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CAREER PATTERNS OF TOP LEVEL ADMINISTRATORS OF SELECTED FOUR YEAR EVANGELICAL LIBERAL ARTS AND BIBLE COLLEGES

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the career patterns of presidents, chief academic officers, chief student affairs officers, and chief development officers at Evangelical colleges. / Procedures. The job history of an individual in a particular occupation reflected a career strategy. When the strategy was found to be representative of a high percentage of a defined population, it was labeled a career pattern. Thompson, Avery, and Carlson hypothesized that there were four career strategies as follows: (1) Heuristic--any occupation, any organization; (2) Occupational--present occupation, any organization; (3) Organizational--any occupation, present organization; and (4) Stability--present occupation, present organization. In applying these strategies to survey responses the question arose as to what was meant by the terms occupation and organization as found in the conceptual framework. A precise system was developed for these terms which resulted in four narrow and four broad career patterns. / The population consisted of 210 four year accredited coeducational Evangelical liberal arts and Bible colleges in the United States (75 denominationally non-distinct, 82 denominationally distinct, and 52 Bible) for a total of 1,050 administrators within the five groups and 15 subgroups of administrative positions. A survey was developed and the gross number of responses was 928 or 88% and the final usable number of returned surveys was 870 or 83%. Each survey respondent was assigned one narrow and one broad career strategy based upon survey information. The entire population was surveyed. / Results. (1) The heuristic pattern was the mode career pattern in all analyses. The population as a whole demonstrated a broad heuristic/organizational percentage split of 70/30. Chief business officers demonstrated the most heuristic patterns (approximately 80/20) surpassing that of the whole population. Presidents and chief development officers were found to have heuristic/organizational splits nearly the same as the whole population. Chief academic officers and chief student affairs officers were determined to have the most organizational career patterns (approximately 60/40). All four narrow, the broad occupational, and the broad stability career patterns were dropped from analysis because of insignificant numbers. (2) The type of college did affect the career patterns. Denominationally non-distinct subgroups had heuristic/organizational splits similar to their respective group splits and closely approximated the population as a whole (69/31). Denominationally distinct subgroups were the most organizational in pattern of the three types. They demonstrated a 56/44 split. Bible colleges were the most heuristic type of college (i.e. a heuristic/organizational split of 87/13). (3) Educational training did affect the career patterns. A majority of individuals whose highest degree was the doctorate showed a higher organizational percentage than they did in their subgroup as a whole. Individuals who had the doctorate as their highest degree were more organizational than those with lower highest degree levels. Those individuals whose highest degree was the bachelors or masters had higher heuristic percentages than they did in their respective subgroups. As the degree level moved higher than the mode highest degree level the career patterns became more organizational and as they moved lower than the mode highest degree level the career patterns became sharply / heuristic. The mode major area of study by the highest degree level attained produced patterns which ranged from moderately to strongly heuristic with few exceptions. (4) The size of school, personal characteristics, and denominational affiliation change did not affect the heuristic/organizational career pattern splits. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-04, Section: A, page: 1430. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74178
ContributorsLONG, RODNEY HERMAN., The Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText
Format118 p.
RightsOn campus use only.
RelationDissertation Abstracts International

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