Leadership Frames of Female Presidents of American Research Universities

• Main Author: Welch, Courtney
• Other Authors: Lumsden, D. Barry
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: University of North Texas 2002
• Subjects: Women college presidents > United States.; Leadership.; Universities and colleges > United States > Administration.; Women; leadership; research universities
• Online Access: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3196/

This study used case studies to examine the leadership frames of female presidents of four-year, public and private, coeducational research institutions both from the Intensive and Extensive Carnegie classifications within the United States. The population (N=30) surveyed was sent the Leadership Orientation Questionnaire (Self) developed from the previous research conducted by Lee Bolman and Terrance Deal. The Bolman and Deal leadership frame theory condensed existing organizational theories into a four-frame perspective consisting of a structural, human resource, political, and symbolic frame. Bolman and Deal theorized that the ability to use more than one frame is considered to be critical to the success of leaders and intensify that leader's capacity for making decisions and taking effective actions. The Leadership Orientation Questionnaire (Self) contains five sections that include rating scales for personal demographics, the four frames, eight leadership dimensions, and management and leadership effectiveness. The research questions sought to identify the demographic characteristics and academic histories of the survey participants and the associations between these variables, the leadership frames represented among the survey participants, and how many, and which, of the four frames the survey participants use collectively. This study allowed its participants to examine their perceptions of their own leadership frames in order to analyze the frame that dominates the way certain universities communicate. Thirteen of the thirty presidents (43%) completed and returned the survey. Survey participants who had 20 or more years of experience were more likely to exhibit the human resource or symbolic frame as their dominant style; presidents whose years of experience numbered less than 20 years exhibited a mulitframe perspective in their decision-making process. Overall, this research found that the survey participants exhibited most often the human resource frame, followed by the symbolic, structural, and political frames.