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Professors as intellectual leaders: formation, identity and role

Professors as intellectual leaders: formation, identity and role
Professors as intellectual leaders: formation, identity and role
The literature on leadership in higher education is predominantly concerned with the role of formally designated senior managers such as heads of department and deans of faculty. By contrast, relatively little attention has focused on those performing informal and distributed forms of leadership, such as (full) university professors. This article draws on the results of an online questionnaire and interviews to explore the leadership role of professors, primarily in a UK context. Professors feel that there is a mismatch between their priorities and those of their employing institutions and that their expertise is under?utilised. A number of qualities are identified which may be associated with the role of a professor as an intellectual leader: role model, mentor, advocate, guardian, acquisitor and ambassador. It is argued that new managerialism and performative expectations are reshaping the role of the professoriate, and that institutions need to do more to develop their leadership capacity
0307-5079
57-73
Macfarlane, Bruce
3e2b9eb0-1772-4642-bb51-ab49cc5b748c
Macfarlane, Bruce
3e2b9eb0-1772-4642-bb51-ab49cc5b748c

Macfarlane, Bruce (2011) Professors as intellectual leaders: formation, identity and role. Studies in Higher Education, 36 (1), 57-73. (doi:10.1080/03075070903443734).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The literature on leadership in higher education is predominantly concerned with the role of formally designated senior managers such as heads of department and deans of faculty. By contrast, relatively little attention has focused on those performing informal and distributed forms of leadership, such as (full) university professors. This article draws on the results of an online questionnaire and interviews to explore the leadership role of professors, primarily in a UK context. Professors feel that there is a mismatch between their priorities and those of their employing institutions and that their expertise is under?utilised. A number of qualities are identified which may be associated with the role of a professor as an intellectual leader: role model, mentor, advocate, guardian, acquisitor and ambassador. It is argued that new managerialism and performative expectations are reshaping the role of the professoriate, and that institutions need to do more to develop their leadership capacity

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e-pub ahead of print date: 16 September 2010
Published date: 2011
Organisations: Southampton Education School

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 373874
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/373874
ISSN: 0307-5079
PURE UUID: 04aa5526-a5c5-4362-98f6-7264bac19212

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Date deposited: 29 Jan 2015 13:42
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 18:58

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Author: Bruce Macfarlane

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