EXAMINING THE LEADERSHIP ROLE OF THE DEAN OF BUSINESS IN ONTARIO COLLEGES:

USING NARRATIVE INQUIRY TO REFLECT LEADERSHIP IDENTITY JOURNEYS OF SELECTED DEANS IN THIS ROLE

by

Kristi-Lee Harrison

A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education

Department of Leadership, Adult and Higher Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

University of Toronto

© Copyright by Kristi-Lee Harrison 2019

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EXAMINING THE LEADERSHIP ROLE OF THE DEAN OF BUSINESS IN ONTARIO COLLEGES:

USING NARRATIVE INQUIRY TO REFLECT LEADERSHIP IDENTITY JOURNEYS OF SELECTED DEANS IN THIS ROLE

Kristi-Lee Harrison Doctor of Education

Department of Leadership, Adult and Higher Education University of Toronto

2019

Abstract

My research study leadership journeys of selected incumbents in the role of dean of business in

the Ontario College System. Using the methodology of narrative inquiry, I wanted to understand

how their journeys led them to the role of dean, how they experienced the role, their perceptions

of their own leader self-identity, how they approached their learning and growth while in the

role, and to what extent they engaged in reflective practice. Participants engaged in two

interview sessions with me, responding through dialogue to a guiding set of interview questions.

A significant feature of the experience of business deans is that many of them had well-

established career roles in business settings and joined the Ontario College System mid-career,

most often directly assuming the role of dean. One of the contributions that I am seeking to make

through my work is to integrate the stories of their personal career journeys with their leadership

identity development and to understand how the Leadership Capability Framework for the

Ontario College System captures or misses the requirements for the role of dean of business.

Several common themes emerged: (a) they found the program development aspects of their role

challenging as they tried to learn the college context that seemed at times esoteric, (b) they

perceived their roles and contributions as impactful on their own institutions, (c) they expressed

interest in career advancement roles in system but were unsuccessful in securing them, (d) the

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Leadership Capability Framework was viewed as describing generic not contextual leadership

requirements, and (e) their reflective practice was very informal.

These findings present implications for the Ontario College System as it seeks to attract, retain,

and develop leaders in this role, and for the leadership learning that is required to support

leadership development and growth.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the direction, guidance and support of my thesis committee;

my chair and thesis advisor Professor Reva Joshee, Professor Katharine Janzen, and Professor

Carol Campbell. Each of you are remarkable women, scholars, teachers, and leaders. To

Professor Reva Joshee, I am particularly grateful, as her knowledge and advice have been

invaluable and have been shared with such caring and warmth, and unflagging support and

encouragement.

I would also like to acknowledge the impact of the following OISE faculty and staff who

have been in turns inspirational and supportive of my educational journey; Professor James

Draper (deceased), Professor Lynn Davies, Professor Joseph Flessa, Professor Lyn Sharratt,

Professor Colleen Scully-Stewart, and LHAE Program Assistant Karolina Syzmanski.

Without my “OISE Mates,” the small group of fellow classmates, friends, and cheering

section that came together through course work and gelled into a formidable team, it would have

been easy to lose momentum, and it would have been a lot less fun. My sincere thanks and

appreciation to Rita Betro, Stephanie Dimech, William Peat, and Rhonda Dynes. Thanks also to

members of Professor Joshee’s “Thesis Group”: Sharon Kamassah, Ebru Bag, Jill Carr-Harris,

and Annie Luk, who were a source of ideas and support.

To American scholar Robbie Palmer Hertneky, Ph.D., my profound admiration and

thanks. Your doctoral dissertation and subsequent publications inspired my own research and

your work related to college system leaders provided invaluable guidance. I am indebted to the

participants in my research study who, as fellow colleagues in the Ontario College System as

deans of business, make me proud to have been a part of this work. Each of them gave me such

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invaluable insights with candour and grace, and enabled my research and findings to come

together. Thanks also to Dean Mary Pierce of Fanshawe College, who, as Co-Chair of the Heads

of Business network group, was instrumental in helping me to secure participants for my

research study.

From my professional/personal network, I am also grateful to Dr. Vicki Bismilla, Robin

Hemmingsen, Dr. Robert Hedley, Dr. Pat Hedley, Dr. Gina Marshall, Varsha Patel, Yasmin

Razack, Laurie Sanci, and Dr. Carol Roffey, for adding ideas and encouragement along the way.

Thank you also to Olivia Scobie and Carolyn Hyde for your keen eyes on my research process

and your feedback. Thank you to Meryl Greene for her academic editing expertise and support

that encouraged me to represent my work in the best possible light. Thank you, Leah Pearson, for

your cheerful, careful assistance with document preparation.

Completing a doctoral program can be a demanding and somewhat lonely experience,

and I appreciated the interest, encouragement, and support from my friends, particularly Dale,

Robin, Rita, and Vida, who listened patiently to my explanations of my work, and to my sisters

Laurie, Sherry, and Holly who regularly asked about my progress. Thank you sincerely to two of

my most favourite people, Alain and Matt, for your frequent encouragement, questions, and

reminders to keep moving both my mind and body, and to keep focused.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the generous and loving support of my wonderful

family—my husband Larry and my children James (Odessa), Brooke (Mark), and Scott. Thank

you for supporting all of the time, resources, and energy that I chose to put into this important

part of my work and my life.

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Dedication

The culmination of this work and completion of my doctoral thesis is

dedicated to my parents, Jim and Jean Frandsen, who encouraged my lifelong

love of learning.

They did this through creating a loving home filled with books, a dinner

table where ideas were discussed freely, where resources to help with school were

always found, and where lessons and activities were supported, even when the

money had to stretch very far to make it happen.

My work is also dedicated to a few stellar teachers that I encountered

along the way who allowed me to see that learning and teaching are

interconnected, and who have helped me to become both the learner and teacher

that I strive to reflect in my work.

I am extremely grateful.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv

Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... vi

List of Tables ...................................................................................................................................x

List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ xi

List of Appendices ........................................................................................................................ xii

Chapter 1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................1

Thinking About Leading ............................................................................................................1

My Dissertation Topic ...............................................................................................................2

The Context for Leadership in the Ontario College System ......................................................4

Overview of My Research Study ...............................................................................................9

Starting With My Own Leadership Story ................................................................................10

Research Questions Guiding My Study ...................................................................................12

Methodology ............................................................................................................................12

Organization of My Research Study ........................................................................................13

Chapter 2 Literature Review ..........................................................................................................15

Using a Theoretical Framework to Examine Relevant Literature ...........................................16

Examining Research on Ontario College System Leadership .................................................20

What Constitutes Leadership? .................................................................................................22

Educational Leadership ............................................................................................................27

Coming Into Leadership Roles ................................................................................................32

How the Literature Has Guided My Research .........................................................................35

Chapter 3 Methodology .................................................................................................................36

Purpose of My Research Study ................................................................................................36

Qualitative Research and the Method of Narrative Inquiry .....................................................37

Approach to My Research Study .............................................................................................40

Developing the Research Questions to Guide the Narrative Inquiry Process .........................42

Recruitment of Study Participants ...........................................................................................45

Decisions about sampling for generalizability and validation. ..........................................47

Ethical Implications for My Research .....................................................................................49

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Data Collection and Analysis...................................................................................................49

Narrative Analysis ...................................................................................................................51

Limitations of My Study ..........................................................................................................52

Chapter 4 Analysis and Findings ...................................................................................................53

Profiles of My Study Participants ............................................................................................53

Participant #1: Alice. .........................................................................................................53

Participant #2: Bryan. ........................................................................................................56

Participant #3: Colin. .........................................................................................................58

Participant #4: Deborah. ....................................................................................................60

Participant #5: Eldon..........................................................................................................62

Participant #6: Francis. ......................................................................................................64

Leadership Themes and Findings ............................................................................................67

Leadership philosophy. ......................................................................................................67

Accountability. ...................................................................................................................67

Communication. .................................................................................................................67

Responsibility to followers. ...............................................................................................68

Developing others. .............................................................................................................68

Leadership behaviour in practice. ......................................................................................68

Demographic Characteristics of Participants ...........................................................................69

Perception of the Role of Dean of Business in the College System Context ..........................70

Applying SWOT Analysis to the Dean of Business Role........................................................72

The Leadership Capability Framework Designed for the College System ..............................77

Learning, Growth, and Reflection in the Role of Dean of Business........................................84

Unique Aspects of Experience in the Dean of Business Role .................................................87

Summary of Findings ...............................................................................................................88

Chapter 5 Discussion .....................................................................................................................90

My Theoretical Framework .....................................................................................................90

Returning to My Research Questions ......................................................................................90

Returning to My Conceptual Framework for Discussion ........................................................94

The Journey to Leadership .......................................................................................................95

Developing a Leadership Identity ............................................................................................99

The Role of Leadership Competencies in the Lived Experiences of Leaders .......................104

