The way deans run their faculties in Indonesian universities

Using the theory of reasoned action in combination with the Competing Values Framework of organizational leadership, our study examines how deans at Indonesian universities lead and manage their faculties. Based on a large-scale survey with responses from more than 200 Indonesian deans, the study empirically identifies a number of deanship styles: the Master, the Competitive Consultant, the Focused Team Captain, the Consensual Goal-Setter and the Informed Trust-Builder style. Further, the study investigates determinants of deans’ leadership styles, pointing at the important role of their attitudes towards leadership, while their perceived behavioural control only explains some of the styles. The study also suggests that faculty culture is important to take into consideration if we want to gain further understanding of the deanship, since culture turned out to effect the deans’ attitudes and hence their leadership style.     

Yesterday,today and tomorrow – constant change

The organisation and administration of research and teaching in universities depends upon daily consultation, cooperation and negotiation, shared management and input of specialist and organisational skills and expertise. Universities conduct staff surveys which reveal significant worries about certain person–management aspects of everyday university business activity and indicate areas where we can significantly improve management–staff interaction and communication. These data are supported by basic and well-rehearsed management thinking and expert advice from both the higher education and general management fields and by personal experience. Aspects of leadership responsibility and behaviour and the interaction between manager and managed are described in terms of management ‘manners’, focussing on the requirements for clear and open communication, fairness, transparency, management ‘modesty’ and emotional competence. The positive effect good manners have on staff are outlined and further areas for development/review suggested.     

Final year undergraduates’ perceptions of the integration of soft skills in the formal curriculum: a survey of Malaysian public universities

A recent initiative or skill bridging measure taken by the Malaysian public universities is to build into the formal curriculum soft skills to produce graduates with a right balance of diverse abilities. However, to date, there is no comprehensive attempt to review the integration of soft skills in the formal curriculum (both coursework and training) of university programmes. The paper therefore reviews the adequacy of the infusion and acquisition of the entire range of skills embedded in taught courses and practical/industrial training from the students’ perspective. The specific focus of the study is to identify what worked well and what had not in acquiring the skills designated in the teaching–learning process. The key findings of the study are as follows. First, the perceived infusion–acquisition of skill types differs unequivocally between coursework and training, suggesting the complementary nature of both components of the formal curriculum for the integration of soft skills. Second, the infusion–acquisition of soft skills remains highly concentrated on specific items/skills for both coursework and training. For the coursework component, communication skills explain most of the total variance, whilst moral and professional ethics ranks first in explaining the total variance for the training component. In total, the perceived low and selective appreciation of skills by students signals the need to readdress the existing strategies within the teaching–learning process to ensure a better integration of soft skills.     

Promoting communication skills for information systems students in Australian and Portuguese higher education: Action research study

This paper aims to examine the value of communication skills learning process through various assessments in Information Systems (IS) postgraduate units in Australia and Portugal. Currently, communication skills are indispensable to students in expanding their social networks and their knowledge at university and in the future workplace, since businesses expect their employees to have strong communication and presentation skills. This paper provides empirical evidence based on the anonymous quantitative and qualitative data collected during 2 years from 126 postgraduate students, which were collected via formal and informal feedback. Various assessment methods were used in Information Systems units to promote and develop the communication skills; these assessments are: reflective journal, business plan and prototype, discussion forum, presentation, and final examination. A Communication skills model (CSM) was developed based on Action research principles to promote the assessments which will assist IS students to enhance their communication skills. The research outcomes indicated that integrating communication skills in the assessments will allow students to promote their communication skills and boost their self-esteem skills. Furthermore, this paper added a new theoretical and practical contribution to higher-education teaching and learning literature, especially the action research for teachers to promote and develop communication skills among students. Finally, integrating these skills in the units should meet the objectives and aims of the units, Master’s degrees, universities, and businesses’ needs, and satisfy our student’s needs.     

