Abstract

This study is an attempt to propose an administrative staffing in the public universities of Saudi Arabia in the light of the global trends in terms of identifying the reality of vice rectorships management and organizational problems. The study utilized the descriptive analytical method, where the questionnaire distributed to a random sample and the interviews conducted with vice rectors. The study resulted that university employees are lacking training on management and leadership. It also found that the organizational structure of public universities is deficient in several aspects: rigid organizational structures, centralization, absence of precise job descriptions, poor knowledge management, limited staff respect, and poor university organizational culture, absence of comprehensive vision, lack of effective leadership, low financial status of staff members, performance deficiency and early retirement. Global trends in university administrative jobs include: comprehensive re-organization with digital system activation, provision of technology, administrative leadership succession, development of knowledge management and pioneer leadership. The study and the Ministry of Civil Service recommended assigning administrative jobs to some university personnel, academic and administrative work separation, assigning staff member to an administrative position for four years at most and utilizing technical infrastructure to improve university administrative and organizational performance.

1. Introduction

At the time of globalization, universities joined the international system of education creating global competition and rating lists. Accordingly, universities work hard to improve their performance and outputs quality ⁶⁴. In cooperation with the Association of Arab Universities, Arab League Educational Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) developed self-evaluation standards for improving university performance in the Arab World ⁶⁷.

University system witness a lot of challenges including: organizational structure rigidity, lack of administrative job description, large number of committees, centralization, lack of integration and cooperation between organizational units, multiple consultative agencies, absence of precise job description and procedures and databases deficiency. These challenges create disputes among organizational units, lack of confidence in employees, prioritizing individual interests, dissatisfaction, lower work motivation, poor performance quality and productivity and not participating in decision-making process ⁶¹.

University system performance involves five classes: a) university leadership, which develops system, plans, decisions and strategic policies; b) staff members either carrying out administrative work or teaching burdens; c) staff members assistant including researchers, teacher assistants, instructors and lab technicians; d) administrative body responsible for buildings and financial affairs; e) scholars and researchers, their opinions on the organizational services taken into consideration. These five classes should work together in university system performance ⁴⁹.

Therefore, universities have to adopt developmental procedures to reach its objectives, keep up with global innovations, and improve their performance. Saudi universities face many challenges, such as different organizational structures, unclear administrative tasks, academic role expansion to include administrative tasks of the general management, interference between academics and management, and few staff members are active researchers. Pieces of literature review that dealt with the academic needs of universities reveal deterioration of academic independence and retreat of staff member professionalism as a result of official domination and weak credibility in foreign educational institutions ⁴⁸.

University system shortcoming resulted from insufficient programs, policies and outputs and staff members decrease ⁸¹. Moreover, some studies indicate that management of Arab universities suffers from weak professional preparation, limited capabilities, centralized decision-making, imbalanced responsibilities, job tasks and authorities in different levels of administration, poor coordination between educational system departments, limited organizational response to modern administrative developments and deficient performance evaluation ⁷⁸. Administrative processes should be re-designed to include modern organizational methods concerned with professional development of staff members and providing the necessary equipment to modernize the existing methods. in addition to changing traditional practices and roles played by students, staff members and administrators ⁵⁶. Enafesa ⁴⁷, Manqour ⁵⁹, Al - Ghamdi ¹³, Drendri, et.al ⁴¹, Abu Ayed ², Kanaan ⁵⁸ and Agha, et.al ⁵ refer to inadequacy of old organizational structures to modern conditions, complicated work procedures, centralization, bureaucratic organizational procedures, absence of comprehensive vision of the role of higher education, conflicting and duplicate university jobs, aging systems, values and ethical standards decline, keeping old organizational structure of public universities and inflation of jobs structures. King Saud University strategic vision 2030 indicates to incompatibility between position requirements and skills of its occupant, slow administrative processes and bureaucracy, as illustrated in the Strategic plan 2030 for King Saud University.

Pieces of literature review recommended organizational structures development, decentralization, precise job description and utilizing available human and material services in the light of a comprehensive plan including administrative and academic levels ³⁶.

According to a number of Rectors of emerging Saudi universities, the challenges they face include weak communication with local community institutions, difficulty of recruiting qualified Saudi and non-Saudi cadres, difficulty of recruiting women especially in the medical field, absence of strategic plans, incomplete infrastructure, scarcity of highly qualified Saudi cadres, difficulty of implementing scientific research, inability to contact with ancient universities, aging university systems and typical strategic plans output. They refer to the importance of spreading the culture of strategic planning through workshops and intensive courses for university leaders ⁴⁶.

Based on Global Competitiveness Report of Davos Forum, economic research and report unit identified the causes of decline in Saudi universities rating this year, including: decline in assessing the quality of university education and training, decline in the efficiency of market, technological readiness, capital market and innovation. The Report suggested that Saudi Arabia has to improve labor market procedures and regulations, increase the efficiency of the labor force and reduce governmental bureaucracy ⁷⁶.

The performance of university system is affected by several factors, such as accurate database availability, clear and flexible organizational structure, characterization and classification of academic and administrative jobs as well as clarity and sequence of organizational measures and manpower. Human force i.e. staff members play a pivotal role in university performance as he carries out a lot of duties, including excellent teaching performance which affects the quality of educational outcomes, meaningful social participation and doing original research. Public universities allocate a section of its budget to prepare staff members in order to achieve its objectives efficiently and effectively.

The problem of the study can be identified in the light of the following main question:

How administrative jobs in public Saudi universities are staffed in the light of global trends?

The main question leads to a number of sub-questions:

1. What is the condition of the organizational structure in public Saudi universities?

2. What are the global trends of university administrative jobs assigned to staff members?

3. What are the regulations governing the assignment of vice-rectors, deans and the like in Saudi universities?

4. According to the sample of the study, what are the organizational problems in the structure of public universities?

5. According to the sample of the study, what are the challenges facing the current management procedures of vice rectorship and deanship?

6. What is the proposal for staffing of administrative jobs assigned to staff members in Saudi university in the light of global trends?

The study aims to introduce a proposal for administrative jobs staffing in Saudi university in the light of global trends in terms of the following:

1. Identifying the condition of the organizational structure in public Saudi universities.

2. The global trends of university administrative jobs assigned to staff members.

3. The regulations governing the selection of vice-rectors, deans and the like in Saudi universities.

4. Identifying the organizational problems in the structure of public universities.

5. Identifying the challenges facing the current management procedures of vice rectorship and deanship and the like according to specialists’ point of view.

6. Introducing a proposal for administrative jobs assigned to staff members staffing in Saudi university in the light of global trends.

The study helps universities and colleges employees to identify the methods of administrative job staffing in public university system in Saudi Arabia. It enables specialists of higher education to develop new methods of administrative job staffing in public university system in Saudi Arabia. It also helps university rectors and colleges deans to set professional development systems and mechanisms. Moreover, universities and colleges employees can modernize the regulations governing higher education system. It enables the improvement of the quality of higher education performance and addresses some of its problems. It helps university leaders to deal with the problems of performance in public university system in Saudi Arabia.

Differentiated Staffing: It is a method for distributing tasks and responsibilities among personnel according to their qualifications, experiences and abilities. It aims to achieve the greatest benefit from the available skills and placement of best individuals. Salaries determined according to the performance of each personnel ( ⁵², p. 146). It is used here to mean the conversion of some jobs in higher education institutions assigned to staff members to be carried out by administrative employees with appointments from the Ministry of Civil Service.

Jobs: The work carried out by specific personnel such as planning, organization, leadership and supervision ¹¹. A job includes the performance of a range of duties and responsibilities assigned to a specific person ³⁷. It is used here to mean Administrative jobs assigned to staff members in the system of public high education institutions.

Management: It is the science and art of managing, directing and controlling work through the operations and jobs followed to achieve the objectives of the administrative body ⁶⁸. It is used here to mean directing administrative operations and activities assigned to staff members to specific management appointed by the Ministry of Civil Service.

System: A set of related reviews and scientific theories representing a consistent unit and a structure that includes synthetic relationships ⁶⁸. The term is used here to refer to the system of higher education institutions including more than ten academic colleges.

