Navigating a path to the entrepreneurial community college: Strategies for transformational change in organizational culture, presidential competencies, and business models

Community colleges increasingly face the need to engage in entrepreneurial activities to fill the funding gap left by reduced public funding. Community college leaders need specific leadership competencies and change strategies to provide leadership to colleges seeking to engage in entrepreneurship.The Problem Results/Findings of Research External Challenges Steady decreases in government funding Increases in operational/instructional costs Global competition for resources Internal Barriers Traditional, complex organizational culture: change resistance, risk aversion, shared governance, and managerialism Lack of highly-skilled candidates for future presidential vacancies Outdated, inefficient business models and ineffective board models Problem Community colleges increasingly face the need to engage in entrepreneurial activities to fill the funding gap left by reduced public funding. Community college leaders need specific leadership competencies and change strategies to provide leadership to colleges seeking to engage in entrepreneurship. Strategies for Transformational Change in Organizational Culture, Presidential Competencies, and Business Models Implications for Practitioners Susanne M. Brock The Graduate School University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, MD The Evidence Esters, l. L., McPhail, C. J., Singh, R. P., & Sygielski, J. J. (2008). Entrepreneurial community college presidents: An exploratory qualitative and quantitative study. Tertiary Education and Management, 14(4), 345-370. Fisher, J., & Koch, J. (2004). The entrepreneurial college president.Westport, CT: Prager Publishers. Levin, J. (2005). The business culture of the community college: Students as consumers, students as commodities. New Directions for Higher Education, (129), 11-26. Malm, J. R. (2008). Six community college presidents: Organizational pressures, change processes and approaches to leadership. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 32(8), 614-628. Martinez-Lopez, C. L. (2009). Creating an entrepreneurial culture at two-year colleges: A conceptual paper. Review of Business Research, 9, 76-85. Myran, G. (2013). The new community college business and finance model. New Directions for Community Colleges, (162), 93-104. doi: 10.1002/cc.20063 RQ: What Do We Need to Know? 1.Given the necessity of community colleges in turning to entrepreneurial ventures to generate alternative revenue, what strategies have proven most successful in changing the organizational culture of community colleges to be more supportive of entrepreneurial, revenue-generating ventures? 2.Given the challenges, what are the leadership skills, experiences, and competencies presidents need to effect the necessary organizational culture change and to successfully plan, implement, and evaluate the success of entrepreneurial activity at their colleges? Method: The Process of Discovery Implications for Scholars Much of the research of late 1990s and early 2000s discussed mass presidential vacancies that would be occurring over the next 10 years and was concerned with a lack of qualified candidates to fill those vacancies. These projected vacancies have now been filled. Individuals filling these roles could be the subjects of new research on contemporary community college presidents. Additionally, the economy and landscape of higher education have changed significantly over the last 10 years and that should warrant research into entrepreneurial community college activities and entrepreneurial presidents, as they exist today. •Presidential leadership is the single most important factor in effecting the change needed to transform traditional community colleges into entrepreneurial colleges. •Community colleges have complex cultures that can be changed by charismatic presidents with skills, experiences, and competencies in: •Effective communications •Entrepreneurship and innovation •Savvy business practices •Risk acceptance and failure tolerance •Relationship building, particularly with the board The Conceptual Model •Systematic review chosen as research method for this dissertation. •Pre-defined systematic review protocol used to organize and make sense of a large body of information that would lead to answering the two research questions. •Structured, rigid protocol was a critical element of review process that included quality appraisal (screening for exclusion). •Protocol created way to select, analyze, filter, validate, and synthesize relevant research literature across multiple disciplines. •Criteria for evaluating literature was clearly stated