This is tricky, and I don't want this to sound like sour grapes. I think as with any large institution, an employee's experience is largely dependent on their particular area, and their immediate working relationships. So one department or unit may be a very healthy working environment, while another may be absolutely toxic. I've worked now here for over two years and find myself unfortunately in the latter.
There seems to be no accountability to upper management for the completely unprofessional actions of a select number of managers and directors in a central, highly-visible office on campus. Decentralized liaisons who have to work with colleagues in this area are completely at a loss about the level of poor communication, unprofessional actions, backstabbing, blaming, and just overall terrible working environment. Petty disputes can spill over into evaluations and cause all sorts of headaches for employees. This is one problem of the centralized-decentralized model that is in use for a number of areas on campus.
Overall, I've tried working within my own academic unit to address these issues, and while I feel genuinely supported within my academic unit's reporting structure, I have been largely unsuccessful in making an improvement to these external working relationships with colleagues in the central office. I do this as a committed team member trying to make a better a toxic situation for all parties, but systemically, there doesn't seem to be much incentive to improve things.
Again, I stress that it is largely dependent on which area you are employed - but before you consider employment here, just know that there are some major organizational problems in place for at least some working areas. It's disappointing enough that I am planning on leaving after only 2.5 years here. At least four other colleagues I work with directly have either left or are in the process of leaving this particular office, and all within the past six months. All are career professionals in higher ed, and I'm afraid that Clemson is losing talent because of these organizational challenges. Another caveat that I'll mention is that I am a part-time graduate student here, and have had an incredibly good experience from my within my academic department. So it's not all bad.
