Conceptualization of leadership and leadership development by academic department heads in colleges of agriculture at land grant institutions: A qualitative study

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: This study sought to qualitatively capture the conceptualization of leadership and leadership development by department heads in colleges of agriculture at land-grant institutions.

Findings and Conclusions: While there have been many studies on leadership in higher education, few have focused exclusively on the department head, and fewer still have focused on department heads' conceptualizations of leadership and leadership development. This is significant because department head leadership is the building block of university administrative success. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions and conceptualization of department heads in colleges of agriculture at land-grant universities, regarding leadership and leadership development. Pfeffer (1977) stated that if a researcher wanted to understand the behavior of leaders, she must "begin by attempting to find out what they are thinking about the situation in which they would be a leader" (p. 106). This study explores just that.

Inductive and deductive analytic procedures led to eight identified themes and nine sub-categories for Research Question One and four themes and seven sub-categories for Research Question Two. The themes for Research Question One emerged inductively from the data. These themes, that looked at the conceptualization of leadership by department heads, include the role of the tripartite mission, leadership tasks for department heads, identified leadership styles, leadership vs. management, managing human capital, how leadership in higher education is not like a business, and herding academic cats. The findings for Research Question Two include those themes that emerged both inductively and deductively. The inductive theme of conceptualization of prior leadership and the deductive themes of leadership training, leadership education, and leadership development were developed by applying the conceptual framework to the data.

This study found that the department heads in this study conceptualize leadership as a complex phenomenon in which they feel they have had little formalized training, education, and development.