P-45 New Faculty Onboarding
Abstract
Onboarding is the process an employee goes through when starting a new job to gain information about their institution and become acclimated to the environment. This action research project sought to discover how the new faculty onboarding process at a small, private university could be improved. The primary research question was how the onboarding process could be improved. Following a review of the literature, an improvement proposal was drafted and presented to a group of stakeholder participants in a focus group session. Feedback was collected and the proposal revised. New faculty were then invited to participate in the study by reviewing the revised proposal and providing feedback. Two rounds of data collection resulted in 19 actually participating, nine through survey responses and 10 through one-on-one interviews. Results indicated that the proposal outlined a considerable improvement to the onboarding process but could have gone further and that new faculty participants experienced a variety challenges related to unique factors associated with the university but not necessarily as assumed. The primary conclusion was that the existing program should be expanded into a full-fledged, comprehensive onboarding program that persists throughout new faculty members’ first year. It should include faculty mentoring, specialized training opportunities, searchable web-portal access to important information, ongoing adjustment support, informational feedback on job performance, and periodic follow up on and assessment of adjustment process and progress. It should also include open, invited dialogue regarding the university’s unique culture and possible challenges new faculty may experience with adjustment. In addition, other conclusions are drawn.
Start Date
3-3-2017 2:30 PM
End Date
3-3-2017 4:00 PM
P-45 New Faculty Onboarding
Onboarding is the process an employee goes through when starting a new job to gain information about their institution and become acclimated to the environment. This action research project sought to discover how the new faculty onboarding process at a small, private university could be improved. The primary research question was how the onboarding process could be improved. Following a review of the literature, an improvement proposal was drafted and presented to a group of stakeholder participants in a focus group session. Feedback was collected and the proposal revised. New faculty were then invited to participate in the study by reviewing the revised proposal and providing feedback. Two rounds of data collection resulted in 19 actually participating, nine through survey responses and 10 through one-on-one interviews. Results indicated that the proposal outlined a considerable improvement to the onboarding process but could have gone further and that new faculty participants experienced a variety challenges related to unique factors associated with the university but not necessarily as assumed. The primary conclusion was that the existing program should be expanded into a full-fledged, comprehensive onboarding program that persists throughout new faculty members’ first year. It should include faculty mentoring, specialized training opportunities, searchable web-portal access to important information, ongoing adjustment support, informational feedback on job performance, and periodic follow up on and assessment of adjustment process and progress. It should also include open, invited dialogue regarding the university’s unique culture and possible challenges new faculty may experience with adjustment. In addition, other conclusions are drawn.
Acknowledgments
Dr. Rachel Williams-Smith