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A Critique of the Leadership Capability Framework for Ontario College System Leaders ......................................................................................................................105

Examining Leadership Frameworks for Applicability to the Role of Dean of Business....................................................................................................................110

Continuing Learning and Development and Reflection ........................................................111

Summary ................................................................................................................................116

Chapter 6 Conclusions .................................................................................................................117

Reviewing My Goals in My Study of Ontario College System Leadership ..........................117

My Personal Reflection on Leadership and Learning in the Role of Dean of Business....................................................................................................................118

Implications............................................................................................................................124

Limitations of My Study ........................................................................................................126

Concluding Thoughts .............................................................................................................127

References ....................................................................................................................................130

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List of Tables

Table 1 SWOT Analysis Responses: Participants’ Reflective Observations .................................73

Table 2 Leadership Capability Framework ...................................................................................78

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List of Figures

Figure 1. Visual summary of my theoretical framework. .............................................................18

Figure 2. Connecting leader identity and development in the role of Dean of Business with the college system leadership capability (competency) framework and interrogating how these leaders learn by reflecting on their practice and identifying their needs. ..............................................................................................19

Figure 3. Depiction of the 5 Leadership Capability dimensions categorized by colour to reflect the leadership actions as anticipates, shapes, and delivers. Central to the framework for leaders is to model college values and to place student success at the core. ............................................................................................................79

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List of Appendices

Appendix A Guiding Interview Questions ..................................................................................142

Appendix B Letter for Referring Potential Participants ..............................................................144

Appendix C Information for Participants and Informed Consent ................................................146

Appendix D The Leadership Capability Framework ...................................................................149

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Chapter 1

Introduction

If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn

more, do more, and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.

Dolly Parton, Singer–Songwriter (as cited in Miller, n.d.)

Thinking About Leading

Leadership is defined as “the office or position of a leader,” and “the capacity to lead”

(Merriam-Webster, n.d.). To lead is defined as “to direct the operations, activity or performance

of” (Merriam Webster, n.d.). The opening quote from Dolly Parton embodies many of the

feelings that I have held about the type of leadership that I wanted to practice throughout my

work as a leader. Having others look to me for direction, guidance, and support was a

responsibility that I took very seriously. I felt I had a duty to those that reported to me to clearly

communicate the requirements of the organization that were presented in our job roles, to enable

the people in those roles to succeed with my support and with an eye on their on-going learning

and development. I wanted to always have the courage to accept responsibility for any of their

failings in their performance within the institution, even if it impacted me negatively in my own

goals and plans, and to ensure that they were treated with the utmost fairness, respect, honesty

and consideration as people.

One of the most satisfying and fulfilling aspects of my work as a leader in any

organization where I worked, and particularly during my leadership roles in the Ontario College

System was the great deal of joy and satisfaction in seeing those who were assigned to my staff

perform their roles successfully, accomplishing new and difficult tasks, and then growing,

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learning, and achieving recognition. Over the years, I observed many people working in all

levels of leadership roles, and I wondered what constituted good leadership in the college

system. I witnessed many success stories and some abysmal failures. The leaders that I

encountered that I respected most were bright, thoughtful people that took the time to help others

learn about the work of their departments and encouraged their staff to learn more and to do

more. They were always supportive of opportunities for learning and growth, even if it meant

leaving the organization. The generosity of spirit and the investment in the success of others

framed the kind of leader that I wanted to be. In my own academic work within leadership, adult

and higher education, I have seized the opportunity to make leadership the focus of my studies.

My Dissertation Topic

My dissertation examined the leadership journeys of those in the role of dean of business

in the Ontario College System. I wanted to understand how the journey had led the participants

to the role of dean, how they experience the role, their own perceptions of themselves as leaders

in terms of their beliefs about leadership, and how they feel that they practice their leadership in

the college setting. I also wanted to know how they approach their learning and growth in the

role and to what extent they engaged in a process of reflection. Through their leadership stories, I

examine how leadership is played out in the Ontario College System.

I have chosen to focus my examination on the leadership role of the dean of business. I

started my college career in a school of business. I worked as a college business professor for 12

years and enjoyed the role immensely. I was initially approached by others to take on the role of

department chair in the school. This led me on a career journey of holding various college

leadership positions but the one that was most enjoyable to me in all aspects of the role was my

time as the dean of business. I felt the greatest connection to faculty, staff and students in this

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role. I enjoyed being able to recruit and select new faculty and staff. While I was dean of

business, I was able to use significant enrolment growth, coupled with an unprecedented round

of baby boomer faculty retirements to make a successful business case to hire 14 people over an

18-month period. Using change leadership techniques developed by Kotter (1995, 2012), I led

the school on a program and delivery revitalization that would be aided by hiring additional

faculty, embracing changes to programs and course structure, and delivery. New delivery

methods were supported financially with investment in necessary systems and software for

technology enablement and enhancement, as well as new teaching techniques supported through

creating peer learning faculty champions, and teaching and learning center resource staff, and

providing workload time. I supported the creation of new work-integrated learning opportunities

for students through culminating courses that allowed business community members to support

real projects, and expanded student service learning opportunities. I attended student events such

as business case contests, mock court presentations, and attendance at business association

events.

The dean of business role was typical across all of the Ontario College System whereas

some of the other academic support function leadership roles that I held were not present in

every college in the system. My most senior role at the time that I left my college career was that

of associate vice president–academic. This was a role that existed in only a third of the colleges

in the Ontario College System and was typically present in the larger colleges.

My research examined the personal journeys of those who took on the role of Dean of

Business in the Ontario College System setting. This is a role that is often filled by recruiting

leaders who are external to the college system and have deep discipline specific knowledge and

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experience of the business world, prior to entering the field of higher education. Their leadership

experience is often honed outside of the postsecondary college system.

For my research, I decided to use the qualitative research process of narrative inquiry, in

which I interviewed selected participants about their experiences. The stories that they told

became the phenomenon under study to help us better understand what it means to be a leader in

this context. It is my hope that there is value in my research to the Ontario College System.

There are significant changes predicted for the composition of the ranks of Ontario College

administrative leaders within the next 5 years due to anticipated retirements as the demographic

cohort of the baby boomers exits the system.

At December 31, 2011, in the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATs), the Traditionalists and the Baby Boomers (employees over the age of 46) made up about 60% of the total employee population enrolled in the pension plan. Over the next 18 years 11,965 employees will be retirement eligible. (Adamson, 2013, p. 13)

According to well-known demographer David Foot (Foot & Stoffman 1996), this will not

necessarily create the need for one-to-one replacements, or even skills shortages, as changing

patterns of work (half-time work arrangements, project management of specific initiatives), and

use of technology for effectiveness of service and productivity, will change the nature of college

administrative work. I hope that the examination of leadership journeys and the self-descriptions

of how individuals practice their leadership will inform the Ontario College System to look at

their recruitment and retention practices so they can effectively attract capable leaders.

The Context for Leadership in the Ontario College System

Modern educational literature includes discussion of epistemology, effective pedagogy,

human development, student achievement and social justice and draws on several disciplines

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such as psychology, sociology, political science and business. Leadership skills for

Kindergarten–Grade 12 (K–12) educational administrators as documented by Leithwood,

Leonard, and Sharratt (1998) range from instructional or curricular expertise, distributed

leadership, community building, social justice leadership, and transformational leadership. These

skills are also relevant to the mandates of postsecondary educational settings today. This is

evident in a 2017 job posting and candidate profile for the dean of business role at one of the

mid-size Ontario colleges. As it appeared on the Colleges of Ontario website job board, the ideal

candidate profile cites the following among a detailed list of desired qualifications:1

• Provide sound leadership and management to the faculty and staff in the Business

school in order to achieve the College’s existing and future strategic directions.

• Manage the successful move and transition of the School to the new downtown

campus and building.

• Continue to guide and support academic program development, review, renewal,

quality and innovation within the Faculty.

• Work collaboratively with the other members of the College’s Academic and

Administrative Leadership teams to ensure alignment and an inter-disciplinary

approach to excellence in teaching and learning, support student success, and enhance

a culture of enquiry.

• Support “managed” domestic and international enrolment growth within the Faculty

and College, in order to respond to ongoing and changing labour market and student

demands.

1 This posting was available for a limited period of time, until the end date of the competition.

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• Provide support to faculty and staff in order to successfully meet, address, and

manage the current and future needs of internationalized, diverse students, as well as

student accommodations.

• Support and enable proactive organizational development, succession planning, talent

management, capacity-building and empowerment, ensuring positive

union/management relations, in order to achieve the highest levels of performance,

engagement and a student-focused culture.

• Support and enable the effective and relevant use of technology in online learning,

programming and flexible delivery.

• Foster and support current and future applied research efforts and community and

partnership initiatives across the academic area and College.