Disciplinary variation in preparation for the academic dean role

This empirical study examined a sample of 210 academic deans in research and doctoral institutions in the United States to investigate the relationship between academic discipline and the preparation of deans for their leadership role. Respondents reported relying on experience in past administrative posts and past relationships with faculty leaders as the most highly valued approaches to learning what the deans’ job entails. Findings suggest that how deans understand their role is very much related to the unique experiences they have accumulated as a faculty member. Despite the low reliance overall on trial‐and‐error as a learning approach, deans in pure fields reported relying more on trial‐and‐error than deans from applied fields. This finding suggests that academic discipline cannot be discounted in considering the preparation of faculty for leadership roles.     

Leadership competencies among Chinese gifted students in Hong Kong: The connection with emotional intelligence and successful intelligence

This study examined components of leadership competencies in relation to emotional intelligence and successful intelligence among 498 Chinese gifted students in Hong Kong. These students rated themselves significantly higher on goal orientation than leadership flexibility, which was also rated significantly higher than leadership self‐efficacy. They perceived greater strengths in social skills and utilization of emotions than management of emotions and empathy, and in practical abilities as opposed to analytical and creative abilities. In predicting the three components of leadership competencies, practical abilities and management of emotions emerged as common and significant predictors, suggesting that applied and pragmatic skills, tacit knowledge, and ability to manage and regulate one's emotions were all important in leadership.     

Research and Learning Information Resources

Abstract

The purpose of this non‐experimental, qualitative dissertation study was threefold: (1) to analyze leadership behavioral competencies of twenty‐one key administrators at Miami‐Dade Community College, a college selected by a national panel of experts as the best community college in the country; (2) to determine the type of organizational climate as perceived by a random sample of employees associated with these leadership qualities; and (3) to explore general connections appearing to exist between the identified leadership competencies and the perceived climate.

Research methodology utilized the Behavioral Event Interview Technique (BEIT), an operant assessment procedure, to analyze reported behavior. Data were collected through an open‐ended questionnaire, the Leadership Qualities Questionnaire (LQQ); through structured interviews; and through the Profile of College Characteristics (PCC) climate instrument, an adaptation of Likert's Profile of Organizational Characteristics which measures climate factors and leadership style.

Results of the study profiled leadership behavior coexisting with an extremely positive college environment at a large multi‐campus urban community college as indicated by the climate ratings of the four groups of employees. The six factors rated were: (1) leadership, (2) motivation, (3) communication, (4) decision‐making, (5) reward, and (6) overall climate.

A leadership competency model was formulated and translated into the form of a code book which was used to measure the degree to which each administrator possessed the twelve behavioral leadership competencies included in the model. These competencies were classified into the following categories: (1) Sense of Direction, (2) Structure for Implementation, and (3) Sense of Personal Commitment. Relatively even demonstration of each competency by the administrators suggested a balance among task‐structure and people‐orientation. Seventeen of the eighty‐four leadership behavioral indicators suggested a core of common behaviors exhibited to a large degree by the group as a whole.

Results indicated that top administrators consistently demonstrated the strongest competence in the areas measured followed by the deans and associate deans respectively. Ten of the twelve competencies appeared to be predictive of administrative position level. The three competencies which appeared most predictive were: (1) thinks globally, (2) possesses a bias for action, and (3) uses appropriate power and authority.

The significance of this study is fourfold: (1) it advances knowledge about the impact of multiple leadership behavior on employees’ satisfaction, on perceived college climate, and on institutional excellence as indicated by student achievement; (2) it has potential for influencing the training, selecting, evaluating, and developing of future and current community college administrators; (3) it has generated hypotheses for further research regarding leadership behavioral variables, their value for predicting hierarchical level of administration, and their causal influence on organizational climate; and (4) the methodology employed in the study appears to be an effective research procedure and has helped to validate further leadership theory founded on behavioral analysis.     

The role of the principal's leadership style in the implementation of ICT policy

This paper presents findings of a study in information communication technology (ICT) implementation, on the principal's leadership style in relation to other factors that influence implementation. The principal's leadership style is perceived—on the basis of the characteristics of the context where the study was conducted—as a personal quality, rather than a change/transformational leadership behaviour or related to the principals' positional authority. The study employed firstly a large‐scale survey based on which case studies of four schools were selected for further research. The findings have implications for practice, more specifically, for principals' training and for the support provided to schools for embedding ICT. The paper draws on an institutionalist implementation approach to describe the principals' role in theorising the concept of ICT in education.     

