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Leadership Issues in Higher Education
Higher education is not the same as it was 50 years ago, or 10 years ago. Changes in society and
education in general recently occurred causing the need for a revised role of leadership in higher
education institutions. While in the past, the role of the manager and the role of the leader were the
same role, that is not the case today. Changes in the availability of open online courses, and the
development of artificial intelligence (AI) created the need for a more blended leader and manager in
one person.
Open online courses have surged in recent years. Students can take courses from Yale and
Harvard for a free or a minimal cost from platforms like edX. Courses can be taken for college credit and
applied to degrees. Students can take these courses and piece them together for an education far more
diverse than someone attending a traditional college program. This development is causing the
leadership style among higher education administration to change towards a more growth-like focus.
Since students can easily change education providers, leaders now must be more apt to change as
quickly as society changes. Leaders must know when a project is dying and demonstrate the ability to
cut the project. Leaders need to know when to push another program at a faster pace. They must allow
the people within the institution to experiment and allow the unknown to occur. Greenwald (2012) calls
it the gardener style because leaders today need to foster growth in each person and their ideas and
know when it is time to invest the time and money elsewhere.
Artificial intelligence in recent years has blossomed greater and faster than most people
thought, causing changes in society. Higher education is part of the necessary change. Artificial
intelligence (AI) can be used to help all people involved in the higher education world. AI can be used by
admissions to help filter applications for admission, used by students to help write entrance essays and
help to respond to application questions requiring a written response, and used by professors to help
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tailor the curriculum for each student and change how they teach the curriculum (Drozdowski, 2023). AI
programs like ChatGPT have been created to help people who struggle with writing and need ideas.
However, these programs also tend to be misused for cheating on essays and tests. The leaders in higher
education need to understand the AI available and be flexible to change as AI continues to change.
ChatGPT and other similar programs use can help strengthen a student’s writing when students are
shown how to best utilize those programs by the leaders at the higher education institution. Leadership
in higher education should strengthen the leadership within the student body and within the curriculum
presented to students to create a harder system to cheat using AI (Crawford, et. al, 2023). Leaders today
must understand and possess knowledge of the current way students handle their classes and the stress
related to the classes. Leaders are managers of people, but also are leaders of others by inspiring
growth and leading them to do what is right and best for the desired outcome.
Leading and managing are not the same ideas and people doing them do not have identical
roles. There are many theories of manager styles and leadership models. Blake and Mouton’s
Managerial Grid identified 5 different types of leadership: impoverished manager, authoritarian manger,
organization manager, country club manager, and team manager. The impoverished manager avoids
interactions and has little concern for people and tasks. The authoritarian manager chooses to control
people and only cares about the task, not the people. The organization manager is rule focused and
ensures the rules are followed. The Country Club manager cares most about people and very little about
the task. The team manager is the most sought-after because these people are equally focused on
people as they are on the task. However, each style is needed, and each style has a place in society
(Thrash, 2012).
Leaders are more complex and are created, not born. Leaders are more people-centered and
more about the collaborative effort of the team. There are four models of leadership: the visionary
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leader, the learning organization leader, the liberating leader, and the discretionary leader. Visionary
leaders are focused and communicate clearly while maintaining self-confidence and creating a strong
work culture (McCaffery, 2019). For example, Dr. Jack Thomas is the President of Central State
University and is considered a visionary leader for his constant innovation. He has embraced the way the
world has changed and changed the college in accordance (The Education Magazine, 2023). Visionary
leaders are sought after, and everyone can learn the skills to become one. The learning organization
leader fills the role of designer, teacher, and steward while building a shared vision and a shared culture.
The liberating leader encourages working relationships among people, builds trust, and keeps clear and
open communication. The discretionary leader is very group focused (McCaffery, 2019).
Despite all the theories of the different types and models, change is required in the leaders of
the higher education institution. The innovation of open online courses and artificial intelligence
requires leaders today to possess flexibility, creativity, and the know-how to respond to tensions while
also being competitive with other institutions (Drew, 2010). Leaders must possess the qualities to inspire
those around them, while also helping everyone move toward the common achievement goal (Virkus &
Salmon, 2021). One person must play both manager and leader in today’s current society and higher
education leadership roles. They need to move interchangeably easily to be considered successful and
effective (Scott, 2022). Gone are the days when there were only managers or leaders. Today we need a
manager and leader within one person knowing when to fulfill each role.
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Resources
Crawford, J., Cowling, M., & Allen, K. (2023). Leadership is needed for ethical ChatGPT: Character,
assessment, and learning using artificial intelligence (AI). Journal of University Teaching &
Learning Practice, 20(3). https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.3.02
Drew, G. (2010). Issues and challenges in higher education leadership: Engaging for change. The
Australian educational researcher, 37(3), 57-76.
Drozdowski, M. (2023). 5 Ways Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Higher Education.
https://www.bestcolleges.com/news/analysis/5-ways-ai-will-transform-higher-education/
#:~:text=New%20artificial%20intelligence%20tools%20pose,and%20not%20fear%20the
%20technology.
Greenwald, R., (2012). New Kinds of Leadership.
https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/08/08/essay-leadership-higher-education
McCaffery, P., (2019) The Higher Education Manager’s Handbook: Effective Leadership and Management
in Universities and Colleges. Rutledge.
Scott, G. (2022), Leadership Versus Management in Higher Education. In Blair, A., Evans, D., Hughes, C.,
and Tight, M. (Ed.), International Perspectives on Leadership in Higher Education (International
Perspectives on Higher Education Research, Vol. 15), (pp. 97 – 113). Emerald Publishing Limited,
https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-36282022000001500
Thrash, A., (2012). Leadership in Higher Education. International Journal of Humanities and Social
Science 2(13),
The Education Magazine, (2023). The 10 Most Visionary Education Leaders of 2021.
https://www.theeducationmagazine.com/the-10-most-visionary-education-leaders-of-2021/
