The administrator – a professional role with potentially unlimited character

Behind administration, we find the administrators. A professional group that David Regin Öborn, new doctor in working life science at Karlstad Business School, has focused on in his research. And the starting point was an explosive outburst during a meeting.

David Regin Öborn, you have a personal background as an administrator – what inspired you to pursue reach in this area?
– Partly, a curiosity about this group, as the type of administrative service work that these administrators can be classified under is quite poorly researched. I think there is a tendency today to write and talk a lot about administration and administrators, but we don’t often talk with the administrators themselves, in the form of research.

– But even though I believe it’s an important area that encompasses many interesting questions regarding task distribution, gender patterns, and the management and governance of organisations, I would like to share an anecdote that I also use in the introduction of my thesis. It’s a personally experienced situation that became the starting point for my interest in the area and raises important questions about belonging and social ties.

– When I was studying for my master’s degree at a Swedish university, I also worked part-time as a teacher for a couple of courses. As an ambitious student hoping to maybe one day be a part of academia, I was very eager to attend all sorts of seminars, meetings and gatherings to show my interest. At one of these information meetings where new administrative routines were presented, one of the senior academics had had enough. The person went off on a quite nasty rant about administration in general, the degradation of academia and the organisation’s administration and administrators in particular.

– In the middle of the rant, the person stopped and looked straight at the departmental administrator who had been working there for years (and was the only person with an administrative position in this room full of academics), and said: “Not you Inga. You are one of us, you know how it is, you are not stupid. I’m talking about the others.”

– He then continued ranting, in fact, about Inga’s work tasks, the stupidity of the routines she was to uphold, the ignorance of Inga’s administrative colleagues and so on. Eventually, the meeting went on and this episode, not unique, but perhaps more agitated than most rants on administration and administrators in academia, was left behind. But that sparked my curiosity – how does one experience and handle this seemingly strenuous position? How does this effect the job performance? Where do you feel at home as an included outsider?

– With experience from different positions – as an administrator, temporary teacher, assistant and now as a postgraduate researcher – my curiosity about this environment has grown. The episode presented above became the starting point of my project that explores how reorganisations affect roles and social relationships.

One of your questions is “What are your duties as an administrator?”. What answers did you receive?
– That it differs a lot, no day is the same and it greatly depends on what “comes in” and what others around you are working with at the moment. I initially had the impression that it could be very varied and look different not only from day to day but also when comparing different parts of the organisation. But at the same time, I had expected more common guidelines and a clearer idea both among administrators and academics of what the job should consist of.

The vague job description of many administrative roles – is that a problem?
– In many ways, it’s an asset as it provides flexibility for both the organisation and those receiving administrative support, as well as for the administrator, who thereby has the opportunity to shape and develop their tasks based on needs, interests and abilities. But there are, of course, risks as well. One such risk is the issue of boundary-setting – if you don’t know what should be included in the role, it’s difficult to determine what shouldn’t be included. As this type of support services is of a potentially unlimited nature, there is the risk of a heavy workload and stress. The lack of clarity can also create frustration among both administrators and academics regarding who should do what, what to prioritise and so on.

Why do you think administrators in particular have such a vague job description?
– Partly, I believe that it has to be this way for it to work in practice, at least for now. I think this relates to the tensions within the organisation that emerge in my findings, particularly concerning the work content and administration for academic staff, and to some extent, the role conflicts between management, the administrative structure and the academic structure. Simply put, you might see it as a twofold ambiguity – partly an ambiguity regarding what support or type of support is requested from the “core operations”, and partly what support is actually offered by the “support function”. Since there is no clear, common understanding of it – and there may be some contradictions regarding what is requested and offered – the job description for the individual inevitably becomes vague.

– Another aspect is the historical role. Partly, there is a tendency for female-dominated professions to be given vague and broad job descriptions. Historically, these roles have also been highly person-dependent, meaning the work is performed in relation to a specific person (manager/academic, etc.), which leads to significant variation in the role, making it difficult to capture in a clear job description.

What effects can a vague job description have on the employee?
– What emerges from my study is, on one hand, the freedom and space to shape the role and work based on perceived needs, interests and abilities, but on the other hand, the risk of an excessive workload and the strain of being caught between different expectations and perceptions related to what the employee should do.

What are the most notable discoveries from your study?
– If I were to mention one thing, it would be the indeterminate position of the administrators between different stakeholders and actors, and how this brings both risks and opportunities.

How can your research be of use?
– I hope that my findings and contributions from the individual papers can be useful for further research and contribute to various research discussions linked to, for example, organisational studies. I’m thinking specifically about the question of affiliations and loyalties, and how the dynamics of equal relationships within an organisation influence action within that organisation – and perhaps especially that it’s difficult to know that much about these dynamics until we start asking questions.

Have you discovered any areas within this field that have sparked your curiosity for further research?
– I would like to investigate whether the dynamics that I think I have found are also relevant in other, similar contexts, in other professional organisations. For example, in healthcare, the judiciary and schools. It would also be interesting to broaden it internationally, with experiences from other countries to say something about the more universal nature of those trends. The thesis also touches upon a couple of different areas, where especially questions about technology, loyalty relationships and the feeling of belonging are interesting issues to study further.

What are you doing next?
– Related to certain aspects of my findings – the issue of time and the allocation of time to various tasks within the administrative role, I’m working with a colleague on an application that specifically addresses the connection between work tasks and allocated hours. While the connection may initially seem straightforward, one of my thesis papers highlights that it can actually be quite variable and arbitrary. I think it’s an interesting but also important area to study closer, not least in terms of issues related to sustainable working life and sick leave connected to exhaustion and stress.

The indeterminate position in-between: Work relations amongst university administrators
http://kau.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1893407&dswid=8565