41

STUDENT INTERACTION 2.40 2.29

DEPARTMENTAL INFLUENCE 2.11 2.08

* National means are an estimate.

14 Feb 1999

SNRE - Comparison by GenderCategory name Male Mean

(N=30)

TIME CONSTRAINTS 3.29

PROFESSIONAL / IDENTITY 3.23

REWARD AND RECOGNITION 2.44

STUDENT INTERACTION 2.24

DEPARTMENTAL INFLUENCE 2.02

Female Mean (N=10)

3.75

3.88

2.76

2.86

2.39

14 Feb 1999

Category name Male Mean (N=30)

TIME CONSTRAINTS 3.29

PROFESSIONAL / IDENTITY

REWARD AND RECOGNITION 2.44

STUDENT INTERACTION 2.24

DEPARTMENTAL INFLUENCE 2.02

Female Mean (N=10)

3.75

2.76

2.86

2.39

SNRE - Comparison by Gender

Gender comparison of means shown in red are significantly different at p < . 03

3.23 3.88

14 Feb 1999

Mean

1. Attending too many meetings 3.82

2. Job demands interfering with personal activities 3.74

3. Having too heavy a workload 3.72

4. Imposing excessively high self-expectations 3.71

5. Insufficient time to keep up with developments in field 3.62

6. Writing letters and memos, and other paperwork 3.51

7. Frequent interruptions by telephone and drop-in visitors 3.49

8. Securing financial support for research 3.46

9. Work-related activities outside of regular working hours 3.38

10. Striving to publish one’s scholarship 3.36

Mean

1. Attending too many meetings 3.82

2. Job demands interfering with personal activities 3.74

3. Having too heavy a workload 3.72

4. Imposing excessively high self-expectations 3.71

5. Insufficient time to keep up with developments in field 3.62

6. Writing letters and memos, and other paperwork 3.51

7. Frequent interruptions by telephone and drop-in visitors 3.49

8. Securing financial support for research 3.46

10. Striving to publish one’s scholarship 3.36

Mean

1. Attending too many meetings 3.82

2. Job demands interfering with personal activities 3.74

3. Having too heavy a workload 3.72

4. Imposing excessively high self-expectations 3.71

5. Insufficient time to keep up with developments in field 3.62

6. Writing letters and memos, and other paperwork 3.51

7. Frequent interruptions by telephone and drop-in visitors 3.49

8. Securing financial support for research 3.46

9. Work-related activities outside of regular working hours 3.38

10. Striving to publish one’s scholarship 3.36

Mean

1. Attending too many meetings 3.82

2. Job demands interfering with personal activities 3.74

3. Having too heavy a workload 3.72

5. Insufficient time to keep up with developments in field 3.62

6. Writing letters and memos, and other paperwork 3.51

7. Frequent interruptions by telephone and drop-in visitors 3.49

SNRE Top Ten List

14 Feb 1999

Feeling career progress not what it could be 2.85 17 8

Receiving inadequate salary to meet financial needs 2.53 22 4

SNRE-National Top Ten RankingsSNRE Mean SNRE National

1. Attending too many meetings 3.82 1 10

2. Job demands interfering with personal activities 3.74 2 7

3. Having too heavy a workload 3.72 3 6

4. Imposing excessively high self-expectations 3.71 4 1

5. Insufficient time to keep up with developments in field 3.62 5 3

6. Writing letters and memos, and other paperwork 3.51 6 ---

7. Frequent interruptions by telephone and drop-in visitors 3.49 7 9

8. Securing financial support for research 3.46 8 2

9. Work-related activities outside of regular working hours 3.38 9 ---

10. Striving to publish one’s scholarship 3.36 10 5

(SNRE rank is out of 34 survey items)

14 Feb 1999

Global Well-being Variable

Overall mean = 3.35 Standard Deviation = 0.72

Female mean = 3.11 Standard Deviation = 0.93

Male mean = 3.41 Standard Deviation = 0.64Gender means are not significantly different at p<.05

How satisfying has your life been lately?Rating scale Frequency Percent

1 = not at all satisfying 0 0

2 = a bit satisfying 5 13.5

3 = moderately satisfying 14 37.8

4 = very satisfying 18 48.7

5 = extremely satisfying 0 0

14 Feb 1999

Summary The top SNRE stressors are:

– HANDLING TIME CONSTRAINTSHANDLING TIME CONSTRAINTS

– MAINTAINING PROFESSIONAL REPUTATIONMAINTAINING PROFESSIONAL REPUTATION

We might consider doing something about time pressures. However, maintaining our professional reputation and identity might be viewed simply as part of our job.

