Research surrounding higher education workplace aggression is regularly focused on acts of bullying down the hierarchical chain. This paper examines the data generated from interviews with 20 faculty deans to demonstrate that a shift in negative higher education workplace behaviour is occurring. This change primarily results in the well-defined…

Learning and teaching leadership by Associate Deans has struggled for effective acceptance in universities for decades. Various Government reviews, policy changes, and reward and recognition systems have been implemented to encourage universities to focus on learning and teaching leadership, and to assure quality outcomes in a changing global…

This paper aims to contribute to the literature on dean's leadership and explores the impact of corporate managerial practices and neoliberal ideology on the mindset and actions of 15 deans and heads of school in eight universities in Australia. We offer perspectives of leaders as emotional individuals who on a daily basis attempt to live up to…

Little is known about how university leaders approach the complex task of supporting peer observation of teaching in their Faculties. This paper explores the experiences of four Associate Deans of Learning and Teaching at a research-intensive university in Australia. Interviews revealed three different approaches to supporting peer observation of…

In this article we discuss the experiences of academics who occupy middle-level leadership roles in higher education. We use the term middle management to describe personnel occupying positions below the level of dean and often referred to as associate deans or heads of school. Practitioners rarely turn their attention to their own organizations,…

This paper reports results of analyses of data from an online 360[degrees] feedback survey with 19 heads of school, 23 line managers and 120 significant others (peers, academic staff and administrative staff) from Australian universities. It focuses on the heads' effectiveness, and the extent and importance of several leadership roles. A series of…

The leadership of learning and teaching (L&T) in higher education has evolved over recent years. Part of the evolutionary process has seen the rise of the appointment of Associate Deans L&T (Academic, Education, "inter alia"). Implicit in this role is the assumption by many that associate deans are responsible for leading…