(19) Work Allocation in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences: A Mixed Method Study

Objective : Faculty workload has changed reflecting diversification of students, decreased enrollments leading to increased internal pressures, COVID-19, increased technology, and expansion to online teaching. Given these changes and pressures, how do faculty perceive workload conditions today?

Methods: At the outset, teaching workloads were calculated by credit hour and a mixed method study initiated. An exploratory design was employed in semi-structured interviews (n=17) and responses evaluated by content discourse analysis. A cross-sectional, anonymous Likert survey, grounded in literature, was administered to all faculty in the college (N=67) via Qualtrics with 6 demographic questions and 45 work equitable statements. Descriptive data were calculated, and level of agreements stratified by demographic variables. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to assess statistically significant differences at p<.05.

Results: Sample representativeness was established. Dominant themes emerged including the need for workload transparency and balance, better communication, and defined distribution of work. Clarification of organizational structure and leadership training were desired. Differences between departments emerged with “my department” does more, and pharmacy program faculty understood expectations less. Technology and the online pharmacy program added unwelcomed stress. Respondents were neutral in 26 of 45 statements, agreed to 5, and disagreed to 14. ANOVA revealed non-tenure track faculty felt they have a “greater workload” than tenured faculty [F(3,56)=3.06,p=0.035] and Pharmacy Practice respondents disagreed with “department transparency about work activities for all” [F(5,54)=5.794,p < 0.001]. Race had a significant effect in 31 of 45 statements.

Conclusions: The results of the study have spurred changes, including workload modeling, a focus on communications and transparency, balancing workloads with expectations, leadership training, and clarification of organizational structure. Subsequent race focus groups were initiated to understand study findings.