Danish universities under transformation: Developments in staff categories as indicator of organizational change

Abstract

Claims of fundamental changes in the organizational model of universities have been widespread during the latest decades. To empirically assess the character and extent of organizational change is, however, not straightforward. This article contributes with partial, but also very tangible evidence of long-term organizational changes at Danish universities by analyzing detailed data on staff composition and salary distributions. The article shows that Danish universities indeed have undergone significant transformations, but that the full extent of these changes only becomes visible when a fine-grained analytical approach is employed. On the academic side of the organizations, relatively low-wage temporary positions have boomed at the expense of more expensive permanent ones. On the administrative side, specialized and highly educated administrative staff has surged substantially, while less expensive positions such as clerks, technicians, and service staff conversely have diminished in relative terms. Hence, while the analysis supports the overall claims in the literature, it also adds important nuances to the dominant narratives of organizational change.

Organizational Change, Higher Education

“…One key indicator for such professionalization is a growth in highly paid and specialized administrative positions at universities, which require a university qualification or similar, at the expense of less well-paid clerical and service roles directly supporting academic staff in their activities. The evidence that such a shift within university administration has been occurring lately is mounting (see Stage and Aagaard 2019). However, there remains a lack of detailed empirical studies scrutinizing such professionalization tendencies within university administration, over time and across a number of national settings.…”

Organising professional support staff at higher education institutions: a multidimensional, continuous balancing act

“…Their presence has increased in terms of both number and speciality, so that they now represent tasks and activities ranging from basic secretarial work and maintenance services to highly skilled tasks in, for example, internationalisation, business liaison and research support. This development may in part be explained by the missions and societal expectations placed on HEIs today (Bossu et al 2018;Graham 2012;Ryttberg and Geschwind 2017;Stage and Aagaard 2019).…”

Can a professional learning community deliver career development learning?

“…Australian higher education has been significantly reformed over the past few decades (Coaldrake and Stedman, 2009). Much of this reform has resulted in a reduced funding environment, often in part because of a belief in a “bloated” administration (Stage and Aagaard, 2019). It is clear from the data that the numbers of non-academic staff (from now on called university professional staff) have increased over the past few decades, but this is also true of academic staff (Department of Education and Training, 2021).…”

“…In Australia, in 1997, of the total higher education workforce, 43.5% were academic and 56.5% were non-academic staff, and in 2019, 43% of the workforce were academic and 57% were non-academic staff (Department of Education and Training, 2021). There is evidence, however, that changes to the administration of universities have resulted in fewer lower-level roles and a move to more highly trained professional staff that engage with more demanding work (Stage and Aagaard, 2019). Gordon and Whitchurch (2007) note that it has become apparent that workforce development is an enabling factor for universities to deliver their multiple agendas globally, and effective talent management has been shown to increase staff well-being, job satisfaction and decrease turnover intent (Barkhuizen and Rothmann 2006).…”