Presentation about the influence of Academic Leadership on the roles of Academic Middle Managers. The presentation is given on the Earli SIG Higher Education Conference "Creaivity and Innovation in Higher Education" in Tallinn, Estonia, August 14-17, 2012 at Tallinn University.

1. Influence of Academic Leadership on the
roles of Academic Middle Managers
Ton Kallenberg
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam - The Netherlands
Paper Presentation EARLI SIG4 Higher Education Conference
Creativity and Innovations in Higher Education
Tallinn - Estonia - August14-17, 2012

2. I am ...
... working on my Ph.D. about the role
of academic middle managers in
strategic innovation in Higher
Education.
... teacher, head educational affairs,
educational manager, interuniversitair
coordinator, Director Centre of
Excellence Learning and Teaching,
Professor Teacher Training, Director
Education, Head Staff Department
Education Research and Student Affairs.
... basketball trainer/coach, chairman
Education Committee of the Dutch
Basketball Association.
Ton Kallenberg

3. 1. Introduction
1. Introduction to the research
2. the Academic Middle Manager
3. Academic Leadership
4. Research Methods and
Results
5. Conclusions
6. Tips, Questions, Dialogue

4. The dynamic and competitive
area in Higher Education ...
changes on: changes in:
regional level cooperation with firms, schools and
demographics (agening, cultural variety)
national level legislation (step down government);
performance-oriented financing; Quality
assurance (not only used to improve but
also for accountability and accreditation)
international level system change of European HE - BaMa
system
increasing not only in region but also European and
competition global competitiveness
* for the student
* for the they expect excellence, high ranking,
researcher image, extra’s
* for the teacher
with the result: expansion, fusion, formation of (thematic) consortia and other forms of
(administrative) cooperation between HE-institutions.

5. ... gives an impulse for strategic
innovation ...
The impulse for strategic innovation sets
requirements for the management of HE-
institutions to
(1) think and act strategic
and also to
(2) translate the organizational strategy to
the operational level (esp. processes of
learning and teaching)

6. So the problem statement
resulting from this is ...
HE institutions have to innovate.
If not (or insufficient):
they loose the competition (for students,
research-grants, image, etc.), their role
becomes smaller and/or they disappear

7. But: HE institutions are big
organizations with much
clashes of interest ...
tension of focus: centralization versus
decentralization
tension of interest: education versus research
tension of functions: administrators (managerial
efficiency) versus professionals (content quality)
tension of initiative: top-down versus bottom-up
tension of control: hierarchy versus collegiality
these tensions are characteristic for HE-
institutions:
* Hybrid organizations with small attachments (In ‘t
Veld);
* Loosely coupled systems (Weick);
* Archipelago with opposite interests.

8. with as result: (strategic)
innovations pass difficult
Innovation in large organizations often pass
viscous and unmanageble, without real
clarity of the reasons.
In particular knows the translation of
strategic to operational level a lot of clashes
of interest.

9. with as result: (strategic)
innovations pass difficult
Innovation in large organizations often pass
viscous and unmanageble, without real
clarity of the reasons.
In particular knows the translation of
strategic to operational level a lot of clashes
of interest.
“Innovating universities is like moving a graveyard:
don’t expect (much) cooperation of the habitants.”

10. in the centre of the clashes of
interest:
the academic middle manager
academic middle manager holds a crucial
(paradoxal) position in the HE-organization.
Nevertheless it’s only little explored.
So it’s not clear which influence they have.
Therefore this research!
Research Question:
Which roles performs an academic middle “You’re damned if you do and
manager in HE during strategic innovations? you’re damned if you don’t.”
Secondary questions:
Which factors affect these roles? “You’re in the line of fire
whether you want it or not”

11. Conceptual Framework

12. Small influence on Large influence on
strategic innovations strategic innovations
Organizational variables
Context Stable Turbulence
Structure Fixed Lose
Culture Conservative Innovative
Functional related Variables
Involvement Indifferent Driven
Autonomy Limited Independent
Academic leaderschip / authority Manager Leader

13. 2. The academic
middle manager
a. Who is the academic middle
manager?
b. Roles
c. Expected roles
d. Real roles

