Kyle Jensen

Management is hard and bad management common, but it absolutely pervades academia and causes the suffering of grad students on a grand scale. How ironic: what is the PIs job if not manager of their group? Chief fund-raiser and spokesperson, yes. But, 99% of it is the day-to-day management of students, postdocs, and staff.

I feel there are three causes largely responsible for the unskilled managers among faculty.

First, most PIs are hired with zero management experience. A new assistant professor may have slaved away at the bench or computer through both grad school and postdocs, but managed only the occasional undergrad. They have no formal training or experience in management. Hiring committees don’t seem to care.

Second, grad students have no mechanism or incentive to report bad, or even abusive, PIs. By the time a grad student discovers his PI is deranged (substitute clueless, incompetent, or “the Antichrist”, as appropriate) after 3 years, his sunk cost is tremedous. Better to suffer until you get your Ph.D. You are particularly gagged if you need your advisor’s recommendation for an academic job.

Finally, tenure precludes any hope of removing bad managers. Tenure is an anachronism best retired. Surely, we could achieve the objectives of the tenure system without giving somebody a lifetime job. I would not give my mother a lifetime job.

Bad management pervades academia and it’s a tragedy.