Now, let's compare two forms of contracts in
academic field and in cultural field, in cultural industries.
So, what is the main difference between university and bureaucratic organization?
So, in many bureaucratic organization,
the control is based on what we call bureaucratic control.
It's based on the rules, reports,
and constant vertical control.
Vertical, we'll say, incitement of people to work.
So, it means that their job is
regulated from one hand by the contract or the particular worker,
and by a lot of different rules which are the,
we'll say, enforcement rules coming top down,
coming from organization to the worker.
This is the classic bureaucratic organization.
What is the university?
And I think not only the university but also their cultural industries,
and we spoke about it during the first week of our course.
So, in the university,
we have deal with the self-motivated organizations.
It means that, yes you have a contract.
But the remaining part,
it's not the rules coming from bureaucratic control top down,
but self enforcing rules.
Self enforcing rules, which are elaborated by people working
by themselves and implemented inside their organization.
And it means that in the academic world,
it's not their directive control which
is used but especially this idea of self enforcement.
Self enforcement because you understand perfectly that you are a part of academia.
And since you are a part of academia,
you have more or less the representation,
what you can do in academia,
and what you can't.
And it motivate you,
it guides you during your activities,
which is very big difference from the, we'll say,
corporations, bureaucratic control organizations, ministries, etcetera, etcetera.
So, you'll have workers which are working by themselves.
You just should, we'll say, select them.
You just should find these people who will share
these self-enforcing rules who will be able to self enforce themself as a worker.
And then, propose them a particular contract inside which they
will work by themself without any particular bureaucratic control,
bureaucratic, we'll say, the control which is generally destroyed their motivation.
We know perfectly that in any bureaucratic organization,
the motivation is lower than in self enforcing organization.
Bureaucratic organizations are destroying
their motivation just because they are implementing the control,
the reports, the system of their directive coming top down.
In self motivated organization you have absolutely other atmosphere.
And I think that the main difference of the academia from the non-academia,
and of creativity, creative industries from non-creative industries is this atmosphere.
Designer is doing something not only because someone is paying for him,
and not because he's constantly,
we'll say, controlled by a system of KPIs and other bureaucratic motivators,
but because he would like to make a kind of self-expression.
He has a particular vision of the product.
Otherwise, he probably will not accept to do his job.
So, the same in academic contract.
So, academic contract should be considered as a guarantee of independence.
So, we have dealt with the mainly long term contract,
which doesn't regulate this space or the activity and fixed duties.
It means that, if the Department of Slavonic literature,
for example, in the university,
is recruiting academia member for this department,
he is just proposing him the contract.
It's of course, examining his publication,
his ability to do a publication,
his ability to teach, etcetera, etcetera.
And once he's, we'll say, recruited,
the contract is specifying
only the research field and standard salary within particular category.
But he's more or less free by himself to define
what he would like to do inside this contract apart the teaching.
He can decide by himself whether I would
like to be focused much more on participation in conference,
or I would like to publish a book.
Should I do a lot of journal publications,
or instead, I will do just the one big book?
Yeah, I could focus on a big expedition which will be,
we'll say, which will be a very long,
I don't know, a few month expedition.
And then, I will work during a one year
in a publication on the result of such expedition.
Or I would like to produce
mainly publications based on
the other empirical research which has been done by other colleagues.
Would I like to launch a new course,
or I prefer to, I don't know,
to be concentrated on the scientific activity?
It means that, the researchers, the academic members,
academia members are defining more or less by themselves,
how they would like to fulfill these contract.
What they would like to do exactly inside this contract.
But since the period of this contract is very long period.
It's three years for tenure track,
and even life long contract for tenure position.
It means that such people are motivated by such fields as recognition,
interests to particular scientific field, ambitions, et cetera.
And not especially and only by bureaucratic control.
And then, after these three years,
you have interim review after which you are obtaining a long term,
the life long position,
either you should leave this university and find
the university probably which will respond to this criteria.
So it means that finally,
academic contract guarantee particular independence, the self-enforcing.
People could define that themselves what they would like to do inside.
But in a particular period of time,
someone will assess it.
And someone will say,
if this member of academia should be among our department or not, for example.
So, from this point of view, it's very,
we'll say, different from the model of the creative for culture industry contract.
But from another hand,
it guarantees particular independence.
And this is a common point in that.
So, it means that the contract is also based on idea of this independence,
or academic freedom, if you want.
Academic freedom is the ability of people to decide by
themselves what particular research field they would like to do,
what particular cause they would like to teach,
and what kind of particular scientific results they would like to demonstrate.
But inside the contract of creative workers,
we have deal with the also quite high level of flexibility.
Yeah, it's quite flexible also and
the effectiveness is also based on self motivation and not
on the system of control points, top down oriented.
But the contract inside the academia is a permanent contract.
It means that this contract is attaching academic workers to particular organization,
which is a very big difference from the cultural industries.
In cultural industries, as we know,
starting from the middle of 20th century,
especially in movie, in music, in some others,
the people in some other clusters, the people,
the artists are not related with their majors by permanent contracts,
which means that any artist could do
any kind of product on the different major agreements,
which is not the case of the university.
And until now, we know well that the professor working for one university.
Generally, could have an activity inside other university
but it should very well specify how he will,
we'll say,
make a border between the activity in one university and activity in other university.
How he will distinguish the result he obtained from
the result so far in one university from the results inside there and other university.
And I think that these are one of the challenge of their academic contract right now,
and we know that during different times,
especially during some right wing governments in United Kingdom
for example. The idea over there are
so-called permanent contract has been a few times debated.
And some politicians proposed to the, we'll say,
destroy the model of their permanent contract in academia.
So, it means that this idea of the contract which is linking directly
and for the long time
particular academic worker with a particular organization is questioning.
Iliya KiriaProfessor