University education: It accepts high school students under certain conditions and technical education students in certain rates. The student receives a bachelor degree which qualifies him to work in public and private sectors ⁵⁶. It is used here to mean higher education of bachelor, diploma and master degrees in public Saudi universities.

University system: It is divided into two bodies: the administrative body and the academic body. The administrative body performs all administrative and technical work. It consisted of The Supreme Council of the University Secretariat, its Secretary, college managements and its subordinate units. The academic body performs purely academic works in addition to some administrative tasks. The administrative body and the academic body work together within one system to achieve their mutual objectives. The system consisted of collective councils, its chairmen, college councils, academic department councils and the Supreme Council of Universities headed by the Minister of Higher Education. University system is an open system consisted of a set of subsystems and sections including input, processes, outputs, and feedback. While the educational system reflects culture and civilization of the society, higher education institutions in the Arab countries failed to play an effective developmental role because of absence of integration between academic research and development areas, poor alignment of the qualifications of graduates and the requirements of the market, unemployment, scarcity of some disciplines, imbalance between quantity and quality and difficulty of keeping up with contemporary scientific and technological developments ¹⁹.

Organizational structure: the concept of organizational structure has no definite definition, however; it may be defined as a method for achieving the goals of the organization. Robert Appleby defines organizational structure as a framework directing the director of the organization when making decisions. Stoner & Freeman define it as a way of distributing the activities of the organization. Kahn & Katz state that organizational structure includes three dimensions: complexity, formalization and centralization. John Child identifies the basics of the organizational structure: distribution of work, responsibilities and authorities, relationships and organizational levels, distribution of employees, authorization, work procedures, internal communication, participation in decision making and performance evaluation. Organizational structure has two sections: Horizontal Structure referring to activities, professional jobs and specializations conducted by the organization and Vertical Structure referring to the work of the organizational structure measured by the number of organizational levels ⁵³. There are five types of organizational structure: 1) Simple Structure with centralized control, 2) Professional Bureaucracy with decentralized control, 3) Machine Bureaucracy with standard control, 4) Divisional Structure with middle management supervision, and 5) adhocracy supervised by the consultants and mutual adaptation ⁵³.

Responsibilities and authorities: Responsibilities are the duties assigned to an employee depending on his position and its potentials. The more we go down in the organizational structure, responsibilities become more limited. There should be a balance between responsibilities and authorities given to employees, since increasing authorities over responsibilities leads to misuse of authority. Traditional organizations are simple, general and has no clear details, so organizational principles should be logically and academically formulated to suit technical changes and technology ¹⁸.

There are many Models of Organizational Structures in Universities including Integrated Structure, Specialized Structure, University College model, University without colleges, and Management by walking around. In Integrated Structure, each college represents an integrated academic management consisting of a set of academic departments that aim to prepare educated and skillful professionals in specific disciplines. This model enables the academic, administrative and financial independence of the faculty. Each department do all the relevant academic activities such as approval of programs, courses, plans and development. The college performs the necessary administrative tasks and services, while some roles may be performed by the university management. However, this model is criticized for inability to concentrate some specialties in one department of the university ⁶².

In Specialized Structure, each academic department represents a specific organizational configuration including all specialists in the university. It represents an investment of specialized manpower focusing on precise specialization in college and academic department formation. Academic departments do not perform financial, administrative, and registration tasks register and represented at the College Council by its Heads. This model depends on high administrative centralization with academic and practical decentralization, but it has some problems such as poor coordination between the academic requirements of the colleges ⁶².

In University College model a college includes a number of different disciplines divided as departments, grants certificates and performs academic and scientific duties in a decentralized manner while administrative and financial duties are centralized. It is managed by a Council that includes heads of departments and may be enhanced by external specialists such as academic experts. However, this model is criticized for having no common language between the members of University College management, because of their different disciplines and guidance ⁶².

University without colleges means that a university directly supervises the academic departments which perform the processes of education and research. These departments are independent in terms of academic duties as well as administrative and financial duties in some cases. The Head of the Department acts as the Dean, so he is a member of University Council and the Council of Deans. While departments focus on its specialized academic duties, university performs administrative and service duties such as registration and backup activities. Thus, a university becomes a great college composing of multiple scientific departments, so this model utilizes human and material resources efficiency and reduces administrative spending ⁶².

Management by walking around, in this model, directors can directly check the organization by wandering around. It also helps them to understand the aspirations, achievements, experiences and problems of the staff through unofficial discussions. This model is distinguished by intimacy in the workplace and enhancing contact between managers and employees. However, it requires continuous management by wandering around while the performance of the organization is measured by the relationship between managers and employees ².

Selecting the appropriate organizational structure for university depends on the size of the university, i.e. the larger a university is, the more decentralized structure becomes appropriate and vice-versa. University size is determined by the number of colleges and departments as well as faculties and students. A larger university requires more tasks, events and various activities ⁶². Some studies conclude that there is a proportional relation between university size and administrative divisions, disciplines and levels ⁵³.

University Location is another standard, since centralized organizational structure is suitable in case that colleges and departments of a university share an academic site. On the contrary, in case that those colleges are geographically dispersed, decentralized university structure is utilized ⁶². Also, availability of human and material resources to meet the requirements of colleges and academic departments supports a decentralized organizational structure ⁶². Disciplines Integration is evident in specialized professional universities and absent in university college model. It imposes the application of centralization through coordination between the relevant bodies ⁶².

University Philosophy is considered the foundation of organizational structure since it includes vision, mission and objectives of the university ⁵³. Moreover, University Strategy includes authorities, jobs, practices and organizational activities in addition to university culture and conduct standards. The vision of the university should be approved and a quantitative criterion in performance evaluation should be used ⁶⁰. University strategy is the general guidance of performance; therefore the organizational structure is formed depending on it ⁷⁹. University strategy is a deeper and more comprehensive element than objectives, because it includes the long term goals, policies, plans and mechanisms. The organic model is preferred because of its flexibility in dealing with an unstable dynamic environment ⁵³.

There is a strong relationship between job and organizational structure as the latter explains its place and requirements. Studies indicate that the more organizational levels increased the more scope of supervision decreased. Organizational levels increase leads to long hierarchy, more expenses, and problems in communication, planning and control as well as misuse of human resources ⁵³. Specialization is a basic principle of organizational structure that enables the division of activities into small tasks and application of skill diversity as some departments requires minors and technical skills. The scope of narrow supervision is between 2-4 leads to increasing administrative levels and organization elongation, i.e. a rectangular organizational structure with hierarchical authority. Broad supervision, ten individuals, reduces the number of administrative levels. In large organization, Matrix structure collects activities and individuals simultaneously on functional and un-functional level. It is characterized by a double order line, i.e. subordinates subject to two authorities in the same time. On the other hand, network structure depends on computer network, contact channels and varied electronic media connecting between departments and characterized by a high level of independence ⁷⁹.

Staff member: A university employee ranging from Teacher Assistant to Professor and chosen according to specific criteria. He/she acquires the necessary skills, experience and sustainable development to identify the technological developments related to his/ her discipline. There are certain criteria for nomination and selection, the university pays the fees and accommodation costs, since it contributes to academic and research improvement. In England, contract with staff member has the following classification: teaching only, teaching and research, research only, not teaching and not researching such as Vice Rector. However, in America staff members are holders of PhD or its equivalence and works full-time or part-time ⁵⁴. Staff members are entrusted with teaching, writing, academic research supervision and community services, so they are responsible for achieving the objectives of the university. Performing routine office duties consume their time and reduce their scientific, educational and research capabilities. In addition, insufficient moral and financial terms have a negative impact on their performance of the three basic duties (teaching, research and community service) (Al-Bohi, 2013).

