COORDINATION AND COMMUNICATION

It is common for accounting administrators to face competing interests and demands on their time. When this occurs, the ability to effectively coordinate and communicate takes on greater significance. Practices used by some accounting administrators include the following:

Delegate and reviewing the work of others.

The department chair's primary job should be to coordinate and review the work of others. This gives faculty more input in the decision process and increases the likelihood of faculty buy-in.

Share the vision of the department with secretaries and part-time student employees.

Consider meeting monthly to set individual tasks, review accomplishments, and discuss needs or concerns. At this same meeting, give a small presentation regarding the research field of a particular faculty member who is being spotlighted. This gives support staff an opportunity to understand more about faculty research and feel a part of a team that is working toward a common goal. It is also easier to identify issues that need resolution before they become a major problem.

Involve departmental staff in meaningful responsibilities. This enriches their experience and gives continuity to programs, as administrative and faculty turnover may be higher in the department.

Consider encouraging team-teaching efforts.

By having faculty members team-teach, they become better acquainted and can enhance their teaching effectiveness. This also can be a renewing experience for many who use the same teaching approaches, and can build community within the department and help the faculty to know of each others' interests and capabilities. Assign strong faculty to be mentors to weaker faculty. Have them visit each other's classes and help each other with research projects.

Create both undergraduate and graduate coordinators who can be delegated a substantial number of responsibilities.

Much of what we do falls into either the graduate or the undergraduate category. In a large department, use area coordinators to develop faculty cohesion. Area coordinators can help mentor, recruit new faculty, handle teaching assignments, and evaluate faculty progress.

Be flexible with faculty stewardships regarding the percent of time devoted to teaching and other productive activities.

Match faculty strengths with the multiple missions of the university. Set the parameters of a faculty assignment, and then allow those who accept the assignment full freedom to be creative. To match faculty assignments with students, start with a blank sheet and determine what skills, aptitudes, and knowledge the students in the department need. How can we best provide them? How can we match faculty with these needs?

Ask faculty members to prioritize what they would like to teach-with no guarantees that they will get their favorite courses. Then make assignments matching student/program needs with faculty priorities. Wherever possible, have at least two faculty members who can teach any given class. Coordinate classes so students can optimally get through programs.

Create forums so faculty can see what others are doing in terms of research and teaching.

Let faculty share their goals, projects, and ideas with colleagues in the department. One vehicle would be to collect the research agenda of each faculty member and then send copies to all in the department.

Communication/Rapport within the Department

Visit faculty in their own areas.

Making faculty feel comfortable by meeting in their space may encourage a freer exchange of concerns and suggestions that will benefit the department.

Interview students regularly.

Some chairs conduct exit interviews with senior students. These interviews provide an opportunity for faculty-student interfacing. In other cases, surveys rather than interviews are used to collect similar information.

Keep your door open.

This way faculty, staff, and students will know they are welcome. When talking with faculty, you might want to move from behind the desk to out in front of the desk, where there is no physical barrier between you and the faculty member.

Don't use a faculty meeting to present and solve a problem.

If a problem arises that affects the whole department, have a proposed solution to present at the faculty meeting. This proposal can come from your own thinking or the work of a small committee.

Always start and end meetings on time.

For faculty meetings, always start and end on time, no matter who is there. Have them the same time every semester, and announce the schedule one semester in advance. Use the agenda to discuss items, and print a separate information sheet on the back of it.

Give all faculty and staff an information sheet.

Any information received that the faculty and staff ought to have should be forwarded to them on dated and numbered information sheets.

Hold brown-bag lunches for all faculty.

Consider pushing all classes out of the noon slot or some other convenient time. This enables you to bring in a series of inexpensive guest speakers, former students, etc., for brown-bag lunches. It also provides a slot for a one-hour faculty meeting whenever needed.

Keep announcements that require no discussion off the agendas for faculty meetings.

In general, address brief agenda items first, and then take the more time-consuming items in descending order of priority. This results in adequate time to address the most important issues and usually results in the entire agenda be covered, reducing the number of faculty meetings required.

Consider putting in a "hot line" for the department, and changing the message every week.

Record on a "hot line" announcements about guest speakers and other department events. This enables students and faculty to remain in contact whether or not announcements are received through other methods.

Publish a department newsletter or bulletin.

A department faculty newsletter reduces the need to call faculty meetings for minutia. It also provides an open atmosphere. A published department bulletin distributed to faculty and students might contain news of faculty and student work, awards, publications, announcements, and reminders. This newsletter might also be a source for communicating with advisory committees and/or business/corporate partners.

Organization and Structure	Faculty
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