Measuring Academic Leadership Effectiveness of Hospitality and Tourism Academic Administrators: A Transformation Leadership Framework

The purpose of this research is to extend the existing knowledge of academic administrator leadership behaviors that are necessary for effective academic leadership in hospitality and tourism higher education, as viewed through the transformational leadership framework. This study also investigated hospitality and tourism administrators’ previous industry experience, management experience, and management experience in the industry. This dissertation research was guided by three primary objectives. First, this study aimed to develop a model that measures hospitality and tourism academic leadership effectiveness. Second, this dissertation intended to explore the relationship among different leadership styles & leadership effectiveness. Third, this dissertation aspired to measure the importance or impact of previous industry management or leadership experience on hospitality and tourism academic leadership effectiveness. The sample population for this empirical study is hospitality and tourism academic administrators located in the United States selected from the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education’s (ICHRIE) online publication the Guide to College Programs. The hospitality and tourism academic administrators were asked to complete a self-administered online questionnaire that included questions from (1) the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire© to ascertain an aggregate measurement of transformational leadership behaviors, (2) the Higher Education Leadership Competencies (HELC), a five component scale that has been established as a comprehensive set of leadership competencies of effective senior leaders in higher education that are necessary or important for effective academic leadership, and (3) general academic administrator demographical information. The survey was sent via email message to 373 hospitality &/or tourism academic administrators in the United States. Of the 373 surveys invitations distributed, 80 academic administrators completed the entire survey for a 23% response rate. The respondents represented 66 different institutions. ANOVA results indicated that hospitality and tourism academic administrators’ transformational leadership behaviors increase their leadership effectiveness. Moreover, participants who scored higher on the MLQ©, also scored higher on the HELC factors of Analytical, Communication, Behavioral, and External Relations. Finally, the findings indicated that previous industry experience moderated the relationship between the participants’ transformational leadership behaviors and leadership effectiveness

Teachers’ Burnout Experience in a Title I Suburban Elementary School

This qualitative case study focused on the experiences of Title I suburban elementary school teachers in the Southeastern United States. The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the reasons why teachers in Title I suburban schools experience burnout and how their burnout manifests. I also conducted this study to fill the gap in the literature and gain insight on the specific supports and strategies that Title I suburban school teachers need to help manage or eliminate their burnout. The theoretical framework that informed this study was the Burnout Theory. Several data gathering techniques (interview, reflective journals, and a focus group meeting) were utilized and analyzed to describe the participants’ experiences regarding occupational burnout as FES. The research questions focused on the experiences teachers described of feeling burnout in their profession; the ways teachers described their burnout manifesting into emotional exhaustion; detachment; and reduced personal accomplishment; and the support needed to manage their burnout. From the data collected, several themes emerged such as Workload, Student Behavior, Lack of Support by Leadership, Lack of Parental Involvement, Emotional Effects, Physical Effects, Mental Effects, Administrative Support, County Level Support, and Academic Coaches Support. This information supports previous research on the causes of burnout that teachers experience. Study findings provided insight into teachers’ experiences with occupational burnout in their school environments and highlighted the importance of support needed from school leaders to support teachers in thriving as professionals. The knowledge gained from this study can increase teacher retention in Title I suburban elementary schools. It can also be utilized in developing and providing teachers with coping strategies that help them manage their occupational burnout

How do professional staff influence academic knowledge development? A literature review and research agenda

Changing relationships between government and the higher education system have created a wide range of new tasks within universities. Many have been adopted by an emerging workforce known alternately as professional, non-academic, or support staff. Its rapid growth has sparked a debate about ‘administrative bloat’. We aim to move beyond this negative, dismissive framing by reviewing the literature to explore whether and how professional staff influence academic knowledge development. While this specific question has received little scholarly attention, we found relevant research in 54 documents from a diffuse group of journals and authors. Our review makes two specific contributions. First, we examine the competencies and relationships of professional staff and their influence on conditions and processes in universities. We find that professional staff increasingly have a private sector background, but that the implications of such a background for competencies remain opaque. Furthermore, their relationships with university leadership and academics as well as actors beyond the home organization place them in strategic positions in their networks. We claim that their involvement in strategy development and implementation, daily management, and academic practices demonstrate a potential to influence knowledge development. Second, we propose a research agenda to understand this influence. The agenda is built around the institutional logics of professional staff, the institutional work that they engage in to promote these logics, and the resulting influence on knowledge development. We hypothesize that professional staff stimulate convergence in knowledge production and strengthen the higher education system’s external legitimacy as a producer of knowledge.</p

Higher education\u27s hidden craftsmen: A re-examination of the roles of support services middle management

