Kelly

Last week-end, I read a book about Petra Kelly the founder of the first German Green party.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra_Kelly
It is a book about political leadership and how she dedicated her life to fight for the weak and the oppressed in any part of the world.

In this week, I have had another German experience while I edited our paper for the conference in Linz! SpringerVerlag does not use APA-style! So, I had to be very concentrated to follow the guidelines. I wonder why the world of academica could not agree on one common standard? Something about ideology and economics might be the issue

Wivel, P. (2009). Drabet på Petra Kelly - en historie om murens fald (The murder of Petra Kelly - a history of the fall of die Mauer). København: Politikens Forlag

Flexible pedagogy

Now, I have read Flexible pedagogy, flexible practice (2011), I can conclude that leadership theory and practice is not covered by many of the articles in the book. Rossiter (2011) provides some thoughts when he states that academic staff seeks for support and leadership to develop flexible-learning courses

Many staff are genuinely seeking help about how to engage more constructively with these challenges,  although they are confused as to how to go about it. But we are responding positively. The school executive, for example, recently introduced a scheme to encourage good teaching practice with teaching recognition
awards. (p.170)

In the conclusion, Rossiter draws on Senge's theory of organizational learning. It is, however, a minor contribution in the field of leadership in DE and flexible learning environments. So, the book is a documentation of that leadership still is not considered important in the field of DE.

Reference
Burge, E., Gibson, C.C., & Gibson, T. (Eds), (2011) Flexible pedagogy, flexible practice: Notes from the trenches of distance education. Athabasca: AU Press Athabasca University
Rossiter, D. (2011). Where has the effect gone? The quest to sustain momentum, (pp. 161-173), In E. Burge, C. C. Gibson, & T. Gibson (Eds), Flexible pedagogy, flexible practice: Notes from the trenches of distance education. Athabasca:Athabasca: AU Press Athabasca University

Asia and HE

I just read a great article about higher education in Asia. In this article, Latchem, & Jung (2011) claim that "most Asian distance education students would prefer to study face to face at conventional institutions, but they have no choice." This statement supports Gabriel's experience based on many years within an Asian context. It is a shame I did not read this article before because it strongly supports our perspectives and conclusions in assignment 2.

In the next days, I will read the book. It is an interesting title. However, the table of content indicates that leadership issues are not part of the book. I look forward to confirm or reject this assumption

Reference

Latchem, C., & Jung, I. (2011). Cultural perceptions of flexibility in Asian higher education, in E. Burge, C. C. Gibson, & T. Gibson (Eds), Flexible pedagogy, flexible practice: Notes from the trenches of distance education. Athabasca: AU Press Athabasca University

Strategic Management

Two days ago, I submitted assignement 3. So, all posting after April 5th are not part of the 804-capstone project.

Today, I read Stacy (2003) - and found this remarkable quote:

Strategies emerge, intentions emerge, in the ongoing conversational life of an organisation and in ongoing conversations between people in different organisations. Strategic management is the process of actively participating in the conversations around important emerging issues. Strategic direction is not set in advance but understood in hindsight as it is emerging or after it has emerged. This is because if small changes can escalate to have enormous consequences, the distinction between what is strategic and what is, say, tactical becomes very problematic. The distincition can only be identified after the event. Complex responsive processes theory therefore leads to a different conceptualisation of strategy and strategic management (p. 423)

Stacey, R. D. (2003). Strategic management and organisational dynamics. The challenge of complexity. 4th Ed. Essex: Prentice Hall.

Reflections

In April 2011, I started this blog - with three postings about my doctoral studies. I reflected on what motivates me in formal education - focusing on how important it is for me to combine formal and informal learning.

In February 2012, I began writing on assignement 3 in module 804 Leadership and Project Management in Distance Education. I started with a traditional format of a academic paper. Halfway through the assignement, I wanted to link to some papers and publications I have produced in the past - and suddenly, I saw my existing blog as an obvious solution. When I first got started to post, my blog emerged and it turned into assignment 3. So, I left the traditional paper and for four weeks, I have worked on the blog daily - reflecting on my work and studies, reviewing literature, designing the blog, adding journals, tools and other resources. It is quite another genre than a traditional paper. A blog never stops. Every posting has to be a complete text: you cannot expect people to read all your postings.

Eventhough, I have wrote and edited blogs before related directly to my work and my personal life, I have never worked on a blog linking work, academic studies, past, present and future perspectives. It has been an interesting process in which the blog has emerged on basis of what I have read, observed, reflected and acted on. It has also been an important period in my work life. On one hand, I have simultaneously worked on a Singapore case study on leadership in higher education. On the other hand, I was struck by lightning when my leader was not reinstated - so I have learned new things about leadership in practice in higher education. Formal and informal learning has been intensely interacting.

