Search results

1 – 9 of 9
Per page
102050
Citations:
Loading...
Access Restricted. View access options
Book part
Publication date: 31 October 2014

Annette Thomas-Gregory and Justine Mercer

This chapter explores how different aspects of middle manager identity relate to knowledge, research and practice. It argues that effective leadership depends more upon the person…

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter explores how different aspects of middle manager identity relate to knowledge, research and practice. It argues that effective leadership depends more upon the person than the role.

Methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 middle managers at a single school of healthcare in a research-intensive, chartered UK university.

Findings

The middle managers revealed both core and situated identities. Their core selves included various personality traits such as curiosity, a competitive streak, optimism, sociability and a sense of humour. Their situated selves were shaped by socialization, life history, critical people, and incidents and chance. In a symbiotic relationship with these core and situated components was a complex, tri-partite professional identity, as a healthcare professional, a higher education (HE) academic, and an education manager. All the participants greatly valued professional development and ongoing academic study.

Social implications

This chapter illustrates how the best postgraduate courses develop exemplary education managers/leaders. They do this not by giving students role-specific skills but by developing their analytical and critical thinking skills. Through a process of deep learning and experience, individuals undertaking a doctorate are able to develop into reflexive and reflective practitioners who can act with personal integrity.

Originality/value

Little has been published about the relationships between the career background, the identity and the role of a university middle manager, and virtually nothing from the field of healthcare. The figure presented in this chapter offers a new framework for understanding the relationship between self, professional identity and role.

Details

Investing in our Education: Leading, Learning, Researching and the Doctorate
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-131-2

Keywords

Access Restricted. View access options
Article
Publication date: 15 May 2009

Justine Mercer

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of new managerialism on junior academic‐managers (defined as those having informal leadership or management roles below the…

1347

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of new managerialism on junior academic‐managers (defined as those having informal leadership or management roles below the level of head of department). It aims to discover: whether junior academic‐managers experience the same tensions as Heads of Department; whether distributed leadership is possible and/or desirable in Higher Education; and what types of support junior academic‐managers might welcome.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws upon previous literature and a small case study of one university department in a mid‐ranking UK university.

Findings

Junior academic‐managers experience similar kinds of tensions to heads of department. Although distributed leadership is considered a necessity in higher education, in practice, devolved leadership is more common than genuinely distributed leadership. Junior academic‐managers would benefit from the same types of support as heads of department, but increased administrative assistance would be particularly helpful. Some, though not all, of the tensions felt by both groups could be alleviated if higher education institutions (HEIs) adopted a modified form of workforce remodelling, similar to that being implemented in English and Welsh schools.

Research limitation/implications

The empirical data come from within one department of one university. It is debatable how far the findings of this study are generalizable to other contexts.

Originality/value

There are relatively few studies looking at academic heads of department, and virtually none looking at junior academic‐managers. The argument that school workforce remodelling might be adapted for the HE sector is not made elsewhere.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 23 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Access Restricted. View access options
Book part
Publication date: 21 November 2022

Linda Evans

Drawing upon the findings from three related research projects focused on academic leadership provided by university professors, in this chapter a leadership-sceptic lens is…

Abstract

Drawing upon the findings from three related research projects focused on academic leadership provided by university professors, in this chapter a leadership-sceptic lens is applied to the examination of the concepts of, first, leadership, and second, academic leadership. Discussion then focuses on the ways in which their perceptions of their leadership roles were found to influence how professors carried out their work, and with what effect(s). The key challenge is to persuade senior managers to remove their blinkers so that they may then see leadership not primarily as embodied in a person, but as influential agency that may – and does – occur in a myriad of ways, many of which go unnoticed and unrecognised, and are difficult to monitor and assess through formal performativity mechanisms.

Details

International Perspectives on Leadership in Higher Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-305-5

Keywords

Available. Content available
Book part
Publication date: 31 October 2014

Abstract

Details

Investing in our Education: Leading, Learning, Researching and the Doctorate
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-131-2

Available. Content available

Abstract

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 23 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Access Restricted. View access options
Book part
Publication date: 31 October 2014

Alison Taysum and Stephen Rayner

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the role of the doctorate as an investment in education, and to consider whose education is being invested in, how and why. We examine…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the role of the doctorate as an investment in education, and to consider whose education is being invested in, how and why. We examine the role of postgraduate research within the doctorate and how this may contribute to a self-improving profession, self-improving educational institutions and self-improving education systems.

Methodology/approach

The methodology is the representation of different chapters from authors that explore the key themes that we introduce in this chapter.

Findings

We present the three main findings from a British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Doctoral Research Interest Group seminar series funded by the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS). First is the progression of a systemic basis for active educational research, engaged with the mobilization of learning-based and pedagogic knowledge leadership within doctoral scholarship, learning and pedagogy. Second is the continued examination of the internationalization of purpose, structure and function in doctoral study through evidence informed leadership. Third is the provision of opportunities to explore ways in which doctoral study may facilitate educational leaders to recognize ‘minoritised’ and marginalized communities, and disrupt dominant discourses that work within patterns of ecologies that ‘pathologise’ diversity and difference.

Originality/value

Here, a clearly stated focus emerged during the seminar series, emphasizing how leaders engaging with doctoral learning have the opportunity to articulate generative transformative theories of human learning for a civic curriculum, and to apply this new knowledge to work for change for students’ full economic, cultural and political participation in the society.

Details

Investing in our Education: Leading, Learning, Researching and the Doctorate
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-131-2

Keywords

Access Restricted. View access options
Book part
Publication date: 31 October 2014

Abstract

Details

Investing in our Education: Leading, Learning, Researching and the Doctorate
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-131-2

Available. Content available
Book part
Publication date: 17 December 2016

Abstract

Details

Sociology Looking at Disability: What Did We Know and When Did We Know it
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-478-5

Access Restricted. View access options
Book part
Publication date: 23 August 2019

Eleanor Peters

Abstract

Details

The Use and Abuse of Music: Criminal Records
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-002-8

1 – 9 of 9
Per page
102050