Academic Leadership (1)

Some insights from Australia

Leo Goedegebuure, Oslo, March 16, 2010

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Overview

• Learning Leaders in Times of Change – 2008 Australian snapshot

• Methodology and rationale

• Management vs Leadership

• Academic vs “other” Leadership

• Conceptual framework of the LL study

• The murky world of academic leadership: empirical results

• Extrapolations from the study: the ideal academic leader

• Discussion

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Learning Leaders in Times of Change

• A comprehensive study of academic leadership in Australian universities

• Undertaken by Hamish Coates (ACER, LH Martin Institute), Geoff Scott (University of Western Sydney) and Michelle Anderson (ACER)

• Sponsored by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC)

• Undertaken in 2007-2008, involving 513 academic leaders responding to a survey, and some 600 senior university staff participating in workshops discussing the results of the study. So by far the most comprehensive study to date, worldwide

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Why Australia is an interesting case

• Major systemic reform since the late 1980s

• One of the most extreme cases of NMP

• Universities that “had to struggle to survive”

• One of the clearest examples of “the new university” as discussed previously

• Certainly not your “shining example” of “the managed university”, i.e. we made many mistakes on the way and still are learning the hard way

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Back to the LL study

• The aims of the study have been to:– profile academic leaders and their roles;– clarify what ‘leadership’ means in an academic context;– illuminate the daily realities, influences, challenges and most/least

satisfying aspects of the wide range of learning and teaching roles in our universities;

– identify the perceived markers of effective performance in each role;– identify the capabilities that leaders see as being most important for

effective performance;– identify the forms of support that may be of most/least assistance in

developing these capabilities;– determine key similarities and differences between roles; and– compare the study’s findings with the existing literature on higher

education leadership and parallel studies in other educational contexts.

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Who were involved?

• The specific roles studied have been: – Deputy Vice-Chancellor; – Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching); – Dean; – Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching); – Head of School/Department; – Head of Program; and – Director (Learning and Teaching).

• This already is indicative of the “expansion of the management structure” we discussed earlier. How does this relate to your own countries in terms of similarities and differences?

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On Management & Leadership

Management LeadershipMore operational – a focus on day to More strategicday matters – HR, budget, facilities

More focus on the present More focus on the future

Ensuring the unit functions efficiently Setting the vision for where the unit will headand effectively

Managers do things right Leaders do the right thing

Usually a formal position Can be formal or informalManagers ask how Leaders ask whySkill (competency) based Diagnostic (capability) based

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Leadership in academic and other contexts

(The senior lecturers and professors in the focus groups) … instanced the lack of hierarchical structures in universities compared with the corporate sector, with the result that academics are reluctant to be subject to authority. This is compounded by the fact that some academic disciplines require academics to act as individuals, leading their own fields in new directions. Balancing this are traditional notions of collegiality which, presuming a collaborative style of working, do not support the idea of being led or requiring academic leadership.

Marshall et al. (2001: 7)

Academic leadership poses problems that are distinctly different from leadership in business or government agencies … Private organisations are guided solely by considerations of maximising shareholder value … Academic leaders need to stay close to teaching, learning, research and scholarship to bring out the best among academics. Issues of academic freedom are of great importance and relevance in this context.

Sathye (2004: 5)

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The comparison continued …

… there is no institution more vulnerable to, and hence more dependent on, external forces than the American university. One major reason is that such schools are not self-supporting … The lulling image of the university as a bucolic outpost of learning both removed and somewhat ‘above’ the outside society that nourishes it is not only outdated but, if believed and acted on, will actually bring about the university’s decline or destruction. Even worse, university leaders possess far less power than any CEO I know. While campuses aren’t exactly parliamentary democracies, they do have often strident faculties – with tenure – who have a redoubtable habit of speaking up and out. They are often extraordinarily talented, self-absorbed ‘abdicrats’ who don’t want to lead – and don’t want to be led.

Warren Bennis (2006)

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cognitivepersonal

generic role - specific

The study’s conceptual framework

Inter-personal

capability

competency

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(Inter) personal capabilities

• = Emotional intelligence:– the capacity for recognising our own feelings and those of others, for

motivating ourselves and managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships.

• Personal domain (effectiveness): being motivated to excellence, commitment to the job, leading by example, having integrity, being willing to learn from mistakes, and being determined.

• Interpersonal (effectiveness): being empathetic and responsive; an ability to motivate others; being able to listen, delegate and allow ideas to surface; encouraging initiative; building action groups; acknowledging others’ work; and helping staff learn.

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Cognitive capabilities

• refers to a leader’s capacity to diagnose accurately what is happening when the unexpected occurs, to identify what the human as well as technical or administrative dimensions are, to determine if the problem is worth addressing in detail, and then having the ability to match an appropriate course of action to this diagnosis.

• It is an intellect that is skilled not just at problem solving but at working out what the problem is. This has close links to the notion of reflection-in-action

• Otherwise known as the “reflective practitioner”

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Key competencies

• These areas of competence help provide not only a scaffold for diagnosis but also a source for shaping the right response and delivering it in partnership with all the other players concerned.

• Generic competencies: like the ability to organise, run meetings, use IT, and an understanding of how universities work; and

• Role-specific competencies: in this case a high level of skill and understanding about learning and teaching in higher education.

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A note on methodology

• Scott et al have operationalised these 5 dimensions in a set of scales and survey items:

– Personal leadership capability: made up of three interlocked components: Self-regulation, Decisiveness and Commitment.

– Interpersonal capabilities: distinguished into two subscales: Influencing and Empathising with others.

– Cognitive capability: made up of attributes that fit into three interlocked subscales: Diagnosis, Strategy and Flexibility, and Responsiveness.

– Specific skills and knowledge concerned with the area of learning and teaching, and

– Two clusters of more generic skills and knowledge—one focused on university operations and the other on self-organisation.

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Analogies to academic leadership from the coal-face

• Herding cats• Getting butterflies to fly in formation• Conducting of an orchestra/directing a play• Coaching a successful sporting team• Plumbing a building - essential but no one sees it• Working with a dysfunctional family• Having a Ferrari with no money for fuel• Trying to nail jelly to the ceiling whilst trying to put out spot fires with my feet• Living in a medieval castle• Being a Rubik’s cube• Being in an Escher painting

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What AL do as work

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What AL like about their jobs

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What AL don’t like about their jobs

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How good AL think they are doing their jobs

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And the perceptions of their academic colleagues …

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Leadership capabilities scores

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Top twelve leadership capabilities

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What is a highly effective academic leader like?