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Who is the client in your relationship with your PhD supervisor? No, really; who sets the scope of work, and who provides a professional service?<\/p>\nWho is the client in your relationship with your PhD supervisor? No, really; who sets the scope of work, and who provides a professional service?<\/p>\n
I know it\u2019s heretical to bring consulting language into the hallowed halls of academia, but trust me on this one. Seeing yourself as a client seeking the specialist advice of a consultant could change the dynamics between you and your PhD supervisor. It could certainly give you the confidence to assert your right to the quality and quantity of guidance, feedback, and subject matter expertise that you require.<\/p>\n
A client always has the right to demand (in the most courteous, professional way possible, of course) that the scope of work agreed to with their service provider has been fulfilled \u2013 or amended by mutual agreement.<\/p>\n
If your supervisor is not providing clear, constructive guidance, or not doing so in a timely manner, as their client you have the right to ask for better service. Of course, as the client, the onus of responsibility rests on you to set clear expectations from the beginning. What is it that you can and can\u2019t do yourself? What sort of support do you require to get you through the PhD process?<\/p>\n
Now, that does not mean the client is always right.<\/p>\n
In my experience as a consultant, the client rarely, if ever, knows what they really need. That\u2019s why they hire external specialists with the expertise that they themselves don\u2019t have. If you could conduct a major research project and write a book about it all by yourself, would you still be enrolled at a university to do so?<\/p>\n
It is the job of the consultant to work with<\/em> \u2013 not just for<\/em> \u2013 the client in understanding, and then fulfilling, their requirements. This does not mean writing a thesis for you, but a good consultant will go above and beyond the bare minimum of the terms of reference. They will \u2018value add\u2019 (sorry, last bit of consulting-ese, I promise) by knowing what the client doesn\u2019t know that they don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n Let me clarify. The client will always have some idea of what they themselves lack in terms of knowledge or skills, and that\u2019s why they hire external specialists. But they don\u2019t know what they don\u2019t know<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In the case of a PhD, you might be passionate about a particular subject but have no idea about the best theoretical framework for analysis. All supervisors should be able to assist with that. All supervisors who are also excellent service providers should be able to advise you that, for example, using a particular theory will align you with a school of thought that is falling out of favour in your field and could limit your post-PhD career options.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the value add \u2013 something potentially significant to you that you didn\u2019t even know you should ask about.<\/p>\n But PhD supervisors are rarely taught how to be excellent service providers to their PhD student clients. Scratch that \u2013 supervisors are rarely taught how to do the bare minimum as PhD supervisors. While prospective students have to go to great lengths to prove they are worthy of starting a PhD, no such qualifications exist for their supervisors.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to see yourself as a client; to be clear about the services you require, to set expectations about quantity and quality of guidance, and to establish time frames for deliverables (e.g., feedback from your supervisor on your drafts). And as a client, you should do your due diligence on prospective supervisors before you commence your PhD.<\/p>\n Unless you\u2019re in the sort of program where a supervisor is allocated to you, you should be able to vet some candidates for the job.<\/p>\n How many PhD students have they supervised or co-supervised? How many of those students successfully completed their PhD under that supervisor? A high drop-out rate should be a big red flag for you. A savvy client will never hire a consultant with a reputation for shoddy work or not fulfilling their obligations.<\/p>\n If you can, speak to any current or past students of your potential supervisors to get their impressions. Is the supervisor frequently away or constantly busy with other research projects? They may be a \u2018god-professor\u2019 in their field but that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019ll have time and energy to be great mentors. Sometimes basic administrative skills are more valuable in a supervisor than in-depth knowledge of some obscure theorem.<\/p>\n There are simple ways to gauge the professionalism of your prospective service provider\/supervisor. Do they respond to emails promptly? Do they address all your questions? Do they know the university\u2019s admissions process, or do they think paperwork and bureaucracy is beneath them?<\/p>\n You don\u2019t want to find yourself in a position where your PhD is dragging on because your supervisor has failed to sign off on your milestone reports or forgotten to tell you that the university won\u2019t allow you to submit your thesis until you do one more presentation. And you don\u2019t want to turn up to meetings with your supervisor only to find that they aren\u2019t there because they didn\u2019t put it into their calendar.<\/p>\n You also shouldn\u2019t have to waste time waiting for feedback because your draft chapter got lost at the bottom of your supervisor\u2019s email inbox.<\/p>\n Obviously you won\u2019t know the extent of your needs and the extent of (in-)competence of your supervisor until you start your PhD. But as a client, know that you are within your rights to change service providers if you are not getting the support you require. Your school\u2019s research skills adviser should be able to provide you with guidance on how to do this, or whether it\u2019s the right decision for you.<\/p>\n And don\u2019t forget that you can supplement your supervisor\u2019s services with specialist expertise from elsewhere. For example, there is an active and supportive community of scholars from every discipline on Twitter and using hashtags such as #PhDchat can connect you to people the world over with similar problems or requirements to yours.<\/p>\n So, who\u2019s the client and who\u2019s the service provider in your relationship with your PhD supervisor?<\/p>\n