Shared Vision: Transformational Leadership in American Community Colleges.

337 Pages·2007·4.58 MB·English

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 307 013
JC 890 265
AUTHOR Roueche, John E.; And Others
TITLE Shared Vision: Transformational Leadership in
American Community Colleges.
INSTITUTION American Association of Community and Junior
Colleges, Washington, D.C.
REPORT NO ISBN-0-87117-190-2
PUB DATE Apr 89
NOTE 337p.
AVAILABLE FROM American Association for Community and Junior
Colleges, One DuPont Circle, NW, Suite 410,
Washington, DC 20036 ($28.50; $21.00 for AACJC
Members).
PUB TYPE Books (010) -- Reports - Research/Technical (143) --
Tests /Evaluation Instruments (160)
EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available f '-om EDRS.
DESCRIPTORS Change Agents; *College Administrati,m; *College
Presidents; Community Colleges; Leadership;
*Leadership Qualities; Motivation Techniques;
National Surveys; Organizational Change;
Questionnaires; Teacher Administrator Relationship;
Two Year Colleges
ABSTRACT
Based on a study of 256 exemplary community college
presidents, this book examines the attributes of outstanding leaders
and their ability to orchestrate organizational change. Chapter 1
provides the background for the study, emphasizes the importance of
leadership, and identifies attributes common to transformational
leaders; that is, leaders who work with their followers so that each
raises the other to higher levels of motivation and morality. Chapter
2 summarizes leadership theory and offers a discussion of
transformational leadership and its place in a rapidly changing
society. After chapter 3 reviews the study methodology, chapters 4
and 5 present findings on the demographic and leadership
characteristics of the presidents selected for in-depth study.
Chapters 6 through 10 discuss key elements of transformational
leadership, including shared vision, teamwork and collaborative
decision making, institutional climate and the relationship between
the institution and the individuals within it, motivation as a means
of achieving followers' acceptance of the shared vision, and peysonal
values, integrity, and commitment to learning. Chapter 11 examines
women in community college leadership roles. Finally, chapter 12
presents a summary of the research, a discussion of the problems
faced by minority leaders, and a review of study implications. The
survey instruments and an 85-item bibliography are appended. (ALB)
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
i SHARED
' VISION
TRANSFORMATIONAL
LEADERSHIP IN AMERICAN
COMMUNITY COLLEGES
JOHN E. ROUECHE
GEORGE A. BAKER HI
AND ROBERT R. ROSE
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2
In the coming decades, American community col-
leges will face some of their greatest challenges
as they cope with fewer resources, shrinking en-
rollments, changing demographics, and a world
that demands increasing job skills from graduates.
The community colleges that will succeed in this chang-
ing landscape will be those headed by transformational
leaders men and women with the ability to influence
the values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of faculty
and staff by working with and through them to accom-
plish the college's mission and purpose.
This landmark study identifies those community
college presidents who are able to transform their per-
sonal vision of their college's future into a vision shared
by faculty and staff Authors Roueche, Baker, and Rose
examine the practices of 256 transformational presi-
dents to find out bow they orchestrate change in the
college to respond to changes in the community.
Through exhaustive interviews with 50 of these presi-
dentsthe "blue chippers"and their leadership
teams, the authors investigate the framework of values
that these leaders bring to their institutions as they in-
fluence, motivate, and empower others toward greater
performance.
Against a backrosmd of traditional leadership
theory, Shand Vision: Dunsfonisationol Leadership in Aneri
can Coratunigy Colleges discusses the unique contribu-
tions of transformational leadership. The book indudes
a look at the role of teamwork and collaborative deci-
sion malting, the relar Aship between the institution
and the individuals 1.- at motivation, and personal
values, with emphasis on integrity and commitment to
learning. The special contributions of minority and
women leaders are also examined.
Helping community colleges to meet the chal-
lenges of the 1990s and beyond requires a process of
changing people by influencing their values, attitudes,
beliefs, and behaviors. In this book, there are valuable
lessons to be learned from those leaders who can trans-
form their concept of what the future should be into
a commitment believed in and carried out by their
faculty and staffa shared vision.