This research was designed to determine any differences that have occurred in the last fifteen years regarding the demographics, roles, responsibilities, and job satisfaction of support services middle management in higher education.;A sample of mid-level administrators in the state of Virginia responded to a demographics questionnaire and to the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) and Job in General Scale (JIG), two tests of job satisfaction.;The results showed that there has been no appreciable differences in the types of positions or the inherent responsibilities in the last 15 years. These positions were still dominated by white males by a two-to-one ratio, and the average age for those surveyed was 45 years. Minorities comprised only nine percent of the respondents.;Support services middle managers in Virginia are well-educated, over 75% holding a Master\u27s degree and beyond, and they have been employed at their institution almost 10 years. Average staff size is 17 employees. There seems to be no preferred educational path in obtaining these positions.;Responses to the JDI and the JIG were delineated by sex, years of education, and years of job tenure, and this survey showed no significant difference in the responses given by any of these delineations. Compared to national norms, males scored roughly the same as and females scored slightly below national norms; educational level appears to influence work on present job, pay, and opportunities for promotion; respondents with 10-15 years of tenure scored below national norms on work on present job, pay, and opportunities for promotion, whereas those with more than 16 years of tenure scored above national norms on the same three scales. Educational level and years of tenure was not an indicator of levels of dissatisfaction for supervision or coworkers.;These extrinsic variables do not appear to influence job satisfaction. Further studies are needed to examine intrinsic values, such as autonomy and recognition, to discover where problems lie within the institution

Academic Business: Tensions between academic values and corporatisation of Australian higher education in graduate schools fo business

This thesis explores the impact of institutional changes in the Australian Higher Education Sector (AHES) on academics in entrepreneurial graduate schools of business. It addresses questions about the causes, nature and effects of change, and ultimately, the impact on the values and lives of 21 academics at two points in time, 2002-3 and 2008. In addition to reviewing literature, qualitative methods of document analysis and interviews provide the data for the research. The framework for the analysis of data is based on Laughlin’s (1991) ‘skeletal’ theory of organisation change which adapts concepts from Habermas’ (1984; 87) theory of societal change. The impacts of change are viewed from the perspective of organisation participants, the academics. For the majority of these academics, the findings of the research indicate that, in the face of loss of ownership and the imposition of modernisation practices, they maintained their belief in academic values but withdrew from active engagement with their school and institution. The thesis is presented in six chapters and six papers. With the exception of Chapter One, which introduces the thesis and its contributions, and Chapter Six, which summarises and concludes the work, the four chapters in between provide background detail on the literature; the theoretical approach; the research design and method; and the findings. The six papers complement the chapters by presenting the outcomes of the research at various stages. They are ordered in such a way as to offer general overviews of the Australian Higher Education Sector (Paper One) and business schools (Paper Two) before providing more specific focus on the impacts of modernisation practices (Paper Three); effects of change on academic identity (Paper Four); and the role of disciplinarity on academic values and identity (Paper Five). Research results from the first period of research, 2002-3, are reported in Papers Three, Four and Five. Paper Six is the final paper. It provides a comparison of results for both periods with an analysis of change and its impacts using Laughlin’s (1991) framework for organisation change. Chapter Six concludes the thesis with suggested implications for policy and further research. In relation to policy, it is suggested that current government intentions to shift higher education institutions from economic to social institutions will be dependent on the ability of institutions to unravel ten years of modernisation practices aimed at controlling rather than supporting academic endeavour. Arising from this is a challenge to business schools to develop value propositions that better reflect their role as part of a social institution and not an institutional ‘cash cow’. Further research is suggested in two areas: first, in understanding the lifeworld perspectives of academic executives and heads of school about their role in absorbing or facilitating change; and second, in understanding how business schools are able to develop and implement appropriate value propositions. Overall this thesis is a response to Henkel’s (2005, p. 166) call for further empirical research into academics’ lives “to test the strength of values and identity in different institutional settings”. It does this by addressing several gaps in the literature on higher education, specifically Australian higher education. The production of a qualitative and longitudinal study within a theoretical framework contributes to overcoming the paucity of research employing these methods or applying theoretical interpretations of data within higher education. Additionally, the thesis makes a contribution to the under-researched areas of academic values and value change generally, and Australian business schools, specifically by focusing on the values of Australian business school academics in times of change

Academic Business: Tensions between academic values and corporatisation of Australian higher education in graduate schools fo business