Components of leadership giftedness and multiple intelligences among Chinese gifted students in Hong Kong

This study examined the relationships between components of leadership giftedness and multiple intelligences among 510 Chinese gifted students in Hong Kong. These students perceived their strengths in intrapersonal, interpersonal and verbal‐linguistic intelligences, and their weaknesses in bodily‐kinesthetic and naturalist intelligences. They also rated themselves higher on leadership flexibility and goal orientation than on leadership self‐efficacy. In predicting the three leadership components, intrapersonal and verbal‐linguistic intelligences emerged as common and significant predictors, suggesting that self‐reflection and self‐management skills as well as a good command of language use were important in leadership. Other significant predictors such as logical‐mathematical intelligence for leadership self‐efficacy as well as goal orientation and interpersonal intelligence for leadership flexibility suggested that critical thinking might be important for the sense of confidence or efficacy and the vision of goals, whereas relational or people skills might be important for the openness to different options. Students who were classified high on both verbal‐linguistic intelligence and personal intelligences, high on one and low on the other, and low on both were found to be generally high, medium and low on all three leadership components, respectively. Implications of the findings for inferring different levels of components of leadership giftedness from specific intelligences and for developing leadership training programs are discussed.     

The association of perceived communication apprehension,shyness, and verbal aggression with perceptions of source credibility and affect in organizational and interpersonal contexts

This is a report of two studies that examined the association of receivers' perceptions of sources' levels of several communication traits (shyness, communication apprehension, verbal aggressiveness) with the receivers' reported levels of affect for the source (general affect and/or liking) and the receivers' perceptions of the sources' credibility (competence, trustworthiness, goodwill). Study 1 examined employees’ perceptions of their supervisor's communication trait behaviors in the organizational context, while Study 2 examined the students' perceptions of their roommate's communication trait behaviors in an interpersonal context. As predicted on the basis of previous theory and research, both perceived communication apprehension and perceived verbal aggressiveness of the source were found to be substantially negatively correlated with credibility and affect and/or liking reported by the receiver. Contrary to our hypothesis, perceived behavioral shyness was not meaningfully associated with either credibility or affect. It is concluded that these results provide important information for distinguishing between the theoretical constructs of shyness and communication apprehension and theory in this area in general.     

Can weekly discussions in a sensory science course influence student's perception and confidence in their professional success skills?

The Institute of Food Technologists’ (IFT) success skills highlight the importance of developing professional skills in the food science curriculum. On the other hand, many students in higher education report that the public school system feels disconnected and unrelated to their future. In this context, this study aimed to evaluate student's perceived importance of professional skills, as well as to enhance their awareness and confidence in them. Students in a sensory science class at the University of Illinois completed a questionnaire at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester to assess their opinion of and self‐assurance in professional skills, such as writing technical reports, providing leadership, making formal presentations, and applying critical thinking. During the semester, students received basic training and guidelines on each skill and were given assignments and activities to practice them as part of their coursework. Results showed increased knowledge about the existence of IFT core competencies, as well as an increased motivation to practice success skills regularly. They also showed an increased perceived importance of presentation skills, leadership, dealing with group conflict, researching scientific information, and library resources. Confidence in 80% of the skills increased significantly by the end of the semester, after students had been presented with opportunities to practice and discuss the skills in groups. Students were also able to relate their learning of specific success skills to different course assignments. This study concluded that a general exposure to the importance of practicing professional skills in a college setting enhanced student's experiences and awareness by connecting them to their future professional careers.     

Metrics for Students’ Soft Skills

This article presents a systematic approach to defining, applying, evaluating, refining, and revising metrics for students’ soft skills—their abilities like critical thinking, problem solving, leadership and responsibility, communication, and collaboration. The importance of these skills in educational and work settings is growing rapidly. While such skills are easy to notice, they are hard to measure. Metrics do exist, but vary from one case to another, and are often rather implicit and vague. Contrary to that, this article proposes the use of precisely specified, measurable, low-inference indicators (metrics) to assess soft skills. The article also introduces an open set of principles that can be used to guide the specification of concrete, evidence-based metrics for different soft skills. Two case studies are used to illustrate the approach. These case studies are part of a larger research effort that has developed an open set of metrics for different soft skills; some of them are discussed in the article extensively. Generalizing the metrics used in specific educational contexts is also discussed.     

