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Performance Appraisal and Performance-Based Pay in Universities

In Taylor’s Shadow

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The Palgrave Handbook of Educational Leadership and Management Discourse

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Abstract

Neoliberal reforms in higher education have shaped the nature of academic work since the 1980s in Australia and other countries. These reforms have resulted in the use of private sector performance practices designed to improve productivity, efficiency, and customer service in research and teaching within public universities. The use of these practices within public sector institutions has been termed “managerialism.” A key component of these reforms has been the establishment of performance management schemes and the process of performance appraisal for individual staff members (Morris et al., 2007). The central argument in this chapter is that, given the current pervasiveness of managerialism in higher education, collegiality, autonomy, and the traditional role of academic work are being compromised.

The focus in this chapter lies with two aspects of performance management – performance appraisal and performance-based pay. The role and purpose of performance appraisal is reviewed alongside the argument that an approach recognizing the traditional values of academics and is developmental in focus holds merit and is preferable to an approach based on control and surveillance. Caveats are raised regarding the adoption of performance pay within universities. In the final part of the chapter, some discussion is afforded to the actions that managers within universities can take that may help mediate the tensions between traditional and corporate roles of the university.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Lisa Catherine Ehrich

  2. Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, QLD, Australia

    Megan Kimber

Authors
  1. Megan Kimber
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  2. Lisa Catherine Ehrich
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Correspondence to Megan Kimber .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Leadership, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA

    Fenwick W. English

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Kimber, M., Ehrich, L.C. (2022). Performance Appraisal and Performance-Based Pay in Universities. In: English, F.W. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Educational Leadership and Management Discourse. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99097-8_61

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