1 - Re-imagining Leadership Development for Middle-level Academic Leaders in Africa
Corresponding Author(s) : Oliver Seale
Journal of Higher Education in Africa,
Vol. 17 No. 1-2 (2019): Journal of Higher Education in Africa: Issue on Higher Education Leadership in Africa
Abstract
The university today is a postmodern, neo-liberal, competitive, boundary-less
knowledge conglomerate, a far cry from its historical, traditional, classical and collegial roots. Although remaining true to its primary mission of research, teaching and community engagement, its organisational form has changed significantly, with its concomitant implications for governance, leadership and management, especially in a developing world context. The regional and institutional disruptions and protests by students and other stakeholders in African countries like Algeria, Kenya, Sudan and, more recently, South Africa in the guise of the ‘#RhodesMustFall,’ ‘#FeesMustFall’ and ‘#OpenStellenbosch’ campaigns, starkly illustrates this challenging, nebulous environment of higher education on the continent. The article provides a reflection and engagement on these critical issues and aims to illustrate that:(i) the global and local contexts of higher education have changed dramatically, with its concomitant added levels of complexity for academic leaders;(ii) this environment has implications for the conception and practice of leadership and management in universities, for middle level academic leaders in particular; and(iii) this setting provides the backdrop for a holistic and integrated academic leadership intervention in universities in Africa.
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- Bolden, R., Petrov, G. & Gosling, J., 2008, ‘Developing collective leadership in higher education’, Final Report, Research and Development Series. London: Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.
- Bourdieu, P. & Wacquant, L.J.D., 1992, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Oxford: Polity Press.
- Bouty, I., 2000, ‘Interpersonal and interaction influences on informal resource exchanges between R&D researchers across organisational boundaries’, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 43, pp. 50-65.
- Burgoyne, J., Mackness, J. & Williams, S., 2009, Research and Development Series, Final Report: Baseline Study of Leadership Development in Higher Education. Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, UK.
- Cohen, D. & Prusak, L., 2001, In Good Company: How Social Capital Makes Organisations Work, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
- Day, D.V., 1999, ‘Leadership Development: A Review of Industry Best Practices’, (Tech. Rep. No. 1141), Fort Leavenworth, KS: Army Research Institute.
- Debowski, D. & Blake, V., 2004, ‘The developmental needs of higher education academic leaders in encouraging effective teaching and learning: Seeking Educational Excellence, Teaching and Learning Forum, University of Western Australia.
- Dewey, J., 1933, How We Think: A Restatement of the Relation of Reflective Thinking and the Educational Process, New York: D. C. Heath.
- Duderstadt, J.J., 2005, ‘The Future of Higher Education in the Knowledge-Driven, Global Economy of the 21st Century’, in G.A. Jones, P.L. McCarney, & M. Skolnik, eds., Creating Knowledge, Strengthening Nations: The Changing Role of Higher Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 81-101.
- Everingham, C., 2001, ‘Reconstituting community: social justice, social order and the politics of community’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 105-122.
- Gmelch, W. & Buller, J., 2015, Academic Leadership Capacity – A Guide to Good Practice, San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
- Greicar, M.B., 2009, ‘The Professional Preparation of Academic Deans’, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the MWERA Annual Meeting, Sheraton Westport Chalet Hotel, St. Louis, MOOnline.2013-12-29. Available at:
- http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p379872_index.html
- Huey, J., 1994, ‘The New Post-Heroic Leadership’, Fortune, 21 February, pp. 42-50.
- Huntley-Moore, S. & Panter, J., 2003, ‘Does discipline matter? Issues in the design and implementation of management development programmes for heads of academic departments’, Annual Conference Proceedings of HERDSA (Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia Inc.), Christchurch, New Zealand. Investopedia - http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/economiccapital
- Johnson, B. & M. Cross., 2006, ‘Academic leadership under siege: possibilities and limits of executive deanship’, South African Journal of Higher Education, vol. 187, no. 2, pp. 34-58.
- Jowi, J.O., 2018, ‘Deans in Kenyan universities: their leadership styles and impacts on staff commitment’, PhD Dissertation at University of Twente, DOI: 10.3990/1.9789036545570. Available at https://www.utwente.nl/en/bms/cheps/news/james-jowi-otieno-cheps-dissertation-may-2018-final-including-cover.pdf
- Kukla, A., 2000., Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Science, London: Routledge.
