ABSTRACT
The evidence attests to the validity of viewing research units as complex systems with all of their inherent characteristics and behavior. Although the results may only apply to the department in San Antonio, they may in fact apply generally to scholarly activity in departments with established programs of scholarship. The dynamics of the transitional faculty member suggest that, when moving from low to moderate productivity, the first measures that change dynamics are non-research activity, presentations, and grants. The randomness of non-research activity at the individual level leads to chaos at the departmental level, reinforcing the lack of constraints at work at all levels for non-research activity. The concave curve for research activity indicates that constraints are at work in the research collaboration. Thus, moderate- and high-productivity faculty maintain consistency in the numbers of active projects and submissions, but cannot ensure consistency in total research progress or funding.
