No it’s all higher administration
Is the chair to blame when department turnover is high
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Not always, people have their own reasons for leaving.
If people are forced out or there is any degree of compulsion, yes, higher-ups are to blame. Management can be intelligent and humane, with lots of creativity involved. There are truly talented managers who deserve every penny. But usually you see low IQ divide and conquer techniques (which those same managers used in their classrooms to game teaching evaluations before abandoning the lecture hall).
Divide and conquer strategies cause turnover, departments to implode, and weaken the university (an institution that depends on cultivating talent) as a whole over time. You are not running a small business or a private high school, what you are managing is very complex.
Some will hide behind mission and identity and say those who leave do not share these values. The only mission and identity of any tertiary institution of higher learning is research and inquiry driven. You can't excel at that unless you manage to accommodate dissenters who are the source of creativity in your institution.Agree
Actually the faculty moving or even brain drain has been discussed in 1998
https://magazine.washington.edu/feature/with-faculty-salaries-falling-behind-uw-faces-a-brain-drain/
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It is not appropriate to blame a single person or object, such as a chair, for high turnover in a department. There can be many factors that contribute to high turnover in a department, and it is important to carefully consider and address these factors in order to address the issue.
Some potential causes of high turnover in a department could include a negative work environment, lack of support or resources, inadequate training or development opportunities, poor communication or leadership, or conflicts between team members. It is important to identify the root causes of high turnover and take steps to address these issues in order to improve retention and create a positive and productive work environment.
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You also need to take the long view to really measure 'high turnover', which doesn't coincide with the tenure of one chair. A few people leaving in any one (or two) years can just be random bunching. You really need to know details of whether they are fleeing the place, or just got better offers that work better for prof/personal reasons.
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Chairs have a lot of power to help or hurt APs. Preps, class times, committee assignments, surplus research dollar allocations, writing annual reviews, choosing who is on the third year review committee, influencing tenure letter writers. A chair could easily cause very high turnover amongst junior faculty.