Comparative Analyses of Philosophical Foundations of Kakistocratic Leadership and Timocratic Management Theories in Colleges and Universities.

• Author: Parhizgar, Kamal Dean

INTRODUCTION

All public and private institutions, like colleges and universities, are viewed as differential functioning intellectual powerful engines of mental power in a society. It bears in mind that outcome assessment of higher educational systems reflect the ferment of environmental intellectuality within which colleges and universities exist and operate. Strategically, American intellectuals have pursued their advancing roles in globalization, encephalization, multiculturalization, and multiethicalization knowledge as successful leaders in the global community of scholars. The best evidence is related to the Noble Laureate Prize winners for the last 113 years. American intellectual people received one third (347/1,056) prizes in different branches of science and technology (Fisher, 2013). Also, as the result, for the last century American higher educational systems have been ranked number one. However, the Editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education, Selingo (2013: ix) claimed that as the baby boomer generation leaves the workforce, the country risks having successive generations less educated than the ones that preceded them for the first time. One of the major reasons for the shortfall of the American higher educational system is the dynamic influence and intervention of political and business leaders in governing colleges and universities. In other words, American colleges and universities used to be run by "faculty governance." These days, politicians and businesspeople are appointed as CEOs of most universities. Accordingly, Tavernise (2012) based on his research, claims that the United States is now ranked number twelve among developed nations in higher education attainment by its young people. Furthermore, Farrell and VanDerWerf (2007) believe: "At the colleges and universities attended by American students, costs are spiraling out of control and quality is declining just as increasing international competition demands that higher education be more productive and less expensive. Only slightly more than 50 per cent of American students who enter college leave with a bachelor's degree. Among wealthy countries, only Italy ranks lower."

Centuries after centuries, there has been the same physiological and geographical background, to be sure, and even the same sociocultural foundations to be enforced for running colleges and universities. But through ages, the entire point of view concerning university administration has been changed drastically. Nevertheless, we seem to breathe a different atmosphere; sometimes they are very clean and other times they are filthy. Such a discrepancy has been observed by national politico-economic and sociocultural conditions in a nation. Furthermore, despite all scientific advancements and technological developments, the contemporary world is not a world of natural hosts, but a world of intellectual and artistic endeavor and achievement. Moreover, scientific advancements, technological breakthroughs, societal dynamic movements, political events, and socio-economic forces have changed higher educational institutional aspirations, inspirations, visions, and missions over time and they are continuing to change citizens' perceptions concerning the important roles of colleges and universities in national economic development and growth.

Furthermore, in today's increasing international competitive dynamic power -dominated environments, colleges and universities must clearly define their positions on how to intellectually mobilize peoples' mind to promote academic freedom and civil liberty through observing principles of ethics via timocracy. It should be noted that environmental forces influence one another and rotationally, as well as important teaching, learning, reflecting, contributing, and researching in scientific disciplinary areas within a college or university, play crucial roles in alleviation of public awareness. Every force that affects academic directions of colleges and universities has roots extending over either academic leadership or administrative cultural traditional heritage of a wide societal area. Nevertheless, advancements in communication through application of the Internet has changed contextual boundaries of all societies and converted them into a "global virtual village." In such an environmental endemic situational academic multiculture, it has been conceived that the global village has been converted into global academic multiculturalism. College students need to be oriented with the effects of multiculturalism because they possess a profound impact on international societal events. Who will be the main dynamic forces behind all these types of synergistic academic outcomes? The answer would be academicians. Therefore, how to assess academicians' potentials, contributions, and safeguarding the institutional integrity is the major theme in this article. For clarity of the...