This thesis explores the impact of institutional changes in the Australian Higher Education Sector (AHES) on academics in entrepreneurial graduate schools of business. It addresses questions about the causes, nature and effects of change, and ultimately, the impact on the values and lives of 21 academics at two points in time, 2002-3 and 2008. In addition to reviewing literature, qualitative methods of document analysis and interviews provide the data for the research. The framework for the analysis of data is based on Laughlin’s (1991) ‘skeletal’ theory of organisation change which adapts concepts from Habermas’ (1984; 87) theory of societal change. The impacts of change are viewed from the perspective of organisation participants, the academics. For the majority of these academics, the findings of the research indicate that, in the face of loss of ownership and the imposition of modernisation practices, they maintained their belief in academic values but withdrew from active engagement with their school and institution. The thesis is presented in six chapters and six papers. With the exception of Chapter One, which introduces the thesis and its contributions, and Chapter Six, which summarises and concludes the work, the four chapters in between provide background detail on the literature; the theoretical approach; the research design and method; and the findings. The six papers complement the chapters by presenting the outcomes of the research at various stages. They are ordered in such a way as to offer general overviews of the Australian Higher Education Sector (Paper One) and business schools (Paper Two) before providing more specific focus on the impacts of modernisation practices (Paper Three); effects of change on academic identity (Paper Four); and the role of disciplinarity on academic values and identity (Paper Five). Research results from the first period of research, 2002-3, are reported in Papers Three, Four and Five. Paper Six is the final paper. It provides a comparison of results for both periods with an analysis of change and its impacts using Laughlin’s (1991) framework for organisation change. Chapter Six concludes the thesis with suggested implications for policy and further research. In relation to policy, it is suggested that current government intentions to shift higher education institutions from economic to social institutions will be dependent on the ability of institutions to unravel ten years of modernisation practices aimed at controlling rather than supporting academic endeavour. Arising from this is a challenge to business schools to develop value propositions that better reflect their role as part of a social institution and not an institutional ‘cash cow’. Further research is suggested in two areas: first, in understanding the lifeworld perspectives of academic executives and heads of school about their role in absorbing or facilitating change; and second, in understanding how business schools are able to develop and implement appropriate value propositions. Overall this thesis is a response to Henkel’s (2005, p. 166) call for further empirical research into academics’ lives “to test the strength of values and identity in different institutional settings”. It does this by addressing several gaps in the literature on higher education, specifically Australian higher education. The production of a qualitative and longitudinal study within a theoretical framework contributes to overcoming the paucity of research employing these methods or applying theoretical interpretations of data within higher education. Additionally, the thesis makes a contribution to the under-researched areas of academic values and value change generally, and Australian business schools, specifically by focusing on the values of Australian business school academics in times of change

Towards a revised model of innovation in organizations

Some critics of studies of innovation in organizations suggest that the process of innovation needs to receive more attention. They imply that a process study, as opposed to a survey type research, can offer a deeper insight into the nature of that process. The objective of this study is to enhance our understanding of the process of innovation. For this purpose, a relatively in-depth study of an attempt at innovation in a higher education setting in Iran is undertaken.This research consists of four parts. In Part One, innovation is viewed from a theoretical perspective. Part Two is devoted to the description of the case. Part Three covers the analysis of the case. Part Four comprises the implications of the study for theory and practice as well as a research agenda.Derived from a single case study, the findings can be regarded as indicating hypotheses to other students of innovation. These findings that:(a).Irrespective of its manifestation, innovation is driven by its essence, which is abstract.(b).A process of innovation has two sides: on the surface it is linear and, like an organizational chart, is static; but it is iterative and sine linear under the surface. It is dynamic like the reality of organization.(c).It will be misleading to distinguish between the administrative and technical as a way of accounting for the possible differential impacts of some variables on strategic innovations. (d).Different aspects of the same elements may affect either the initiation or the implementation of an innovation.(e).More attention has to be paid to the relationship between group variables as well as organizational fairness, or equity, and innovation

Management control systems in enabling university research performance

The purpose of this study is to investigate how management control systems (MCS) are used to enable university research performance at the operating level. At the sector level, institutionally framed research within New Public Management literature has observed the more uniform use of managerialist and programmed approaches to university research management. However, empirical contingent studies within a private sector R&D setting have evidenced how such approaches are ineffective in enabling operating level research performance. Drawing on both literatures, as well as wider MCS package research, the research uses an exploratory case study to examine two high performing faculties with contrasting research characteristics. From these micro-level accounts, the paper develops a conceptual model demonstrating how a combination of institutional and technical factors contributes to the use of MCS. More specifically, while a similar complementary package of socio-ideological, administrative and incentive controls is used to satisfy the diverging managerial and collegial institutional interests, within each operating unit managers tailor the use of these categories of controls to suit their respective research cultures and contexts in order to enable university research performance

The First Step to Leadership in School Management: Taking Initiative

Problem statement: The present study aims to determine the situations and the characteristics of these situations, in which school administrators take initiatives, and the outcomes of these initiatives for the school