Managing Contract Change. Mendip Papers.

Colleges in the United Kingdom are currently undergoing significant shifts in how staff and faculty contracts are restructured and this paper takes a close look at why this process is going on, its legal ramifications, and how administrators can manage it. An introduction describes the background to the current trends and explores various ways of organizing and categorizing administrator levels and responsibilities. The next section looks at why a college might decide to change contracts and the following section explores how some college administrators have achieved contract change by offering significant improvements or by capitalizing on retirements, resignations, or promotions. A section on future possibilities suggests ways that faculty pay rates may be more directly related to their duties. The following section, on legal questions, reviews central features of a college employment contract, specific issues (such as contract variations), explicit variation with consent of all parties, termination of the contract, key features of the contract change process, imposed contract change through dismissal and re-engagement, and two phases of imposed contract change. A section on the administrator's role explores effective delivery of new terms and conditions, staff responses and relations, and a checklist of 14 key areas that administrators should address. An appendix lists 14 options for gradual change. (Contains 15 references.) (JB)