Using data from a 2010 survey of academic chairs, this study reports on academic department chairs' recommended time allocations to new assistant professors. I contend that personal values about research and teaching influence the department chair's recommendations along with organizational characteristics. Multi-level modeling indicates that department chairs' own academic time allocations, promotion history, and desire for quality teaching as well as organizational characteristics such as research facilities, average teaching load, and research ranking influence the department chairs' advice. These results suggest that organizational characteristics do not dominate official, individual actions within the university setting as bureaucratic and neo-institutional theories might predict.