From Richard III to boycott: where did it go wrong at Leicester?

I'm sure Nick Hartell would have said disdain not distain.

Sadly this is the way it is going - there are massive review programmes in professional services departments at Manchester with hundreds of jobs being placed 'at risk' under the guise of restructures that have far fewer people on them. In effect almost akin to slow burning fire and rehire tactics. Here as elsewhere, last year brought in a significant number of voluntary redundancies and the loss of existing existing vacant posts but further reviews will now go on top of that. Not looking good to be honest for many colleagues.

why do ahem leadership responses always sound like they have been composed by spin marketing language?

The most chilling aspect of this is the justification for selecting academics. In the School of Business it is clear that it is not what academics research but the perspective they are presumed to study it from. How this isn't a breech of academic freedom is beyond me. But, even more worrying, in many cases I'm aware of, the presumed perspective is not accurate and is challenged by the academics in question.

The sentence 'Out went an environment where staff felt they were listened to, replaced with what “appears to be a small cabal of self-styled executives who govern from afar”, one academic claimed. ' probably applies to most English universities.

There should be laws passed in parliament that make it illegal to appoint anyone from the head of school up to the Vice-Chancellor and to make a sealed ballot of academics compulsory. Vice-chancellors being selected by a board of governors, most of which have no clue about how to run a university should never be allowed to play a role in the selection of senior management. On a visit to the University of Lund in Sweden more than 20 years ago, I was greeted by a list of people's names on the Institute main door, and when I asked what it was, I was told that 'this our list of candidates for election to the Head of Institute post'. The head of the Institute had a three-year term, which meant that they returned to the ranks after that time.

The appraisal (PPDR) matrix was already being used to 'sift' staff for yet another reorganisation/restructure/cost saving exercise before Covid-19 arrived in many Universities, as one Director who's dept has already let go of many staff using VS put it "we're going to have to 'cut-the-fat' and make even more savings" the trouble is they're already 'down to the bone'. So we're expecting much more outsourcing, and as other Universities have found the longer term costs by far out weigh the savings, and further pain to come...

Needs to be a cull of middle and senior managers first and all the PAs and underlings they have to "support them". That really will improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Good point Maverick2, but where would all those 'failed in the real world' graduate managers and their sycophantic underlings be able to find a safe haven other than in Academia?