- Littlejohn, S.W., 1983, Theories of Human Communication, 2nd Ed., Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
- McMahon, M. 1997, ‘Social constructivism and the worldwide web - a paradigm for learning’, Paper presented at the ASCILITE conference. Perth, Australia. Retrieved from http://www.ascilite.org/conferences/perth97/papers/Mcmahon/Mcmahon.html
- Northouse, G., 2007, Leadership Theory and Practice, 3rd Ed.,Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.
- OECD., 1998, Human Capital Investment: An International Comparison, Paris: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
- Parry, K.W., 1998, ‘Grounded theory and social process: a new direction for leadership research’, Leadership Quarterly, vol. 9, no. 1, pg. 1.
- Pounder, J.S., 2001, ‘“New leadership” and university organisational effectiveness: exploring the relationship’, Leadership and Organisational Development Journal, vol. 22 no. 6, pp. 281-290.
- Rosser, V.J., Johnsrud, L.K. & Heck, R.H., 2003, ‘Academic deans and directors: assessing their effectiveness from individual and institutional perspectives’, Journal of Higher Education, vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 1-25.
- Schuller, T., 2000, ‘Social and human capital: the search for appropriate technomethodology’, Policy Studies, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 25-35.
- Scott, G., Coates, H., & Anderson, M., 2008, ‘Learning leaders in times of change: academic leadership capabilities for Australian higher education’, University of Western Sydney and Australian Council for Educational Research. Available at http://www.acer.edu.au/documents/UWSACER_CarrickLeadershipReport.pdf
- Seale, O., 2015, ‘Building leadership and management capacity for deans in South African higher education’, Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Available at: http://146.141.12.21/handle/10539/18232
- Seale, O. & Cross, M., 2017, ‘Executivism and deanship in selected South African universities’, Oxford Review of Education, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 275-290.
- Seale, O. & FitzGerald, P., 2016, ‘Between a rock and a hard place: university management and the #FeesMustFall campaign’, in S. Booysen, ed., Student Revolt, Decolonisation and Governance in South Africa,Johannesburg: Wits Press.
- Senge, P., 1990, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, New York: Doubleday.
- Spillane, J., Halverson, R. & Diamond, J.B., 2001, ‘Investigating school leadership practice: a distributed perspective’, Educational Researcher, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 23-28.
- Wall, K.J., 2015, ‘Administrative development for Academic Deans in the California State University system’, Unpublished PhD Thesis, California State University, San Bernadino.
- Wepner, SB., Henk. B. & Lovell, S., 2015, ’Developing deans as effective leaders for today’s changing educational landscape’, Journal of Higher Education Management, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 51-64. Wikipedia, – Accessed 06/07/2019: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_capital
- Wisniewski, M., 2000, ‘Leadership in higher education: implications for leadership development’, Academic Leadership, The Online Journal.
References
Bolden, R., Petrov, G. & Gosling, J., 2008, ‘Developing collective leadership in higher education’, Final Report, Research and Development Series. London: Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.
Bourdieu, P. & Wacquant, L.J.D., 1992, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Oxford: Polity Press.
Bouty, I., 2000, ‘Interpersonal and interaction influences on informal resource exchanges between R&D researchers across organisational boundaries’, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 43, pp. 50-65.
Burgoyne, J., Mackness, J. & Williams, S., 2009, Research and Development Series, Final Report: Baseline Study of Leadership Development in Higher Education. Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, UK.
Cohen, D. & Prusak, L., 2001, In Good Company: How Social Capital Makes Organisations Work, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Day, D.V., 1999, ‘Leadership Development: A Review of Industry Best Practices’, (Tech. Rep. No. 1141), Fort Leavenworth, KS: Army Research Institute.
Debowski, D. & Blake, V., 2004, ‘The developmental needs of higher education academic leaders in encouraging effective teaching and learning: Seeking Educational Excellence, Teaching and Learning Forum, University of Western Australia.
Dewey, J., 1933, How We Think: A Restatement of the Relation of Reflective Thinking and the Educational Process, New York: D. C. Heath.
Duderstadt, J.J., 2005, ‘The Future of Higher Education in the Knowledge-Driven, Global Economy of the 21st Century’, in G.A. Jones, P.L. McCarney, & M. Skolnik, eds., Creating Knowledge, Strengthening Nations: The Changing Role of Higher Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 81-101.
