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This thesis explores the meaning of leadership in the context of higher education in South Africa, a society in transition. The higher education system in the country is in a process of change from being fragmented and segregated, to being a democratic one, guided by various policies. Within this facilitative environment, very little is said about leadership yet 'leadership' has been blamed in many instances where things have gone wrong. This qualitative study consisting of semi-structured interviews with middlelevel academic leaders, reveals inequalities in terms of who is leading at that level. The study also reveals an awareness of the existence of these inequities among the manager-leaders; they do, however, hold two distinct viewpoints about the causes of these inequities. A feminist and poststructuralist framework is used to analyse specific dimensions of the manager-leaders' understandings and practices of leadership. In the absence of a defined discourse of leadership, the manager-leaders are drawing on their own personal experiences of how they have been and are led and their own practices of how they lead in order to conceptualise leadership and what constitutes a leader. The study shows that the managerleaders understand leadership as a combination of leadership practice, i.e. how it is being enacted and their notions of characteristics desired in leaders. Their descriptions of leadership seem to be characterised by relational elements. In addition, the findings show that race and gender have specific implications for leadership; from a racial perspective additional roles are added to the general identified leadership practices while a gender perspective reveals several invisible leadership aspects. The thesis therefore describes leadership as an activity or process influenced by contextual elements: historical imperatives, organisational factors, and personal and group constructs, such as race and gender.

Many HE Institutions are currently transforming their processes and programmes in response to global and local demands. Leaders in higher education play a significant role in managing such external and internal pressures of change. HE leadership is considered to be under-researched, in comparison with the extensive amount of studies on leadership in general. This study focuses on leaders' behavioural roles in the context of strategic decision making, using the neo-charismatic theory as a framework. The theory encompasses seven leadership behavioural roles for transforming institutions in three consecutive stages: (1) The search for opportunity, (2) formulating a shared vision, and (3) devising the means to achieving the vision. A qualitative two case study approach is used which involves three leaders of HEls in the United Kingdom and three types of strategic decisions, (1) location and reorganisation; (2) input in the form of buildings and funds; and (3) boundaries. Two main methods are used in this research: document analysis and critical incidents interviews. Data analysis revealed a set of recurring behavioural roles and this was compared across two cases. The findings of the study suggest that the neo-charismatic model (NCM) is a highly relevant construct for effective leadership in HE. Moreover, it emphasises an ethical dimension that influenced how leaders took decisions and reacted to the context. Finally, leaders were able to influence the context when behaving in a neo-charismatic way.

Higher education has undergone a period of radical transformation in recent years. The introduction of `new managerialism' with its push towards performance targets and regulation has radically altered the workplace. Paradoxically it has also offered a way forward in terms of gender equity with significant numbers of women promoted into senior management positions. This has been presented in terms of an opportunity to 'do things differently', acknowledging the need for traditionally 'feminine' skills to be used in moving forward the transformational agenda. This study is based on 'insider research' - an ethnographic case-study of one 'new' university carried out by a woman manager there - designed to examine whether 'new managerialism' is really working for women, or whether it has created additional problems masked by apparent progress in removing female disadvantage. Drawing on a theoretical framework informed by psychoanalytic and post-modern feminism, I set out to examine the extent to which becoming a female academic manager presents difficulties both in terms of establishing a coherent social identity and in achieving job satisfaction, bearing in mind the resilience of traditional gender stereotypes which are not favourable to women managers. A qualitative interpretative approach to data analysis confirms the identity-work women face in not being perceived as 'effective' managers and the parallels this poses in terms of women not being regarded as 'good-enough mothers'. There is evidence of both external and self-regulation in this process, which becomes particularly clear in women's accounts of their attempts to secure an appropriate work-life balance. It may be that the seductive powers of 'new managerialism' for ambitious or optimistic women should have been questioned more closely in order to avoid compliance with a sterile and inherently masculine regime change.