Hassanin ⁵⁵ utilized descriptive analytical method to review university structure problems such as methods of academic preparation of professors who need to be educationally qualified and administrative positions which need administrative preparation on scientific grounds. Awad ⁷ utilized qualitative analysis method and identified the following development axes: Formal identification of public administrative leadership, development of the rules of governance, innovation of tools for enhancing the principle of competency in the processes of selection and assessment as well as adoption of assessment and follow-up mechanisms. Al-Saudi ²⁵ utilized the descriptive method and a questionnaire distributed to the sample of the study to identify university management negatives and address them through developing scientific scenario. The study concluded that: There is no clear mechanism for selecting university leaderships, absence of job description, staff members and students do not participate in choosing their leaders, absence of objective and declared standards for selecting university leaders, recruitment by election is not approved as well as rigidity and inflexibility of the organizational structure. Hassan & Abdullah ⁵⁴ utilized descriptive analytical method and developed a proposal for the development of the Egyptian Higher Education in the light of contemporary international experience. They identify some university problems in the field of human development, such as: inability to achieve the desired goals, the difficulty of facing challenges of globalization, information density, knowledge resources multiplicity and technology and communication revolution, inadequate curriculum, poor material resources, inadequacy of staff members, inadequate performance evaluation system, low performance of the university system, and absence of a definite system for replacing university leaders. Zaher ⁸¹ utilized descriptive analytical method and scenarios to propose some mechanisms to activate the social and cultural role of Saudi universities. The study concluded that academic management adopts dominant centralization and narrow hierarchical bureaucracy that hinder innovation and creativity. University leadership adhered to responsibilities and authorities while being unable to inspire subordinates and encourage creativity and development, in addition to rigidity and hierarchy of organizational structures that utilize network and virtual organizational structures. Enafesa ⁴⁷ utilized descriptive analytical method and a questionnaire applied to a random sample consisting of female administrators. The study concluded that the sample shows a high level of empowerment awareness and there are significant differences in the total score of empowerment awareness depending on the variable of marital status. Riyadh (2009) utilized descriptive analytical method for the types of job competency. The study concluded that preparing a comprehensive conception about job requirements needs integration of the types of competency in job description cards and in vacancy announcements. In addition to depending on competency frameworks upon the appointment of candidates, officials trained on how to manage personal interviews, promotion and job placement depend on the basis of competency, and types of competency integrated in the method of performance evaluation. Al-Sayed ²⁶ utilized descriptive method and questionnaire applied to a purposive sample consisting of heads of departments, directors, supervisors and vice rectors in South Valley University in Egypt. The study concluded that developing principle standards for the selection of employees enlightens administrative mentality as well as leadership and behavioral patterns. Providing various training courses introduce the ideology of the university including values, principles, beliefs and behaviors; and adopting ideas and visions that aim to the development of career innovation, enhancement of university belonging and improvement of university leadership.

Manqour ⁵⁹ utilized descriptive analytical method and a questionnaire applied to a sample consisting of staff members of Saudi colleges in Riyadh. The study concluded that the sample has an intermediate level of academic freedom. It is agreed that staff members’ freedom is restricted by bureaucracy, inflexibility in relation to financial resources, not participating in the process of making-decisions as well as poor awareness of duties and responsibilities. Drendri, et al. ⁴¹ confirms that organizational structure bureaucracy, centralization, and various university sizes and types are of the problems that hinder the effective performance of higher education institutions. The study found that program approval requires a lot of time and some universities and colleges have different levels of expertise and resources.

Atahih & Muhammad ⁶ examined the relationship between elements of organizational structure centralization, degree of formalization and size of organization through employee perception of organizational justice. The study utilized descriptive method and a questionnaire concluding that there is a negative relationship between centralization and employee understanding of procedural and interactive justice. There is no relationship between the size of the organization and employee understanding of procedural or interactive justice and employee freedom to control job performance. Mahjoub (2003) utilized the descriptive method to examine Arab universities management in the light of international standards. The study concluded that problems of effective administrative performance have an impact on academic performance. These problems are recurrent in the different colleges of the same university. University organizational structures tend to centralization. Sanne, et al. ⁸⁸ found that, in order to achieve efficient and effective performance, European universities adopted mechanisms such as organizational strategies design, organizational and technical structures approval and performance standards of civil work. Although some researchers oppose these mechanisms, the study is applied by utilizing survey method on six European countries (Belgium, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom). Cherif, et al. ⁸⁴ aimed to define a framework to strengthen the academic institution through empowerment of staff members and employees. The framework consisted of traditional management and analysis of the components of the framework and how these frameworks can be implemented and the empowerment achieved. The study utilized the descriptive analytical method and presented a vision to academic enrichment through inverting the functional pyramid and designed positive work environments with a focus on faculty development in areas that enhance the dimensions of empowerment such as decision-making, continuous professional improvement, authorization, self-improvement promotion, and encouraging excellence, creativity and high quality.

Drendri and Hook ⁴² utilized the descriptive method and a questionnaire applied to supervisors of assessment and quality assurance in Saudi universities. The study concluded that the most important problems that hinder the application of quality management include lack of cooperation and material support, centralization, lack of clear regulations for the management of total quality, lack of specialized training courses, lack of clear organizational level for the application of quality management in most institutions of higher education in Saudi Arabia. Al-Slateen ²⁹ utilized the descriptive analytical method to identify how to activate university knowledge management and its requirements. A questionnaire distributed to a sample consisting of the faculties of King Khalid University. The study concluded that non-application of knowledge management model and weak integration in various procedures, activities and processes weakened knowledge management strategy. In addition to shortcomings in organizational culture that respects the value of work and supports knowledge management and lack of strategic, operational and future plans taking into account the scientific and academic roles of the colleges as well as poor support for staff members to publish their academic output. The study proposed a model for knowledge management process at the university.

Al-Slateen ³⁰ utilized the descriptive method and a questionnaire applied to a random sample consisting of staff members in four Saudi universities. The study concluded that university leaders have to exercise their roles in terms of knowledge and experience. This requires programmatic and institutional restructuring and adoption of strategies that contribute to improving universities infrastructure such as communication and technical facilities. Abdul Hakeem ¹ confirmed the slow response of bureaucratic regulations in university to change and keeping up with modern innovations, multiple regulations, administrative rules and bureaucratic procedures, in addition to the rigidity of administrative procedures and the difficulty of doing changes in the academic structure.

Badwi & Mujahed ³⁷ utilized the descriptive analytical method and a questionnaire to identify the challenges that face higher education institutions. The study concluded that extreme management centralization leads to malfunction; weak connect between the goals and values of the university and the required performance, not keeping up with recent developments, absence of a clear strategic vision and depending on traditional methods of teaching. Staff members do not seek to acquire computer skills and using electronic curriculum, and also universities dependence in the financial and administrative side. Mohammed ⁶⁵ identified the organizational problems in academic departments including: resistance to change, difficulties resulting from work rules and regulations, the type of organizational relationships between university units and departments, closed organizational ideology, separation between knowledge production centers and its place of application, vertical organizational structure domination, administrative routine, traditional administrative procedures, and lack of support for knowledge management. Al-Ghamdi ¹³ utilized descriptive analytical method to identify the problems that lead to poor outputs in Saudi universities including universities management problems such as centralization, poor material resources and inadequate performance evaluation standards, and management efficiency problems such as absence of clear educational philosophy. Educational quality problems include halls and the number of students and staff members in addition to problems of the qualitative level of the graduate such as inadequacy of the performance of graduates for the market and lack of cooperation between university and the market.

Teima, et al. ⁸⁰ utilized descriptive analytical method and examined the development of education colleges to identify the constraints of development including extreme centralization in educational decision, weak information system, lack of funding, following the method of trial and error in management, weak organizational supervision, stereotyped domination, hunting mistakes of others, poor motivation, lack of time appreciation and weak evaluation system. Love ⁸⁷ utilized descriptive analytical method to study the performance of the former Soviet university system and the effectiveness of international assistance projects aimed at designing and providing the highest level of university management. The study found centralization of these projects, poor communication with business sector, and deficiency of curriculum management procedures. El-Mutwali ⁴⁵ utilized the descriptive approach, observation form and a questionnaire applied to a sample of academic and administrative leaders, staff members and students at the colleges of 6^th of October University. The study concluded that the university fails to achieve its objectives and unable to meet community requirements and the needs of the market.

Al-Selmi, et al. ²⁷ utilized the descriptive analytical method to show the experience of Vice Rectorship for Postgraduate Studies at King Abdul-Aziz University in Jeddah in applying total quality management. It also identified its difficulties such as poor financial resources and the need to implement a program to establish a positive organizational culture consistent with total quality management. There is no job allocation of the position of Vice Rector for Postgraduate Studies consistent with the organizational structure and functional reality and lack of provisions in the university budget for some of the needs of the vice Rectorship of postgraduate Studies. Ramees ⁷⁵ utilized the descriptive analytical method to study the legal aspects of administrative leadership in Saudi Arabia. The study provided an analysis of organizational texts related to the selection of leaders and the limits of supervision on the decisions of selecting leaders. The study revealed that competency is the basis of appointment and identified the controls and conditions of selecting job grades (11, 12, and 13). The Minister has discretion to choose between the candidates, while promotion decisions for these ranks subject to judicial supervision.

