Business and Finance Staff: Impact and Success at Private Colleges and Universities

Abstract

This chapter examines the impact and success of mid‐level business and finance staff at private colleges or universities, using an adaptation of Bronfenbrenner's multilevel social integration model. This chapter also highlights the voices of mid‐level business and finance staff and describes the experiences, successes, and challenges they have encountered.

“Power does not exist, what exists is influence”: How mid‐level business and finance staff in private colleges navigate the higher education landscape

“…For the third research question, approximately half of the participants expressed that informal mentoring from their current supervisors was good (approximately 20%) or very good (approximately 30%). The importance of mentoring mid-level staff has been previously pointed out in the literature (Cooper & Boice-Pardee, 2011;Dorantes & Peterson, 2020;. Based on some explicit and implicit comments made by some participants, it is possible that mentoring is not considered a high priority by some CBO's given a constant feeling of an overwhelming workload.…”

“…There has been a lot written about the importance of mentoring (Cooper & Boice‐Pardee, 2011; Dorantes & Peterson, 2020; García et al., 2020). Many of participants spoke of the value of mentoring in their careers or expressed regret for not securing more mentorship opportunities.…”

“…Albeit the recognition of business and finance staff as essential to college and university operation, research has yet to tap into questions about how midlevel managers in those areas navigate their professional lives. Dorantes and Peterson (2020) point out the lack of studies on "this crucial but under-researched staff function and level" (p. 57), emphasizing that without midlevel administrators in business and finance HEIs would not be able to maintain functional operations. It is in the mid-level business and finance administrators' everyday actions of leveraging their position and empowering themselves to lead from the middle that this study seeks to uncover what we ultimately believe to be a road map to midlevel managerial success.…”

“…Once good staff has been found and hired by the institution, the question of how to retain them becomes more pressing. When it comes specifically to midlevel managers in business and finance sectors of higher education, research tends to focus on success and impact of this particular position (Dorantes & Peterson, 2020). Albeit the recognition of business and finance staff as essential to college and university operation, research has yet to tap into questions about how midlevel managers in those areas navigate their professional lives.…”