The college system in Canada and Ontario is differentiated from Canadian universities by

governance, mandate, student population, relationships to business, industry and sectors

employing graduates, and the credentials of a faculty (an almost equal emphasis on academic

preparation and workplace experience). Postsecondary college systems are often also responding

to national strategies or provincial/state governmental policy that may cause differing structures.

In Canada, the community colleges (officially named the Colleges of Applied Arts and

Technology or CAATs in Ontario) are largely a post-World War II phenomenon, responding to

increasing industrialization and urbanization of the Canadian economy and society. The colleges

provide an alternative form of postsecondary education that offers career-focused education.

While the college system has acted as a training and delivery agent for the skilled trades and

apprenticeships, providing in-class learning as part of the trades credentialing process, they also

play a major role in educating those in business, nursing and allied health occupations,

engineering technicians and technologists, hospitality, and communications and media. The

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programs delivered include English language communication skills development, and general

education courses for breadth outside of the conceptual and practical learning required for the

discipline of study and sector for employment. In each of the provinces, the college systems have

been created with a single act of legislation that applies specific rules and regulations for all of

the institutions defined as colleges. This is in contrast to universities that are individually

chartered and governed by a bi-cameral structure of administrative and senatorial structures that

gives members of the university faculty a significant voice in decision-making within the

institution. This structure is often linked to the concept of academic freedom of members of the

faculty to express themselves without fear or censure related to their research, teaching and

stance related to their area of study. The topic of academic freedom became a significant element

in the collective bargaining by the college faculty union that resulted in a province-wide 5-week

work stoppage that began in October 2017. In the college context, this issue was more about

control over curriculum by faculty members and freedom of speech on campus extending to

sharing their personal views on issues in their classrooms, in the staff room and in public forums,

that may be critical of administrative positions, decisions or actions. Colleges have more in

common with the administrative structures that exist in K–12 settings than with those of

Canadian universities. They report as a system to the provincial Ministry of Training Colleges

and Universities under a single legislative act. The K–2 system reports as a system to the

provincial Ministry of Education. Both colleges and K–12 schools must conform to specific

curriculum guidelines, whereas educational programming at universities is determined through

bi-cameral governance structures. Colleges have some latitude to respond to the specific needs of

their communities in the programming that they provide, with the result that not every institution

will offer the same programs or the same curriculum delivery, but they are obliged to meet

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system-level learning outcomes where programming is occurring across several institutions as

established by each province (Colleges Ontario, n.d.).

Without the role of senate governance that is typical in universities, college leadership

roles and mandates may be quite different when it comes to decision-making, particularly in the

face of decisions that represent major institutional changes, or the formulation of strategic

direction and priorities of the institution. Some examples of this are the ability of individual

colleges to decide whether or not to offer baccalaureate degree programs, whether to operate

year-round or only in the fall and winter semesters, whether or not to engage in applied research,

and the degree to which they recruit and accept international visa students.

In 2010, the Committee of Presidents of the Ontario College System commissioned Dr.

Vince Molinaro of the human resources consultancy, Knightsbridge Human Capital, to deliver a

leadership capability framework for Ontario College System leaders that would describe the

capabilities or competencies that would be required of those in leadership positions, as similar

frameworks have been developed for Ontario’s K–12 public education systems and competency

frameworks have been used in university settings in Canada, the USA, the United Kingdom and

Australia over the past few decades (Weiss, Molinaro, & Davey 2010). This suggests that

understanding what constitutes effective leadership practice has become important within the

Ontario College System. The framework was finalized in 2012 and has not yet been fully

implemented by each and every college in the province, as provincial government policy on

wage regulation and job classification changes in the public sector since 2012 has slowed some

aspects of implementation. Most colleges can demonstrate some measure of implementation

however, most commonly starting with recruitment and descriptions of the desired capabilities or

competencies of academic leaders.

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Overview of My Research Study

A key aspect of my examination of the dean of business as a representative academic

leadership role in the college system was to invite participants in this role to tell the story of their

own leadership journey to the role, and to describe themselves as leaders in terms of their beliefs

about what constitutes leadership, how they see their own leadership in practice (e.g., their

behaviour and actions, etc.), how their leadership role is impacted by the college system context,

if the leadership capability framework resonates or is meaningful to them in their role, and how

they undertook learning activities for their own growth. I also wanted to know if they engaged in

conscious forms of reflective practice about their role as a leader.

In the literature on leadership, many sources discuss how leaders are perceived by their

followers and the ways in which they can influence and engage with them. The research on

leadership identity and self-perception has received less focus than leader–follower relationships.

However, there are two key studies in which identity and self-perception are prominent: Hiller

(2005) and Komives, Owen, Longerbeam, Mainella, and Osteen (2005).

In a study of American college presidents who are women, Hertneky (2008) also

undertook a qualitative narrative inquiry approach to a study that examined leaders’ self-identity.

Hertneky discusses Hillier’s (2005) three primary influences on leadership self-identity as, (a)

past leadership experience, (b) personality factors (self-evaluation, motivation to lead, and self-

monitoring), and (c) the self-matching of personal traits to those associated with leadership.

Hertneky introduced two ideas that resonated with me in my work.

The first idea from Hertneky (2008) was:

Leadership self-identity is subtle and complex. It is a self-construction of experiences and self-knowledge that develops over time. One of the challenges is

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that it may be called other things (i.e., self-knowledge, self-concept, mind-set), or it may be discussed implicitly and not labelled at all. (p. 3)

The second idea was from a quote written by Van Knippenberg, Van Knippenberg. De

Cremer, and Hoag (2005, p. 498, as cited in Hertneky, 2008, p. 3):

The self and identity perspective may also be fruitfully applied to understand leadership effectiveness from the leader (i.e., rather than follower) self-conception.

These ideas were key to validating my own sense that how leaders perceived themselves created

a major impact on their practice of leadership.

Starting With My Own Leadership Story

My area of interest broadly is leadership and specifically how it gets played out in the

Ontario public post-secondary college system. My own personal career journey included

working for a combined 12 years in a publicly traded technology corporation, a publicly funded

teaching hospital managing communications technology and services, and a privately held

partnership that was one of the world’s largest accounting and management consultancy

professional service firms, before joining the Ontario College System.

In any role that I held, there was never a time that I was not involved in either taking a

course or teaching one. As a high school and university student, I worked as a peer tutor. I loved

learning and I loved teaching but upon graduation from my undergraduate program, the job

market for teachers looked bleak so rather than invest in teacher education, I began working in a

series of very good corporate and public service managerial jobs before finding my initial

Ontario College System role. Managing others gave me some opportunities to help others learn

and grow. I was always as interested in their development plans, as well as their performance in

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their roles. I was acknowledged as a manager who supported the learning goals of members of

my team and who helped them to access learning opportunities.

As a leader, I found it fulfilling to not only enable and support the learning and growth of

my staff, but to see them advance their careers with progression to other roles both internal and

external to the college. I had a reputation as a leader within the college where I worked with a

keen eye for spotting talent and capability and making excellent hiring decisions, and then

ensuring that these staff members were placed into job roles where they could demonstrate their

talents. My staff were sought after by other leaders, and often cited for excellent work

performance, commitment, and enthusiasm. I believe that my ability to be a skilled developer of

people is a function of my own passion for teaching and learning.

My management role in the accounting and management consultancy organization

brought me into contact with the Ontario publicly funded post-secondary college system. I was

asked to teach as a part time studies instructor in a business telecommunications management

program. This led to an opportunity to apply to join another college in a full-time teaching

professor role in a school of business. Taking on this role led to an extremely rich and satisfying

career in Ontario’s College System for 30 years. I progressed through a series of roles that

culminated in a senior executive role as an associate vice president with responsibility for all

academic support services at the college. Along the way, I worked as a professor, a program

coordinator, a chair of a department, an internal consultant, a secondee to an institution-wide

teaching technology project, an external appointee to Ontario’s secondary school curriculum

reform project, a dean of a teaching and learning center, a dean of the school of business, an

acting vice president–academic, and an associate vice president–academic. At a recent

celebratory event in the school of business where I had been dean, I received several expressions

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of gratitude from attendees, who cited my decision to hire them as significant turning points in

their lives and careers. Several of these individuals mentioned that I had been instrumental in

their development by providing them with learning opportunities such as conference attendance,

support for enrolling in professional certification programs, or assistance with selecting further

education paths, and supporting these with reference letters.

Research Questions Guiding My Study

I framed my research with four overarching research questions:

1. How had their leadership journey prepared them for their role as dean of business?

2. How did they describe their own leadership identity (their own thinking and practice

of leadership)?

3. How did the competencies outlined in the leadership capability framework developed

for the Ontario College System compare to their actual experience in the role?