I am sure, I will work on the blog in the future. It will emerge - and my blog-postings from March and April 2012 will have a different meaning when I look at them in 2013.

Finally, permit me to assert that I have tried to work as a bricoleur - with "knowledge of resources, careful observation, trust in one's intuition, listening, and confidence that any enacted structure can be self-correcting if one's ego is not invested too heavily in it" (Weick, 2001, p. 63). It has been my hope and dream! I will let others decide whether I succeeded.

Reference
Weick, K. E. (2001). Making sense of the organization. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing

Leadership

"Where we hope to land (and where we do land, though only for a fleeting moment, enough for tired wings to catch the wind anew) is a 'there' which we thought of little and knew of even less."
Bauman, Z. (1997). Postmodernity and its discontents. NY: New York University Press

"To be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, transforamtion of ourselves and the world - and at the same time, that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, everything we are. Modern environments and experience cut across boundaries of geography and ethnicity, of class and nationality, of religion and ideology: in this sense, modernity can be said to unite all mankind. But it is a paradoxical unity, a unity of disunity: it pours us all into a maelstrom of perpetual disintegration and renewal, of struggle and contradiction, of ambiguity and anguish. To be modern is to be part of a universe in which, so Marx said, "all that is solid melts into air" "(p.15)
Berman, M. (1982). All that is solid melts into air. NY: Simon & Schuster

"The essential problem in self-design is to make a teacher out of the learner - that is, to have the same people performing both functions. When an organization finds a present design inadequate, it avoids having someone from the outside some in to rewire the organization; it does the rewiring itself" (p. 409)
Weick, K. E. (2001). Making sense of the organization. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Leadership and Trends

Interest in comparative studies of leadership theories has been increasing in recent years.  Many studies focus on transactional and transformational leadership style (Bass, Avolio, Jung, and Berson, 2003; Berson & Avolio, 2004; Harms & Crede, 2010; Hood, Poulson, Mason, Walker and Dixon, 2009; Jones & Rudd, 2008; Judge and Piccolo, 2004; Kezar and Eckel, 2008; Young, 2004).

We also find an increased interest in authentic and spiritual leadership (Avolio and Gardner, 2005; Benefiel , 2005; Dent, Higgins, & Wharff, 2005; Fry & Krieger, 2009), cross-cultural leadership (Dickson, Den Hartog, & Mitchelson, 2003; Gelfand, Erez, & Aycan , 2007; Kirkman, Lowe, & Gibson, 2006) and leadership related to gender (Hughes, 2011; Jonung, & Staahlberg, 2008; Reay & Ball, 2000; Shain, 2000, Young, 2004).

Finally, the case-study seems to be highly valued in the field of leadership research (Ehrlich, Meindl, & Viellieu, Latchem & Hanna, 2001; Masumoto, & Brown-Welty,2009; Mumford, Connelly, & Gaddis, 2003; Pasian, & Woodill, 2006; Sanders & Harvey, 2002; Young, 2004;)

References

Avolio, B. J., and Gardner, W. L. (2005) Authentic leadership development getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly 16, 315-338.

Bass, B. M., Avolio, B. J. , Jung, D. I., and Berson, Y. (2003) . Predicting unit performance by assessing transformational and transactional leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology 88, 207–218

Benefiel, M. (2005). The second half of the journey: spiritual leadership for organizational transformation. The Leadership Quarterly 16, 723-747.

Berson,Y.  and Avolio, B. J. (2004).Transformational leadership and the dissemination of organizational goals: A case study of a telecommunication firm, The Leadership Quarterly 16(5), 625-646

Dent, E. B. Higgins, A. E., and Wharff D. M. (2005) Spirituality and leadership: an empirical review of definitions, distinctions and embedded assumputions. The Leadership Quarterly 16, 625-653.

Fry, L., and Kriger, M. (2009). Towards a theory of being-centered leadership: Multiple levels of being as context for effective leadership. Human Relations, 62(11), 1667-1696.

Gelfand, M. J.,  Erez, M.,  & Aycan, Z. (2007). Cross-cultural organizational behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 479-514

Harms, P. D. and Crede, (2010). Emotional intelligence and tranformational and transactional leadership: a meta-analysis. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 17(1) 5-17.

Hood, J. D., Poulson, R. L., Mason, S. A., Walker, T. C., and Dixon J. (2009). An examination of traditional and nontraditional students’ evaluations of professorial leadership styles: transformational versus transactional approach. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9(1)1- 12.

Hughes, P. J. (2011). A new sherriff in town: The barriers of structural discrimination facing women leaders. Advancing Women in Leadership 31, 8-13.

Jones, D., and Rudd, R. (2008). Transactional, transformational, or laissez-farie leadership: An assessment of college of agriculture academic program leaders’ (deans) leadership styles. Journal of Agricultural Education 49(2), 88-97.

