The leadership role of head of department at university

Leadership is a problematic topic at universities and it is therefore difficult to isolate a leadership theory that is applicable to Heads of Department (HODs). The manner in which HODs construe their leadership roles is the focus of this research project and the study is conducted from a constructivist perspective The university context in which HODs lead is explored in the literature overview. Definitions of leadership, general leadership theories and leadership issues in academe are investigated. The research findings are integrated into a leadership model for HODs, consisting of constructs (leadership behaviours, actions and values) and elements (leadership situations). The following contributions are made by the study: * The variety roles an HOD has to fulfil is confirmed by the study. However, this study indicates that leadership is interwoven with everything an HOD undertakes. * HODs construct their roles uniquely, but in general terms most HODs consider academic and scholarly work (own and that of the department) as part of the leadership role they fulfil. Leadership at HOD level at university incorporates both managerial and leadership ideas. * HODs consider their leadership environment to have qualities of the following known university environments: collegial, enterprise, bureaucratic and corporate. * This study identifies eight leadership themes with reference to the leadership role of an HOD at university; providing academic guidance, being a figurehead, determining the strategy and positioning the department, liaising with internal and external stakeholders, being a change agent, being a general manager, and being involved in student and staff relations. The following leadership themes can be added to the current body of literature: being a figurehead, own scholarly profile, as well as being involved in staff and student relations. Leadership at academic departments is at the heart of everything in which an HOD is involved. Leadership is thus becoming indispensable at academic departments at university.Industrial and Organisational Psychology)D. Com. (Consulting Psychology

Factors Influencing the Career Decisions and the Under-Representation of African-American Male Administrators at a Predominantly White Institution of Higher Education: A Within-Case and a Cross-Case Analysis

America\u27s predominantly white institutions (PWIs) of higher education were built, developed and thrived within the social hierarchy of the American society. It was only after many political, legal, and legislative battles that the doors to America\u27s PWIs of higher education were forced open to admit the African-American student. Today, PWIs of higher education are seeking diversity in their student body, faculty and staff. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was (a) to gain insight into the factors influencing African-American administrators to select a career in higher education and choose employment at a PWI, (b) to discover the similarities and differences in factors influencing the career decisions of African Americans at PWIs based on whether they attended a historically black college and universities (HBCU) or predominantly white institution (PWI); (c) to discover the factors affecting the career decisions of African-American administrators in mid-level administrative positions regarding advancement to executive-level positions and the under-representation of African-American administrators in PWIs of higher education; and (d) to examine whether white supremacy emerges as a factor influencing the career decisions of African-American administrators in mid-level administrative positions at PWIs of higher education. The cross-case and within-case analysis revealed that while all five participants, employed at a Florida Doctoral/Research University-Extensive, attended a PWI of higher education, the undergraduate institution was an influencing factor in the participant\u27s decision to enter a career in higher education. The qualifications needed to advance to an executive-level position are the terminal degree, the appropriate skills, the right training, and the necessary experience. The participants in this study believe that most PWIs of higher education are not prepared to accept African-Americans in executive-level positions, and aspects of white supremacy did emerge as a factor influencing career advancement. For African-American administrators to advance to executive-level positions the participants said a climate that is receptive, open to diversity, open to different modes of thinking, and different modes of reaching conclusions were important. This study should be replicated using a larger sample and include different types of institutions of higher education to allow multiple comparisons of within-case and cross-case analysis analyses between positions and institutions

Women in Leadership National Conference 1992: Women, communication and power

Victorian feminist lawyer and social activist, Dr. Jocelynne Scutt, confronted the issue of women and power by drawing upon a powerful reading of stories from women. These stories, drawn from ordinary and not so ordinary women, showed the barriers that face women as they attempt to deal with a daily reality infused with masculine power, violence, fright, shame, and self-realization. She spoke poignantly of a world that is all to familiar to women; women whose capacities have been curbed sharply by a common theme in their lives: domination and coercion..

Policy, profession and person : the formation of reflexive academic identities in an Irish Institute of technology.

The study presented in this thesis explores the dynamic formation of academic professional identities in the Institute of Technology (loT) sector of Irish higher education. In particular it investigates how national and institutional structures and policies impact on those identities in one loT. The study further investigates whether and how such identities have been transformed by changes that have occurred at both national and local levels over the relatively short life span of the technological sector. Life history interviews were undertaken with sixteen academics of different 'generations' and from four different broad disciplinary backgrounds, namely Business, Engineering, Humanities and Science, with a view to understanding how policy translates at the level of individual academic lives and to revealing how structures and agency interact and impact on professional identity formation in a specific national and historical context. A theoretical framework based on Archer's conceptualisations of structure, agency and identity informed the analysis of the data. The research suggests that an identity shift has occurred over time, with the predominantly teaching-based identity which characterised those who entered lecturing prior the enactment of legislation for the technological sector in 1992 being replaced by a more complex and multi-layered professional identity built around a combination of roles in teaching, research and administration among those whose professional academic careers began in the post-I 992 period. Individual lecturers are clearly influenced by the context in which they operate and by the policies that shape that context, which constrain them in the pursuit of some of their projects, while enabling them in the pursuit of others. The impact of structures and policies on individuals and their professional identities is not uniform however. It can and does vary from one individual to another and appears to be significantly mediated both by the stances individuals adopt towards the constraints and enablements their projects activate and by the actions of those at the meso (institutional) level who interpret and implement macro-level policies. By providing insights into how individual academics are affected by national policies and structures and local efforts to interpret and implement these policies, the research seeks to influence both policy formation and policy implementation. In particular, it seeks to contribute to policy makers' understanding of the likely reactions to new policies of those for whom they legislate and of the reasons for these reactions, and to thereby encourage the generation of policies that enable rather than constrain

