Dissertation writing help - Institutional Leadership in High Performing Colleges and Universities Based on Baldrige Awards

Custom Dissertation Writing Service - A Case Study of Eight North Central Regional Institutions

This study examines the attributes and best practice approaches of Presidents and senior leadership teams in high performing colleges and universities. Understanding these attributes and practices is crucial given the rapid pace of change, limited funding, increased competition, and accountability issues facing colleges and universities. There is a looming leadership crisis where retirements are projected to be more than forty percent in the next five years and a lack of succession planning is present (Cauldron, 1999). In turn, this situation presents a growing need for effective leaders.

Educational institutions recognize that quality management models and practices may be useful for both institutional improvement and maintaining competitiveness. Quality assurance in colleges and universities is represented, in part, through the accreditation process that seeks to ensure the quality of teaching and learning in U.S. higher education.

Since Presidents are expected to lead their organizations through a rapidly changing environment, they are held accountable for its success and viability. Presidents are often retained or discharged based on their ability to strengthen their college (Presley & Leslie, 1999).

In higher education, "the need for presidential leadership in strategy identification and articulation is not unanimously held. This ambiguity leads to some confusion about what is appropriately expected from higher education's CEOs and deserves further exploration in future research".

If the attributes and best-practice approaches that produce high performing colleges and universities are clarified, policies and practices could be developed to assist organizations in both developing senior leaders and giving them the discretion to produce change that would benefit students and the communities being served.

This study poses two research questions to be examined in the context of high performing institutions: 1) What attributes do leaders display in setting direction and reviewing organizational performance? and, 2) What best-practice approaches do leaders use to ensure high performance?

The study will use content analysis based on a narrative-based framework for a priory coding of the data (Bodgan & Biklen, 1998), as well as specific criteria and categories related to the Baldrige Award criteria for high performing postsecondary institutions. The data sources include narratives from the application and feedback report to the State or National Quality Award. A total of eight colleges and universities in the North Central Association accreditation region will be selected for study. These are institutions that have applied for the State Quality Award, scored at the Mastery level or equivalent, received a site visit, or applied for the National Baldrige Award and received a site visit within the last three years. Half the colleges/universities included in the study are 4-year institutions and half are 2-year institutions. The Delphi Method will be used to validate the categorization of leadership and performance themes based on a consensus of opinions from a panel of academic experts.