Jonung, C., & Staahlberg, A. C. (2008). Reaching the top? On gender balance in the economic profession. Econ Journal Watch, 5(2), 174-192.

Judge, T. A. and Piccolo R. F. (2004). Transformational and transactional leadership: a meta-analytic test of their relative validity, Journal of Applied Psychology 89, 755–768.

Kezar, A., and Eckel, P. (2008). Advancing diversity agendas on campus: examining transactional and transformational presidential leadership styles.  International Journal of Leadership in Education 11(4) 379-405.

Kirkman BL, Lowe KB, and Gibson CB. 2006. A quarter century of Culture’s Consequences: a review of empirical research incorporating Hofstede’s cultural values framework. Journal of International Business Studies. 37, 285–320.

Masumoto, M., and Brown-Welty, S. (2009). Case study of leadership practices and school-community interrelationships in high-performing, high-poverty, rural Californiah high schools, Journal of Research in Rural Education, 24(1) 1-18

Mumford, M. D, Connelly, S., and Gaddis, B. (2003). How creative leaders think: experimental findings and cases.Leadership Quarterly 14, 411–432.

Pasian, B. & Woodill, G. (Eds.) (2006).  Plan to learn: Case studies in elearning project management.  Canadian eLearning Enterprise Alliance.

Sanders, M., and Harvey, A. (2002). Beyond the School Walls: A Case Study of Principal Leadership for School-Community Collaboration. Teachers College Record 104(7)1345-1368.

Young, P. (2004). Leadership and gender in higher education: a case study, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 28(1), p. 95-106

 

Journals of Leadership - Open Access

On this blog, you find an overview of academic journals covering leadership and distance education. All the journals have been chosen because they have open access. From my point of view, open access is crucial in a globalized networking world. I have argued for this since 1998, where I developed my first HTML-web-site for a project.

Later on, when I developed several web-sites for educational programs (some of them fully-on-line - and some of them blended) and for R&D projects with colleges and universities, I argued in the same way. At that time, I was so priviliged to have a superior who listened to me. I was, therefore,  allowed to suspend all passwords, subscriptions and protections. So, passwords were only used to protect the participants' contributions in the virtuel forums where debates, dialogues and collaboration took place. Such a protection is important in a learning environment from ethical reasons. However, there are no reasons to hide study-guides, learning materials, bibliographies, cases, plans ( for lessons and semesters), evaluation criteria and reviews. My sceptical peers argued that any educational institution in Denmark - and in the world - could copy and steal our materials. They were of course right: anyone could and someone did.Especially, an English version of an educational program for DE consisting of 8 modules was re-used in university settings. However, I still argued that our main contribution was how we interacted with our students and participants - if someone could find inspiration in our bibliographies and study-guides it could not harm any of our activities. On the contrary, it should be seen as a positive feedback on our work.

Finally, open access added new dimensions to our educational and organizational development because the leaders of the colleges could follow and look into the training of their teachers. Therefore, open access enhanced collaboration in developing new competencies and activities. In this way, educational partnerships were strengthened through open access.

It is still my belief that access to knowledge and information is essential in higher education and research. Someone could argue - like my former peers did-  "that education is business". They are right, but it is a short term perspective. Open access is a must because Europe has to compete internationally. It provides a vital approach that enhance knowledge creation, quality, innovation and sharing. Additionally, it is a fair argument that education and research paid for with taxpayer's money should be accessible for more people and reused in new settings.

Here, you find, a symposium for librarians lead by Alma Swan - an open access expert - with focus on the economic aspects of open access:  http://libconference.library.unt.edu/2011/2011_OAS_P3fl.html
She refers to an interesting study (2011) of "return to research" in Denmark. The study illustrates how important open access is for the innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises. So, actually open access is also business.

The symposium is a great example of how Skype can be used as a great platform for presentations and interactions.

Reference
Houghton, J.W., Swan, A. and Brown, S. (2011), Access to Research and Technical Information in Denmark, Report to The Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (FI) and Denmark's Electronic Research Library (DEFF), Copenhagen.
http://www.fi.dk/publikationer/2011/adgang-til-forskningsresultater-og-teknisk-information-i-danmark

Leadership Icons

I have developed a sub-site covering leadership icons. Some of them need no presentation. It is quite obvious that Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan, Vacel Havel, Mahathma Gandhi and Winston Churchill are great leadership icons.

However, I have also mentioned persons without any leadership record such as Astrid Lindgren and Georg Simmel. For me, Astrid Lindgren has lead several generations of children through her amazing stories about children and childhood. Characters as Pippi Longstocking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pippi_Longstocking and Emil of Lönneberga http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_i_L%C3%B6nneberga have lead children, parents, teachers and educators in entirely new directions.

