Anyone beed a uni HoD?

[NearlyAlwaysInsane]

At my department (which is large, social sciences) I've been gently asked whether I'd consider taking on the HoD role. This would come with zero teaching for 3 years, and an absolutely tiny pay rise. I'm really keen to get more involved in management (argh) but realistically, most days for me at the moment feel like I'm running to stand still, and with my youngest DC in primary from Sept I wonder if I could ever manage such a job at this stage in life (but then again I also ask myself.......would I even WANT such a job later, say in my 50s......).

So......anyone done a similar role? Am I insane to even consider putting my hat in the ring (disclaimer: most of my colleagues have reacted to the idea of them doing it as if they had been asked to sleep overnight in a field of manure).

Sounds to me like you've been approached precisely because the others have turned it down! being HOD would be most worst academic nightmare, quite frankly.

I've not been, but close family who has. I would say if you are an established researcher and want to take your academic career in a different direction and start climbing that ladder of academic management (department head, dean, PVC etc...) then it is a good move.

If you want to continue your academic research career in earnest, don't do it! Your research activity will essentially drop to zero (unless you already have an established and well-funded team beneath you), and it is hard to get that trajectory back.

It’s a poisoned chalice which many academics view as something they need to do to ‘take one for the team’ at some point in their career. Timing is everything, it’s high stress, you have a young family, and you’re being asked because others have said no.

I've been part of a dept senior management team and observing the HoD role from quite close quarters. The role means you get blamed by your department staff for all the rubbish the university executive want implementing ( naturally without resourcing anything - and given the realities of yet more limited funding with frozen fees/inflation will only worsen ) and the executive expect you to be available 24/7 for everything and anything . All for very limited financial reward.

I'm doing it now. It's horrendously stressful and will impact adversely on my promotion prospects. I don't recommend it at all. I'm actually thinking of standing down as it's having such an impact on my health.

Argh, that does sound pretty awful. Yes, the issue here too is that it is basically an unsupported role, with masses of management/admin/other duties, and the HoD is a sort of lightning rod for all the mess, negativity, any problem anyone has, and in a large dept that is one heck of a whack to be taking on a regular basis.

Honestly, don’t do it. I’m currently spending another evening crying because of the shit that I’m expected to deal with and the impossible position that I’ve been put in yet again. I’m supposed to be on leave this week as well.

I was head of department for few years, before stepping down during lockdown (not related to Covid). I'm surprised by some of the responses, as in our department, we do have a little bit of competition for the post. Some see it as an opportunity to exert an influence on important policy and strategic decisions, and indeed, the position does come with some power.

I do agree that it's somewhat of a problematic role as far too much of my time was occupied with tasks that I really felt an administrator could have done, and you lose touch with the academic side of things. So I steadied the ship during lockdown before allowing another colleague to take up the role. It's worthwhile doing for a few years, but not something I would want to do until retirement.