Al-Harthy ¹⁴ utilized the descriptive survey method and a questionnaire applied to the sample and concluded to weak application of leadership succession. The study identified obstacles that prevent the activation of leadership succession planning programs, including absence of strategic vision to prepare a second line of leaders, deficiency of objective performance evaluation to identify the talented and no link between job and training. Al-Mutteri ²³ utilized the descriptive analytical method and a questionnaire to examine the challenges of applying job succession plans in public Saudi organizations. The study concluded to absence of various tools for measuring the performance of candidates, poor administrative participation in planning and supervising the process of administrative leadership succession as well as inadequate standards for selection of candidates for plans of administrative leadership succession. El-Bwardi ⁴³ utilized the descriptive analytical method and a questionnaire applied a sample of Saudi administrative leadership. The study concluded that administrative leaders have to be qualified with basic work skills, self-management and strategic planning, critical thinking, time management, persuasion and influence as well as humane skills.

Al-Plihed (2014) utilized the descriptive analytical method to examine the impact of organizational silence on information management in Saudi universities. The study identified some of the problems facing the university management such as absence of accuracy and objectivity in the process of university leaders selection that leads to keeping positions and giving priority to personal interest, deficient performance, multiple points of supervision leading to fear of work, growth of private power centers as a result of absence of accounting in addition to governance and administrative violence. Mohammed ⁶⁶ utilized the descriptive analytical method on the Egyptian universities. The study concluded that regulatory law of university work represents an obstacle since the rector appointed by a presidential decision, leading university positions such as deans, vice deans, and rectors appointed without depending on scientific and objective standards and it is incompatible with the democratic principle and selection depending on efficiency and capacity. Moreover, the law constrained all the powers of the appointed rector, so university councils lost its importance and the role of department councils was limited to positions distribution and supervision of postgraduate studies. Al-Hmayl, et al. ¹⁵ utilized descriptive analytical method to identify the obstacles of applying comprehensive quality in private colleges. These obstacles are the organizational structure which separates between academic and administrative jobs and college departments which affects co-work, inadequate organizational culture, preferring individual achievement over team work, inadequate powers and weak incentives and financial aspects, weak administrative and central communications, different ideologies of academic leaders, deficient university policies, unclear criteria of leadership selection and weak contact with the labor market.

Abu-kareem ³ utilized the descriptive approach and a questionnaire applied to a sample of Jordanian universities. The study concluded that there is a very little participation by the concerned parties in the process of making-decisions, dealing in secret ways, no various means of communication in the academic administration, inefficient communication processes, and inadequate systems of job responsibilities. Ismail ⁵⁷ utilized the descriptive approach and a questionnaire applied to staff members from Mansoura University and Assiut University. The study concluded to duplicate responsibilities and authorities, poor communication between administrative levels, traditional methods, lack of clear structure identification, inflation in the number of faculty members, repeated scientific departments, decision-making centralization, inadequate organizational structure, absence of functional structures, study plans rigidity, inadequate administrative organizations, inadequate organizational structure of scientific departments. The study introduces a proposal for standardized scientific departments inside the university.

To sum up, pieces of literature review dealt with the impact of organizational structure on organizational procedures, negatives of bureaucracy on hierarchal organization, centralization and its impact on the delay of transactions and procedures, old and hierarchal organizational structures, delay in applying and activating modern trends such as quality and knowledge in the light of organizational structures and lack of prequalification of university leaders.

The pieces of literature review utilized varied methods, tools, places of application and samples. However, the current study utilized the descriptive method and the tool of questionnaire and interview. It is applied to some public Saudi universities and aimed to introduce a proposal for administrative jobs staffing in Saudi university in the light of global trends.

2. Methodology and Procedures

The study utilized the descriptive analytical method to describe the diverse aspects of administrative jobs in public Saudi university system ⁷¹. It also utilized documentary studies entry through extrapolation of primary and secondary sources pertaining to administrative jobs in public university system and global trends in universities ⁷².

Spatial Limit: the study is limited to public Universities consisting of more than fifteen colleges in Saudi Arabia.

Temporal Limit: the study is limited to the period from 2015 to 2017.

The study population includes sixteen public Saudi universities consisting of more than fifteen colleges. The study is applied to (63 %) of the study population and a random sample of Vice Rectors, Deans and Heads of Departments. Each university is a public institution which includes fifteen colleges and female students department.

A questionnaire designed to Heads of Departments and Deans to identify organizational problems in the structures of public universities and the challenges facing the current management procedures. In addition, an interview form designed to Rectors and staff members working in university management to know their opinion about the mechanisms of administrative jobs staffing as assigned to staff members.

Internal consistency between the items of the questionnaire was measured by testing a random sample consisting of 16 participants of the study population. Cronbach's Alpha for internal consistency calculated, because it is more appropriate to the changing data ⁸⁵. The questionnaire applied to (40) and Cronbach's alpha for the questionnaire is (0.88). The personal interview applied to (40) and Cronbach's alpha is (0.83). This result is accepted in humanities, and thus the questionnaire can be applied (al-Treri, 1997).

The questionnaire submitted to a number of arbitrators and according to their guides, the necessary adjustments are done. To measure the internal consistency for the questionnaire items, Pearson coefficient between the scores of each vocabulary and total score for the axes of the questionnaire and the interview is calculated. Spearman coefficient on (40) of the study sample is calculated as shown in Table 1.

Correlation coefficients between vocabularies of the tool and total score are high at function significance level (0.01) for all axes of the questionnaire and the interview. The data of the study was analyzed by a number of statistical methods using SPSS software.

The class length of the standard of judging results calculated through classifying the answers to five equal-term levels through the following equation: length of class = (the biggest value – the smallest value) ÷ the number of scale alternatives = (5-1) ÷ 5 = 0.8. Table 2 shows the method of calculating the means.

The questionnaire distributed to the sample of the study consisting of (226) staff members representing (12.5 %) distributed as follows: (27.9 %) for Deans and (72.1 %) for Heads of academic departments. The following table describes the sample of the questionnaire.

Table 3 shows that the highest percentage of the sample is Assistant Professors (61.1 %), while (62.8 %) are scientifically specialized. The percentage of males (54 %) is more than females and Saudi nationality (57.1 %) is predominant. The majority of the sample (61.5 %) has ten years of experience. 39.4 % of the sample received from 1 to less than five training courses in management and leadership.

These findings are consistent Hassanin ⁵⁵, Enafesa ⁴⁷, Riyadh ⁷⁷, Ramees ⁷⁵ and Cherif, et al. ⁸⁴ which emphasized lack of professional development of university employees and inadequacy of the internal rules and regulations. The interview applied to a random sample (131) of the study sample distributed as follows: Rectors (22.1 %), Deans (13 %), administrative units (29.8 %) and departments (35.1 %).

Table 4 indicates that the highest percentage of sample (53.4 %) Assistant Professors, (61.8 %) are scientifically specialized. The percentage of males (53.4 %) is more than females and Saudi nationality (69.5 %) is predominant. The majority of the sample (64.9 %) has ten years of experience and (36.6 %) received from 1 to less than five training courses in management and leadership. These findings are consistent with Hasanin ⁵⁵, Al-Mutteri ²³, Riyadh ⁷⁷, El-Bwardi ⁴³ and Cherif, et al. ⁸⁴ which emphasized lack of professional development of university employees and inadequacy of the internal rules and regulations.

Rigidity is one of the problems of the organizational structures of public universities in Saudi Arabia. El-Mlegi argues that organizational structures with multiple hierarchical levels, presidential powers, vertical lines of contact and separated managements limit information flow among the units of the organizational structure and inability to understand the problems and challenges facing the university (2010). In addition, multiple administrative levels lead to complex communication process, isolation, work division and weak database. University structures suffer from rigidity, formality, inflexibility, traditionalism, Western models influence, and duplication such as repeated division of colleges to scientific and Humanities colleges ¹⁷.