When a German icon should be chosen, many would have chosen Goethe, Humboldt, Adenauer or Habermas. However, my favorite is Georg Simmel, who was the first real sociologist - critized by many of his successors for not being systematically - and even accused of not being a sociologist. From my perspective, Simmel made brilliant, sensitive analysis of modern urban life, and was a warped existence in the academic environment in which he researched with an open mind on the basis of a cross-disciplinary approach. It is always difficult to be the one to take the first steps. http://socio.ch/sim/work.htm. The ability to take a new step is what characterizes good leadership - for formal and informal leaders.

Successful IT Projects?

Sumner, Bock and Giamartino (2006) build in their study on several studies which indicates that IT projects tend to success if the project manager has “soft skills” such as the ability to communicate, to manage and motivate people and to deal with interpersonal relationships.

In the study, Sumner, Bock and Giamartino use the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) developed by Posner and Kouzes (1990) which consists of five leadership practices:

·         Model the way

·         Inspire a shared vision

·         Challenge the process

·         Enable others to act

·         Encourage the heart

The hypothesis is that “more successful IT projects should have project leaders that exhibit positive leadership behavior to a greater extent than the leaders of less successful projects” (p. 45) which is tested on 57 IT project managers. The findings show that the project managers value their management skills such as the ability to monitor and track scope, time, cost and quality over leadership skills whereas the observers (peers, superiors or subordinate) perceive soft skills as most important to the delivery of successful projects.

The study is based on a rather small scope. However, it is an interesting study of project management and the different perspectives related to the success of IT projects.

References:

Sumner, M., Bock, D., and Giamartino, G. (2006). Exploring the linkange between the characteristics of it project leaders and project success, Information Systems Management 23(4), 43-49

Leadership and Gender

Young (2004) present an interesting case-study about transformational and transactional leadership with focus on the gender perspective in higher education.  Both approaches are found. It is surprising and interesting, that the study demonstrates how women leaders seem to be inspired by male gender paradigms and male-type behaviours whereas male leaders show interest in female gender paradigms and behaviours.   

Furthermore, the study demonstrates that experience seems to have a major impact on leadership style

All managers cited the strong effect of their experience of poor management as subordinates, implying that their style consciously set out to be different (p. 103)

Another important finding was the managers reported that they were influenced by the models, skills and techniques of their academic discipline.

In a case study with focus on entrepreneurship and gender, Lynes, Wismer, and Andrachuk (2011) show that formal education plays a small role in womens preparation for entrepreneurship. Personal characteristics, informational learning and support from friends, families and mentors have an higher impact on the womens entrepreneurial ambitions.

References

Lynes, J., Wismer, S., and Andrachuk, M. (2011). The role of education in entrepreneurship: two Canadian studies, Advancing Women in Leadership, 31, 14-22.

Young, P. (2004). Leadership and gender in higher education: a case study, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 28, (1), 95-106.

Leadership and Diversity in University and Colleges

Kezar and Eckel (2008) claim that new programs and educational interventions have failed to make universities inclusive and enhance an agenda of diversity which enable all students to develop and learn with success. They underscore the need for making diversity “a campus-wide priority “ (p.380) which depends on the presidential engagement in a diversity agenda.

Presidents play many important roles that help to advance a diversity agenda that most other leaders cannot perform because they do not have the authority or leverage that is critical to institutionalization (p.380)

Only presidents have the legitimate authority to include diversity in strategy plans, budgets and reward systems. The support from the board as well as the campus wide dialogue about the diversity agenda requires the president's engagement in the diversity agenda. Furthermore, the president has a role in changing of curriculum and the measurement of progress and results.

Kezar and Eckel (2008) draw on several other studies when they conclude that leadership might be “the most important factor in ensuring institutional transformation and institutionalizing a diversity agenda”. It leads them to the study of the presidents’ leadership preferences focusing on whether presidents of universities and colleges prefer transactional, transformational or a combination of approaches – and why they do so.

The study is based on 27 elite interviews with college presidents selected on the basis of three criteria. First, the president should have significant experience as a president and had made significant results in relation to a diversity agenda. Secondly, the president should highly reflect on leadership strategy. Finally, the presidents should represent different types of institutions and sectors in different settings, institutional phases  and demographics. Over 50% of the presidents were colored and over one-third were women. 

According to Kezar and Eckel (2008) successful presidents see culture as a crucial factor, and it is important to spend time to learn what constitutes the culture on campus:

Successful presidents spent a year or more getting to know the campus culture, talking to different constituent groups and speaking to people of different races and ethnicities (p.395)

Kezar and Eckel's study shows that transformative as well as transactional style of leadership is used by most presidents. The different approaches are adapted to the target audience to produces different results in different cultures.

References:

Kezar, A., and Eckel, P. (2008). Advancing diversity agendas on campus: examining transactional and transformational presidential leadership styles.  International Journal of Leadership in Education 11(4) 379-405.