Abstract
Currently, even management literature warns that transitioning to a shared-services model is ‘not for the faint of heart’ (Schulman et al. 1999, p. xv). Implementation ‘can be a challenge’, admits Georgia Regent President Ricardo Azziz, ‘especially when the change may lead to redefining work responsibilities or the loss of a job’ (Azziz 2014). Nevertheless, university administrators across the USA are rushing to implement this latest idea in a spate of largely bad ideas adapted for use in higher education from the dubious example of private, for-profit corporations. Versions of the efficiency-oriented organisational structure have recently been introduced at the University of California–Berkeley, Yale University, University of Kansas, University of Texas, University of Michigan, and, in 2012, my own workplace—the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) at the University of Florida (UF).
You’re not going to cut the budget without somebody losing their job.
Paul D’Anieri, 2012 (quoted in Crabbe 2012a)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
For insights important to the development of this essay, I am indebted to the staff, students, and faculty who united in the spring of 2012 to ‘Stop the Layoffs!’ proposed for the University of Florida’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, especially John Biro, Erin Cass, Candi Churchill, Susan Hegeman, Aida Hozic, John P. Leavey, Patrick McHenry, Diana Moreno, Paul Ortiz, Joe Richards, Leah Rosenberg, Rob Short, and Jose ‘Beto’ Soto.
- 2.
The vaunted value of efficiency, interestingly, increasingly shapes the work environment of both faculty and support staff, as budget models and management strategies increasingly incentivise faculty productivity as a ratio of output to invested resources.
- 3.
Interestingly, even the vaunted savings relentlessly associated with shared services appear exaggerated, as early adopters routinely report savings realised even without taking into account new expenses incurred in making the move. Interviewed by the Gainesville Sun in 2012, UF Chief Financial Officer Matt Fajack reportedly ‘pointed to tens of millions of dollars in saving at other universities, such as Michigan, that have established such centers’ and suggested that Florida might see similar savings (Crabbe 2012a). However, Inside Higher Ed, among other sources, reports the ‘backlash’ that ensued when Michigan tried to implement shared services—in 2013 (see Rivard 2013). Reporter Nathan Crabbe recalls, in a personal email from 26 March 2015, that Fajack ‘had an article […] that he cited’, but acknowledges that ‘perhaps it was about the projected savings rather than actual savings’ at Michigan. By 2013, even estimates of those projected savings had been adjusted downwards, with Inside Higher Ed reporting that ‘the plan is no longer expected to save nearly as much as once hoped’ and that even those revised projections do not factor in millions of dollars in new costs (see Rivard 2013).
- 4.
Exactly which jobs and how many were in peril emerged as a point of discussion as the Department dragged out deliberations. At one stage, staff positions not in the front office but associated with journals housed in the Department were added to the list of potential lay-offs, but these positions were ultimately maintained, as well.
- 5.
As I have learned through union negotiations, stalling and bargaining are complementary tactics: stalling is a technique of bargaining, and bargaining can be used as a means of stalling. Although Kidd modestly avers that he is still not entirely sure how it happened that the English Department escaped this crisis largely unscathed, he deftly dragged the process out as the context changed, avoiding action until conditions had improved. Despite the initial mandate that savings had to be realised through lay-offs, he eventually convinced the Dean to accept the Department’s sacrifice of a graduate research assistantship in exchange for the preservation of one of the staff lines. He then managed to direct support from a different funding stream to continue offering the assistantship, as well.
- 6.
I drafted this email on behalf of UFF at the UF, and co-signed it with Paul Ortiz.
- 7.
For documentation and discussion of these activities and more, please see the ‘Save UF! Spend the Reserves’ Facebook page, administered by Erin Cass, Susan Hegeman, Mathew Loving, Paul Ortiz, Joe Richard, Leah Rosenberg and myself. Gainesville Sun reporter Nathan Crabbe confirms that the distribution of cuts was ‘determined through UF’s responsibility-centered management budgeting system’ (Crabbe 2012c).
- 8.
In an effort to protect privacy, these actual circumstances are assigned here to composites instead of the real people experiencing them.
References
Azziz, R. (2014, September). Implementing shared services in higher education: How universities can benefit from a concept frequently and successfully implemented in the corporate world. University Business.www.universitybusiness.com/article/shared-services. Date accessed May 2, 2015.
Bergeron, B. (2003). Essentials of shared services. New York: Wiley.
Bousquet, M. (2008). How the university works: Higher education and the low-wage nation. New York: New York University Press.
Brown, W. (2015). Undoing the demos: Neoliberalism’s stealth revolution. New York: Zone Books.
Crabbe, N. (2012a). ‘Proposed shared service center at UF runs into opposition’. (2015, March 15). Gainesville Sun. www.gainesville.com/article/20120315/articles/120319725. Date accessed May 2, 2015.
Crabbe, N. (2012b, May 30). UF liberal arts cuts to include lay-offs, reduced admissions. Gainesville Sun. www.gainesville.com/article/20120430/ARTICLES/120439957. Date accessed May 2, 2015.
Crabbe, N. (2012c, April 10). ‘Everything on the table’ as UF ponders where to cut. Gainesville Sun. www.gainesville.com/article/20120410/ARTICLES/120419966. Date accessed May 2, 2015.
Emery, K. (2010). ‘Crisis management’ in higher education: RCM and the politics of crisis at the university of Florida, 13. Cultural Logic. clogic.eserver.org/2010/Emery.pdf. Date accessed May 2, 2015.
Proenza, L. M., & Church, R. A. (2011, July 21). Shared services and partnerships: The keys to the future of higher education. EDUCAUSE Review. www.educause.edu/ero/article/shared-services-and-partnerships-keys-future-higher-education. Date accessed May 2, 2015.
Rivard, Ry. (2013, November 21). Shared services backlash. Inside Higher Ed. www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/11/21/u-michigan-tries-save-money-staff-costs-meets-faculty-opposition. Date accessed May 2, 2015.
SAVE UF Coalition. (2012). Save UF! Spend the reserves. Change.org petition. www.change.org/p/save-uf-spend-the-reserves. Date accessed May 2, 2015.
Schulman, D. S., Harmer, M. J., Dunleavy, J. R., & Lusk, J. S. (1999). Shared services: Adding value to business units. New York: Wiley.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Emery, K. (2016). Not Working: Shared Services and the Production of Unemployment. In: Gupta, S., Habjan, J., Tutek, H. (eds) Academic Labour, Unemployment and Global Higher Education. Palgrave Critical University Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-49324-8_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-49324-8_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-49323-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-49324-8
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)