Leading Curriculum Change in Higher Education in Botswana: Issues and Challenges for Academic Middle Managers

Authors

  • Norman Rudhumbu Botho University, Gaborone Gaborone, Botswana.

Keywords:

Leadership, leadership models, distributed leadership, leadership dimensions, curriculum leaders

Abstract

This exploratory study examined issues and challenges for academic middle managers (AMMs) in the leading of curriculum change in higher education institutions HEIs. The premise of this study was that leadership tasks that involve motivating and inspiring subordinates instead of coercing them are the most effective way of getting the best results from subordinates during the process of curriculum change. The study therefore sought to answer the question: How do AMMs lead curriculum change in HEIs in Botswana? 162 AMMs were selected using the stratified random sampling procedure from a total of 280 AMMs from the five HEIs. A mixed methods approach that employed a concurrent triangulation design was used. The study also used a structured questionnaire and a semi-structure interview for data collection. Quantitative data was analysed using means and standard deviation. Responses of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Neutral (N), Disagree (DA) and Strongly Disagree (SDA) were weighted as 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. The sum of the weights were divided by 5 to get a criterion mean of 3 so that responses with mean scores of less than 3 were not accepted and those with mean scores of 3 and above were accepted as representing marginal to very good performance in leading curriculum change. Thematic analysis was used for analysing qualitative data. Results of this study showed that the use of more participative leadership styles such as distributed leadership is crucial to successful planning and implementation of curriculum change in HEIs by academic middle managers

References

Allix, N. (2000). Transformational leadership: Democratic or Despotic. Retrieved from monash.edu/education/research.html [Accessed: 27th March 2014].

Barry, D. (1991). Managing the boss less team: Lessons in distributed leadership. Organizational Dynamics 20.1, 31-47.

Bolden, R. (2007). Distributed Leadership. Discussion Paper in Management Presented at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. Retrieved from. Bolden, R. (2008). Distributed leadership. In Marurano & J. Gosling (Eds.), Leadership: The key concepts. New York: Routledge.

Brown, M., Rutherford, D., & Boyle, B. (2000). Leadership for School Improvement: The Role of the Head of Department in UK Secondary Schools. School Effectiveness & School Improvement 11.2, 237-258.

Bush, T. (2007). Educational leadership and management: theory, policy, and practice. South African Journal of Education 27.3, 391–406.

Bush, T. (2008). From management to leadership: Semantic or meaningful change? Educational Management Administration & Leadership 36.2, 271-288.

Bush, T & Glover, D. (2003). Leadership Development: A literature Review. Nottingham: National College for Leadrship.

Bush, T. & Middlewood, D. (2005). Leading and managing people in education. London: Sage Publications.

Busher, H. (2005). ‘Being a Middle Leader: Exploring Professional Identities’, School Leadership and Management 25.2), 137-153.

Brundrett, M. (2007). Evaluating the Individual and Combined Impact of National Leadership Programmes in England: perceptions and practices, Evaluation of the Impact of Leadership Programmes Project (ILP Project), The Centre for Educational Leadership (CEL), University of Manchester/National College for School Leadership (NCSL).

Bryman, A. (2007). Effective leadership in higher education: A literature review. Studies in Higher Education 32.6, 693–710.

Copland, M. A. (2003). Leadership of inquiry: Building and sustaining capacity for school improvement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 24.4, 375-395.

Corey, M. S., & Corey, G. (2006). Groups: Process and practice. Pacific Grove, CA: Thompson Wadsworth.

Daniel, T.E. (2009). Factors influencing performance of academic middle managers in the technical college System of Georgia. Doctoral Thesis submitted to the University of Georgia.

Del Favero, M. (2005). The social dimension of academic discipline as a discriminator of academic deans’ administrative behaviors. Review of Higher Education 29.1, 69–96.

Del Favero, M. (2006a). Disciplinary variation in preparation for the academic dean role. Higher Education Research & Development 25.3, 277–292.

Del Favero, M. (2006b). An examination of the relationship between academic deans’ administrative behavior. Research in Higher Education 47.3, 281–315.

