Research exploring the challenges department chairs face has long suggested the role is difficult and lacks tangible reward (Buller, 2012, 2015; Gmelch et al., 2017). Yet, as higher education demographics, settings, and organizational expectations change and chairs function in more uncertain and increasingly complex institutional environments, it…

For more than 20 years, new public management (NPM) has been the guiding governance model of university reforms in Europe. One central aspect of this governance model is to strengthen the hierarchy within the universities. Recent research shows that the formal decision-making authority of university leaders and deans has increased in almost every…

Within the scope of leadership and management, decision making greatly defines the role of university administrator, in particular, the university department head and his/her ability to be a reflective practitioner in the realm of decision making. Decision making is one characteristic of university department head work which warrants close…

The purpose of this study was to redress the paucity of research regarding superintendents and their role in implementing parent and community involvement policies. Another aim was to examine which types of parent and community involvement practices, if any, may be related to student achievement. A mixed methods inquiry was applied. The Measure of…

Relates some of the good and bad of chairing an English department. (HOD)

Observing that the chairperson must at minimum be able to reconcile the role expectations of the institution and department with those of the individual, the author discusses the chair's specific role in establishing missions and goals, in communications, and in decision making. A sampling of twenty-nine specific functions is also presented. (DTT)

Discusses how department chairs can adapt psychological research about decision making to help carve out a central place for departments in the changing and increasingly international campus, presenting five areas to explore: alliances with units on campus, alliances with the college of education, training of graduate students, opportunity for…

As departmental program review becomes more common in college resource reallocation, department heads will be key figures in decision making. They must know what evaluation criteria will be used, such as program role in institutional mission, enrollment or credit-hour production, job-market demand, external support, program quality, and…

This study describes three action cycles I identified retrospectively and examines the processes I underwent through the lens of research literature dealing with leadership. I then provide a retrospective account of my reflections on my actions over a four-year period. As the head of the Elementary School Department in a teacher education college,…

Studies the response of 15 academic departments at Ohio State University to reorganization. Implications of the study deal with methods of introducing change, the importance of group norms, and the link between informal norms and existing formal structure. (MK)

The role of a department chairperson is considered, based on personal experience in six years of department building at the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. The leadership position was assumed when the department was small, consisting of five faculty members. In six years, it grew to 12 faculty…

The reliability, factor structure, and discriminatory power of faculty perceptions of the performance of departmental administrators were investigated, using the Administrator Evaluation Survey (AES) developed at the University of Illinois. Faculty from a major research university in the midwest, a smaller state university in the midwest, and a…

This study examined the patterns of perceived management and leadership roles of academic deans as held by 55 departmental chairpersons at a major research institition. Four models of governance (organized anarchy, bureaucratic, collegial, and political) were presented for consideration. Results are discussed. (MT)

Drawing on literature concerning department chairs' role as either administrators (line personnel) or teachers (staff personnel), this essay concludes that both roles are important and that well-developed human relations skills and managerial skills are equally necessary. (MJL)

Given the increasing number and the complexity of the problems facing a school principal today, it is imperative that he be given all the help possible to aid him in making wise decisions. The application of the renewal process, as described in this document, provides the principal with shared problem solving and decision making machinery. This…