The Territorial Single-Person Academic Management Bodies in the University: Context, Challenges, and Improvement Proposals

The research project starts from the analysis of the university scene in the XXI century, paying special attention to its legal-administrative, organisational and cultural aspects. At the same time it studies in depth the organising structure of managing the university in terms of rules, theory, comparison and legislation. Finally, it deals with specific aspects of the individual organs of territorial management, which are the headship of departments and those of the faculties and colleges. That is why the figure of the academician in his / her managerial task takes on major importance: functions, recognition system, internal and external evaluation, promotion and so forth. These arguments bring up the meaning of the university teachers´ proffessional career as well as the promotional systems within the university organisation.<br/>The empirical dimension of this thesis project is of an eminently qualitative style and tries to show the difficulties in the course of carrying out the directive task by the individual organs of academic management at intermediate level nowadays. In a most operative way a double instrumental articulation was structured: on the one hand, a series of semistructured interviews (26 total) and on the other hand, a focus group. The interviews permitted the informants´ triangulation: managerial leaders, experts at the target of study, and PAS directly related to the academicians in their exercise of managerial tasks. Once the verbatium of the interviews was recorded, it was then analysed and exploited in detail with the program Aquad (6.0 version). The methodology used for the intensive analysis of the obtained data was carried out through the Ground Theory on data, as a strategy which embodies aspects of both the speech and content analysis. The Ground Theory generates answers to the questions of the investigation thanks to an intensive and constant system of comparison, relation, explanation, derivation, etc. Finally, after a first analytical exercise, a second validation and contrast was made by means of a focus group, in which it was possible to go deeply into divergent or little clarified aspects in the analytical process carried out with Aquad and on the basis of the Ground Theory.<br/>The project conclusions deal with several basis and allow to establish actions for the institutional improvement of the university. In that sense, it suggests a change in the present managerial model, but not in the way of rupture or tension. It also points out the need to make out between leadership and management, which results in removing the administrative and bureaucratic tasks. It leads to a possible process of verticalisation in the structure. Three stages are also identified in the carrying out of the tasks: initial, development and exit, which coincide with the three stages of the proffessional development as a teacher: 1, concern about myself; 2, concern about the task; 3, concern about the institution. In general, a greater level of practical and adaptative formation should be required. It can also be asserted that more PAS aid staff should be needed. The alternatives which have come up are: to create a space of exchange between colleagues who have managerial positions, the organizational flexibility, a coherent evaluation according to the proffessional development, and ,as a result, the equality of all the proffessional tasks.