The work covenant: a management strategy for department chairs and program directors

Learning contracts have been used in adult education to ensure a positive and successful learning process. By means of a learning contract, the instructor can support the learner in a manner that best suits the learner's individual requirements. Like the learning environment, the workplace finds individuals with varying skill sets, areas of interest, and degrees of motivation. Understanding and applying the skills of the worker to appropriate tasks and interests have important ramifications for how workers perceive their jobs and the ultimate effectiveness of the organization. Studies show that the quality of the work environment is critical for the job satisfaction and retention of employees in the public and private sector as well as for the dental academician. Recent literature on faculty development has focused on adapting business-based motivation, mentoring, and performance counseling strategies to the academic setting. By leading and managing faculty development through the use of such strategies, the quality of the work environment can be improved. This article briefly summarizes the commonality between retention strategies and learning contracts within a human resource context and provides a model document that can be used by chairs and program directors to organize and focus their faculty development efforts.