Perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness within higher education in France

• Published in: Studies in higher education (Dorchester-on-Thames) Vol. 42; no. 2; pp. 292 - 314
• Main Authors: Hamlin, Robert G., Patel, Taran
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 01-02-2017
• Subjects: Administrative Organization; Administrator Attitudes; Administrator Behavior; Coding; College Faculty; Comparative Analysis; Critical Incidents Method; Cross Cultural Studies; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; Interviews; leadership; Leadership Effectiveness; management; Management Development; organizational behaviour; Organizational Change; Qualitative Research; Statistical Analysis; France
• ISSN: 0307-5079; 1470-174X
• DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2015.1045480

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in many countries are currently experiencing significant changes in how they are organized and managed. Consequently, exploring the kind of manager/leader behaviours that are perceived as effective and least effective/ineffective by peers, subordinates, collaborators, and team members in HEIs becomes important. Choosing a French HEI for our study and using the Critical Incident Technique, the authors conducted 37 interviews of academic/non-academic managerial/non-managerial staff to generate a total of 250 critical incidents (CIs) of observed managerial behaviour. Subjecting these CIs to open and axial coding resulted in the emergence of 17 positive and 21 negative behavioural indicators of perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness. Comparing these findings with those of extant studies of HEIs from Anglo countries revealed many similarities and considerable differences. Implications are offered for leadership and management development training programmes specifically designed for members of HEIs, along with suggestions for further research on this topic.