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Do I Lead With an Inclusive Mindset?: Higher Education Department Chairs Reflect on Their Leadership

Do I Lead With an Inclusive Mindset?: Higher Education Department Chairs Reflect on Their Leadership

Benita R. Brooks (Sam Houston State University, USA) and Abbie Strunc (Sam Houston State University, USA)
Copyright: © 2022 |Pages: 16
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-3819-0.ch002
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Abstract

Leading as an academic department chair with an inclusive mindset requires making faculty, staff, and students feel heard, valued, and included in day-to-day departmental work in meaningful ways. Empirical research exploring the chair's role in improving the departmental climate is limited and narrow in scope. The current study consists of data collected from a survey and an asynchronous focus group of current chairs at a mid-sized university in East Texas. Questions in the survey included topics such as professional development training for department chairs, lack of time for scholarship, and outlining departmental priorities and goals. Questions in the asynchronous focus group included topics on strengths and challenges department chairs experienced in supporting diversity, inclusion, and equity goals for their departments. The results of the survey add to the call to provide department chairs with leadership training that equips them to become effective leaders who adapt their leadership style and behaviors to build the capacity to make excellence inclusive in their department.
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Background

According to Quinn (2017), leadership and management differ in their purpose. She described management as intending “to supervise and manage people”; whereas, leadership focused on “visionary ideals and leading people to achieve new goals.”

Quinn declared it is leadership that is needed “to transform the unsupportive climate and culture in academic departments to create inclusive environments for faculty.” Although research is limited in examining the various leadership styles and behaviors department chairs need to remain effective, it is evident from previous studies on the roles of chairs in relation to departmental climate that most chairs have not had the opportunity to learn when to incorporate various leadership styles and behaviors, also known as a full range leadership approach. According to Arenas, Connelly, and Williams (2017), three styles of leadership and associated behaviors comprised the Full Range Leadership Model Theory: transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire. Quinn (2017) described transformational leadership as built around change to the development, and an overall transformation of organizational culture; whereas, transactional leadership is result-focused and centered around a clear system of rewards and punishments that are exchanged for specific levels of daily performance that are associated with maintaining organizational culture. Nonetheless, laissez-faire represented passive/avoidant leadership.

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