Everingham, C., 2001, ‘Reconstituting community: social justice, social order and the politics of community’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 105-122.
Gmelch, W. & Buller, J., 2015, Academic Leadership Capacity – A Guide to Good Practice, San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Greicar, M.B., 2009, ‘The Professional Preparation of Academic Deans’, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the MWERA Annual Meeting, Sheraton Westport Chalet Hotel, St. Louis, MOOnline.2013-12-29. Available at:
http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p379872_index.html
Huey, J., 1994, ‘The New Post-Heroic Leadership’, Fortune, 21 February, pp. 42-50.
Huntley-Moore, S. & Panter, J., 2003, ‘Does discipline matter? Issues in the design and implementation of management development programmes for heads of academic departments’, Annual Conference Proceedings of HERDSA (Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia Inc.), Christchurch, New Zealand. Investopedia - http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/economiccapital
Johnson, B. & M. Cross., 2006, ‘Academic leadership under siege: possibilities and limits of executive deanship’, South African Journal of Higher Education, vol. 187, no. 2, pp. 34-58.
Jowi, J.O., 2018, ‘Deans in Kenyan universities: their leadership styles and impacts on staff commitment’, PhD Dissertation at University of Twente, DOI: 10.3990/1.9789036545570. Available at https://www.utwente.nl/en/bms/cheps/news/james-jowi-otieno-cheps-dissertation-may-2018-final-including-cover.pdf
Kukla, A., 2000., Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Science, London: Routledge.
Littlejohn, S.W., 1983, Theories of Human Communication, 2nd Ed., Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
McMahon, M. 1997, ‘Social constructivism and the worldwide web - a paradigm for learning’, Paper presented at the ASCILITE conference. Perth, Australia. Retrieved from http://www.ascilite.org/conferences/perth97/papers/Mcmahon/Mcmahon.html
Northouse, G., 2007, Leadership Theory and Practice, 3rd Ed.,Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.
OECD., 1998, Human Capital Investment: An International Comparison, Paris: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Parry, K.W., 1998, ‘Grounded theory and social process: a new direction for leadership research’, Leadership Quarterly, vol. 9, no. 1, pg. 1.
Pounder, J.S., 2001, ‘“New leadership” and university organisational effectiveness: exploring the relationship’, Leadership and Organisational Development Journal, vol. 22 no. 6, pp. 281-290.
Rosser, V.J., Johnsrud, L.K. & Heck, R.H., 2003, ‘Academic deans and directors: assessing their effectiveness from individual and institutional perspectives’, Journal of Higher Education, vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 1-25.
Schuller, T., 2000, ‘Social and human capital: the search for appropriate technomethodology’, Policy Studies, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 25-35.
Scott, G., Coates, H., & Anderson, M., 2008, ‘Learning leaders in times of change: academic leadership capabilities for Australian higher education’, University of Western Sydney and Australian Council for Educational Research. Available at http://www.acer.edu.au/documents/UWSACER_CarrickLeadershipReport.pdf
Seale, O., 2015, ‘Building leadership and management capacity for deans in South African higher education’, Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Available at: http://146.141.12.21/handle/10539/18232
Seale, O. & Cross, M., 2017, ‘Executivism and deanship in selected South African universities’, Oxford Review of Education, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 275-290.
Seale, O. & FitzGerald, P., 2016, ‘Between a rock and a hard place: university management and the #FeesMustFall campaign’, in S. Booysen, ed., Student Revolt, Decolonisation and Governance in South Africa,Johannesburg: Wits Press.
Senge, P., 1990, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, New York: Doubleday.
Spillane, J., Halverson, R. & Diamond, J.B., 2001, ‘Investigating school leadership practice: a distributed perspective’, Educational Researcher, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 23-28.
Wall, K.J., 2015, ‘Administrative development for Academic Deans in the California State University system’, Unpublished PhD Thesis, California State University, San Bernadino.
Wepner, SB., Henk. B. & Lovell, S., 2015, ’Developing deans as effective leaders for today’s changing educational landscape’, Journal of Higher Education Management, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 51-64. Wikipedia, – Accessed 06/07/2019: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_capital
Wisniewski, M., 2000, ‘Leadership in higher education: implications for leadership development’, Academic Leadership, The Online Journal.