14 Feb 1999

Some Possible Next Steps Focus Survey-2 on a few key issues facing

the School including time constraints:– most frustrating / most rewarding aspects of life

at SNRE– places that deal well with time constraints– ideas for handling time constraints.

Develop Survey-3 to examine the attentional demands of academic work in the School.

STAY TUNED FOR SURVEY-2

Survey-1 report is on SNRE Intranet at

www.snre.umich.edu/worklife

14 Feb 1999

END

WRITTEN COMMENTS FROM

SURVEY-1

14 Feb 1999

Written Comments (from 8 individuals)

Inadequate facilities for research and lab-based teaching. Inadequate staff support that enables research and lab-based teaching. This is not a trivial issue. I find our level of support in these areas a source of acute embarrassment. I find our acceptance of the status quo depressing (Survey No. 13).

14 Feb 1999

Written Comments

Other sources of stress: (1) Insufficient staff support for faculty. Recently, attitudes among staff have become increasingly helpful, but there are still some frictions and still too often faculty have difficulty getting the help and support that are taken for granted in other units. (2) Two class system in quality of office space and equipment. Faculty are allocated worn out furniture and offices that have not seen a fresh coat of paint in decades. In contrast, there is no staff office without top of the line furniture and equipment and clean/attractive surroundings (Survey No. 20).

14 Feb 1999

Written Comments

Being untenured – this is a fairly chronic source of stress. More questions on time – insufficient time to "do everything” (Survey No. 22).

Sources of high stress need not be bad (e.g., conference presentations are "high" for me but at the same time "highlights" of my professional career). "Insufficient time" is almost synonymous with "pressure." This needs sorting out. "Work load:" externally imposed or self-imposed? Huge difference (Survey No. 31).

14 Feb 1999

Written Comments

Great idea – thanks for taking on this task. In general I have been struck by two unexpectedly high sources of faculty stress (personal but also based on general observation) in the short time I have been in SNRE. First, transaction costs to try anything new (course proposal, et al.) are very high, far more so than in other settings. Second, there appears to be great anxiety/uncertainty about performance evaluations and related promotional decisions. I'm too new to understand the history, but there appears to be much work to be done here (Survey No. 32).

14 Feb 1999

Written Comments

SNRE requires tremendous amounts of time and commitment (from faculty) for maintaining its operation. Overwhelming scholarship and related issues and family considerations (Survey No. 34).

Negative, whining, complaining attitude of some faculty (e.g., 4 to 5) (Survey No. 37).

14 Feb 1999

Written Comments

The problem isn’t any one of these; it’s the accumulation of them. Any one of them in isolation isn’t much of a problem. Perhaps the better wording is, which of these do I face, not which produce stress. (Survey No. 40).

SURVEY-1 QUESTIONNAIRE

ITEMS

14 Feb 1999

Time constraints - survey items 1. TIME CONSTRAINTS (10 items)

• Participating in the work of departmental or university committees

• Assignment of duties that take me away from my office• Having insufficient time to keep abreast of current developments in my field• Being interrupted frequently by telephone calls and drop-in visitors• Writing letters and memos, and responding to other paper work• Having insufficient time for performing the service function• Feeling that I have too heavy a work load, one that I cannot possibly finish during a normal day• Attending meetings which take up too much time• Having job demands which interfere with other personal activities (family, recreation, interests)• Having inadequate time for teaching preparation

14 Feb 1999

Professional id - survey items 2. PROFESSIONAL / IDENTITY (4 items)

• Imposing excessively high self-expectations

• Making presentations at professional conferences and meetings

• Securing financial support for my research

• Preparing a manuscript for publication

14 Feb 1999

Rewards - survey items 3. REWARD AND RECOGNITION (8 items)

• Receiving inadequate University recognition for community services

• Not having clear criteria for evaluation of research and publication activities

• Having insufficient reward for School/University service

• Not having clear criteria for evaluating service activities

• Lacking congruency in University, School and personal goals

• Receiving insufficient institutional recognition for research performance

• Receiving inadequate salary to meet financial needs

• Receiving insufficient recognition for teaching performance

14 Feb 1999

Student interaction - survey items 4. STUDENT INTERACTION (5 items)

• Evaluating the performance of students

• Teaching/advising inadequately prepared students

• Resolving differences with students

• Making class presentations

• Having students evaluate my teaching performance

14 Feb 1999

Departmental - survey items 5. DEPARTMENTAL INFLUENCE (4 items)

• Trying to influence my chair or dean's actions and decisions which affect me

• Resolving differences with my chair or dean

• Lacking personal impact on School/University decision making

• Not knowing how my dean evaluates my performance