French, R.P & Raven, B. (2005).The basics of social power. In Griffin, R.W, Management. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Gilbert, R. (2011). Professional Learning flagship Program: Leading curriculum change, Literature Review. Retrieved from www.aitsl.edu.au. [Accessed: 27th March 2014].

Gmelch, W. H. (2004). The department chair’s balancing acts. New Directions for Higher Education, 126, 69–84.

Goodman, M.B. (2001). Current trends in corporate communication. Corporate Communications: An International Journal 6.3, 117 – 123.

Gosling, J, Bolden R., & Petrov, G. (2009). Distributed leadership: what does it accomplish? Leadership 5.3, 299-310.

Grint, K. & Holt, C. 2011 Followership in the NHS. Report from the King’s Fund to inform the leadership commission. London: The King’s Fund.

Gronn, P. (2010). Hybrid configurations of leadership. In: A. Bryman, D. Collinson (ed,). International Handbook of Educational Leadership and Administration. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Gronn, P. (2008a). The future of distributed leadership. Journal of Educational Administration, 46.2, 141- 158.

Gronn, P. (2008b) Hybrid leadership. In: K. Leithwood, B. Mascall and T. Strauss (eds.), Distributed Leadership According to the Evidence. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Hallinger, P., and Heck, R. 2010a. Collaborative leadership and school improvement: understanding the impact on school capacity and student learning. School Leadership and Management: Formerly School Organisation 30.2, 95 - 110.

Hallinger, P., and Heck, R. H. (2010b). Leadership for Learning: Does Collaborative Leadership Make a Difference in School Improvement? Educational Management Administration and Leadership 38.6, 654-678.

Harris, A. (2008). Distributed school leadership: Developing tomorrow’s leaders. Abingdon: Routledge.

Harris, A. (Ed.). Distributed leadership: Different perspectives. London: Springer.

Haslam, S. A. (2004). Psychology in organizations: The social identity approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Hohepa, M. and Lloyd, C (2009). School leadership and student outcomes: Identifying what works and why. Retrieved from www.educationcounts.govt.nz [Accessed: 15th February 2014].

Holt, D. 2011. Occasional Paper on Distributed Leadership in support of quality management of online learning environment (OLES). Retrieved from http://www.deakin.edu.au. [Accessed: 23rd January 2014].

Humphreys, E. (2010). Distributed leadership and its impact on teaching and learning. Doctoral Dissertation submitted to the faculty of social Sciences, NUI Maynooth.

Humphreys, J. H., & Einstein, W. O. (2004). Leadership and temperament congruence: extending the expectancy model of work motivation. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies 10.4, 58–79.

Hyun, E. (2006) Teachable moments: Re-conceptualizing curricula understandings, Studies in the Postmodern Theory of Education. New York: Peter Lang.

Jones S, Lefoe G, Harvey M & Ryland K. (2012) Distributed leadership: a Collaborative framework for academics, executives and professionals in higher education. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 34.1, 67-78.

Joyce, P. & O’Boyle, C. (2013). Sustaining Leadership into Higher Education. In O'Farrell C & Farrell A (Eds.) Emerging issues III: From capacity building to sustainability. Retrieved from http://epubs.rcsi.ie/ilhmart/14/ [Accessed: 7th November 2014].

Knight, P. and Trowler, P. (2001). Departmental Leadership in Higher Education, Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press.

Leithwood, K., B. Mascall, T. Strauss, R. Sacks, N. Memon, and G. Yashkina. (2006). Distributing Leadership to Make Schools Smarter. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 6(1), 37-67.

Lo, M. C., T. Ramayah, & Ernest Cyril de Run. 2010. Does transformational leadership style foster commitment to change? Retrieved from www.feb.unimas.my/index.php‎. [Accessed: 2nd May 2013].

Luiz, J. (2006). Managing Business in Africa. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.

Lustik, C. M. (2008). Distance education leadership: Self-perceptions of effective leadership attributes. Doctoral dissertation, Capella University, Minneapolis, MN. Retrieved November 15, 2008, from Dissertations & Theses @ Capella University database.

Melnick, M. J. (1982). Six obstacles to effective team performance: Some small group considerations. Journal of Sport Behavior 5.3, 114-123.

