Every attempt to manage academia makes it worse

Re:Every attempt to manage academia makes it worse by CountSessine on Monday April 03, 2017 @05:17PM (#14027220)

We have to calm down with the metrics, accreditations and regulations, and accept that some people are better than others at certain things, hire the right people and trust them to do a good job.

Honest question - how do we know who is better at what if not by some measure/metric? How do we know who the right people are? Is it just a matter of 'expert opinion'? And if so, how do we prevent cliques and nepotism?

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Re:Every attempt to manage academia makes it worse by solidsnack9000 on Monday April 03, 2017 @05:59PM (#14027598)

We know who is better the same way we know how to set the metric. There is no escaping "values" :)

Metrics do complicate cliques and nepotism; but they can also be used to reinforce them. Rarely is performance as clear cut as speed in a race. Metrics that boil down to approval from coworkers -- how helpful was this person? how professional (1-5) was their communication? -- often do more to conceal bias than prevent it.

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