There has been a significant increase in interest in the development of Educational Leadership in recent years, not least in the school sector. However, little research exists on how leaders in higher education have learnt to lead, particularly those in ‘middle-leadership’ positions such as heads of faculties and departments. This study explores the journey to leadership of eighteen leader-academics within six chartered and statutory universities in the south of Wales and the west of England. Semi-structured biographical interviews were used between November 2005 and April 2006 to secure academics’ perceptions of their own life history, including the significance of their formative years, career trajectories, motivations, training and less formal learning, to equip them with the necessary attributes to lead. The findings show that the nature of leadership for middle-level leaders in higher education is complex and demanding and requires a combination of management and leadership skills. Formal professional development for leadership was relatively uncommon. The majority of what leaders do is learnt, self-taught and acquired throughout their life history. The influence of critical incidents and significant people has a profound effect on how leaders have learnt to lead. This study captures insights which should inform the future research agenda in higher education and highlights the possible inadequacies of formal leadership development for leader-academics in higher education. The challenge is to bring the informal processes of learning gained throughout a leader’s life history into a meaningful context for professional development. By doing so, training and development initiatives can be brought into the leader’s real world in a structured way to become more relevant and productive to those who participate. Strategies include the establishment of formal mentoring systems, encouraging the formation of networks and providing guided critical reflection on practice, whilst promoting opportunities for collective articulation and sharing of experiences. A suggested framework for integrated leadership development is proposed to enable middle-level leader-academics to experience more planned and meaningful development. This should then enhance those aspects of leadership which have been acquired through individual life histories and consequently should better equip them to support, manage and lead their faculties.

Local level leadership for the enhancement of learning and teaching in higher education is an under-researched area in the leadership literature. The growth of the ‘quality agenda’ in HE over the past 20 years has led to an increase in the number and range of local leadership roles. These posts, although not usually requiring the exercise of management responsibility, have the potential for considerable influence on practice in local academic communities. This study aimed to explore local leaders’ experience of their role and to examine the barriers and opportunities they faced, in order to determine the optimum conditions for the conduct of this work. The study was focused on one regional HEI in NW England, CountyUni. A subset of data was obtained from another HEI, MetroUni, for comparative purposes. The research design adopted employed an interpretive, ethnographic approach, generating qualitative data from 29 interviews and three focus groups over the course of six years. The majority of the participants were HE staff in local level leadership roles at department or faculty level. Additionally, 8 staff in managerial roles were interviewed. Data collection focused on the characteristics and practice of local level leadership in the context of learning and teaching. Purposive sampling was used to identify participants. An iterative process was used to generate interview questions, so that significant themes could be tested for ‘saturation’ as the study progressed. Data was analysed thematically, based on the approaches of Grounded Theory. A model of the features of local leadership at department level was generated from the data. The discussion of results incorporated contributions from a number of theoretical strands in social science: structuration theory; communities of practice; networks; academic culture. The nature of local level leadership was contrasted with other extant models of leadership. The findings showed that, although leadership was demonstrated by local level leaders, there was a low level of recognition and uncertainty of the leadership aspects of these roles, with individuals often feeling that they had “responsibility without power”. The importance of leadership for learning and teaching at all levels of the institution was identified as critical to the effective implementation of local enhancement activities. It was concluded that local level leadership in this context has characteristics in common with leadership elsewhere. The absence of managerial responsibility but the presence of significant responsibility for establishing links between local academic communities and the policy development tiers of an organisation, provides particular challenges. It was shown that success was dependent upon leadership and commitment at all levels of the institution. The roles provide valuable experience for career development. Opportunities for further avenues of investigation were identified.