Muijs, D., and Harris, A. (2006). Teacher led school improvement: Teacher leadership in the UK. Teaching and Teacher Education 22.8, 961-972.

Northern gateway Public Schools Administration Manual. (2009). The principal quality practice guidelines: seven dimensions of leadership. November, 2009.

Northouse, P. G. (2007). Leadership: Theory and practice (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Northouse, P.G. (2010). Leadership Theory and Practice. London: Sage.

Nunn, G. M. (2008). The perceived leadership skills needed to improve the effectiveness of charge nurses: A grounded theory study. Doctoral dissertation, Capella University, Minneapolis, MN. Retrieved November 15, 2008, from Dissertations & Theses @ Capella University database.

Packard, J. A. (2008). Analyzing the intersection of leadership practices, emotional intelligence, and coping responses in women-owned small businesses. Doctoral dissertation, Capella University, Minneapolis, MN. Retrieved October 11, 2008, from Dissertations & Theses @ Capella University database.

Pearce C.L. and Conger J.A. (2003). All those years ago: The historical underpinnings of shared leadership. In: Pearce C.L. and Conger J.A. (eds) Shared Leadership. Reframing the Hows and Whys of Leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Rhodes, C., Brundrett, M., & Nevill, A. (2008). Leadership, talent identification and development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Rosser, V. J., Johnsrud, L. K., & Heck, R. H. (2003). Academic deans and directors: Assessing their effectiveness from individual and institutional perspectives. The Journal of Higher Education 74.1, 1–25.

Rudhumbu, N. (2014). Managing curriculum change from the middle: A literature review on how academic middle managers enact their role in higher education. International Journal of Higher Education 4.1, 106-119.

Scott-Ladd, B., Christopher C.A. & Chan, C.C.A. (2004). Emotional intelligence And participation in decision-making: strategies for promoting organizational learning and change. Strat. Change 13, 95–105.

Shelley, H. (1960). Focused leadership and cohesiveness in small groups. Sociometry 23, 209-216.

Snipes-Bennett, V. J. (2006). A study of the effectiveness of a diverse workforce within non-profit organizations serving older adults: An analysis of the impact of leadership styles and organizational culture. Doctoral dissertation, Capella University, Minneapolis, MN. Retrieved October 26, 2008, from Dissertations & Theses @ Capella University database.

Spillane, J. P., Halverson, R., & Diamond, J. (2004). Towards a theory of leadership practice: A distributed perspective. Journal of Curriculum Studies 36, 3-34.

Spillane, J. (2006). Distributed leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Spillane, J. P. (2007). Distributed leadership in practice. New York: Teachers College Press.

Sypawka, W. (2008). A study of division deans’ in the North Carolina Community College System self-perceived leadership style based on Bolman and Deal’s four frame theory. Doctoral dissertation, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC. Retrieved October 3, 2008, from Dissertations & Theses: Full Text database. © Centre for Promoting Ideas, USA Retrieved from www.ijhssnet.com. [Accessed: 5th February 2014].

The King’s Fund. (2011). The future of Leadership and Management in the NHS. No more Heroes. Report from the King’s Fund Commission on Leadership and Management in the NHS. London: The King’s Fund.

Thrash, A. (2012). Leadership in Higher education. International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 2.13, 1-12.

Tyler, R. (1949). Principles of Curriculum and Instruction. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Victor, P. & Franckeiss, A. (2002). The five dimensions of change: an integrated approach to strategic organizational change management. Strategic Change 11.1, 35-42.

Wood, R. D. (2004). Leadership behaviors of academic college deans in Mississippi’s eight state-supported universities. Doctoral dissertation, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg. Retrieved October 24, 2008, from Dissertations & Theses: Full Text database.

Yukl, G.A. (2002). Leadership in Organizations, 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Downloads

Published

30-09-2015

How to Cite

Norman Rudhumbu. (2015). Leading Curriculum Change in Higher Education in Botswana: Issues and Challenges for Academic Middle Managers. Indian Journal of Commerce and Management Studies, 6(3), 1–10. Retrieved from https://www.ijcms.in/index.php/ijcms/article/view/279

Issue

Section

Articles