14. Middle management
* the concept is difficult to define; unclear borders.
* in definitions three elements (Livian c.s., 1997):
a. they constitute the middle of the command
line (hierarchy)
b. decisions with regard to time perspective and
range are between strategic and operational
routine decisions.
c. influence in the organization holds the middle
between crucial and barely visible
* several types of middle managers: line versus staff

15. Academic Middle Manager
...is integral responsible for the curriculum of
the programm(s), from strategy
- including participation during the
decisionmaking process of institutional strategy
and responsibility for School/faculty strategy -
until educational management
- including the control about education- and
researchprogramms and student relations
within the bound of the central board of the
organization.
(Kallenberg, 2007)

16. Board University
University
Staff
Departments
Faculty X Dean Faculty Faculty Y
Head / Director
Director Research Director Education
Department
Schools / Educational
Research Institutes
Programs
Managers
Managers
Coordinators / Head
Coordinators / Head
Professionals:
Professors
Associate Professors Administrators
Researchers
Teachers

17. Expectation versus reality
• ascribed position
• assumed behavior
• valuation of the work of middle manager
• rolset, but not ‘definitive’
• role taking versus role making
• achieved position

18. Expected roles of the (middle) manager
(Quinn & Rohrbauch, 1983)
Human Relations Model Open Systems Model
Cohesion, morale and Flexibility, Innovation,
Human Resources Synergy
mentor innovator
facilitator
broker
producer
monitory
coordinator director
Internal Process Model
Rational Goal Model
Process Management,
Productivity, efficiency
hierarchy, stability,
"The Bottom Line"
control

19. Expected roles of the (middle) manager
(Quinn & Rohrbauch, 1983)
Human Relations Model Open Systems Model
Cohesion, morale and Flexibility, Innovation,
Human Resources Synergy
Monitory - f.i.:
mentor innovator
quality education;
educational work
facilitator
broker
plan; finance;
accommodation
(ICT); controll
Coordinator - f.i.:
producer
monitory
time-table
(students and
teachers), student
coordinator administration
director
Internal Process Model
Rational Goal Model
Process Management,
Productivity, efficiency
hierarchy, stability,
"The Bottom Line"
control

20. Expected roles of the (middle) manager
(Quinn & Rohrbauch, 1983)
Human Relations Model Open Systems Model
Cohesion, morale and Flexibility, Innovation,
Human Resources Synergy
mentor innovator
Mentor - f.i.:
coaching, training,
facilitator
broker
accompany (new
teachers)
Facilitator - f.i.:
producer
monitory
organising meetings,
knowledge
dissemination,
conflictmanagement
coordinator director
Internal Process Model
Rational Goal Model
Process Management,
Productivity, efficiency
hierarchy, stability,
"The Bottom Line"
control

21. Expected roles of the (middle) manager
(Quinn & Rohrbauch, 1983)
Human Relations Model Open Systems Model
Cohesion, morale and Flexibility, Innovation,
Human Resources Synergy
Innovator - f.i.:
mentor innovator
bring in new
ideas, maintain
facilitator
broker
developments,
new methods and
concepts
Broker - f.i.:
maintain and
producer
monitory
build contacts (in/
extern); create
support;
coordinator director
represent school
Internal Process Model
Rational Goal Model
Process Management,
Productivity, efficiency
hierarchy, stability,
"The Bottom Line"
control

22. Expected roles of the (middle) manager
(Quinn & Rohrbauch, 1983)
Human Relations Model Open Systems Model
Cohesion, morale and Flexibility, Innovation,
Human Resources Synergy
mentor innovator
Producer - f.i.:
facilitator
focus on results
broker
(quality/quantity);
timemanagement
producer
monitory
Director - f.i.:
define vision,
strategy, planning
coordinator director
Internal Process Model
Rational Goal Model
Process Management,
Productivity, efficiency
hierarchy, stability,
"The Bottom Line"
control

23. real roles
Human Relations Model Open Systems Model
Cohesion, morale and Flexibility, Innovation,
Human Resources Synergy
mentor innovator
,787 ,698
facilitator
broker
,717 ,818
,580 ,833
producer
monitory
,624 ,861
coordinator director
Internal Process Model
Rational Goal Model
Process Management,
Productivity, efficiency
hierarchy, stability,
"The Bottom Line"
control

