Promotion criteria: perceptions of faculty members and departmental chairmen

Medical school promotions committees tend to depend heavily on departmental evaluations of candidates for promotion. Unfortunately, departments often lack clear promotion guidelines; this results in confused perceptions of promotion criteria. Faculty members and department chairman do not always see eye to eye. When asked to indicate which activities contributed the most toward achieving promotion to higher academic rank, faculty members in a large midwestern medical school perceived research to be the single most important activity. Departmental chairmen had a broader perception, however, and included research, teaching patient care and administration/service in their list of desirable and essential activities. Faculty members and chairman differed significantly (p less than .01) in their mean ratings of 12 of 69 activities. Such perceptual discrepancies can lead to conflict and disagreement that can be avoided by straightforward explanations of promotion criteria and more clearly defined job descriptions and time allocations.