Purpose: The concept of distributed leadership (DL) has been widely advocated within higher education (HE). Yet, there have been few empirical investigations and little theory development outside Western contexts to date. This study presents a unique conceptualisation of DL and tests it empirically in India. Design/methodology/approach: This study…

This report is part of the International Study of Leadership Development in Higher Education project (ISLDHE) project which is examining leadership development for university leaders. This paper presents an update to our original exploration of the literature about university contexts and leadership development, but also compares the themes as…

This book contains vital information on the historical, philosophical, and legal foundations for shared governance, and it makes the link between fundamentals of law and policy as related to professional practice in student affairs. Practical insights and suggestions for student affairs are offered for practitioners at all levels to ensure…

Two conditions are needed to effect large-scale reforms in academia: a hierarchical, top-down system of governance that can enact sweeping changes, and for that system to be controlled or heavily influenced by those outside the system. Strong board governance provides both of those conditions. Most university boards, especially the public ones,…

Purpose: Distributed leadership has been reported in the literature as an effective management approach for educational organizations such as institutions of higher education. This study aims to investigate the role of distributed leadership in the promotion of sustainability in an Israeli college of teacher education. Design/methodology/approach:…

This paper reports on findings from a Leadership Foundation for Higher Education funded project exploring the role of associate deans in UK universities. While the number of associate deans leading cross-curricular and inter-disciplinary initiatives appears to be on the increase, there has been very little research focusing on the exact nature of…

This case study of development in a technical university situates distributed leadership in higher education in an organizational perspective. Analysis of documentation from development programs and interviews with 10 faculty members showed that leadership practices were related to different institutional logics prominent in four key activities in…

This article draws on Bourdieu's theorisation of domination and Gramsci's notions of hegemony within the context of a larger empirical study of Australian university academic governance, and of academic boards (also known as academic senates or faculty senates) in particular. Reporting data that suggest a continued but radically altered form of…

This article presents distributed leadership as a framework for analysis, showing how the phenomenon complements formal higher education structures by mobilizing leadership from various sources, formal and informal. This perspective more accurately portrays the reality of leading engaged institutions. Using the application data from 224…

The California Community College (CCC) system is the largest system of higher education in the United States, with 72 districts and 113 colleges. The CCC system exhibits statistics demonstrating success; however, as with any organization, trust, communication, and leadership play an essential role in creating stable and productive organizations.…

This study examines the dynamics of collaborative work that promote leadership as an outcome of team processes. Through an in-depth exploration of a community college that developed an organizational model of shared leadership over a period of seven months, this study aims to contribute to our qualitative understanding of how a vision of shared…

Since the 1970's, national universities in Saudi Arabia have created closed centers for women off their main campuses. Though segregated, women study and work in accordance with the same structure and regulation of "mother" universities. This study investigates women administrators work conditions, their role in decision-making, the…

Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education presents conference proceedings of the annual Eurasian Higher Education Leaders' Forum held June 12-13, 2013, at Nazarbayev University. The theme of this year's Forum is "Global Trends in Higher Education and their Impact on the Region". Many internationally-recognized higher education…

Social movements at universities have recently flourished as a response to the Bologna Process and austerity measures at universities, but studies on learning within these movements are still scarce. Our goal is to describe one movement which started at the University of Gdansk in 2009 and aimed at democratising the university and implementing…

An alternative conceptual framework to the traditional hierarchical bureaucratic picture of organizations is the "organized anarchy." How collective decisions are made, what university administrators can do to influence the input, process, and outcome of anarchic decision making, and points of leverage are discussed. (Author/MLW)