4. What activities of continuing learning and reflection did they use as leaders?

Methodology

My research was an exploratory narrative inquiry that used interviews to gather data. In

the definitive work by Clandinin (2006) on the subject of narrative inquiry, Kramp (2004, as

cited in Whelan, Huber, Rose, Davies, & Clandinin, 2001, p. xi) asserted that narrative inquiry

“is both a process (in which the narrator tells) and a product (in the story told).” As a further

explanation, according to Smythe and Murray (2000):

Narrative inquiry as a methodology makes the experience of others and the stories they tell, the phenomenon under study. Those who tell stories bring their identities, social influences, the impacts of their environments and their experiences to the narrative. Narrative inquiry functions as the means by which to

13

take “what was once the participant’s story, as it now becomes a co-constructed text, the analysis of which falls within the framework of interpretative authority of the researcher.” (p. 548)

A purposeful sample of deans of business in the Ontario College System was chosen as

the participants in the study. I asked that participants had completed 2 full years in the role (to

ensure exposure to a full academic year and the cycle of the tasks and responsibilities required in

the dean’s role). If the participant had recently retired from the Dean’s role, I asked that they had

not been out of their role for longer than 3 years. This would ensure their participation from

2012–2015 in terms of experiencing current government policy and regulation. My study seeks

to provide some depth of understanding on how deans of business experience their leadership

role, fleshing out the meaning of some of the ideas in the cited leadership framework. Obtaining

an understanding of leadership self-perception and identity within the context of an academic

leadership role in the Ontario Colleges System, could provide the basis for examining other

leadership roles within the system to ascertain similarities and differences across the system.

Organization of My Research Study

The body of literature on leadership in the Ontario College System has been scant to-

date. To create a relevant body of literature, I looked at literature pertaining to leadership,

leadership self-identity, leadership learning, competency frameworks in higher education and

reflective practice. I used my research questions to try to uncover academic leadership practices

in the Ontario College System on which I could base my study.

In Chapter 2, I present my theoretical and conceptual frameworks, the relevant literature

on the subject of leadership concepts and theories, leadership identity, leadership competency

frameworks in higher education, leadership learning and reflective practice.

14

In Chapter 3, I offer the relevant literature on the qualitative method of narrative inquiry,

the appropriateness of this method to the study, the sampling process, validity and

generalizability, limitations of my research, a discussion of the interview process and description

of the research participants, and an overview of the process of data analysis for my study.

Chapter 4 describes in detail the findings from my research study and offers the themes

that I identified to inform my understanding of the way in which the research participants viewed

their roles and their leadership practice. I have used the voices of the participants to tell their own

stores of their leadership journeys, their beliefs and practice as leaders, and their learning and

reflection processes.

Chapter 5 is a discussion of the findings and Chapter 6 offers the conclusions that I was

able to reach about their leadership identity, practice and development. I have tied this back to

the relevant literature where appropriate.

The stories that were so generously shared by the participants have allowed me to

understand how they view their leadership in this dynamic and important academic sector of

postsecondary business education in the Ontario College System.

15

Chapter 2

Literature Review

To-date, I found very little published literature on the leadership roles in the Ontario

College System. In seeking academic sources that would discuss the role of senior academic

leaders in the Ontario College System and specifically those who held the role of dean of

business, I did not locate a single study.

The Ontario College System commissioned the creation of a leadership capability

framework for the system at the request of the college presidents. This framework was finalized

in 2012 (see Appendix D) and provided to the Ontario College System by The College Employer

Council (the agency that is the bargaining representative for the Committee of College Presidents

in matters of terms and conditions of employment, compensation, benefits and professional

learning and development). This framework is in use but has not been fully implemented nor

uniformly implemented by the 24 colleges in the public college system.

Capability, or competency frameworks (the more commonly used term) have existed in

other jurisdictions in Canada and in the K–12 public education system, and in universities. I was

surprised at the scarcity of research as the Ontario College System has just celebrated its 50th

year of providing career-focused education to those seeking this form of higher education

experience. The enrolment in the business schools of the Ontario College System constitutes

nearly 23% of all students in the system. 2 The deans responsible for this programming have the

opportunity to impact significant numbers of faculty and students through their leadership.

2 Data provided by Linda Franklin, President of Colleges Ontario in an address to the OCASA Leadership

Conference of June 27, 2015.

16

Using a Theoretical Framework to Examine Relevant Literature

Leadership is a journey, first about self and self-knowledge, then the struggle to

deal with the obstacles in our lives.

Mahatma Gandhi (as cited in Mullen & Robertson, 2014, p. 20)

In considering a theoretical framework that would underpin my research study, I turned

to the literature for an examination of the process by which leaders are developed, and the role of

shaping experiences and the processing of those experiences for the benefit of learning by

leaders about how to continually improve themselves and grow in their leadership roles.

From my review of the literature on leadership, I have come to believe that leader identity

is central to an individual’s performance of a leadership role. An individual’s identity is forged in

their experiences that form their thoughts, beliefs and values. Deciding to act on these, forms

learned behaviours that are generally consistent over time. These behaviours will be used as

individuals perform in leadership roles.

In terms of a theoretical framework, I am examining leadership sitting at the confluence

of identity and development, and leadership learning and growth. Lord and Brown (2003)

examined leadership, self and identity and concluded that through looking at leadership actions

and the influence on followers, leadership may be best observed. Lord and Hall (2005) provide a

framework theory of leadership development and learning that suggests that development of

individual leadership skills, may be viewed from the general theory of learning and expertise,

with changes in both information processing and underlying knowledge structures occurring as

skill develops. They add that because leadership skill development requires pro-action on the

part of leaders, that identity, meta-cognitive processes and emotional regulation are critical

17

factors in leaders’ development. They arrange leadership learning on a continuum from novice to

intermediate to expert. These stages of development are arranged in a matrix with six skill areas

to be developed: task; emotional; social; identity level; meta-monitoring; and value orientation.

Lord and Hall (2005) further discuss leadership learning and growth.

This prompted the question, “How did experiences shape an individual’s sense of identity

as a leader?” leading me to consideration of the individual career journeys that they have

travelled, the contexts in which they have worked, and how they came from those settings into a

role as an Ontario College System administrator and leaders of a business school. Coming into

this role, what did they identify as continuing learning that will enable them to further grow and

develop in their leadership roles in this setting. If leadership learning can be placed on a

continuum, where were the participants in my study on their leadership learning journey?

Schön (1983) stated that professionals learn through reflection on action. He explained

that examining actions, thoughts, consequences and then developing a critical lens through which

to guide their own performance is critical to development of leaders, and that they should allow

doubt to guide their own performance as a critical aspect of their development, and their ongoing

inquiry and learning. This appeared to support self-examination and reflection on the practice by

leaders, and using these processes to guide both learning and ongoing leadership practice. I am

using Schön’s (1983) framework of reflective practice, specifically reflection on action which

can be described as a process by which professionals analyze their practice, examining their

reaction to a situation, exploring the reasons and consequences of their actions. This reflection is

usually documented for reference by the practitioner in their continued professional growth.

Schön concluded that professional growth begins when the practitioner starts to view their

actions with a critical lens, by doubting his or her actions. According to Shapiro (2010), this

18

brings into action Schön’s notions of “responding to problematic situations, problem framing,

problem solving, and the priority of practical knowledge over abstract theory” (p. 62). Other

scholars who have cited the importance of using reflection for professional learning and growth

in academic settings are Dewey (1933/2012), Ericson (1962), Heidegger (1966), Kolb (1975),

Argyris and Schön (1974), Schön (1983) Gibbs (1988), Brookfield (1998), and Boyer (1990).

This list is arranged to show the chronological progression and evolution of the thinking on this

topic.

This theoretical framework incorporated the two dimensions that I felt were relevant to

my research study that could be addressed by the findings of the established body of scholarly

that emerged from my literature search on my proposed topic of study (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Visual summary of my theoretical framework.

Leader Identity and Leadership Learning

Leader identity and development (Lord & Brown, 2003) Reflecting individual stories (Hall & Brown, 2005)

Development & Growth

Leader learning and growth (2005 Lord & Hall,) Reflecting on practice (Schön, 1983)

19

The conceptual framework that I bring to this discussion is represented in Figure 2.

Leadership

du

Figure 2. Connecting leader identity and development in the role of Dean of Business with the college system leadership capability (competency) framework and interrogating how these leaders learn by reflecting on their practice and identifying their needs.

Educational Administrationand Leadership

Leadership• Leadership journeys•Leadership identity frameworks• Leadership development theories•Conceptualizing the work of

educational leaders in the Ontario College system

Organizational Context of Ontario Colleges

• Drivers: Responiveness to local and regional needs, Labour market relevance, career-focused learning, access and inclusion

• Government regulation of Colleges

Organizational Learningand Development

Competencies Needed in Leaders

• College system competency model and leadership framework

• Learning needs - the college system, and subject matter expertise in the field of business and business schools

Capacity Development• Learning and development for the

college leadership role of dean• System learning, discipline-specific,

professional learning•Reflective practice

What conversations am I entering?

