In this paper we present findings from research in 12 UK universities that sought to capture a range of perspectives on 'distributed leadership' and reveal common and competing experiences within and between institutions.
In this paper we will present findings from a recent LFHE-funded study comprising interviews with 152 university leaders at various levels in 12 UK universities to explore competing perceptions, experiences and approaches to leadership within HE. In particular, we explore the concept of 'distributed leadership' and its potential as a descriptive and analytic framework. Analysis of transcripts reveals two principal perspectives on the distribution of leadership in HE -the first as devolved authority (associated with top-down, formal accountability) and the second as emergent influence (associated with bottom-up, horizontal and informal influence). Our conclusion is that effective HE leadership requires both individual hierarchical leadership and shared bottom up leadership at all levels.
The development of mainstream human resource management (HRM) theory has long been concerned with how people management can enhance performance outcomes. It is only very recently that interest has been shown in the parallel stream of research on the link between employee engagement and performance, bringing the two together to suggest that engagement may constitute the mechanism through which HRM practices impact individual and organisational performance. However, engagement has emerged as a contested construct, whose meaning is susceptible to 'fixing, shrinking, stretching and bending'. It has furthermore not yet been scrutinised from a critical HRM perspective, nor have the societal and contextual implications of engagement within the domain of HRM been considered. We review the contribution of the seven articles in this special issue to the advancement of theory and evidence on employee engagement, and highlight areas where further research is needed to answer important questions in the emergent field that links HRM and engagement.
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