Extensive research has been undertaken in the area of transformational leadership theory and yet some notable gaps exist. Research has compared transformational and transactional leadership and has examined its existence in both public and private organizations. The leadership phenomenon has similarly been investigated in different cultures, yet there is a paucity of data which synthesizes how these leadership paradigms are perceived in a diverse Middle Eastern cultural environment. The aim of the current study was to compare the perceptions of transactional and transformational leadership styles and their impact upon motivation, trust and job satisfaction within higher educational institutions in Jordan. Working within the positivist domain, primary data was gathered through leader and follower questionnaires that were designed to test out theory in a deductive way. Data was sought on transformational leadership theory, ideal leader characteristics and the perceptual understanding of motivation, trust and job satisfaction. Biographic data was sought to form independent variables. The sample of over 700 was drawn from five Jordanian universities, which ranged across regions and between public and private institutions. With respect to transformational leadership theory the main findings were that Intellectual Stimulation, Individual Consideration and Idealized Behaviour comprised the three main characteristics of leaders within Jordanian higher education. Followers were highly motivated by their work activity and promotion, although a fear of failure emerged as a negative aspect of follower motivation. Transformational leadership had a greater positive impact on job satisfaction than did transactional leadership, especially in the area of Inspirational Motivation, which emerged as the most effective characteristic for job satisfaction. A strong association was found between trust and both Idealized Behaviour and Idealized Attributes. Finally, it is of note that followers trusted leaders who were transactional, particularly with regards to Contingent Reward. The providing of followers with clear rules for reward, within a structured system, is likely to be a salient factor within the higher education system of Jordan. The current study is the first of its kind to investigate transformational leadership theory in relation to trust, job satisfaction and motivation, within Jordanian universities and makes a valuable contribution to a number of areas. Most significantly, transformational leadership theory is extended in a unique way. New contributions are also made to the areas of situational leadership theory and the important conceptual areas of trust, motivation and job satisfaction. The hypothesised leader and situational profile provides a framework for understanding the behaviour and characteristics of leaders who operate within Jordanian universities and is presented with recommendations for future research. The university sector forms an important part of Jordan's economy and there is a considerable prospect for it to contribute to the nation's economic growth. As the universities are soon to operate within a more deregulated and competitive environment, effective leadership is likely to be of paramount importance. Thus, if the higher education sector can adopt the findings and improve their leadership effectiveness, the current study is set to have a positive impact on the national economy.

Leadership is a problematic topic at universities and it is therefore difficult to isolate a leadership theory that is applicable to Heads of Department (HODs). The manner in which HODs construe their leadership roles is the focus of this research project and the study is conducted from a constructivist perspective The university context in which HODs lead is explored in the literature overview. Definitions of leadership, general leadership theories and leadership issues in academe are investigated. The research findings are integrated into a leadership model for HODs, consisting of constructs (leadership behaviours, actions and values) and elements (leadership situations). The following contributions are made by the study: * The variety roles an HOD has to fulfil is confirmed by the study. However, this study indicates that leadership is interwoven with everything an HOD undertakes. * HODs construct their roles uniquely, but in general terms most HODs consider academic and scholarly work (own and that of the department) as part of the leadership role they fulfil. Leadership at HOD level at university incorporates both managerial and leadership ideas. * HODs consider their leadership environment to have qualities of the following known university environments: collegial, enterprise, bureaucratic and corporate. * This study identifies eight leadership themes with reference to the leadership role of an HOD at university; providing academic guidance, being a figurehead, determining the strategy and positioning the department, liaising with internal and external stakeholders, being a change agent, being a general manager, and being involved in student and staff relations. The following leadership themes can be added to the current body of literature: being a figurehead, own scholarly profile, as well as being involved in staff and student relations. Leadership at academic departments is at the heart of everything in which an HOD is involved. Leadership is thus becoming indispensable at academic departments at university. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology) / D. Com. (Consulting Psychology)

Leadership is a problematic topic at universities and it is therefore difficult to isolate a leadership theory that is applicable to Heads of Department (HODs). The manner in which HODs construe their leadership roles is the focus of this research project and the study is conducted from a constructivist perspective The university context in which HODs lead is explored in the literature overview. Definitions of leadership, general leadership theories and leadership issues in academe are investigated. The research findings are integrated into a leadership model for HODs, consisting of constructs (leadership behaviours, actions and values) and elements (leadership situations). The following contributions are made by the study: * The variety roles an HOD has to fulfil is confirmed by the study. However, this study indicates that leadership is interwoven with everything an HOD undertakes. * HODs construct their roles uniquely, but in general terms most HODs consider academic and scholarly work (own and that of the department) as part of the leadership role they fulfil. Leadership at HOD level at university incorporates both managerial and leadership ideas. * HODs consider their leadership environment to have qualities of the following known university environments: collegial, enterprise, bureaucratic and corporate. * This study identifies eight leadership themes with reference to the leadership role of an HOD at university; providing academic guidance, being a figurehead, determining the strategy and positioning the department, liaising with internal and external stakeholders, being a change agent, being a general manager, and being involved in student and staff relations. The following leadership themes can be added to the current body of literature: being a figurehead, own scholarly profile, as well as being involved in staff and student relations. Leadership at academic departments is at the heart of everything in which an HOD is involved. Leadership is thus becoming indispensable at academic departments at university. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology) / D. Com. (Consulting Psychology)