– What learning and development has prepared those who achieve this role?

– What role does continuing learning and development play?

– Are the needed skills reflected in the leadership frameworks?

What conversations am I entering?

– Leading in senior academic role in the Ontario college setting

– Leader identity – Leading to respond to local and regional needs,

provide labour market relevant and career-focused learning, ensuring access and inclusion to pathways for a wide range of students

20

This conceptual framework reflects the culmination of my own learning and reflection that

emerged from my experiences as a senior college leader over a 12-year period, and that was

further refined and developed in my own doctoral studies in the Department of Educational

Leadership and Policy at the Ontario Institute of Education. For the practicum course work as

part of my Doctorate of Education, I worked on a project for the Ontario Principals ‘Council

(OPC). My project involved looking at the potential markets of international educational

administrators that might be interested to take advantage of the professional development

offerings of the OPC that were based on the Ontario Leadership Framework (Leithwood, 2012)

for the K–12 sector. This experience heightened my interest in exploring if similar avenues

existed for college sector administrators.

Examining Research on Ontario College System Leadership

As I examined leadership in the Ontario College System, I turned to the literature to

explore if my thinking about leadership in the system was reflected in the research and

publications. My sense was that college leaders as represented by the dean of business role, play

an academic leadership and an administrative/organizational role to manage the financial

viability and success of their schools in a postsecondary sector context that enables career-

focused learning that combines theoretical and practical learning, and that there are many path

and little formal ways of preparing for this role.

While focusing mainly on university institutions, Davison (2012), in a Canadian study of

academic leaders in Atlantic Canada states:

Further, explorations of how academic leaders construe and evaluate the differing discourses regarding post-secondary learning are limited. The literature suggests that post-secondary leaders are increasingly expected to balance facilitating learning and resisting corporate agendas regarding economically oriented outcomes of that learning, while also supporting academic freedom and scholarly

21

inquiry (Clark, 2004; Fain, 2006; Iacobucci & Tuohy, 2005; Olivieri, 2000; Slaughter and Rhoades, 2004; Washburn, 2005). Certainly within contemporary United Kingdom and North American post-secondary discourses, there is a tendency to frame post-secondary learning using corporate, for-profit language (Armstrong & Miller, 2006; Klaassen, 2000; Newman Couturier, & Scurry, 2004). Writers such as Franklin (2000), Morley (2003), Reynolds (1999), Tamburri (2007), Turk (2000), and academic associations in both the UK and North America argue that within such a business-oriented climate, learning in post-secondary institutions is under scrutiny by corporate and government interests to ensure that learning, and the institutions themselves, are accountable, competitive, profit focused, consumer driven, relevant to the workplace, and controlled by specific outcomes. (p. 14)

For Ontario College System leaders, many of the facets of university education such as

breadth of inquiry, multiple accepted schools of thought within disciplines if they are evidence-

based, academic freedom, scholarship, publication and research are not the primary focus of

colleges. Meeting economic development and employment needs by producing work ready

graduates, and imbuing college educated graduates with a sense of their place as citizens in a

democratic society are the priorities of these institutions.

I am wondering how academic administrative leaders in the system both practice their

leadership and learn to be leaders within this system, particularly if they do not have a

progressive career within the system that develops an understanding of the system, in the way

that a K–12 teacher or a university professor is prepared as they are progressing through job roles

within those educational structures to leadership positions. Those in academic leadership roles of

school principals and university deans cannot obtain those roles without linear progression.

Leaders are not hired into these roles from other sectors or with differing types of academic

preparation and credentials, as they are in the Ontario College System. The Ontario College

System leadership role requires a duality that emphasizes academic excellence in teaching and

learning through delivery of current, relevant programs of study, and attention to organizational

22

goals of strategic enrolment, financial management and contribution, and partnerships with

business and community.

Leadership development within the system currently lacks a uniform or homogenous

system of preparation. The Ontario College System Committee of Presidents (CoP), through The

College Employer Council, engaged Tamblyn International Consulting to undertake a review of

college system training initiatives in 2016. In a final report on the findings, Tamblyn (2016)

stated:3

An initial review established that there was indeed widespread support for the establishment of a Training and Development Service that supported Leadership Development, especially for administrative leaders in the Ontario college system. CoP requested that further details around the possible establishment of such a service be investigated and that a follow-up report with recommendations be submitted to CoP later in 2017. (p. 18)

What Constitutes Leadership?

Much has been published about leadership by social scientists, business scholars and

education researchers. Many descriptors have been applied to leadership today (shared, or

distributed, transformational, charismatic, authentic, ethical, servant, values-based, inclusive,

etc.), but leadership remains very much a contested topic.

The terms leadership, administration, and management appear in a search of the

literature. Leadership has been defined by early management theorist Mary Parker Follet (as

cited in O’Connor, 2000, p. 167) simply as “getting things done through people,” and more

3 This report is not available publicly, but in my own professional activities as a consultant, I was engaged to work with Tamblyn International on this project and was privy to the final report as it contained my own work.

23

fulsomely expressed by Applebaum, Beckman, Boone, and Kurtz. (1987) as “the act of guiding,

influencing or directing others to perform activities to achieve objectives” (p. 144). Fayol (1937,

as discussed in Douglas and Bedeian, 1976), is credited with establishing a distinction that

administration at the most senior levels of the organization involved framing the policies and

objectives for an organization and that it was the job of management to implement these policies

and objectives. Waters, Marzano, and McNulty (2006) claimed that the use of the term

leadership as it has occurred in public policy in neo-liberal governments, such as those of the

U.K., U.S., and Canada, can be understood as “having been borrowed from business” (p. 8). As a

discipline within the study of education, educational administration examines the administrative

theory and practice of education, and educational institutions and educators. Today, the use of

the term administration has become more common in public sector and government, whereas

business more commonly uses management to designate those in authority within organizations

(Drucker, 2013).

Throughout history, explanations have been sought for leadership. Leadership was once

conferred by circumstances such as birthright, control of land and resources, acceptance and

progress through the ranks of religious or military institutions, or association with deities or

spiritual powers. Since Plato’s Republic, Western civilization had focused on a nature versus

nurture argument for leadership, leaders were born not made. Thinking about leadership shifted

to trait theories with the 19th century writings of Thomas Carlyle (1841/1974) and Galton

(1869/1972).

The body of literature on leadership gave focus to personality trait theories from the 17th

century to the 20th, with the identification of the “Big 5” (Costa & McCrae, 1992, p. 190)

leadership personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and

24

narcissism) as one of the most recent and often cited works. Early academic leadership theories

focused on individual characteristics, but evidence soon became clear that it was impossible to

predict a potential for leadership based on personal traits (Johns & Moser, 1989).

Examination of leaders’ behaviours that were dominant in the extant literature of the

1960s and 1970s shifted the focus to leader attributes in combination with an ability to adapt to

situations, suggesting that leaders’ behaviours were contingent on actual situations. Building on

the earlier research of Lewin, Lippitt, and White (1939), researchers turned their focus to

leadership climates and different behaviours. This led to the development of the Fiedler

Contingency Model (Fiedler, 1967) which examined the interaction of leadership style and

situations, House’s Path-Goal Theory (House, 1971) that leaders engage in behaviours that

complement followers’ needs and environments in fluid ways, the “Vroom-Yetton Taxonomy”

(Vroom & Yetton, 1973) for leadership situations and decision-making, and Hersey and

Blanchard’s (1977) Situational Leadership Theory that leadership style must match the level of

follower needs described in a matrix of four styles of each.

The increasing sophistication of research tools and methods, powered by advances in

information technology that enabled the use of large-scale quantitative data sets and their

analysis, allowed researchers to see the emergence of leaders and their responding behaviours “in

a variety of situations and tasks” (Kenny & Zaccaro, 1983, p. 170).

Leadership has been studied for its impacts on followers and a growing body of work on

the psychology of followers has been observed in the past decade (Lord & Brown, 2003; Lord &

Hall, 2005; Van Knippenberg, Van Knippenberg, DeCremer, & Hogg., 2004). More recently,

there has also been a shift in discussing leader–follower influence dynamics away from

management or administration of human resources or employees. Hall, Lord, and Foster (2009)

25

and Hall (2004) examined social relations and the emergence of leadership in groups, and the

importance for leaders to understand their own identity.

Since 1970, scholarly work has given rise to several critical approaches to the study of

leadership. Critical theoretical approaches relating to racism (Dei, 1996, 2000), Dei, L .L.

