Academics and Professional Administrators in Australian Universities: dissolving boundaries and new tensions

This paper reports the results of a national survey of administrators’ work roles satisfaction and values in relation to those of academics surveyed on similar issues in an earlier study. The paper identifies some crucial areas of difference in the values attached to work and the perceptions of work practices. Issues and tensions at the everyday work interface between academics and administrators are identified as central to the likelihood, or otherwise, of universities managing major changes.