The Community College Press
American Association of Community and Junior Colleges
National Center for Higher Education
One Dupont Circle, N.W., Suite 410
Washington, D.C. 20036
[phone]
Copyright April 1989
Printed in the U.S.A.
Published by The Community College Press, a
division of the American Association of Community
and Junior Colleges. No part of this book can be
duplicated without written permission by the publishers.
ISBN 0.87117-190-2
CONTENTS
PREFACE V
1. LEADERSHIP IN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE 1
Community Colleges and the Future 5
The Situation 5
The Challenge 10
Transformational Leaders 11
The New Study 12
2. LEADERSHIP 15
Leadership: What Does It Mean? 18
Leadership: A Historical Perspective 19
Leaders and Their Environments 22
Transactional Leadership 24
Transformational Leadership 25
Leadership: Here and Now 31
3. APPROACH TO THE STUDY 37
Rationale 39
Phase I: Selection Process ........ .... . ... 451
Phase II: Selection Process
Phase III: An In-depth Analysis 54
4. THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERS 57
Other Studies 60
The Current Study 63
Personal Data 64
7
gi
ii/SHARED VISION
Background and Experience 66
Degrees 69
Time Utilization 70
Time Spent With Others 71
Constituent Groups 72
Roles Played by College Leaders 73
Comparisons with the Vaughan Study 74
5. RESEARCH FINDINGS 77
The Development of the Theoretical Framework 80
Report of the Findings 85
6. VISION FOR EXCELLENCE 107
Future Orientation 112
The Mission 115
Shaping the Future 117
Influencing the Vision of Others 120
Planning and Action 124
RiskTaking 128
Commitment to Access and Student Success 130
7. LEADING: THE PROCESS OF EMPOWERMENT 137
Delegating and Empowering 142
A Bias for Action 144
Strength Through Tasking and Consideration 148
Shared Decisionmaking 150
The Influence of Others 152
ProblemSolving Through Collaboration 153
Building the Effective Communications Network 157
Empowerment Through Visibility 159
Energy for Action 161
8. LEADER AND FOLLOWER COHESION 165
Understanding Campus Ethos 169
Rewarding Others 172
Respecting the Individual 174
StudentCenteredness 177
Seeking and Valuing Others 180
r
CONTENTS / in
9. MOTIVATION FOR EMPOWERMENT 187
Stages of Motivation 189
Motivating Toward Commitment and Action 194
The Expectations Process 199
A Context for Creative Skills 202
Developing Followers 204
Peak Performance 206
10. LEADERS AND THEIR VALUES 211
A Commitment to Learning 216
A Commitment to Quality Education 220
A Commitment to Ethical Behavior 224
Openness and Trust 227
Consistent Judgment 229
Humor as Influence 231
Leadership Through Example 232
11. WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP ROLES 235
Vision 241
Influence Orientation 246
People Orientation 249
Values 253
Multifactor College Leadership Questionnaire . . 256
12. CONCLUSION 265
Shared Vision 268
Leadership Concerns: Minorities and Women 273
Implications 287
Visions for the Future 289
REFERENCES 291
APPENDICES 299
COLLEGE AND PROPER NAME INDEX 339
.-1
i
PREFACE
Although leadership and leaders are critical and vital to our society,
as concepts they remain elusiveneither well understood nor
appropriately delineated. Leadership is not a phenomenon asso-
ciated only with power, prerogatives, and prestige, nor is it defined by
management tasks of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and
evaluating. Leadership is much more. Parnell writes:
NOTHING is more important for an effective leader than to clar-
ify the mission of the organization that he or she represents. The
Good Book says, "Without a vision, the people will perish." Com-
municating vision is a fundamental task of leadership. Mission
clarification and goal setting, therefore, are priority tasks for an
effective leader. We live best by living on our hopes rather than
on our fears; by looking to the future, not the past. A leader sets
the tone, the motivation, and the positive attitudes about the fu-
ture of an organization or the group that he or she is leading
and articulates these clearly as part of the mission and goals of
the organization (1988, p. 1).
V
vi/SHARED VISION
Clearly, there is a tremendous need for leadership and an expand-
ing opportunity for leaders to makc a difference to their institutions.