Karumanchery, & N. Karumanchery, 2004; Galabuzzi, 2004, 2006; James, 2003), feminism

(Noddings, 1884, 2006; Rao & Kelleher, 2000; Razack, 1998, 2007; Strachan, 2002; Young &

Skrla, 2012), and oppression and marginalization (Brandes, Dharwadkar, & Wheatley, 2004,;

Freire, 1970/2014; Goldstein, Collins, & Halder, 2007; Vinson, 2001), and inclusion (Flessa,

2007: Parker, Grenville, & Flessa, 2011; Joshee, 2004, 2007, 2009; Lopez, 2013; Ryan, 2006)

have added to the conceptualization of the need for leaders to recognize, address and incorporate

all of the voices of those they would lead.

One area of literature that is extremely relevant to my topic and frames the first

theoretical aspect of my research, is the role and practice of the leader. This is an area that had

been most extensively reviewed by scholars in behavioural psychology (Gardner, 2011; Maslow,

1943/2013; McGregor, 1960), organizational sociology (Brown & Duguid, 2000; O’banion,

1997), innovative thinking (Drucker, 2007; Dunne & Martin, 2006), and educational leadership

(Dimmock, 2011; Fullan, 2001, 2007; Gleeson, 2001; Grace, 2005; Leithwood, 2012; Leithwood

et al. 1998; Marion & Gonzales, 2013). This literature examines issues pertaining to leadership

such as whether leadership qualities are innate or developed, shaped by the values stance and

experience of leaders, characterized by particular styles, and measured by using competency

frameworks. The research base for much of this work has emanated from behavioural scientists

and psychologists, but the conceptualizing of leadership approaches has been popular since the

1980s and has often been commented on by researchers, particularly in the fields of business,

26

healthcare, and education. Examining leadership specifically in the context of educational

settings (Leithwood, Janzen, & Steinbach,1999; Macie, 1991; Simkins, 2005) and postsecondary

leadership (Grubb, 1999, 2009; Hoppe, 2003; Spendlove, 2007) becomes important. A definitive

work by Grubb and Lazerson (1999) on the teaching/learning environments in colleges with an

applied learning focus is one of only a few sources that reflect the particular role and approaches

of college in terms of the learning experience, and is based on the U.S. community college

institutions. The mandates and the organization of the Ontario College System of higher

education are described and explored by Skolnik (1986, 2010), Clark, Morgan, Skolnik, and

Trick (2009), Jones (2005,2013), and Jones and Skolnik (2009). Mullen and Robertson (2014)

have connected leadership practice and leader self-identity and said that theories of leadership

need to “embrace, explain and forecast the rich array of human interactions in the co-

construction of leadership practice” (p. 91) that is required in educational settings.

In conversations about leadership in the 21st century and what makes leaders competent

or effective in their roles, scholars have increasingly turned to the role of identity in leadership.

Leary and Tangney (2003) observed that core to the self and identity approach to leadership

effectiveness is the understanding that “how we perceive ourselves, our self-concept or identity

(terms are used interchangeably) strongly informs our feelings, beliefs, attitudes, goals and

behavior” (p. 496). If identity is central to leadership (Bennis & Townsend, 1989; Lumby &

English, 2009; Mullen & Robertson, 2014; Papa, English, Brown, Culver, & Davidson, 2012), it

is important to ask whose values and perspectives are reflected in descriptions of leadership

effectiveness. Identity is shaped by factors of race, gender, culture, religion, language, ability,

social and economic capital, and experience. This is described by Hertneky (2008) as a

multifaceted phenomenon, “requiring a crossing of discipline boundaries in conceptual thinking,

27

the gathering of resources and the interpretation of findings.” (p. 55). Van Knippenberg et al.

(2004) acknowledge that “the self and identity perspective may be fruitfully applied to

understand leadership effectiveness from the angle of the leader (i.e., rather than the follower)

self-conception” (p. 498). This is an important perspective to consider and is supported by Hall

(2004) in the statement that:

The way people see themselves is so basic to how they behave and yet so invisible”, because it is such as internal and often privately held process. Yet many of the activities of individuals in organizations – and certainly leaders in organizations – are motivated by how people perceive themselves and how they hope to have others perceive them. (p. 173)

Hunt and Michael (1983) affirm that self-knowledge and self-reflection are necessary for

leaders to grow. Louis and Kruse (1995) has also cites that the leaders who write or reflect on

their leadership journey may realize the benefits of increasing their own emotional intelligence

and enhancing their professional capacity. Gardner (1995) also observes that leaders who are

active learners reflect on the meaning of their work relative to broader questions about the

purpose of life, realizing that their leadership actions have impacts beyond themselves. English

(2011) claims that leaders must reflect on and interrogate their values, biases, and actions in

order to perform as effective leaders.

Educational Leadership

Modern educational leadership literature includes discussion of epistemology, effective

pedagogy, human development, student achievement and social justice and draws on several

disciplines such as psychology, sociology, political science, and business. Harris, Martin, and

Agnew (2004)4 have observed that while a few research studies have focused on leadership

4 I was given this information as a handout in one of my doctoral courses.

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practices in higher education, little research has been focused on effective preparation to lead.

Leadership skills for educational administrators as documented by Leithwood et al. (1998) range

from instructional or curricular expertise, distributed leadership, community building, social

justice leadership, and transformational leadership.

The perspectives on educational leadership that I am interested in come from the

disciplines of both business management and education. Many of the North American scholars

and experts on the topic of modern leadership have been developed through some of the major

business schools at the most prestigious of American universities such as Harvard,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, and University of California Los

Angeles at Stanford. Canadian business schools have also produced some important work on

management for organizations but have concentrated on managerial effectiveness (Mintzberg,

1998) or human resource management (Belcourt, Singh, Snell, Morris, & Bohlander, 1996);

Latham, 1988; Ondrack, 1978) or strategy (Dunne & Martin, 2006). None of these prominent

Canadian business scholars have made leadership theory their focus. Their work centres on

functional management within organizational structures and how structures aid in achieving

strategic objectives. There is a wide body of research on educational leadership developed by

Canadian education scholars at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. While

transformative leadership (as an aspect educational leadership) that focuses on school reform and

ensuring that schools are creating equitable and inclusive learning environments emerges in

Canadian literature on educational leadership for K–12 schooling, the literature is scant for

postsecondary education in Canada. The business leadership literature focuses on

transformational leadership with a focus on organizational development and change.

29

Michael Fullan is a former dean of OISE at University of Toronto and a respected

educational researcher. Fullan is well-known for his work on leadership for the K–12 sector. In

The Moral Imperative of School Leadership (2003), he examined the moral purpose of

educational leadership and the role principals play in transforming schools. Other scholars and

researchers in Canadian schooling with similar interests in leadership are Kenneth Leithwood,

Blair Mascall, and Lyn Sharratt. All have been associated with OISE and have studied the K–12

sector extensively. The same concentration on leadership is absent from OISE’s department that

focuses on higher education. Glen Jones of OISE is also widely recognized for his research and

publications pertaining to higher education but leadership is not a central theme in his work.

Fullan authored a book with Geoff Scott of the University of Western Sydney, Australia,

called Turnaround Leadership for Higher Education (2009). In this work, they examined what

the focus of the turnaround should be, and what leadership capabilities are needed to effect

change. Fullan and Scott (2009) suggested that the context of higher education matters and

that this includes knowledge about what the most productive focus should be in learning, research, engagement and service, what generates productive learning and retains students, how to make sure that these objectives are consistently and successfully put into practice, and how well the university is performing. (p. x)

They conclude that leadership capabilities and change-capable cultures in higher education

institutions must mirror each other.

Davies, Hides, and Casey (2001) in an Australian study of leadership for higher

education determined “what is necessary for effective performance as an academic leader is the

combination of emotional intelligence (both personal and interpersonal), cognitive capabilities

and a particular set of relevant skills and knowledge” (p. 67) The study examined influencing

skills rating them as highly important.

30

There is a paucity of material on leadership and higher education in Canada. A possibly

promising source called “Departmental Leadership in Higher Education” (Knight & Trowler,

2001) drew heavily on Fullan (2003) and Leithwood et al. (2007) and talked more of the role of

managing a department in a higher education setting. Davison and Burge (2010) conducted a

study to explore what it means for academic leaders to work in postsecondary institutional

context. This too was based on university settings. The four themes that Davison and Burge

(2010) identify are: (a) balancing daily dissonance, (b) learning experientially to lead, (c)

creating learning spaces, and (d) needing moments of grace (p. 17). Many of the sources written

about leadership challenges in Canadian higher education discuss challenges of faculty

development, internationalization, academic integrity, or aspects of student life. This is also true

of literature sources from other English-speaking countries. Where I could locate literature that

addresses competency frameworks, senior academic leadership roles, and professional learning

and development, they addressed the particular contexts of universities which as cited earlier

have very different academic program development and partnership involvement, and

governance structures for institutional and departmental decision-making. Very little time is

given to the leadership requirements of higher education administrators or managers to guide

others through complex changes.

