occupied by the consequences of the major legislative and structural changes of the last decade, are failing to recognise and cultivate the full professional potential of their academic staff to the detriment of the college, those individual members of staff and the students. This work investigates the current application of Human Resource Management in the Further Education sector and the consequences for the professional development of academic staff. In doing so, it examines current theories relevant to the organisational perspective and to the perspective of the individual member of staff. These include theories of organisational change, as well as career theory, adult development and motivation. Studies one and two focussed primarily on the whole college perspective, while three and four canvassed the views and opinions of individual members of academic staff. Most of the analysis concentrates on study four as this emerged as the most significant data. The first two shorter studies provided a benchmark for the rest of the research. Studies one and two examined the current organisational perspective on professional development. Study one involved content analysis of staff development policies collated from colleges throughout the sector, while study two followed up this information with a series of in-depth interviews with staff development managers from a range of colleges. The second half of the research concentrated on an examination of the views of as many staff as possible at a small number of colleges. Study three, a questionnaire survey undertaken with academic staff at two large Further Education colleges, provided useful quantitative data. Based on the findings of the questionnaire, the fourth and final study involved detailed one-to-one interviews with individual members of staff, which were then examined using qualitative data analysis methods. Coupled with data drawn from the questionnaire survey, the key conclusions are presented in chapter seven and used as a basis for the recommendations in chapter eight. The thesis concludes that current Human Resource Management approaches have led to a neglect of the career and professional development interests of the individual and an alternative model of the employment relationship is proposed. It is also suggested that the current rhetoric of Human Resource Development is inappropriate to the field of Further Education and has underestimated and misinterpreted the unique and peculiar qualities of an academic culture. It concludes that by shifting the strategic focus to the professional development of its individual members, the organisational as well as the individual will benefit.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:323776 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Corkindale, Julia |
| Publisher | University of Huddersfield |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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