Staff Evaluation Systems—Shaping Autonomy through Stakeholders

Abstract

Staff evaluation is a basic tool of human resources (HR) management, commonly also used in universities (see, e.g., Arreola 2000, Collan, Stoklasa, and Talašová 2014), and is aimed at maintaining the high quality of relevant processes and activities, and at achieving set goals. At universities, staff evaluation may be used, for example, to provide the necessary information for tenure and promotion decisions, remuneration, and other important management decisions involving academic staff. Staff evaluation is a demanding task in any organization, but even more so in the university environment (see, e.g., Meifert 2013). Universities are institutions that are expected to educate people through teaching, to perform high-quality research, and to contribute to the development and well-being of the society as a whole (see Marginson [2007] for a discussion on “university mission” in the context of university rankings/evaluations.) To meet these three broad expectations and, specifically, the goals set for reaching them, universities need to channel their resources in a way that properly addresses each goal and creates incentives for the academic staff to perform in a way that fulfills the set goals. This is where academic staff evaluation systems and the tools of HR management play a strong role. Universities commonly have and historically have had a great deal of autonomy to plan and execute their activities and strategies. The Bologna Process in Europe has changed this picture in terms of degree structures, but when it comes to research, autonomy is often lax. Hand in hand with institutional autonomy comes the “academic freedom” of the individual “researcher” to study the topic of his/her own choosing and to do it in the way of his/her own choosing (for most academic positions, teaching is mandatory).