ERIC Number: EJ792837
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-May
Pages: 11
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1360-080X
EISSN: N/A
Relationships and Reciprocality in Student and Academic Services
Small, Kate
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, v30 n2 p175-185 May 2008
As part of the "face" a university projects to the world, student service staff play a key role in constructing an institution's external identity. Yet, there have been few studies of who are the general staff providing these services, and how they define their role within their institutions. Although there have been several excellent studies about the (often difficult) relationship between academic and general staff, and the attitudes of general staff in relation to their customers, these studies have generally considered general staff as a single grouping. This article unpacks the term "general staff", considering a particular occupational cluster within the loosely grouped classification of "general". Drawing on focus groups and interviews, it considers the understanding of the nature of the "customer", and of a range of working relationships, from the perspective of a group of general staff based in a student and academic service office. It also advances the analysis of the "customer" in higher education by considering the concept of student and academic service staff as both serving customers, and as the internal customers of academic and other general staff.
Descriptors: Higher Education, Occupational Clusters, Focus Groups, Interviews, Cluster Grouping, Job Analysis, Student Personnel Services, Student Personnel Workers, Client Characteristics (Human Services), Counselor Client Relationship, Helping Relationship, Collegiality
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/default.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A