A COMPARISON OF NON-TENURE TRACK FACULTY CULTURE WITH TENURED FACULTY CULTURE AT THE DEPARTMENTAL LEVEL AT A FOUR YEAR PUBLIC INSTITUTION

Abstract

Today, non-tenure track faculty (NTTF) make up the majority of those teaching in higher education. Yet, very little is known about what constitutes the culture of the group. Most research focuses on the group as outsiders, or on the group’s ability, or inability, to teach effectively. While there are many reasons a group or individual can feel like an outsider one possible reason is competing values. It is possible that NTTF and tenured faculty (TF) possess fundamentally different cultures. What this study discovered was that TF and NTTF at the institution studied did not possess fundamentally different cultures. In fact, the cultures of TF and NTTF both in the current and preferred state as measured by the OCAI, were nearly identical. Once again, this does not mean that NTTF studied do not feel like outsiders for reasons other than culture, but it does call into question the idea that cultural differences account for this perception, and self-perception. This led to a broader question of what variables do create significant differences in faculty culture. What was discovered was that gender, and to a lesser degree race, was significant in predicting differences in culture.