24. real roles
Human Relations Model Open Systems Model
Cohesion, morale and Flexibility, Innovation,
Human Resources Synergy
mentor innovator
,787 ,698
facilitator
broker
,717 ,818
,580 ,833
producer
monitory
,624 ,861
coordinator director
Internal Process Model
Rational Goal Model
Process Management,
Productivity, efficiency
hierarchy, stability,
"The Bottom Line"
control

25. real roles
Human Relations Model Open Systems Model
Cohesion, morale and Flexibility, Innovation,
Human Resources Synergy
mentor innovator
,787 ,698
facilitator
broker
,717 ,818
,580 ,833
producer
monitory
,624 ,861
coordinator director
Internal Process Model
Rational Goal Model
Process Management,
Productivity, efficiency
hierarchy, stability,
"The Bottom Line"
control

26. real roles
Human Relations Model Open Systems Model
Cohesion, morale and Flexibility, Innovation,
Human Resources Synergy
mentor innovator
,787 ,698
facilitator
broker
,717 ,818
,580 ,833
producer
monitory
,624 ,861
coordinator director
Internal Process Model
Rational Goal Model
Process Management,
Productivity, efficiency
hierarchy, stability,
"The Bottom Line"
control

27. real roles
Human Relations Model Open Systems Model
Cohesion, morale and Flexibility, Innovation,
Human Resources Synergy
mentor innovator
,787 ,698
facilitator
broker
,717 ,818
,580 ,833
producer
monitory
,624 ,861
coordinator director
Internal Process Model
Rational Goal Model
Process Management,
Productivity, efficiency
hierarchy, stability,
"The Bottom Line"
control

28. 3. Academic
Leadership

29. Academic Leadership
• Authority (Yieldler & Codling, 2004)
(1) content knowledge,
(2) experience in the field,
(3) respect among colleague’s
• Educational leadership (Leithwood, 1992):
(1) charism, inspiration, vision (on education)
(2) attention, respect, care for teachers
(3) take care for intellectual incentives

30. Leadership versus management
The academic middle manager is balancing
between Educational management and
Academic Leadership

31. 4. Research methods
and results

32. Method
• survey (2009) - HE in the Netherlands:
14 universities + 44 universities of applied
sciences
• 750 random selected mail-adresses:
304 respondents - 246 in dataset (33,37%)
• analyses in SPSS
• constructs: caesura on Cronbach’s alpha
> ,75
Academic Leadership ,895
Authority ,907
Educational Leadership ,805

33. Results 1 - correlation
Academic Leadership with
Roles AMM
Mentor Broker Producer Director
,136* 0.066 ,321** ,377**
** = Correlation is significant at the 0,01 level (2-tailed)
* = Correlation is significant at the 0,05 level (2-tailed)
There is a positive correlation between Academic Leadership and esp.
the roles Producer (r = 0,321; p <0,01, 2-tailed) and Director (r = ,377; p < 0,01, 2-tailed)

34. Results 2 - correlation
Academic Leadership with
other constructs
involvement
,288**
autonomy ,136**
,131** academic
context leadership
,321**
structure - ,110
influence on
,122 strategic innovations
culture
** = Correlation is significant at the 0,01 level (2-tailed)
* = Correlation is significant at the 0,05 level (2-tailed)

35. Results 3 - Correlation with
Academic Leadership. (Respondents split
in Director and Manager level)
Directors (N = Managers / Heads
128) (N = 78)
Context ,131 ,156
Structure ,096 - ,239*
Culture ,116 ,207
Autonomy ,097 ,216
Involvement ,296** ,379**
Influence on
Strategic ,323** ,463**
Innovations
** = Correlation is significant at the 0,01 level (2-tailed)
* = Correlation is significant at the 0,05 level (2-tailed)

36. Conclusions
• An Academic Leader has influence on
strategic innovations
• Academic Leadership reveals especially in
the roles of Producent and Director
• Because an Academic Middle Manager
fulfills only a few roles in strategic
innovations, they remain unmanageble

37. Further Research
Next month:
• more presentations (ECER, EAIR, CHER)
and discussions with colleagues
• more analysis on survey results
Oktober/november:
• Interviews
• Case Study

38. Tips - Questions - Dialogue

39. Thank you for your attention:
You are invited to download the presentation on:
www.slidesharenet.com/tonkallenberg
The paper will be available on:
http://eur.academia.edu/TonKallenberg