Another problem is centralization which means the concentration of power at the top of the hierarchal structure and appears especially in the process of decision-making. It has a negative impact on job performance and leads to lower morale and lack of job creativity, absence of authorization and limited employee empowerment ⁴⁴. As a result of its expansion, Saudi universities become more centralized, constrain the academic freedom of staff members ¹³, centralized decision-making, rigidity of plans, curriculum and organizational structure and lack of efficiency standards, follow-up and evaluation systems ⁴. Therefore, studies found that centralization in university management and inflexible organizational structure hinders knowledge management ²².

Many organizational structures suffer from deficient information exchange because of poor communication between the units of organizational structures resulting in slow procedures, lack of resources and capabilities, weak organizational commitment and loyalty to the university, no interest in knowledge flow and its role in the organization ⁴⁴. Many universities attempt to use knowledge management in order to develop their organizational performance and ensure performance quality ⁴⁴. In order to develop a model of distinguished Saudi university, some indicators should be addressed, including administrative and organizational restructuring, building integrated systems for investing, generating, spreading, and applying knowledge, improving information technology, building knowledge management systems and providing performance evaluation systems ^{30, 31}. In addition, lack of trained and qualified personnel to utilize the available technology, lack skillful staff members, and lack of technological infrastructure ¹².

Many studies indicated to the importance of respecting the employee since this leads to job commitment. Tony Schwartz applied his study on twenty thousand employees and concluded that 56% of employees, respected by their superiors, felt confident and safe and achieved a higher level of job satisfaction (89%), their focus and their priority identification increased by (92%), poor integration and job satisfaction of (54%) of the employees who are not respected by their superiors ³⁹. Premozik asserted that lack of employee respect could not result in good job performance ⁷⁴.

There is a poor understanding of the culture of organizational structure in Saudi University. The organizational culture reflects the mutual values, behavioral beliefs and ways of thinking that composes the culture of university institution and plays an effective role in improving the quality of academic and administrative performance. If the organizational structure is negative, it hinders the university progress and development ⁴⁴. University leaders are constrained by traditional organizational cultures, educational outcomes unable to contribute to job development, individual scientific research work that aimed at academic promotion, so it serves personal interests and not the needs of Saudi society ²⁰ and absence of holistic view. It results from lack of correlation between organizational units, poor flow of information, lack of cooperative team work, control by certain personnel on information and power, and individual work domination ⁴⁴.

Lack of effective leadership and bullying appear also in the organizational structure of Saudi university. Absence of fresh leaders capable of change and development has a negative impact on the organization resulting in organizational diseases such as: administrative corruption, lower work motivation, limited development and change. Depending on traditional administrators with inadequate leadership skills and management experience leads to stereotyped reorganization and apparent change in management structures ¹⁷. Some studies found that leadership failure is the principle cause of (50%) of goals achievement failure because of its inability to form a second line of qualified leaders and deficient standard for leadership selection ⁴⁹. Job bullying is another phenomenon appeared in aggressive behavior and authoritarianism to hide anxiety and show self-esteem by insulting others. Factors that lead to job bullying include depression, personality disorder, quick anger, aggressive behavior addiction and misunderstanding (Al-khalph, 2014). The majority of studies conducted in Saudi Arabia indicated to a need to provide effective leadership capable of employing authorities able to make proper decisions to deal with various problems ²⁰.

Staff members suffer from increased burdens of teaching, administrative, supervisory and research in addition to absence of academic freedom, so they work in consulting and private universities which affects negatively the educational process efficiency ³⁵. More above, low salaries of faculty members do not meet their living needs, since the allowances approved almost five years ago have not been interpreted clearly, so all or part of it prevented and the basic salary remained the same ( ⁶⁹, Okaz newspaper). The telegram No. (61704) issued by the President of the Royal Court on 29/9/2016 and the Council of Ministers Resolution No. (551) on 27/9/2016 to cancel the annual premium, allowances, bonuses, financial benefits and transportation allowance during holidays has a negative impact on the performance of employees.

University administrative jobs are influenced by technology progress and global changes through identifying integration paths with information construction and technology interaction. This requires reorganization of university system through introducing radical changes that can be summarized as follows:

Administrative jobs: comprehensive re-organization including the activation of digital electronic systems and networks in university system, the provision of technology such as programs and multimedia to design interactive database. This requires skillful and qualified employees of administrative jobs ⁶². Therefore, development of human resources competency model is applied to raise the productivity of employees ⁶³. Lewis and Hechman ⁸⁶ defined competency development as a process of continuous and standardized development built on capabilities and talents of employees to achieve competition. It aims to develop new employees, attracting talented and experienced individuals. An exploratory study applied to officials from Europe, the Middle East and Africa confirmed the need for leaders able to adapt with the modern market ⁷⁰. Competency model is one of the most honest methods to choose leaders and to achieve justice and equality. Other methods include free choice, election, education and academic preparation, expertise and experience. More than one method can be integrated in the selection of administrative leaders ³⁴.

Administrative Leaders Succession: a strategic plan includes a program of leadership succession aimed at building a second line of leaders. It requires developing an objective performance evaluation to identify talented employees, designing tools to enhance the principle of competency in the selection and appointment of government administrative leadership including standards of skills, knowledge and behavior ⁷. Al-Mutteri ²³ referred to the need to support job succession planning as a way to develop and prepare a second line leaders, design performance evaluation centers, approve objective measurable indicators, motivate senior management to participate effectively in the program of administrative leadership succession, rely on competency models which identify knowledge, skills and abilities that should be available to select an administrative leader, and improve administrative leadership to ensure its consistency with the organization strategy.

Knowledge management Development: in the era of knowledge economy, university system becomes equivalent to development, as the output of higher education institutions is the tool of social and economic development. So, higher education institutions should perform intense use of information and communication technology, shifting from knowledge consumption to knowledge production, adaptation to the requirements of knowledge economy and reform of the university education system ( ³², p. 185, 191). Thus, knowledge management activation requires a flexible and horizontal organizational structure, conscious university leadership and supportive organizational culture ( ²⁸, p. 705).

Figure 1 shows that organizational structure is one of components of knowledge management in addition to technological infrastructure which considered an effective mechanism for the application of knowledge management and the primary engine for the leaders of knowledge management ⁴.

Knowledge management requires university leaders and employees aware of the importance of redesigning the organizational structure of educational institutions, preparing creative leaders, applying the standards of measuring performance quality, developing procedures consistent with speed change in higher education, regular evaluation of supportive units, quick response to challenges, enhancing decentralization, empowerment of university employees, authorization, depending on electronic transactions, reducing work procedures, encouraging collaborative work and manpower investment, and re-engineering operations through administrative activities strategies ²⁹. Bubsheet ³⁸ indicated that knowledge management development contributes to raising the efficiency and effectiveness of administrative services, improves its performance, enhances decentralization, develops policies and administrative management and provides a work environment of trust and mutual respect.

Leadership in global universities: Many universities have practiced pioneering leadership at various organizational levels ²⁴. Pioneer leaders in the American university, for instance, are familiar with the implementation of everyday operation and translate special ideas into practical reality. They are also capable of dealing with problems, forming teamwork with specific responsibilities and tasks and communicating and listening to people. In Britain, the pioneer leader should by qualified with flexibility, participation, cooperative team work, participatory leadership, the ability to communicate and negotiate and trust. Accordingly, a proposal of pioneer leadership in Saudi universities consists of clear vision, tasks, trust, communication, modern technical skills, the ability to manage university organizational and administrative relations, the possibility of negotiation and personal pioneering skills of risk in addition to creativity and perseverance. Moreover, the leader should be qualified with having a clear vision of the organization, learning from past experiences, ability to adopt various approaches that fit work environment, the powers that enable him to achieve success, the skill of forming work teams, various ways of communication inside and outside the organization, the skill of successful decision-making by (80%), and supervising and guiding the behavior and performance of employees.

Supervision and follow-up: high supervisory and ongoing follow-up skills require the development of comprehensive performance evaluation, enabling wise decision-making, supervising the development of the formal and informal system in the administrative organization, work in collaborative team work to achieve common objectives and administrator freedom ⁸³. Some university leadership prefers applying company model in the management of educational institutions. In this model, businessmen are more represented in the councils as its role is limited to supervise universities while the role of the ministry reduced to coordination between higher education institutions ⁷³.

