The Academic Leadership Framework : a Guide for Systematic Assessment and Improvement of Academic Administrative Work (under review in Gobal Business and Organizational Excellence)

Abstract

Universities typically administer their operations through a multitude of disparate, siloed initiatives and processes (guidelines, document, trainings etc.). Approaches toward academic administrative leadership deserve more concentrated focus. We propose a simple common framework to assess and evaluate such efforts. The framework we propose orients towards the leaders themselves and their interactions with the university (domain 1: values and behavior and domain 3: decision making), their interactions with others (domain 2: developing people and domain 6: providing oversight), and their capabilities to perform expected tasks (domain 4: goal setting and domain 5: organizing the unit). The proposed framework seeks to create a structure to harmonize administrative work across the university and disciplines, provide consistency and allow for college- and unit-specific adjustments, and provide a basis for defining and measuring ongoing improvement.