In the examination of scholarly writing about transformational leadership, the field

appears to be dominated by those who are writing from a business school perspective on

management and organizational behaviour, or applied psychologists who are interested in

organizational behaviour. When the nature of the change involves a truly transformational goal,

Flemming (2009), who examined public sector Caribbean institutions, stated:

Transformational leadership, it has been argued holds the answers to the paradox of leadership that is so common in public sector organizations, and builds on the

31

premise that the ability of the organization to maintain its identity and sense of direction rests heavily within its leaders. (p. 12)

Transformational leadership has been applied to the descriptions of leader behavior that

moves followers to go beyond expectations (Bass, 1985) and some scholars are moving to the

notion of authentic leadership that proposes to include transformational and positive leadership

approaches that are guided by the ethicality of the leaders (Gardner, Avolio, & Walumbwa

2005). Transformational leadership relies on the ability of the leader to inspire and influence

(McColl-Kennedy & Anderson, 2005). One of the traits of transformational leadership is to

stimulate debate among their followers (Kearney & Gebert, 2009). Debate is defined as “an open

discussion of task-related differences and the advocacy of differing approached to strategic

decision-making task” (Simons, Pelled, & Smith, 1999, p. 662).

Transformational leaders communicate values-based visions of the future and model their

values in day-to-day activities (Colbert, 2004). Greenleaf (2007), best-known for popularizing

“servant leadership” (p. 83), said, “A fresh, critical look is being taken at the issues of power and

authority, and people are beginning to learn, however haltingly, to relate to one another in less

coercive and more creatively supporting ways” (p. 3).

Greenleaf (1997) said, “in order to lead, one must have the natural feeling to serve

willingly” (p. 6). This also coincides with the work of Barbara Kellermann, a well-known author,

consultant to the U.S. government, and lecturer at the John F. Kennedy Centre for Public

Leadership at Harvard. Kellermann’s (2012) main thesis is that followers are just as important as

the leader, because eventually they will lead. Kellermann’s (2008) point is.

not to diminish the leadership literature or the leadership schools, institutes, centers, courses, seminars, workshops and programs this literature sustains. Rather, it is to point out that the canvas on which we paint is simply too small. It

32

should hold more than a single looming figure, the leader. It should be enlarged to accommodate followers as well. (p. 14)

Greenleaf (2007) and Kellermann (2012) each discuss Gardner (2011), and Kouzes and Posner

(2011), and other U.S. business school contemporaries as influential in their own work on

leadership and the interactions with followers. Kouzes and Posner (2011) stated that: “Leaders

should stand up for their beliefs and also guide the way for the people to follow the values set.

Shared values are the foundations for building productive and genuine working relationships” (p.

60).

An article entitled “Winners and Losers in the Future of Canadian Universities” by Paul

(2014) described the pressures facing Canadian universities. Paraphrasing Paul, he discussed

these pressures as relentless and cited demographic changes in Canada that have shifted

government funding from education to healthcare, lower government grants and increased

demands for accountability, and leaders as major change agents, who need to build less on

academic strengths and steer their institutions through unsustainable gaps between revenues and

expenses. As Ontario universities and the public college system are governed by the same

provincial Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, and its formulated public policies,

these issues would apply to the Ontario College System as well.

Coming Into Leadership Roles

I examined the literature to understand the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are

required of academic leaders, and that they are expected to demonstrate in the performance of

their role by examining the competencies that are required of leaders. Leadership competency

frameworks have attempted to document the specific behaviours that leaders must demonstrate to

be effective and these have been developed for specific disciplines, fields, and sectors (Bolden,

33

Gosling, Marturano, & Dennison, 2003; Young & Chapman, 2010). They are used for

recruitment and selection learning and development plans, performance management, and

succession planning.

Bryman (2013) devised a competency framework for university institutions in the U.K.

and Scott, Coates, and Anderson (2008) created one for higher education institutions (both

universities and technical institutes) in Australia. In the U.S., the Association of American

Community Colleges (AACC) developed a competency framework with six major areas: (a)

communication, community college advocacy, organizational strategy, resource management,

collaboration, and professionalism (AACC, 2005, as presented in Boswell & Imroz, 2013, pp. 6–

11). In the latter, any reference to academic leadership is notably absent. There have been two

significant leadership frameworks produced in the Canadian education context; the Ontario

Leadership Framework (Leithwood, 2012) for the K–12 sector, and the Leadership Capability

Framework (Molinaro, 2012) commissioned of a human resources consultancy at the request of

the Ontario College System presidents.

The homogenous preparation and credentialing requirements of K–12 teachers (a

baccalaureate degree, a bachelor of education degree, and the Ontario Certified Teacher (OCT)

credential) means that there is greater consistency in the pathways from teaching practitioner to

educational administrator (a requirement for advanced qualifications for the roles of vice-

principal and principal, before application to these roles of education administrator can occur).

The development of an Ontario Leadership Framework and its adoption by the Ontario school

districts means a consistency of expectations for the roles of educational administrator in that

system (Leithwood, 2012). In describing the need for the Leadership Framework for Ontario

educational administrators in the K–12 sector, Leithwood (2012) acknowledged that:

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Context is important when enacting the leadership practices. The framework is explicitly “contingent.” While practices are what most successful leaders do, they are to be enacted in ways that are sensitive to the specific settings in which they are working. (p. 8)

In 2012, the Ontario College Committee of Presidents (CoP) commissioned human

resource consultancy Knightsbridge Inc., to develop a competency matrix for Ontario College

leaders. This document is known as the Leadership Capability Framework for Ontario College

System Leaders (see Appendix D.) This framework is not specifically tied to academic leaders

and can be applicable to leaders of institutional service portfolios (finance, corporate

administrative services, human resources, etc.) and has not yet received full adoption by the

college system (Molinaro, 2012).

Individuals are recruited and selected into the role of dean of a business school. What

pathway or journey brought them to this role? I am interested in the personal stories of leadership

identity and development of the deans of business in my study that prepared them to pursue the

role and the experiences that developed and equipped them with the experience to be considered

for the role. It is also useful to examine the opportunities within the college and higher education

sector for learning and development of leaders at the decanal level and specifically what

discipline-specific or business school related leadership development opportunities exist. My

research looks at leader identity and development for those in the role of dean of business in the

Ontario College System connecting this to the Leadership Capability Framework, and

interrogating how these leaders learn through reflecting on their practice. It can be very difficult

to “develop a personal theory of leadership tied to seminal theories of empirical work” (Mullen

& Robertson, 2014, p. xviii), but this is precisely what I am seeking to explore in examining

leadership in the role of the dean of business in the Ontario College System.

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How the Literature Has Guided My Research

Through the use of narrative inquiry, I have obtained the individual stories of leaders in

my study about how they formed their leadership identity and developed as leaders in their role,

and their learning and growth through reflective practice as academic leaders in the Dean of

Business role in the Ontario College System. I am interested in their reflections on what types of

further learning they have identified for themselves through reflection on their practice, and or

through reflection on guidance received from others, for their continued learning, growth and

development in the role.

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Chapter 3

Methodology

Purpose of My Research Study

The purpose of this research study was to examine leadership in the Ontario publicly

funded higher education system of the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (Ontario

College System). Through the study of a specific population of leaders, in this case, those in the

role of dean of business, their career journeys, leadership identity and development, their

learning and growth while in the role, and their awareness and development of the leadership

competencies outlined in a draft leadership capability framework for the college system were

examined.

There are 24 colleges in the Ontario College System, which are legislatively framed by

the Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technologies Act, 2002. Twenty-two of these colleges

are English-speaking, delivering programs and services in one of the two official languages of

Canada and the Province of Ontario. I interviewed 6 deans of business as the data gathering

method. The criteria for an interview participant was that each one had to be currently in the role

of dean responsible for business programs in an English-speaking Ontario college, and had

completed at least 2 full years of employment in this role, or had retired from the role not more

than 3 years ago. Among the sample, 5 participants were currently deans and 1 had retired 1 year

ago. During these interviews with me, the participants were encouraged to tell their stories of

their personal career journeys that brought them to their current position as dean of business.

They were encouraged to provide their perceptions of their experience through the telling of their

own unique leadership story.

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The main questions explored were:

1. How had their leadership journey prepared them for the role of dean of business?

2. How did they describe their own leadership identity (their own thinking and practice

of leadership)?

3. How did the competencies outlined in the Leadership Capability Framework

developed for the Ontario College System compare to their actual experience in the

role??

4. What activities of continuing learning and reflection did they use as leaders?

Through narrative inquiry, the focus of the study was very much the stories that the participants

told about themselves and their leadership.

Qualitative Research and the Method of Narrative Inquiry

Qualitative researchers are interested not in prediction and control, as research

methodology, but in the understanding of phenomena (Pinnegar & Daynes, 2007). Qualitative

research methodology is outlined in the work of Creswell (2013), McMillan and Wergin (2006),

Guba and Lincoln (2005), and Cohen, Manion, and Morrison (2000). Qualitative research

methodology, specifically narrative inquiry, allows the use of existing theoretical frameworks to

explore an area that has received scant study to-date—leadership in the Ontario College System.

