Baris Uslu

The influence of universities’ organizational features on professorial intellectual leadership

This research examines the intellectual leadership behaviours of senior academics at professoriate level, and the influences of institutional support practices, climate and communication in universities as main organizational features on these behaviours. To explore relations among research variables, qualitative data were collected by interviews with Australian senior academics, and analysed by using content and descriptive analysis techniques. According to senior academics, major professorial leadership behaviours are creating new knowledge, keeping up standards in disciplinary publications, helping younger researchers’ academic development, obtaining competitive grants, raising the reputation of their institutions and using their expertize to influence public debates. In addition, senior academics confirmed that institutional resources contribute generally to their productivity within scholarly leadership, and organizational climate strongly affects their motivation and academic performance. Furthermore, they affirmed that organizational communication has greater impact on their intellectual leadership by its reflections on climate and institutional facilities in universities than its direct effects.

The Components of Communication Systems in Universities: Their Influence on Academic Work Life.

This research aimed to identify the components of communication systems in universities and to explore their influence on academic life. To collect data, interviews were carried out with academics from Australian universities. Thematic descriptive and content analyses were performed on the data-set. Analyses showed that the human relations unit, deanship office, academic board, newsletters, academic and public events, tea/coffee/lunch meetings, social activities and celebrations are common formal and informal channels of communication in universities. Academic support mechanisms also provide various communication opportunities such as professional interactions during staff training, collegial evaluation on grant proposals, and intellectual discussions at public events. Access to top management and mentoring between senior and junior academics are other important kinds of communication. The results revealed that good communication systems are an essential component of a participative, collaborative and interdisciplinary work environment, and as such a positive environment noticeably contributes to academics’ individual and collective productivity.

Faculty’s academic intellectual leadership: the intermediary relations with universities’ organizational components

Abstract In line with ‘the entrepreneurial university’ discourse, managerialism and performative culture brought new expectations to faculty such as developing online programmes/courses, carrying out training for professionals, obtaining research funds, leading projects in cooperation with industry/business, collaborating with colleagues from various disciplines, participating in international networks and representing their disciplines and institutions. These new duties and the traditional roles of academics, as knowledge producer and public intellectual, constitute their intellectual leadership. Given these new circumstances, it is important to investigate the influence of universities’ organizational components to understand how university managers can support academics’ intellectual leadership. This research aims to explore intermediary relations between communication, climate and managerial practice flexibility in universities and academics’ intellectual leadership. Quantitative data were collected from 937 Turkish faculty via an online questionnaire and analysed using Path analyses. Analysis revealed that faculty, by their intellectual leadership behaviours, contribute to the development of their disciplines, institutions and society, and that communication in universities has a strong impact on faculty’s intellectual leadership by mediation of the organizational climate and managerial flexibility regarding scholarly practices. Consequently, university managers should establish functional communication systems in their institutions to generate a positive atmosphere and to maximize the efficiency of institutional practices.

Strategic Actions and Strategy Changes in European Universities: Clues from Institutional Evaluation Reports of the European University Association.

ABSTRACT This research examined strategic actions in European universities through the institutional evaluation reports of the EUA. EUA reports for 21 universities from seven European countries were included in the data set. Qualitative inquiry was carried out and six sub-sections in the reports were used as established themes. The findings were then integrated into a node map. The analysis reveals that European universities follow similar strategies in organizational management, quality assurance, teaching/learning, societal service, and internationalization. However, environmental factors such as economic conditions, demographical changes, the industrial/business sector, and higher education regulations and institutional characteristics lead to differences in their strategic perspectives. European-wide policies and practices also influence their strategies related to continental integration and international visibility. It is shown that these factors add various requirements to the institutional strategies of the sample universities, which have to adapt them to meet contemporary threats and catch developmental opportunities in their environment.

The Influence of Organisational Features in High-Ranked Universities: The Case of Australia.

ABSTRACT This article examines the influence of major institutional components, academic support mechanisms and organisational climate on scholarly productivity in high-ranked universities. Qualitative data were collected from senior academics working in high-ranked Australian universities. The data were examined using thematic descriptive and content analysis techniques. The results indicate that academic support practices help save time by providing excelled knowledge related to new pedagogies and research preparation and by offering project management support. Results also show that a participatory work environment and fair institutional policies and practices generate intrinsic and extrinsic incentives to enhance academic role performance. Accordingly, to promote their institutional prestige, university managers should operate selective financial and human resource investment strategies. To elevate the ranking of their institutions, they need to establish essential academic support structures and institute multi-directional communication networks with less bureaucracy, simplified hierarchical structures, effective reward systems, well-designed career planning and informative performance reviews.