Community College Presidents’ Leadership Styles And Perceived Impact Of Personal Leadership Style On Faculty Relations

The purpose of this exploratory multiple case study was to develop an understanding of a group of two-year college presidents’ various leadership styles as well as to explore perceptions of their relationship with faculty and the manner in which personal leadership style impacts faculty relations. College presidents employed by a two-year college system in the southern United States were asked to complete an online MLQ Leadership Style Survey and a Demographic/Perceptual Questionnaire to obtain this data. A Transformational Leadership Style was identified as the predominant leadership style with a Transactional Leadership Style with Contingent Rewards as a very close second. Findings suggested that the group employed both leadership styles, their relationship with faculty was viewed as good to excellent, and all agreed that their personal leadership style influenced faculty relations, their interactions with faculty as well as faculty retention and faculty vacancies. Presidents associated their personal leadership style with influencing their faculty’s sense of value to the organization, the organizational environment, and employee job satisfaction and performance. Four overall themes which emerged included approach to faculty, communication, support and common identity. No previous research was found that explored two-year college presidents’ various leadership styles or their perceptions of their relationship with faculty and the manner in which they perceive their personal leadership style impacts faculty relations. These findings provide a significant contribution to leadership development by contributing to the gap in existing literature and lead to further research to identify how college leaders’ leadership style and behaviors and view of faculty may influence and predict perceptions of faculty and contributes to understanding the elements that may affect vacancies in both leadership and faculty. Knowledge obtained could be valuable to the system as a methodology to potentially a) promote a positive work environment for faculty, and b) identify leadership training and hiring opportunities. Recommendations for further study include the replication using a larger sample size, with another two-year college system, at a local college level, and to inform leadership development, hiring and job placement of individuals who would routinely interface with and supervise faculty