Innovation in postgraduate teaching: mixed methods to enhance learning and learning about learning

Growing pressure to restructure and reform tertiary education is encouraging university academics to use innovative practices that assist students to develop ‘employable’ skills. The hybrid approach described in this paper stimulated students to be self‐directed adult learners who maximized their learning of content and skills by means of problem‐based learning and action research strategies. The lecturer also operated as a reflective practitioner and role model by using an action research approach. This paper demonstrates the value of student empowerment, communication and leadership in autonomous learning groups. It outlines methods by which academic teaching staff can build continuous improvement into a university unit’s curriculum design and processes. These can be powerful additions to lecturers’ teaching strategies and to students’ learning experiences.     

Where freshmen aspirations meet reality: factors influencing the learning outcomes of a living-and-learning program in an Asian university

ABSTRACT

This study explored the impact of a living-and-learning program (LLP) in a residential college of an Asian university on a freshmen cohort. It utilized a theoretical framework based on Astin’s input-intermediate outcome-environment-outcome model. We examined survey data collected at two time points a year apart to understand how the freshmen’s learning outcomes were influenced by their pre-college intentions and beliefs, their involvement and leadership in the LLP, and the LLP’s environment. We found that pre-college perceived self-confidence had no impact on the learning outcomes. However, pre-college perceived competence in personal and intellectual growth was a significant contributing factor for involvement and post-college self-confidence. The freshmen’s involvement in turn positively predicted their personal and intellectual growth and post-college self-confidence. The academic aspects of the LLP’s environment also contributed to this growth. The findings have ramifications for the design of LLPs, in particular, the definition and measurement of learning outcomes, the criteria for admissions, and the facilitation of student involvement.     

Introducing the use of a semi-structured video diary room to investigate students’ learning experiences during an outdoor adventure education groupwork skills course

Outdoor adventure education courses are used in higher education to develop transferable skills such as groupwork and problem-solving skills. There is a need for exploratory investigation into students’ perceptions of this experience. This study aimed to develop an innovative qualitative data collection method, and to use it to explore students’ perceived learning processes and developmental outcomes when taking part in an outdoor groupwork skills course. Participants (n = 40) were undergraduate engineering students who were taking part in the 3 day residential course as part of their degree course. Students’ experiences were captured whilst immersed in the course, using a semi-structured video diary room. Participants entered the diary room at different time points throughout the course and responded to openended questions. Following a thematic analysis, students were found to arrive on the course with mixed feelings towards groupwork and expected learning outcomes. Activities were enjoyable yet challenging, revealing students’ weaknesses and demanding a range of skills and coping methods. The outdoor environment added novelty, risk and natural consequences. Students reported developing a range of skills in groupwork, adaptability, persistence, planning, problem-solving, time-management, communication, leadership, cooperation, group reflection and team spirit, as well as benefits to physical activity, self-confidence, self-awareness, peer and staff relationships and internationalisation. These findings provide a base for future investigation into the long-term impact on student development and skill transfer. The semi-structured video diary room yielded rich data, contributing to the literature by offering a simple, yet effective, qualitative research method that can be implemented in a variety of contexts.     

Grading students' programming and soft skills with open badges: A case study

Well-developed programming (technical) skills are very important for software engineers, information systems engineers and programmers in general. However, they must also possess relevant personal skills (soft skills) to be successful at the workplace (eg, collaboration, solving real-world problems and communication). The latter, however, are rarely assessed and acknowledged in regular software engineering courses. This paper describes the results of a small case study involving an extracurricular Java programming course in which, in addition to knowledge and skills in relevant technologies, students' soft skills were also assessed. As part of the assessment, students have been awarded Open Badges. The study was exploratory in nature, aimed at examining Open Badges as a motivational mechanism, students' engagement in attaining soft skills and students' perception of soft skills and Open Badges. The results suggest that Open Badges may not be so effective in motivating students to complete the assignments nor attend the course, although students' perception of Open Badges is generally positive. Soft skills were generally perceived as important as hard skills. Students' engagement in attaining soft skills could be affected by assignment announcement time and its level of difficulty.     

