Even though Juliet Garcia has been named everything from Zonta Club Woman of the Year to Outstanding Milky Way Galaxy Resident of the Year Who Happens to Be An Hispanic College President in the Third Planet of a Minor Solar Sytem, her underlings at UTB-TSC are not a happy bunch of campers.Don't take this blog's word for it.
In a survey of Organizational Excellence conducted by the respected University of Texas (Austin) School of Social Work in 2010, researchers found that not only are the folks out at Garcia's principality unhappy with their employee, bu that their unhappiness has grown worse over time.
The study conducted over a week last April and whose results were issued late last year, indicates that the employees at UTB-TSC who answered the online survey scored very low on questions related to five important dimensions (constructs) related to their work under Juliet and her minions.The researchers asked the participants their feelings on work-group issues, accommodations, organizational features, informational dynamics, and personal matters.
In almost all of these dimensions, UTB-TSC employees answered below the 50 percentile in satisfaction with the majority scoring below the 300 point level with 500 being the most satisfied level.
And in comparison to a similar survey performed in 2006, they scored lower in all but one (benefits) of the 20 "constructs" identified by the survey as important issues of the a class 3 organization (educational).
From the get-go, employees at UTB-TSC had a response rate below 50 percent to the survey. Of the 1,234 employees who were invoted to take the survey, 531 responded. As a general rule, rates higher than 50 percent suggest soundness. At 43%, the rate was considered low, indicating problems exist. The response rate was more or less the same for the previous survey performed in 2006.
With scores below 300 the alarm point where employees perceive issues on the survey more negatively than positive, UTB-TSC scores hovered near that level with the lowest at 253 (fair pay), and the highest at 375 (benefits). None of the scores on the dimensions averaged over 350, a full 150 points below the ideal score. The ratings by employees by dimensions follow:
CONSTRUCTS
2010 2010 compared to 2006
Work Group Dimension:
(Include factors that concern how employees interact with peers, supervisors, and all persons involved in day-to-day work activity. This is the immediate work environment of the employee.)
Supervisor Effectiveness: 330 Supervisor Effectiveness: -12
Team Effectiveness: 319 Team Effectiveness: -23
Diversity: 343 Diversity: -26
Accommodations Dimension:
(Looks at the physical work setting and factors associated with compensation, work technology and tools. It is the "total benefit package" provided to employees by the organization.)
Fair Pay: 263 Fair Pay: -10
Physical Environment: 370 Physical Environment: -4
Benefits: 375 Benefits: 6
Employment Development: 346 Employment Development: -11
Organizational Features Dimension:
(The internal evaluation of the organization's ability to assess changes in the environment and make needed adjustments. It captures the "corporate culture.")
Change Oriented: 333 Change Oriented: -24
Goal Oriented: 346 Goal Oriented: -24
Holographic: 338 Holographic: -24
Strategic: 361 Strategic: -30
Quality: 356 Quality: -30
Information Dimension:
(How consistent and structured communication flows within the organization and between it and outside groups, how it is directed toward work concerns, how focused and effective it is, and how accessible it is to employees.)
Internal: 303 Internal: -29
Availability: 343 Availability: -21
External: 350 External: -24
Personal Dimension:
(Measures how much internalization of stress is occurring and the extent to which debilitating social and psychological conditions appear to be developing at the level of the individual employee. Addresses the interface between employees' home and work lives. and how this relationship may impact job performance and the organization's efficiency.)
Job Satisfaction: 349 Job Satisfaction: -6
Time and Stress: 337 Time and Stress: -16
Burnout: 357 Burnout: -19
Empowerment: 343 Empowerment: -23
Named as the UTB-TSC's areas of (relative) strength were such dimensions as Benefits, Physical Environment, Strategic, Burnout and Quality. All the rest (14) were considered areas of concern for the organization.
In the executive summary of the survey, the administration is warned that the direction the organization is taking in these measures need to be addressed and corrected because the failure to remedy the problems may lead to serious discontent in the UTB-TSC professional workforce and a failure of its mission.
The survey indicated that the areas of least improvement included strategic, quality, internal, team effectiveness, and change oriented.
Even if you're not well versed in the social sciences, it is obvious that things are not going well in Juliet's empire and getting worse as time goes on.
Copies of the survey are available at http://www.survey.utexas.edu/ , or at soe@uts.cc.utexas.edu.
4 comments:
This survey does very little to define the "real" feelings of the faculty and staff at UTB. In the past Juliet has fired or demoted those who dared to speak out against her and her policies. These people can't afford to lose their jobs...so like the poor families who refuse to testify against criminals out of fear, the employees at UTB are intimidated and fear having themselves identified. Any faculty members who dare to stand up to her are immediately removed from committees, are investigated and are harrassed by those who kiss Juliet's ass....like most of the deans and administration. She is a dictator and micro-manages the university...to fit her personal expectations and fit her ego. The staff and faculty are underpaid, overworked and pressured to do Juliet's bidding. Those who serve her well are rewarded....those in administration and she relocates faculty pay to those not in the classroom. For many years she was served by those who made up the faculty of TSC at the time of the partnership. Those loyal to her received tenure....tenure for loyalty; not for academic excellence. Those whose loyalty she questioned were expelled and move on. These statistics reflect a trend, but surely does not reflect the intensity of dissatisfaction.
At the end of each semester or academic session, the students evaluate the faculty at UTB. That evaluation process isn't about improving academic standards, it give Juliet and her administration information about the faculty members who are not following her policy to dumb down the academics to allow the dimploma mill to pump out graduates. Students who don't get good grades have a chance to "flunk" the instructor. Instructors whose attrition rate is too high...get harrassed by the Chairs, Deans and administration....pressure to dumb it down. As a result, UTB has almost become a "True-False" university....where faculty members give only "True-False" tests that can be machine graded and the student has a 50-50 chance of getting it right. Critical thinking skills are never developed because instructors who give blue book exams (very few) are pressured to join the "true-false" legion.
Can you add the .com
http://www.carebrownsville.blogspot.com/
The notion that there is pressure from chairs to dumb it down is simply a cunard. In point of fact, there is pressure, but it comes from the top, not the chairs, who are, in the wonderful alternate universe knows as UTB, almost entirely powerless.
Post a Comment