Herding academic cats: faculty reactions to transformational and contingent reward leadership by department chairs.(research)(Statistical Data Included)

Executive Summary

A study involving 440 university faculty members in 70 different academic departments explored the relationship between transformational and contingent reward leadership behaviors by university department chairs and faculty satisfaction with supervision, willingness to expend extra effort and organizational effectiveness. Results indicated that the idealized influence (charisma) factor of transformational leadership was significantly more predictive of desired organizational outcomes than has been reported in other settings. Surprisingly, contingent reward was not predictive in this setting. The unique characteristics of the employment arrangements and psychological contract between faculty and their institutions may make charismatic, relationship-oriented leadership a key determinant of department chair effectiveness.

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An ongoing challenge facing leaders in higher education is balancing the demands between administrative control and faculty autonomy (Bennett, 1998; Birnbaum, 1992). Academic leaders must respond to the business pressures of controlling costs, maintaining enrollment, and fundraising while managing faculty who often view business interests as secondary to academic freedom and fealty to the academy (Raelin, 1995).

A growing body of research has developed to explore academic leadership behavior within the context of these demands. The majority of research in this area has drawn from various traditional leadership theories, including path-goal theory (House, 1971), the initiating structure/consideration model (Stogdill & Coons, 1957), the situational leadership model (Hersey & Blanchard, 1977), and the leader-participation model (Vroom & Yetton, 1973, Vroom & Jago, 1988) to try to explain what makes for successful leadership in higher education, especially in the area of faculty administration. However, most of this research (e.g. Groner, 1978; Knight & Holen, 1985) addresses leadership from a transactional perspective; that is, viewing leaders as individuals who guide or motivate their followers toward established goals by clarifying role and task requirements (Bass, 1985a).