A comparison of faculty and chairperson perceptions of the annual evaluation process: Communication, persuasion, stress, and performance

This study compared the differential perceptions of faculty (N = 204) and chairpersons (N = 67) about the annual review (faculty evaluation) process. The study consisted of a survey of faculty who gave their personal reaction and a survey of chairs who gave their perception of how the faculty in their department would react in three general areas: (1) faculty reaction to the process, (2) level of communication existing between faculty and chairs, and (3) behavior of faculty subsequent to the evaluation process. Based on the literature citing theories of communication and persuasion related to management effectiveness, it was hypothesized that faculty\u27s and chairs\u27 perceptions would be significantly different and that faculty divided into subgroups according to gender, tenure status, and merit raise would also differ in their perceptions. The results of this study failed to support the theory that faculty\u27s and chairpersons\u27 perceptions differ significantly on the evaluation process. However, chairs\u27 responses were significantly higher than faculty\u27s responses for encouragement, feedback, and need for more information, while their responses were lower than faculty\u27s responses on desire for more feedback and time spent on teaching and service. The analyses of faculty sub-group data (by gender, tenure status, and merit raise) revealed that males were less stressed, wanted more feedback, and spent more time on teaching than did female faculty. Tenured faculty were less satisfied and felt the evaluation was less helpful than did non-tenured faculty. Faculty who reported receiving above-average merit pay raises were less stressed, more satisfied, and had higher congruence of goals/access to resources than faculty who reported below-average merit pay raises. These results reveal the specific perceptual differences that exist between faculty and chairs and among faculty divided according to merit pay raise and which may be related to the differences among faculty in efforts to improve performance