ED6504 Week 8 Leadership Theories in Higher Education Practice

Overview

This assignment has two parts. For Part 1, you will interview a higher education leader and analyze their responses through the lens of leadership theory. You will also ask them to identify an equity challenge they are focused on in their work, and analyze their approach to that challenge using one of the frames (Gallos & Bolman, 2021). 

For Part 2 of this assignment you will write a scholarly paper. In this scholarly paper, you will summarize the findings from your interview, analyze the leader’s responses through the lens of leadership theory, identify a leadership theory that most closely aligns with this leader’s philosophy, and conclude the paper by comparing their approach to leadership with your own views on effective leadership. 

Instructions

Part 1: The Interview

Conduct an interview with the higher education leader you identified during Week 1 of this course. (Ideally, the interview should be conducted by the end of Week 6 so you have adequate time to write your paper.) The higher education leader you choose can be a leader at any level of administration (for example, director, dean, department chair, vice president). You can interview someone at your own institution, a college/university where you hope to work someday, your alma mater. You might also consider a classmate in one of your Capella courses who serves as a higher education leader. 

This interview should be conducted in real-time by phone, video, or face-to-face. In preparation for your interview, design questions to identify the leadership theory that best relates to the leader you interview. It may be helpful to send the questions to your leader in advance, so they have time to reflect on these questions before you meet with them.

As you are conducting the interview, pay close attention to how the leader’s responses demonstrate various aspects of the leadership theories we have studied.

Use any combination of the following suggested interview questions and your own questions. Be sure to review the paper sections before you conduct your interview to be sure you gather adequate data to effectively write your paper.

General and Organizational Structure:

Tell me about your position and the department/division you lead.

Where does your department fit within the organizational structure of the college/university?

Would you be willing to share an institutional/department organizational chart with me?

Leadership Theory:

What is your highest priority as a leader? 

• How would you describe your leadership approach/philosophy?
• When you need to lead you team to achieve a shared goal, how do you do that?
• How do you motivate those you lead?

How do you generally make important or strategic decisions?

Do you see yourself as a manager or a leader? Explain why.

• What is your approach to projects that need input from others?
• Institutional/Department Culture:
• What are the most important values of your institution/department?
• What are the beliefs in your institution about student success? Student learning? Equity? 
• What are some important traditions, stories, or symbols in your department/institution?
• Do specific ceremonies, annual meetings, or the like play a role in your institution/department?
• Equity Minded Practice:

What is a diversity/equity/inclusion challenge or project that you are currently focused on? How do you approach this work? 

Part 2: The Paper

• Write a 5–8 page paper in which you.
• Analyze how the words and behaviors demonstrated by a leader during an interview align with key principles of a specific leadership theory.
• Analyze the organizational culture in which the leader works. Explain who the leader reports to and the department/division in which the leader works.
• Analyze the institutional culture in which the leader works with an explanation of the values, beliefs, and traditions of the institution or department. 

Describe a diversity, equity, or inclusion challenge the leader is currently working on and the leader’s approach to this challenge. 

Explain how your own beliefs, values, and leadership approach differ or align with this leader’s.

• In each of these sections, be sure to include quotes, as appropriate, from the interview. Cite these quotes according to APA guideline for personal communication.

Support main points, assertions, arguments, conclusions, or recommendations with relevant and credible evidence by properly citing, referencing, and paraphrasing the scholarly literature using APA format for all citations.

Format your paper using the following sections:

Introduction: Introduce the key sections of your paper. 

Higher Education Leader: Identify the position of the leader whom you interviewed and describe their job.

• Institutional Culture: Describe and analyze the institutional culture in which the leader whom you interviewed works, using the five windows developed by Levin (2000) to assess the institutional culture. Explain the values, beliefs and traditions of the organization/department. Cite Levin (2000) and Gallos and Bolman (2021) in your analysis.
• Organizational Structure: Describe and analyze the organizational structure of the department and institution in which the leader whom you interviewed works. Clearly explain the position the leader reports to, the department/division they are in, and so forth. Cite Gallos and Bolman (2021) related to the structural frame.
• Leadership Theories: Identify one leadership theory you believe this leader demonstrates. Analyze their leadership approach through the lens of this theory, using specific quotes from the leader you interviewed (with citation) in your analysis. Identify specific elements of the leadership theory and explain how the leader demonstrated this principle/strategy. Cite Northouse (2022) in your analysis.
• Equity Challenge: Describe a diversity, equity, or inclusion challenge the leader is currently working on. Explain the leader’s approach to this using quotes (with citations) as appropriate from the leader. Cite McNair et al. (2021) in your analysis.
• Reflection: Reflect on the leader’s approach. Explain how your own beliefs, values, and leadership theory differ or align with this leader’s approach, citing the literature in your reflection. You may use first person in this section of the paper only.  

Reference: Include a reference list with references for each of the sources cited in your paper. For help finding sources, see the Higher Education & Adult EdLinks to an external site. tab of the Education Library Research GuideLinks to an external site. or Finding Academic Sources for Education Literature ReviewsLinks to an external site.. You can also contact Library HelpLinks to an external site., as needed.

In addition to your course readings, consider using scholarly articles from the Capella library to support each of the theories you summarize. Cite all resources, including course readings, in accordance with current edition APA guidelines.