Faculty’s academic intellectual leadership: the intermediary relations with universities’ organizational components

In line with ‘the entrepreneurial university’ discourse, managerialism and performative culture brought new expectations to faculty such as developing online programmes/courses, carrying out training for professionals, obtaining research funds, leading projects in cooperation with industry/business, collaborating with colleagues from various disciplines, participating in international networks and representing their disciplines and institutions. These new duties and the traditional roles of academics, as knowledge producer and public intellectual, constitute their intellectual leadership. Given these new circumstances, it is important to investigate the influence of universities’ organizational components to understand how university managers can support academics’ intellectual leadership. This research aims to explore intermediary relations between communication, climate and managerial practice flexibility in universities and academics’ intellectual leadership. Quantitative data were collected from 937 Turkish faculty via an online questionnaire and analysed using Path analyses. Analysis revealed that faculty, by their intellectual leadership behaviours, contribute to the development of their disciplines, institutions and society, and that communication in universities has a strong impact on faculty’s intellectual leadership by mediation of the organizational climate and managerial flexibility regarding scholarly practices. Consequently, university managers should establish functional communication systems in their institutions to generate a positive atmosphere and to maximize the efficiency of institutional practices.     

Complementing classroom learning through outdoor adventure education: out-of-school-time experiences that make a difference

Recent research underscores the importance of the skills, beliefs and behaviors that support student achievement in the classroom and beyond. This set of intrapersonal and interpersonal assets (e.g. perseverance, grit, social skills, efficacy beliefs and mind-sets) are often referred to as noncognitive factors, as they are not measured directly by traditional academic assessments. Outdoor adventure education (OAE) is well positioned to deliver these desired outcomes—boosting self-confidence, self-efficacy and social skills while developing leadership and communication competencies. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to better understand the form, function and delivery of an effective OAE program/school partnership targeting factors that support student success. Findings explain how shared OAE experiences among adolescent girls attending the same school contribute to greater social connectedness, self-efficacy in leadership competencies, and a recalibrated sense of self and personal potential.     

An integrated model of school students’ academic achievement and life satisfaction. Linking soft skills,extracurricular activities,self-regulated learning,motivation, and emotions

The role of soft skills at school is still debated, but they have emerged as important factors for students’ academic achievement and life satisfaction. This study focuses on the combined influence of soft skills (in terms of adaptability, curiosity, leadership, initiative, perseverance, and social awareness), extracurricular activities, achievement emotions, self-regulated learning, motivation, and cognitive abilities on academic achievement and life satisfaction. A sample of 603 students (5th to 12th graders) participated in the study. The results of a Bayesian path analysis based on meta-analytical priors show that soft skills were (i) directly positively associated with students’ achievement emotions, self-regulated learning, motivation, and life satisfaction and (ii) indirectly related with academic achievement through the mediation of self-regulated learning and motivation. On the other hand, only soft skills and achievement emotions were directly related to life satisfaction. Extracurricular activities showed a positive association with both soft skills and cognitive abilities. These results are the first to demonstrate the importance of soft skills and extracurricular activities when integrating all the above-mentioned factors in a model of students’ academic achievement and life satisfaction.

     

校长领导力是如何影响学生成绩的?--基于国外校长领导力实证研究五大理论模型的分析

校长领导力是如何影响学生成绩的?为什么说一个好校长就是一所好学校?对于这些问题,国外关于校长领导力与学生成绩关系的大量实证研究已经初步形成了五个具有影响力和说服力的理论模型:校长领导力三元理论模型、学校氛围中介效应模型、校长领导行为涟漪效应模型、以学习为中心的校长领导力模型和成功校长领导模型,可以很好地解释校长领导力影响学生成绩的方式与关系,对于校长如何提高学校办学质量以及如何提高学生成绩具有实践的指导价值。其中学校发展的政策背景、校长的专业培训、学生的家庭背景、利益相关者的需要等都会对校长领导力产生影响,而校长领导力与这些变量的相互作用又会对学校条件、教室条件以及教师质量产生影响,进而影响学生成绩。