Experimenting with sustainability transformations: A study of Urban Living Labs in the food, water and energy nexus

Scholars and practitioners increasingly emphasize the importance of transdisciplinary and experimental approaches for understanding and addressing sustainability challenges. While there is widespread agreement that human society must undergo deep and radical changes, or so-called transformation, how transformation happens depends on multiple and dynamic factors in local contexts. In this thesis, I explore how to advance experimental transdisciplinary sustainability approaches to facilitate the collaborative development of solutions to sustainability problems and contribute to transformation. I use a transdisciplinary and real-world experimentation research approach called Urban Living Labs (ULL) that focuses on specific sustainability challenges in the food-water-energy nexus. I explore the intersection of these to understand how interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research can contribute to the co-production of action and solution- oriented knowledge. Moreover, I use a combination of interdisciplinary, participatory, and reflexive methods to investigate the processes of transdisciplinary sustainability research and the roles of researchers in these processes.In five papers, I address issues related to research design and planning, navigating the day-to-day conduct of transdisciplinary collaborations, knowledge transfer and sharing, and individual transformative capacity. In the first paper, I examine urban FWE nexus research to understand if and how solutions and their implementation are approached at a ‘local’ level, with implications for research design. The second paper considers FWE nexus research broadly to develop a heuristic for local-centered action- and solution-oriented research with key roles for inter- and transdisciplinary research and collaborations. The third paper focuses on navigating long-term transdisciplinary collaborations by applying the ULL approach in the context of local work with craft breweries. The fourth paper reconsiders transdisciplinary case-study evaluation and tackles the issues of knowledge transfer and sharing between cases. The fifth paper explores the development of transformative capacity in researchers who engage in transdisciplinary experimentation. Overall, this thesis advances transdisciplinary experimentation research toward developing and inhabiting spaces that both generate and employ transformative potential to address complex sustainability problems.Based on the outcomes of the papers, I discuss and challenge the position of the transdisciplinary academic by prioritizing not just what they know but who they are and how they act and interact. I argue that transdisciplinary sustainability research is an embodied practice, where it is more than just a methodological approach but akin to an identity with associated values and practices. The relevance of this work reaches into spaces of collaboration and negotiation for small or broad sustainability change, where sustainability requires us not only to do differently but also to be different

Law as Change: Engaging with the Life and Scholarship of Adrian Bradbrook

In 2011, Professor Adrian J Bradbrook retired from a distinguished scholarly career spanning over forty years. During this time, he made a significant contribution to teaching and scholarship not only in property law — specifically to leasehold tenancies law and easements and restrictive covenants — but also to energy law, especially the emerging and growing field of solar energy. This book brings together those people who worked closely with Bradbrook, each an expert in their own right, to honour a career by critically engaging with the contributions Bradbrook made to property and energy law. Each author has chosen a topic that both fits with their own cutting-edge research and explores the related contributions made by Bradbrook. Most unusually, this collection ranges widely across property law, energy law and human rights

A case study of the research careers of women academics: constraints and enablements

The purpose of this research is to investigate constraints that women academics experience in their research careers and how enablements, particularly in the form of mentoring relationships and support structures, can impact on their research career development in the context of the new knowledge economy of Higher Education. The research was a case study of one South African Institution and used a mixed method approach. Social realism underpinned the research. Data was collected and analysed within the spheres of structure, culture and agency, using critical discourse analysis, interpretation and abstraction strategies. I investigated how women researchers understand and experience career success and what they perceive and experience as enablements and constraints to their research careers. Institutional support structures and cultures were examined with a focus on the role of the Head of Department. I explored mentoring and questioned whether the agency of women academics is empowered by mentoring and supportive structures to overcome constraints to their research productivity and the development of their careers. Gender-based issues of inequity, low self-esteem and accrual of social capital appear to be the underlying factors affecting how women perform in the research arena and advance within the institution. It was found that mentoring is a generative mechanism that has a favourable impact on women academics as it enables them to overcome obstacles to research productivity and career advancement

Law as Change: Engaging with the Life and Scholarship of Adrian Bradbrook

In 2011, Professor Adrian J Bradbrook retired from a distinguished scholarly career spanning over forty years. During this time, he made a significant contribution to teaching and scholarship not only in property law — specifically to leasehold tenancies law and easements and restrictive covenants — but also to energy law, especially the emerging and growing field of solar energy. This book brings together those people who worked closely with Bradbrook, each an expert in their own right, to honour a career by critically engaging with the contributions Bradbrook made to property and energy law. Each author has chosen a topic that both fits with their own cutting-edge research and explores the related contributions made by Bradbrook. Most unusually, this collection ranges widely across property law, energy law and human rights