Decentralization: decentralization and the development of institutional supervision mechanisms through amending the organizational structure of the university require high flexibility of university system ⁶². Therefore, decentralized and horizontally flexible organizational structure is the most suitable for application in higher education institutions ²². balance between centralization and decentralization can be achieved through redistribution of powers by establishing precise description of organizational disciplines, authorization as authorities given to lower administrative levels, depending on committees and work teams with specified authorities decision-making, enabling employees to do their jobs by increasing the capacity and powers in performance and decision - making, giving them moral and material incentives and job re-designing to allow some freedom of creativity. Balance between routine and flexibility requires formal rules and regulations and clear policies through department meetings, accepting proposals, joint committees, cooperative teamwork and applying standards of academic and institutional quality ⁶⁰.

Kilmann Model: values, beliefs and common spirit are considered the primary axis of the organization including five axes: 1) the environment that focuses on studying the interests of individuals and customers; 2) the organization including vision, mission and strategy; 3) the manager as it deals with leadership style, interpersonal skills, solving problems and decision-making skills; 4) team work that focuses on interaction between team members and other teams; and 5) the results including moral and material results.

Mckinsey Model: It includes seven elements: strategy, structure, shared values, staffing, systems, skills and leadership style. Thus, the model focuses on the interaction and harmony between the seven elements.

Collins Model: there are two phases to reach greatness: the phase of climbing including leadership, choosing companion and dealing with facts and the phase of excellence including completion and achievement of the targets and focuses on self - censorship and technological development.

Al-Hawari model: it consists of six elements that emphasize transformational leadership: willingness of leaders to change at all levels, one common vision, a strategy based on competitive excellence and customer satisfaction, achievement ideology, quick operational system, skilled and motivated human powers and flexible organizational structure ²¹.

Learning organization: it is characterized by a preparatory structure to motivate the qualitative behavior as individuals are motivated to learn. It has participatory and achievable objectives, ability to adapt information and data to achieve its objectives and vision as well as provision of new creative ideas. Its employees are able to accurately identify and define the stages of development, interact with their counterparts in other organizations. Also, learning organization has a comprehensive organizational ideology and an open system aims to increase its effectiveness ⁹. Indian university institution has designed tools to evaluate staff members according to their participation in knowledge exchange and allocated incentives for research publication. It provided infrastructure including equipment and modern software based on high speed internet, networks and Intranet; in addition to designing a forum on the website of the College to publish cases and previous experiences for the internal network to capture knowledge automatically through work procedures ⁴. Thailand University institutions are autonomic institutions of higher education which care for the quality of graduates. The task of the University Council is to coordinate between universities and support cooperation and joint development. It is one of the oldest democracies in the world, but their policies are changing towards forming a single party containing small parties, which have limited civil freedoms ⁴.

Many laws developed to maintain education quality and achieve the national vision of Malaysia. Democracy activated to preserve cultural specificity in light of global challenges. Mixed system of governance applied to preserve flexibility and civil rights combining parliamentary systems, federal government and free elections. Mahathir Mohamad presidential period was characterized by openness and economic renaissance ⁴. Reform in Malaysian university began with changing leadership, reforming university management and institutional autonomy through institutional leadership, finance, human resources and student admission. Moreover, the University Council is responsible before the government for university issues such as granting authority and responsibility, gradual shift to self-regulation with accountability, providing leaders with high integrity, values, norms, persuasion, and able to generate common supportive visions and goals ⁸⁹.

El-Mutwali ⁴⁵, Ramees ⁷⁵, Al-Harthy ¹⁴, Mahjoub (2003) are consistent with the above-mentioned results concerning the importance of decentralization, pioneering leadership culture, leadership succession, jobs re-engineering and knowledge management design. Zaher ⁸¹, Atahih & Mohammed ⁶, Sanne, et al., ⁸⁸ and Cherif, et al ⁸⁴ emphasized the importance of designing policies that support innovation and decentralization, the development of technology management techniques in universities, and supporting participation in the process of decision-making.

On the administrative level, public and private Saudi universities have dealt with Higher Education statistics Agency (HESA), updated geographical information system (GIS), launched the electronic trading system and established the measurement and evaluation Center. On the level of inputs, Ram test and preliminary year have been imposed in most universities ³⁶.

In Saudi civil service, selecting middle leadership (11& 12 &13) requires a candidate qualified with leadership skills, at least four years of experience in leadership jobs and also competency framework ⁷⁵. However, the case is not the same in university system in Saudi Arabia.

University system in Saudi Arabia follows the regulations and rules of higher education and university Council issued by the General Secretariat of Higher Education Council. However, this system does not differentiate between universities concerning date of establishment, size, or number of colleges. As a result, all public universities is committed to apply the provisions of this system. It is divided into sections: 1) university system including various councils (Higher Education Council, University Council, Academic Council , colleges and institutes council, ... etc.), departments, deans, vice-rectors, public, final and transitional rules, financial system and college management; 2) Regulation of undergraduate studies and tests; 3) regulation of the university financial affairs; 4) regulation of employing non-Saudis; 5) regulation of scholarships and training for university employees; 6) regulation of post-graduate studies; 7) Regulation of Saudi employees such as staff members and the like; 8) regulation of scientific research; 9) regulation governing students funds in educational institutions; 10) rules organizing Scientific associations in Saudi universities. We are going to consider the section of university system, since it involves the appointment and promotion of staff members in administrative positions ¹⁰:

- University Rector is appointed pursuant to a Royal Decree based on the recommendation of the Minister of Higher Education Minister. The University Rector appointment shall be on the rank of excellence. Each university shall have one or more Vice-Rectors selected from amongst the staff members at the associate professor rank at least for three years can be renewed for two terms. The Vice-Rector, while in post, shall be subject to the stipulated rules for bonuses and promotions of the University staff members.

- The Scientific Council is headed by the Vice Rector for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research and a member at least for each college or institute at the associate professor rank.

- College or institute dean appointed from amongst Saudis staff members for two years that can be renewed. Each college or institute may have one or more vice-dean chosen from amongst the Saudi staff members. They are appointed for two years, liable for renewal. Deans of Assistant Deanships shall be appointed from amongst the Saudi staff members for two years, liable for renewal.

- Vice-Deans of Assistant Deanships may be appointed from amongst the Saudi staff members for two years, liable for renewal. The staff members comprise Professors, Associate Professors and Assistant Professors. Saudi visitor specialists may be commissioned for limited terms at the rank of assistant professor.

- According to the classification of state employees (Ministry of Civil Service), assistant professor is on (12) rank, Associate Professor is on (13) rank and Professor is on (14) rank. Professor gets the amount of (SR 650) as a transportation allowance. Promotion from the rank of Assistant Professor to Associate Professor requires at least four years of professional experience and fulfilling the minimum amount of academic research required for promotion i.e. four published or accepted for publication researches - at least one should be a sole academic production published while being at the rank of Assistant Professor. Promotion from the rank of Associate Professor to Professor requires professional experience for four years at least and fulfilling the minimum amount of academic research required for promotion i.e. six published or accepted for publication researches - at least one should be a sole academic production published while being at the rank of Associate Professor. Standards of promotion include scientific production, teaching, and university and community service. One hundred points of promotion divided as (60) for scientific production, (25) for teaching, and (15) for university and community service. The academic achievement shall be counted as one unit if it is single authored and half unit if it has two authors. If the research is authored by more than two individuals, “half unit” shall be assigned for the main author and “quarter unit” for each of the others. The academic research material should not be copied from the Master's or Doctorate thesis of the candidate for promotion.

- The teaching load of University rectors, deans, vice-rectors, vice-deans, managers of science centers and heads of scientific departments who carry out administrative duties shall be decreased to three teaching units at least.

From the previous presentation we conclude that, the core tasks of staff member are research, teaching and university and community service. In the light of these tasks performance is evaluated. However, reports show that there are deficiencies in those tasks, especially in research, which has many points in promotion requirements. According to the above explained system, when a staff member carries out administrative duties, his teach loads are decreased. However, all public universities exempt him from teaching duties under the pretext that the academic department does not need him. The fact is that academic department cannot follow up his teaching performance because of being busy in meetings and administrative burdens. So, in favor of student interest, he is excused from teaching on the grounds that the department does not need him.

