Modern Management and Working Conditions in Academia

In Denmark as well as other countries, a wide range of new ways of governing universities and managing academics has been introduced based on New Public Management and different performance management principles. This chapter discusses how performance management practices can be expected to relate to the psychosocial work environment and stress. There are a range of different important dimensions influencing the psychosocial work environment, for example the content and organization of the work, demands in work, interpersonal relationships in work, conflicts in work and employees’ reactions to their work situation. It is also important to be aware that the employees’ perceptions of their work conditions and their related satisfaction and stress levels are likely to be reciprocal over time. In all cases, the intention is to improve the performance of public organizations by “moving focus from process-oriented and rule-driven management to performance-orientated and result-driven management”.