The Future of Leadership in Public Universities: Is Shared Leadership the Answer?

• Date: 01 July 2018
• Published date: 01 July 2018
• Author: Bob G. Wood,Christina L. Wassenaar,Craig L. Pearce
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12938

640 Public Administration Review • July | A ugus t 201 8

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 78, Iss. 4, pp. 640–644. © 2018 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12938.

The Future of Leadership in Public Universities:

Is Shared Leadership the Answer?

Abstract: Leadership of public universities has come under fire—from scandals, from funding, from students, from

every direction. Top-down leadership of institutions of higher education has been described as a “disease.” Shared

governance—a mechanism of faculty representation in the leadership and decision-making processes—a seeming

alternative, has been described as “a recipe for paralysis.” In this article, the authors proffer shared leadership as a

potential elixir for leading public institutions of higher learning, unleashing creative potential, focusing on pressing

strategic imperatives, and enabling sustainable systems that leverage true talent to maximum effect. It is time to move

beyond the moribund myth of top-down heroic leadership and beyond the bureaucratic, political quagmire of the

current state of affairs in shared governance. Is shared leadership the answer?

Leaders of public universities are under fire—

from scandals (e.g., Luca, Rooney and Smith

2016), from funding (e.g., Condrey and

Battaglio 2007), from students (e.g., Jones 2006),

seemingly from all directions. Concomitantly, very

few faculty desire taking on leadership positions,

and faculty largely characterize administration as

“the dark side” (Bradshaw 2015). At the same time,

public university administrative roles have become

increasingly demanding, adding development,

fundraising, and novel tuition-generating activities,

to name a few, to already overbusy administrative

assignments. Faculty want administrators to deliver

resources that, for the most part, they do not have

the authority to give. Is it any wonder that job

dissatisfaction has led to a continuing decrease in the

average tenure of senior administrators? (Bradshaw

2015; June 2017). The future of university leadership

appears challenging, at best: “people who are called

upon to lead universities in the twenty-first century

face difficult tasks for which they are, in general,

unprepared” (Altbach 2011, 1).

A Core Problem (and Resource) for

University Leaders. . . The Faculty

The problem between faculty and university

administrators is deep. On the one hand, we, as

faculty, claim that we want bold visionaries to lead

us into intellectual and educational breakthroughs

(to be honest, most of us really want administrators

to come up with money), and on the other hand,

we want to be the sole genesis of all changes or, at a

minimum, to be consulted on everything—and we do

mean everything—before any action is taken (Pardun

2013). What are administrators to do?

To answer this question, we must first ask, who are

the leaders in universities? The reality is that every

single faculty member is a leader in his or her own

right. Scholars are knowledge workers (Drucker 1969;

Evans 2017), and knowledge workers are leaders

of themselves (Manz 1986); they provide thought

leadership for others in their respective fields—just

ask them. With so many leaders running around, it is

no wonder that the state of affairs is a bit confusing

regarding university leadership.

The Crestfallen Myth of Top-Down, Heroic

University Leadership

Research-based advice for senior administrators is

clear: they need to enable organizational vision;

they need to be fair; and they need to be inclusive

(Berson, Waldman and Pearce 2016; Gigliotti

2017). These imperatives are especially salient in the

university context (Altbach 2011). Public university

administrators who violate any of these imperatives

are at extreme risk of failure. Yet the pressures on these

leaders are significant. They are pushed for evermore

results in a constantly changing environmental

landscape (Bradshaw 2015; Pfeffer and Fong 2002).

It is easy to succumb to these pressures for results and

slip into strong top-down leadership. Science shows

this is true: “Tough times make tough bosses” (Scully

et al. 1994, 59). In academia, this type of top-down

leadership has been described as a disease (Bedeian

2002).

Craig L. Pearce

Bob G. Wood

Christina L. Wassenaar

University of South Alabama

Bob G. Wood is dean of the Mitchell

College of Business at the University of

South Alabama. Previously, he served as

dean of the Perdue School of Business at

Salisbury University, where he received

the Beta Alpha Psi 2014 Outstanding

Dean Award. Before that, he was Heidke

Professor of Finance at Tennessee Tech

University. He has experience in the private

sector in the financial and pharmaceutical

industries.

E-mail: bgwood@southalabama.edu

Christina L. Wassenaar is assistant

professor in the Mitchell College of Business

at the University of South Alabama. She

spent five years as academic director for

the Drucker School of Management at

Claremont Graduate University. She is an

international consultant with expertise

in leadership, strategy, and program

development. She has taught in the United

States and internationally in academic

and corporate settings. Her research

focuses on shared leadership, corporate

social responsibility, and international

management.

E-mail: christina.l.wassenaar@gmail.com

Craig L. Pearce is Ben May

Distinguished Professor at the University of

South Alabama. He was previously Dean of

the Business School and Interim Dean of

Arts and Sciences at American University

of Nigeria. He is best known for his work

on shared leadership theory and practice.

He has received many awards for his work,

including the Pennsylvania State University

Alumni Fellow Award. His latest book is

entitled Twisted Leadership (Maven

House Press, 2018). He is a popular keynote

speaker and organizational consultant.

E-mail: craig.l.pearce@gmail.com

Viewpoint

Stephen E. Condrey,

Associate Editor