Financial return is limited and does not fit the economic changes, since the basic salary is fixed. The salary of Assistant Professor is SR 11.100, Associate Professor SR 13.980 and Professor SR 16.015 and transport allowance SR 650. These amounts are not commensurate with the status of staff member compared to his colleagues in Arab Gulf universities. In addition, the allowances approved by the Ministry of Higher Education are temporary and subject to specific achievements. Low financial status affects the performance of staff member and limits his achievement of regular duties. The term of staff members who carry out administrative work renewed for long periods and he may be transferred from an administrative position to another, which keeps him away from his main tasks of teaching and scientific research for very long periods that may exceed ten years.

The Figure 1 compares the total male staff members of the rank of Assistant Professor or higher according to nationality:

Figure 2 shows that there is a significant difference in the number of Saudi and non-Saudi staff members, such King Abdulaziz University, King Khalid University, Qassim University, Taif University, Jazan University, Hail University and Salman bin Abdulaziz University. While King Abdulaziz University includes a high proportion of non-Saudi staff members, Princess Noura Abdulrahman University includes a high proportion of Saudi staff members because since the university aimed at building a national base consisting of assistant professor and higher ranks. However, stooping post-graduate studies at Princess Noura Abdulrahman University and complete dependence on scholarship will harm the university and reduce its efficiency on the long term. There is a no significant difference disparity between the numbers of Saudis and non-Saudis staff members at King Saud University and Um Al-Qura University compared to other universities. On the other hand, high number of non-Saudi staff members shows that there is a dire need that may be filled after the return of abroad scholarships.

Salary scale for both Saudis and non-Saudis staff member is very modest, resulting in Saudi staff members work in companies, early retirement and assignment in other institutions for higher financial return. According to statutes and regulations of Higher Education Council, administrative positions assigned to staff members with specific ranks for periods subject to renewal without restrictions. In the following, we compare between the total number of administrative positions and Saudi staff members at the rank of Assistant Professor and higher.

Figure 3 a comparison of Saudi and administrative staff members at the rank of Assistant Professor and higher

Princess Noura Abdulrahman University is for females, so most administrative positions held by female staff members.

Figure 3 shows that there is objective difference between the number of Saudi administrative positions in Um Al-Qura University, King Saud University and Princess Noura Abdulrahman University. Taibah, Jazan, Hail, Salman bin Abdulaziz and Dammam universities have no significant difference in the numbers of Saudi staff members and administrative positions. The high number of Saudi staff members in some universities is not an evidence of efficiency, sine the achievement of these universities are still limited to research field. The return of some scholarships, however they do not fulfil the requirements of recruitment in higher education institutions, such as continuity in the same academic field of their specialization. These results are consistent with Badawi & Mujahid ³⁷, Mohammed ⁶⁵ and Al-Slateen ²⁹.

The following section covers the statistical analysis of organizational structures problems of organizational procedures, rules and regulations and communication in public higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia from the point of view of the sample.

1. Organizational Procedures

The appropriate statistical processes applied and the following results are obtained (Table 5).

Table 5 shows that the mean of 'exemption of staff member assigned to administrative work from teaching' is (3.2) the highest mean in this axis, while the mean of 'staff member nomination for administrative work requires department and college approval' is (2.7). the mean of 'staff members assigned to administrative work become independent from their departments' and 'reassigning staff members to carry out administrative work for several years' is (2.6). The mean of 'failure to accept transparent accountability as considered infringe on the status of some individuals' is (2.5). The statements 'limited numbers of staff members at the rank of Assistant Professor and above' and 'reduced participation of staff member assigned to administrative work in department councils' got (2. 4). The mean of 'Staff member nominated to administrative work on his willingness' and 'difficult follow-up of teaching performance of staff member assigned to administrative work' is (2.3).

2. Rules and regulations

Percentage, mean and the standard deviation applied and the following results obtained (Table 6).

Table 6 shows that the mean of 'staff members assigned to administrative work for more than ten years' is (3.2) the highest mean in this axis, while the mean of 'University spends on professional development in specialization field of the staff member according to rules and regulations', 'administrative tasks outside the university assigned to staff member in charge of administrative work' and 'staff members are required to carry out administrative work by regulations is (2.8). The statements of 'Statutes and regulations of Higher Education Council and universities require the assignment of staff members to administrative positions', 'Regulations requires professional development in the academic field and not in the administrative one' and 'The difficulty of evaluating the performance of staff members assigned to administrative work by regulations' obtained (2.5). The mean of ' Inflexible systems that require the assignment of staff member to administrative work' is (2.4), while 'Deficient cells of job performance for staff members' and 'Old organizational structures of the University' get (2.3).

3. Communication

Percentage, mean, and the standard deviation are applied and the following results are obtained (Table 7).

Table 7 shows that the paragraph' staff member assigned to administrative work loses contact with academic decisions' obtained the highest mean (3). The mean of 'Limited means of information transfer between staff member assigned to administrative work and his department' and 'A complete break between head of the department and staff member assigned to external administrative work' is (2.9). 'Weak means of communication between staff member assigned to administrative work and his department' and 'Staff member assigned to administrative work loses contact with his academic department' obtained (2.8). The mean of 'Staff member assigned to administrative work does not participate in the academic department' and 'Staff members nominated for conferences and programs by their direct manager' is (2.7). 'Staff member assigned to administrative work contacts with his direct administrative manager only' and 'poor infrastructure of communication system' get (2.5).

Challenges facing current procedures for the management of vice rectorship, deanship and the like

To identify the challenges that face the current procedures for the management of vice rectorship, deanship and the like from the point of view of the sample, statistical analyzes for statements of the axis conducted and the following results obtained (Table 8).

Table 8 indicates that 'Spending teaching rate to those assigned to administrative work and refrain from teaching' obtained (2.9) the highest mean in this axis. The mean 'High cost of staff member assigned to administrative work compared to those appointed to administrative function' and 'Failure to accept transparent accountability as considered infringe on the status of some individuals' is (2.6). The statements 'Reassigning staff members to carry out various administrative work for almost ten years' and 'University losses what has been spent on the preparation of academic staff member' obtained (2.5). The mean of 'Lack of administrative creativity because staff members have inadequate administrative experience' and 'Limited management experience for staff member assigned to administrative work is (2.4). 'Lack of professional preparation for employee to keep up with developments', 'Lack of management skills of staff member assigned to administrative work', 'Reassigning staff members to different administrative positions' and 'Some staff members assigned to administrative work want to keep their administrative posts' obtained (2. 3).

These results are consistent with Hassanin ⁵⁵, Abdul Hakeem ¹, Saudi (2014), Hassan & Abdullah ⁵⁴, Alhmayl, et al. (2010), Abu Kareem ³, Awad ⁷ and Zaher ⁸¹. It is agreed on lack of staff member preparation for administrative, lack of administrative specifications requirements to assume a university leading position, unclear mechanisms for selecting university leaders, and the absence of job descriptions for these positions.

Proposal for staffing administrative jobs assigned to staff members in Saudi university system in the light of Global trends

After exploring the theoretical framework, previous and presenting the results of the current study, the interview form distributed on vice-rectors, deans, units managers and university management employees to design a proposal for staffing administrative jobs assigned to staff members in Saudi university system in the light of Global trends. The appropriate statistical processes have been conducted and the following results obtained. The results displayed in two tables, the first one shows administrative procedures, while the second shows rules and regulations.

1. Administrative procedures:

Table 9 shows that the paragraph 'Staff member is required to work in his academic field after completing his administrative work' obtained the highest mean (2.8). The mean of 'Requesting specialized administrative jobs for vice-rectors from the Ministry of Civil Service' is (2.5), while the paragraph 'Requesting specialized administrative jobs for deans from the Ministry of Civil Service' gets (2.4). the mean of 'Requesting specialized administrative jobs for vice-units managers from the Ministry of Civil Service' and 'Abstaining teaching allowance from staff member candidate for administrative work and refrained from teaching' is (2.3). The paragraph 'not reassigning staff member to administrative for more than four years' obtained (2.2). the mean of 'Staff member candidate for administrative work required to attend specialized administrative courses before holding the administrative position' and 'Designing decentralized mechanisms to supervise and follow-up staff member assigned to administrative work' is (1.7).

