ORIGINAL ARTICLES � Use of Mintzberg's Model of Managerial Roles to Evaluate Academic Administrators Richard D. Muma, PhD, MPH, PA-C Barbara Smith, PhD, PT Patricia A. Somers, PhD Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to measure porate manager and a more service-related position. Rooted the administrative activities of physician assistant (PA) in the faculty like no other administrator but tied to the department chairpersons as compared with Henry administration like no other faculty member, he or she has Mintzberg’s model of managerial roles. The use of both an excess and a deficiency of identity. 1 As a result, the Mintzberg’s model is unique in that it was developed from roles that need to be played are many and the responsibilities observations in the corporate setting but was applied here can be challenging. 1 Despite the intricacies of running an in an academic setting. Both PA department chairpersons academic department, chairpersons have very little adminis- ( n = 77) and PA faculty ( n = 94) identified Mintzberg’s trative experience in doing so. 2 Likewise, department chair- leader role as one that was used most by PA chairpersons persons in the health professions are recruited from clinical and one that was viewed as most important as perceived by positions without any academic experience, much less PA chairpersons and faculty. Both groups agreed that PA administrative experience. Of particular interest in this study chairpersons were more concerned about functioning in the interpersonal realms of Mintzberg’s managerial roles as was that of the physician assistant (PA) department chair- opposed to the informational and decisional realms, and person, commonly referred to as a PA chairperson. there was a great deal of unanimity about the perceived role There are critical shortages of PA faculty in general and use and importance of the roles in regard to the job of a PA PA chairpersons in particular, partly because the PA profes- chairperson. This finding was important according to sion is relatively young and one of the fastest-growing pro- Mintzberg’s model because it is through leader role use that fessions in the United States, with a 100% increase in new PA chairpersons can weld diverse elements into a coopera- PA programs over the past seven years. 3 This translates into tive enterprise (an important aspect of managing academic chairperson shortages and turnover throughout the United departments). Chairpersons and faculty were given the States. It is assumed (among other things) that these short- opportunity to identify other constructs not covered by ages and turnover are due to a general lack of understand- Mintzberg’s model in an effort to include other roles unique ing of administrative roles. Determining administrative to PA education. Although a handful of roles were identi- fied, when compared with Mintzberg’s model, each one roles used by PA department chairpersons should be helpful matched an existing role defined in the model. These data for recruitment and retention purposes and may lead to indicate that both chairpersons and faculty were in agree- development of programs that appropriately inform those ment with the way Mintzberg’s model can describe PA who are interested in becoming a PA academic administra- chairperson roles. J Allied Health 2006; 35:65–74. tor or for those who already serve in this position. 4 Inter- ventions of this kind may also lead to a stronger PA profes- sion, both academically and professionally. This research THE CHAIRPERSON is an odd creature in an odd spot. 1 In focused on the managerial roles PA department chairper- sons used and perceived as important as compared with many ways, the chairperson is a blend of the lower-level cor- Mintzberg’s model. 5 Knowing the managerial nature of individuals in PA chairperson positions, including the way Dr. Muma is Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Physician they conduct themselves as managers, may be a significant Assistant, and Dr. Smith is Associate Professor, Department of Physical resource when assisting others in the understanding of this Therapy, College of Health Professions, Wichita State University, position. Although Mintzberg’s model has been used prima- Wichita, Kansas; and Dr. Somers is Associate Professor, Department of rily to describe corporate managers, in this study it served as Educational Administration, College of Education, University of Texas–Austin, Austin, Texas. a framework for understanding the work of the PA aca- demic chairperson. Received August 16, 2004; revision accepted March 24, 2005. Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Richard D. Muma, PhD, Theoretical Approach MPH, PA-C, 1845 Fairmount, Department of Physician Assistant, Col- lege of Health Professions, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS 67260- The conceptual framework selected for use was taken from 0043. Tel 316-978-3011; fax 316-978-3025; e-mail richard.muma@ Henry Mintzberg’s well-tested and proven managerial wichita.edu. 65
The Managerial Roles • Figurehead Interpersonal • Leader • Liaison • Monitor Informational • Disseminator • Spokesperson • Entrepreneur Decisional • Disturbance Handler • Resource Allocator • Negotiator F IGURE 1. Mintzberg’s model of managerial roles. Adapted from Mintzberg H: The Nature of Managerial Work. New York, NY: Harper & Row; 1973. model. 5 This approach takes an observational, descriptive Methods stance on the work of managers. It answers the question “What do managers do?” rather than “What should man- S UBJECTS agers do?” Mintzberg’s model is divided into three manage- rial role categories: interpersonal, informational, and deci- Subjects were surveyed and included full-time primary sional (Figure 1). administrators of accredited, entry-level PA programs and The interpersonal roles ensure that information is pro- assigned titles such as chairperson, director, assistant dean, vided, the informational roles link all managerial work or department head. Additional subjects included full-time together, and the decisional roles make significant use of faculty from accredited, entry-level PA programs and the information. Mintzberg further points out that the assigned titles of clinical and academic coordinator. There many demands faced by managers force them to assume were 127 individuals who were listed as PA department multiple roles, which are essentially an organized set of chairpersons and 214 listed as PA department faculty as behaviors. Selection of Mintzberg’s model served two pur- defined above. After the online survey was completed, six poses: a framework for describing the work of PA chairper- PA chairpersons were randomly selected for personal inter- sons and an interesting application of a theory primarily views to further evaluate the nature of the managerial role used in the business setting. interactions they experience with other department chair- This study proposed to explore PA department chairper- persons, deans, faculty, and students at their institution. son roles from two different population perspectives: PA S URVEY I NSTRUMENTS : D ESIGN AND U SE department chairpersons and PA department faculty. PA faculty were selected as a comparison group because they The first section of the department chairperson survey were more likely to be knowledgeable about PA chairperson requested demographic information on the instructional roles. The basic research questions were as follows: unit and campus and personal information about the depart- 1. Which managerial roles do PA chairpersons use accord- ment chairperson. The second section requested respon- ing to chairpersons and faculty? dents to identify their perceptions of importance and time 2. What is the difference in use of managerial roles as spent on managerial roles in relation to their current posi- reported by PA department chairpersons and PA depart- tion using a five-point Likert scale (1, not important; 5, very ment faculty? important) and indicating percentages of time, respectively. 3. Which managerial roles are important in the work of a An example of the directions and a statement from the PA department chairperson from PA chairperson and survey are shown in Figure 2. faculty viewpoints? The first section of the faculty survey requested faculty 4. What is the difference of importance PA department to indicate how important Mintzberg’s managerial roles are chairpersons place on Mintzberg’s managerial roles in relation to the PA chairperson position (generically, not versus PA department faculty? their own chairperson) and the average amount of time a 5. What is the difference in use and importance of mana- chairperson should spend functioning in Mintzberg’s roles gerial roles as reported by experienced and novice PA (generically, not their own chairperson) using a five-point department chairpersons? Likert scale (1, not important; 5, very important) and indi- 66 M UMA ET AL ., Describing Academic Health Profession Administrators
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