The Role of the Department Head or Chairman: Discipline, Sex and Nationality as Factors Influencing Faculty Opinion

Roy E.L. Watson

Abstract

The influence of academic discipline, sex and nationality upon one's definiton of the role of the head or chairman of a university department was studied by means of a question- naire administered to members of the Faculty of Arts and Science of the University of Victoria. Discipline was found to be of overriding importance. Social scientists, unlike either Natural Scientists or Humanists, rejected leadership while favouring the roles of coordinator and, to a lesser degree, of representative. Women in the Humanities and Natural Sciences were more likely to expect leadership than were their male colleagues. The nationality of the respondents, however, did not appear to influence their expectations of the department head or chairman.

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Published

1979-12-31



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Articles



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How to Cite

Watson, R. E. (1979). The Role of the Department Head or Chairman: Discipline, Sex and Nationality as Factors Influencing Faculty Opinion. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 9(3), 19–28. https://doi.org/10.47678/cjhe.v9i3.182798