2. Rules and Regulations:

Table 10 shows that 'Appointment of scholarship graduates in administrative positions' obtained the highest mean (2.6). The mean of 'Rejecting assignment for administrative work for more than two consecutive years' is (2.5). 'Placement of administrative employees instead of staff members in university system' gets (2.4), while 'allocating higher promotion points to research teams and approving it as the base of promotion' obtained (1.9). The mean of 'Amending the regulations of the system of Higher Education and university Councils' is (1.8). The mean of 'Re-considering the requirement of programs and conferences nomination in the academic specialization field', and 'Attending training programs prior to appointment in advanced leadership position' is (1.7).

These results are consistent with the Ramees ⁷⁵, Awad ⁷, Al-Sayed ²⁶, Mahjoub ⁶², Atahih & Mohamed ⁶, Al-Slateen ³⁰, Abdul Hakeem ¹, Al-Blihed ¹⁰, Mohammed ⁶⁶ and Abu-Kareem ³. They recommended the development of the governing rules, identifying the principles and criteria for selecting leaders, activating network organizational structure, activating decentralization and enhancing transparency.

According to the statutes and regulations of the Higher Education Council and Universities, Universities are cultural and scientific institutions guided by the principles of Islam, Shari’a, and implement educational policies. They provide higher education and post-graduate studies, and promote scientific research. They also promote the processes of authoring, translating, publishing as well as serving the community within the framework of their responsibilities. Each university possesses an autonomous character that encompasses financial liabilities which empower it to own, sale and litigate property ( ⁵¹, p. 27).

University system seeks to be a pioneer in academic and administrative performance through the quality of education, skills, scientific research as well as serving knowledge society and the requirements of development plans in an inspiring environment diversity within the frame of national values. It aims to provide outstanding administrative and academic performance and research opportunities from global perspective for the preparation of scholars output can meet the developmental needs and promote national values in the professional, academic and research fields. The general objectives of the university system include: enrichment of human knowledge in all its branches through specialized studies and improving the level of academic programs, enable scholars to achieve knowledge and specialized skills in a branch of science, keep pace with technical progress in various fields of science, creativity and innovation, scientific research development to address Saudi society problems and achieve scientific and applied innovative additions and new discoveries as well as consistency between university outputs and the needs of society and market.

The proposal is based on seven values representing the framework of this plan and its implementation: 1) Excellence and creativity through supporting academic and administrative environment, promoting educational opportunities, doing pioneer research and adopting creative ideas in the academic and administrative aspect; 2) Integrity through commitment to ethical and professional rules in administrative and academic work; 3) Clarity and transparency through activating the principles of transparency and justice in administrative and academic performance and continuous improvement of the university system performance; 4) Institutional Work through identifying helpful procedures to implement and evaluate the strategic plan; 5) Responsibility through identifying specific and clear duties for fair and transparent achievement of objectives; 6) Justice and equal opportunities through applying justice and regulatory and statutory equality in academic and administrative services; 7) Satisfaction through adopting open-door policy to listen to suggestions and problems of both employees and scholars.

The proposal is based on the instructions of the Ministry of Education, Saudi Arabia ninth Development Plan, The National Plan for Science and Technology, University experiments, The theoretical framework of the current study, the results of the interview applied to the sample, the results of pieces of literature review, statutes and regulations of Higher Education Council and Universities as well as Saudi Arabia 2030 vision; in addition to resolutions approved by the Council of Ministers for the committee consisting of representatives of the Ministry of Civil Service, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Finance in order to reconsider the Regulations of educational jobs to raise performance efficiency.

University system is associated with the competent authority in the Ministry of Education. It is consisted of the University Council, the University Rector and the University Vice-Rector. The University Council compromises Minister of Education, University Rector, University Vice-Rectors, the General Secretary of the Higher Education Council, the deans and three experts appointed by the Minister of Higher Education for three successive years.

University organizational structures requires skill diversity which means that individuals assigned to specific duties should be qualified with precise specialization, network organizational structures is preferred to allow information exchange through the use of information technology system. Various units depend on each other since they share specific information. Integration between skill structure, technical networking and management by walking around is suggested. In addition, skill diversity is utilized to meet the need of some units and departments to precise specializations and narrow scope of supervision (2 - 4) leads to more administrative levels i.e. a rectangular organizational structure with hierarchal authorities. On the contrary, broad scope of supervision (10) leads to lower administrative levels and the organization breaks down. However, there is no perfect scope of supervision since it is subject to the nature of the work, the level of skill diversity, the size of the organization and individual efficiency ( ⁷⁹, p. 163, 165, 170, 189, 192 and 242).

Technical and administrative units provide services for staff members, scholars, employees and the relevant authorities and coordinate between university colleges, institutes and centers. They follow up the performance of administrative procedures according to legal rules and regulations as well as technical use of administrative procedures with privacy and confidentiality.

3. University System Units

University rector should subject to objective tests in university leadership and join training workshops prior to appointment. after appointment he should join specialized workshops in leadership, budget, strategic development, decision-making, strategic planning, the use of software in leadership duties, the role of the Ministry of Civil Service, mechanisms of performance evaluation, transparency, governance, academic program design, the role of evaluating education unit, effective communication mechanisms, the terms of forming committees and academic councils, and job circulation. These workshops are presented in Leaders Preparation Center at Public Management Institute. After nomination, university rector subjects to an interview.

Vice Rector is an administrative employee with specific specifications and clear administrative duties. Appointment of vice Rector conducted according to the terms of the Ministry of Civil Service and Higher Education Council. It is possible to be subject to job circulation every five years at most. The Academic Council comprises Vice-Rector for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research (as President), a representative staff member, on the post of associate professor or better, from each college or institute. The University Council may issue a resolution that allows other members engaged in academic and scientific research to join the Council, provided that their number does not exceed half that of the members. All members shall be appointed for two years renewable for only one term. The members shall not be assigned for more than one term not to affect their primary tasks of teaching and scientific research.

College Council shall compromise the dean, vice-rectors and heads of departments of the college. College dean and vice-rectors are appointed according to the terms of the Ministry of Civil Service and subject to job regulation each five years at most.

Staff member evaluation through an evaluation card distributed to each member of the College council or academic council. Each member confidentially evaluates his colleague. According to the results of evaluation, his term in the council is renewed or not. Renewal for Council members may be done in each cycle to open space for creativity. However, the member should not be involved in another Council or works as consultant elsewhere.

The duties of the Head of the department are limited to heading department meetings, academic representation of the department in college Council. On the other hand, the department manager, according to the rules and regulations of the Ministry of Civil Service, shall be responsible for administrative affairs under the supervision of the Head of the department.

Colleges, institutes and centers vice-rectors and deans of scientific centers are administrative positions with specific specifications and clear duties. Appointment of Vice-Rector conducted according to the terms of the Ministry of Civil Service and Higher Education Council. It may subject to job circulation every five years at most.

4. Recommendations

According to the above mentioned results, it is recommended to reconsider the organizational structure of higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia and studying job status of staff member and administrative staff in leadership positions. Ministry of Civil Service may allocate administrative jobs to some leadership positions such as staff members and employees Affairs vice-dean, educational programs Affairs vice-Dean, scholarship Affairs vice-Dean, Community Service and Continuing Education vice-dean, General management for Information Technology and Public Relations, Information management, conference and seminars management and scientific association management. Complete separation between academic work, which requires specialized courses, workshops and research, and administrative work, which requires organizational skills and knowledge of regulations and the related specialized systems. The study also recommended attendance of specialized courses in leadership skills and organizational work as a term for leadership appointment, not assigning staff member to administrative work for four years, designing objective mechanisms for choosing leaderships from among staff members, utilizing technical infrastructure to promote university administrative performance and activating technical knowledge management in university system.

5. Suggestions for Further Studies

Based on the findings and recommendations of the present study, the following future studies are proposed: Study on the organizational structure of private university and comparing it to the organizational structure of public university, survey on the reality of the organizational environment of private universities and field study on the effectiveness of standards and performance indicators of public Saudi universities.

Fund

This paper is funded by Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Saudi Arabia (36-k-107)

References