Barry University Retention Strategies in Higher Education Discussion

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Evaluate the pros and cons of each potential solution (remember there should be 3 possible solutions presented) and then recommend one solution that you, as a consultant, feel will be best for this organization.

Develop a proposed budget for your preferred solution. Develop a timeline for the recommended solution.

Explain how you will follow-up to assess the outcomes of the implementation.

Describe your conclusions regarding the study.

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Running head: RETENTION STRATEGIES

Retention Strategies in Higher Education
Ashley Butler
Barry University

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RETENTION STRATEGIES

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Introduction
The shortage of academic staff and the failure of universities to retain quality academic
staff continue to be crucial to the changing prospects and potentials of knowledge formation and
learning. To focus on their obligations of teaching and learning, research, and community
engagement effectively, universities need adequate academic staff suitably qualified and
motivated to work effectively. Retention of employees in higher education institutions (HEIs) is
a serious concern; the high turnover rate of academic staff poses a major challenge to these
institutions. High employee turnover has grave implications for the quality, consistency, and
stability of academic enterprises. Turnover can have detrimental effects on students and
remaining academic staff members, who struggle to give and receive quality services, when
positions are vacated and then filled by inexperienced personnel (Powell, 2010). “While
retention strategies across different occupational groups and industries have many common
features, such as competitive pay, good working environment, and progressive human resource
policies that offer opportunities for advancement, they need to be context-specific and evidencebased to be more effective” (Tithe, 2010, p. 11). Therefore, an appropriate understanding of
employees’ expectations of their work environments is a critical issue in higher education
institutions’ ability to retain academic employees; hence, the problem of academic staff retention
is a global one, which affects both developing and industrialized countries. By understanding the
nature of the retention problems, an institution can decide whether to adopt targeted retention
initiatives to manage overall levels so that there is enough labor (Musah & Nkuah, 2013, p. 119).
An understanding of the causes and antecedents of turnover is a first step for taking action to
reduce turnover rates. To retain workers effectively, employers must know what factors motivate

RETENTION STRATEGIES

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their employees to stay in the field and what factors cause them to leave. Employers need to
understand whether these factors are associated with worker characteristics, or with the nature of
the work process, over which they may have some control (Horvat, 2004).
Literature Review
Selesho, J. M., & Naile, I. (2014). Academic staff retention as A human resource factor:
University perspective. The International Business & Economics Research Journal
(Online), 13(2), 295-n/a stated Employee retention is not a new concept. The retention process is
designed to increase employees’ control over their work, thereby improving job satisfaction and
enhancing organizational commitment. These authors are of the view that the issues within the
broader areas of work-life and retention have a significant, direct, or indirect impact on the
intended turnover of academic employees. Retention varies from university to university and
from department to department within universities. In order for HEIs to effectively manage and
retain their academic employees, they should pay specific attention to the importance of job
satisfaction and its effect on the performance level of employees.
80 academic staff were selected to participate in this study. The participants were
randomly selected; more than 35 percent of the selected academic staff had been working at
HEIs for 10 years or more. Items in the questionnaire focused on job satisfaction and pay
progression as factors that drive academics’ mobility and success at university. As the
methodological paradigm applied in this research is explanatory, the study may be classified as
qualitative, mixed-mode research.
In this study, the authors examined the retention of academics regarding their views on
the factors that keep them with their current employer. This is because the academic staff see job

RETENTION STRATEGIES

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satisfaction as the most important aspect; job satisfaction was regarded as an intrinsic element
that motivates staff to stay within their job. The study revealed that job satisfaction, salary,
promotion, and leadership are important among the academics who took part in this study.
There are intrinsic, as well as extrinsic, factors that affect the academic retention process. From
the current study, recommendations can be made regarding clear academic support which, in
time, will promote academic growth and the retention of valuable academic staff.
Duque, L. (2015). The relationship between leadership styles and employee turnover
intentions in higher education stated the ability to hire and retain effective staff members
remains a serious problem for higher education institutions, especially for faculty members
(Gardner, 2012; Wong & Heng, 2009). O’Connell and Mei-Chuan (2007) reported the average
cost of employee turnover to be $13,996 per employee. University leaders represent one of the
fundamental factors in job satisfaction (Gardner, 2012; Wong & Heng, 2009), and
consequentially affect staff members’ turnover in higher education institutions. Yukl (2007)
argued that transformational leadership provides a further understanding of the influence people
have on others and provides greater insights into the leader-follower interaction. In each case, a
negative relationship was found between the employees’ perceptions of leaders’ transformational
and transactional leadership styles and turnover intention (Hsu, Hsu, Huang, Leong, & Li, 2003;
Hughes, Avey, & Nixon, 2010; Long & Thean, 2011; Long et al., 2012; Raup, 2004; Wells &
Peachey, 2010).

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to examine the relationship
between perceived leadership styles of academic leaders and employee turnover intentions in
higher education. The sample for the research consisted of full-time staff members working

RETENTION STRATEGIES

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within a single institution of a large public system of higher education that performs activities
associated with teaching and learning, administration duties, and other academic relations
activities. Each employee that took part in the study was asked to complete a three-part survey
questionnaire. Two leadership styles that have been identified as most common within the
education context are discussed, including the instruments used to measure leadership behaviors.
These two leadership styles include transformational and transactional. In the educational setting,
for example, transformational leade...


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