The AACJC Futures Commission states that in the building of the com-
munity, stronger presidential leadership is required. Community col-
lege presidents must be not only effective day-to-day administrators,
but also leaders inspired by and able to convey a larger educational
mission (1988). Leaders in the community colleges of America will al-
ways face new educational and external challenges. Their preparation
and their understanding of the values and qualities of effective leader-
ship will empower them and their followers to face those challenges
with dynamic and resourceful skills.
In this study of selected leaders of American public community
colleges, we were challenged by the idea that leadership was neither
an inherited trait nor a product of the "great man" theory. In the teach-
ings of the great philosophers, such as Lao-Tsu and Plato, we found
confirmation of our idea that leadership can be learned. From the mod-
em theorists we learned that contemporary studies of leadership focus
on the qualities and behaviors of the leaders. We emphasized the in-
terrelationships among the leader, the followers, and the institutions.
From our research data we developed a group of themes and behavioral
attributes common to transformational leaders; we then employed these
themes and attributes to study a number of selected leaders in Ameri-
can community colleges in depth.
We knew that sthdying all 1,220 presidents of junior and community
colleges in America would be impossible. Our research design reflected
this reality and set our direction: we looked for leaders who demonstrated
the transformational characteristics defined by Burns (1978), Bass (1985a),
and Tichy and Devanna (1986). Accordingly, we invited all AACJC mem-
ber colleges to nominate Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) in their state
or region who demonstrated the ability to influence the values, attitudes,
beliefs, and behaviors of faculty and staff by working with and through
them to accomplish the college's mission and purpose.
From that original population, 296 community college CEOs were
identified and asked to respond to the first phase of our data gather.
ing; 256 presidents responded. The information from these CEOs
provided us with first-hand experiential data of leadership qualities.
We then asked each of the 256 to identify two outstanding CEOs with
whom they had worked. This nominating process and our decision
process yielded 50 presidents (from 30 states) who were interviewed
in depth by our research team. Ideally, we would have interviewed all
256 nominees, but time and resources dictated a more feasible research
protocol.
PREFACE / vn
In order to examine the concept of leadership, we studied a group
of except.onal leaders. All research efforts have limitations, and we ac-
knowledge ours; given the task we set for ourselvesto identify and
study transformational presidentswe have succeeded in focusing this
study on successful and exemplary leaders in American community
colleges.
We believe that CEOs are not necessarily the only group to choose
who best meets the criteria of transformational leader, and many will
argue that institutional members would have provided better informa-
tion. We chose to ask CEOs, and we are satisfied with that decision.
In addition, we eliminated from the study those who chose not to re-
spond to our request for information or were unable to do so because
they were unavailable. In retrospect, we are sure that there exist many
CEOs who are transformational leaders who were not intervewed. We
believe that although others could have been recognized, additional
data would not have altered the outcomes of this study. We stress, though,
that the absence of a particular CEO's name from the discussion of leadership
in this book in no way implies that he or she is not an outstanding college leader.
By identifying the behaviors o( these exemplary leaders, we have
begun a process of identifying leadership skills for both present and
future CEOs. Shared Vi.,ion: Transformational Leadership in the Community
College identifies the qualities and attributes of transformational leaders.
We have dispelled the idea that leadership is an innate trait or person-
ality variable. Leadership is not inherent. It can be developed, taught,
and learned; and Shared Vision points the way. The community college
as an open-door institution will always require unique leadership which
is innovative and motivational, but excellent leadership will never "just
happen."
Excellent leaders are those who have been trained and are mod
vated to be leaders. Obviously, there are both professional and cogni
tive dimensions of leadership. Just as we earn degrees and attend educa-
tional institutions to become physicians and lawyers and computer
scientists, so should we be educated to lead. Leadership preparation
is a fundamental obligation of graduate schools in association with the
AACJC, the Presidents' Academy, and other state and regional agen-
cies; new leadership training programs must be initiated to prepare
new generatio- s of community college leaders. Moreover, present ex-
ecutive leaders and administrators can profit from ongoing leadership
training and development. Self-assessment and evaluation should be
a top priority for existing leaders; professional development can and
should be continuous and self-renewing. The goal of leaders is to moti-
vate and inspire others to fulfill the community college mission of open