Impact of Dominant Academic Culture on Employee Assistance and Organizational Development Programs in Institutions of Higher Education in the United States

Abstract

The focus of this study was to examine the relationship between the dominant academic culture and the nature and scope of programming and services offered by employee assistance programs (EAP) at institutions of higher education in the United States. Data analysis explored whether the dominant academic culture predicts which institutions have expanded EAP services to include organizational development programming, to increase the human resources footprint on campus. The three phases were: Academic Cultures Inventory (ACI) (Bergquist & Pawlak, 2008) to measure the dominant culture; interviews to gain EAP directors’ perspectives; and comparative analysis of programmatic data based on the dominant cultural themes of participating institutions. The data revealed one dominant culture, collegial culture, and a variety of hybrid cultures which were combined into one comparison group. A major theme in the interview data revealed EAPs at institutions with a collegial culture were more defined in their departmental roles and did not support departmental overlap with organizational development or wellness while EAPs at institutions with a hybrid culture welcomed the collaboration. Institutions with a collegial culture reported a lower utilization rate and greater flexibility in number of visits permitted than institutions with a hybrid culture. Although only one of the six cultures defined in Bergquist & Pawlak’s taxonomy was sufficiently represented to permit comparative analysis in this study, the themes exposed in the data implied how academic culture may impact employee assistance programs and the services offered to the institution. Suggestions for further research include conducting a larger scale replication and utilizing alternative methods of assessing academic culture to address limitations identified in the ACI.