Qualitative research has been increasingly embraced by educational leaders in the past

decade as a means of studying the phenomenon occurring in the settings where they lead or have

practiced leadership. Narrative inquiry is not to be confused with ordinary storytelling. Narrative

inquiry, or the “narrative turn” (Pinnegar & Daynes, 2007, p. 4) is producing a new literature as

researchers present concepts and perspectives that arise from narrative practice that centers on

circumstances experienced by the participants and researcher through the communicative actions

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of relating stories. Riessman (1993) and Gubrium and Holstein (2009) provide analytic strategies

for dealing with the data gleaned from these methods, and Holstein and Gubrium (2012) present

a variety of approaches for dealing with comprehensive texts. To analyze qualitative data of this

sort, the researcher seeks meaning from all of the data that is available. The data may be

categorized and sorted into patterns (i.e., pattern or thematic analyses) as the primary basis for

organizing and reporting the study findings.

Pinnegar and Daynes (2007) were the first to describe researchers as “making the turn”

(p. 4) to narrative inquiry. Narrative inquiry has the following at its base: the belief that reality is

constructed, the participant’s perspective on the topic is important, it relies on rich narrative

description, focuses on process rather than behavior, and uses inductive data analysis (McMillan

& Wergin, 2006). Narrative inquiry functions as the means by which to take:

what was one the participant’s story, as it now becomes a co-constructed text, the analysis of which falls within the framework of interpretive authority of the researcher. (Smythe & Murray, 2000, p. 548)

Kramp (2004, p. 7, as cited in Clandinin, 2006, p. xi) is cited saying narrative inquiry “is both a

process (in which the narrator tells) and a product (in the story told).” Narrative inquiry as a

methodology makes the experience of others and the stories they tell, the phenomenon under

study. Those who tell stories bring their identities, social influences, the impacts of their

environments and their experiences to the narrative. Clandinin (2006), a noted scholar in the field

of narrative inquiry, also states that:

The acceptance of the relational and interactive nature of human science research, the use of the story, and a focus on the careful accounting of the particular, are the hallmarks of knowing, in narrative inquiry. (p. 28)

As observed by Smythe and Murray (2000), the task of the narrative researcher is:

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to relate the meanings of the individual’s story to the larger theoretically significant categories in social science, a task distinct from the individual’s specific interest in their own personal story. (p. 549)

Within narrative inquiry, Polkinghorne (1995) identifies two types of narrative inquiry

approaches: paradigmatic and narrative. The paradigmatic approach or frame, gathers stories as

its data, and then analyzes the data into categories and themes. Paradigmatic analysis results in

descriptions of themes that hold across the collected stories of the participants, or in taxonomies

created out of the types of stories related, the characters of the participants themselves, and

commonalities and differences of their settings.

The narrative approach or frame, gathers events and happenings as the data, and then

analyses the data by producing explanatory stories. In this latter approach, the researchers focus

on collection of descriptions of the events and happenings, and synthesizes or arranges them into

stories that are often related as a personal history, biography, or a case study.

Hertneky (2008) undertook a narrative inquiry study of U.S. female college and

university presidents in her own doctoral thesis work, and concluded that:

Only the self-understanding inherent in character and authenticity can enable a potential leader to integrate the components of leadership self-identity. As such, it presents significant implications for how leaders are identified, selected and educated. (p. 3)

In this work by Hertneky (2008), the role of experience as personal, social, and occurring within

a context, as framed in the work of John Dewey (1933/2012), and that this is supported by

Clandinin and Connolly (2000) is “key to education” (p. 189). Hertneky (2008) extends this

thinking:

The term experience helps us to think through such matters as an individual leader’s construction of her leadership self-identity while also understanding that this meaning-making takes place over time, with colleagues and in self-reflection,

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in an institutional setting, in a community at a particular point in time, and so on. Experience happens narratively. (p. 66)

Mishler (1995) stated that “a number of psychologists view the construction of a personal

narrative as central to the development of a sense of one’s self, of an identity” (p. 108). This was

also identified earlier in the work of Polkinghorne (1988):

We achieve our personal identities and self-concept through the use of narrative configuration, and make our existence into a whole by understanding it as a single unfolding and developing story. We are in the middle of our stories and cannot be sure how they end; we are constantly having to revise the plot as new events are added to our lives. Self, then, is not a static thing, nor a substance, but a configuring of personal events into a historical unity which includes not only what one has been, but also anticipations of what one will be. (p. 150)

Riessman (1993) also noted that individuals “construct past events and actions into personal

narratives to claim their identities” (p. 2).

Approach to My Research Study

My research study used the paradigmatic approach to narrative inquiry. The paradigmatic

approach gathers stories as data and analyzes the data into categories to find themes. I examined

the senior educational leader role of dean of business in the Ontario College system, by

interviewing six participants in this role. I examined the leadership journeys of those who held

this position to understand their pathway to securing the role, their experience of their role in the

context of the college system, the applicability of the leadership capability framework developed

specifically for the Ontario College system to their perceived demands of the role, and the

learning and development that occurs while they were in the role. Within the latter topic, I

explored the process of self-reflection.

My own experience has been in the Ontario College system as a senior educational leader

and administrator. I retired from the Ontario College system 2 years ago from the role of

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associate vice president of a large academic division in an urban college with more than 18,000

full-time students and 1,500 full-time and contract faculty members. I had previously held the

role of dean of business in this setting. My familiarity with the context and network of business

deans within the Ontario College system was helpful in creating a relational approach that valued

the stories related by my research participants. Rather than obtaining a generalized narrative, I

focused on the overlap between identity and the leadership experience in the words and stories of

the participants.

One of the contributions that I am seeking with my own research study is to integrate

personal career journeys with leadership identity development, and to understand how the

capability leadership framework for the Ontario College system captures or misses the

requirements for the role in terms of identifying suitable candidates, selecting them, and

developing them in their roles.

I believe that the stories of participants in my study will allow my work to make a

contribution to our understanding of how those in the role of business dean in the Ontario

College System develop, learn, and grow in their roles. The individual stories are examined to

determine if they bear out a relationship to the theories contained in the literature on leadership

identity, development, learning, growth, and reflection.

This research study employed two-stage personal interviews with the 6 study participants.

A key aspect of this study of leadership was how the journey of leadership and identity was

experienced, developed, and understood by those participants in the study. Their journeys were

captured in highly personal narratives that provided a window for the understanding of this

particular leadership role in the college system.

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Developing the Research Questions to Guide the Narrative Inquiry Process

I began formulation of the interview guiding questions with the idea that participants

would tell the story of their personal career journey from the point in time of their own choosing,

and relate how they came to be selected and appointed to the dean of business role. This is a

thematic thread for the research study. Participants would also describe their own personal

leadership style and be asked to explain their personal leadership philosophy, to prompt

discussion of their self-identity. I asked participants to use a familiar business discipline frame of

SWOT Analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), applying this method to their

own leadership experience in the role of dean of business, and to comment on the five

competency areas of the draft leadership capability framework developed for the Ontario College

system and the extent to which these areas were seen as important to them in their role, as a

means of eliciting how they viewed their leadership experience in the role.

I constructed some semi-structured interview questions to guide the unfolding of personal

narratives in the participant interviews (see Appendix A – Guiding Interview Questions). The

first stage of the interview process involved an in-person interview in a location other than the

official office location of the participant to try to protect privacy and confidentiality for the

interview subject. Interviews lasted between 60–90 minutes in length and were electronically

recorded using a digital electronic recording device. I also asked for participant permission to

make notes throughout the conversation. The questions posed to my research study participants

in the first of a two-stage interview process were the following nine questions:

1. Let’s try to construct a time line for your own personal career journey or pathway that

brought you to the role of dean of business. I would invite you to tell me in your own

words, the story of your career and leadership journey and how it led you to being in

your present role.

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2. Tell me about the recruitment and selection process, specifically for the dean of

business role. What was it like for you?

3. Had you worked in an educational institution previously on a full or part time basis?

Have you been engaged in teaching previously? Tell me about this part of your

experience.

4. How would you describe the role of the dean of business and the requirements of the

role? What are you accountable for? How do you spend most of your time?

5. How would you describe yourself as a leader? What does being a leader mean to you?

What may be different in this setting, compared to your previous experiences? How

would you articulate your own style of leadership and your personal philosophy about

leadership?

6. To what extent are you aware of the Ontario College System Leadership Capability

Framework? How has it been used in your current college setting?

7. When you think about the five system level competencies defined for in the draft

Leadership Capability Framework for the Ontario College system, how have these

been part of your experience in your role of dean of business, or not?

As a reminder, these are the five capabilities or competency areas in the framework:

• Plans for the Future

• Innovates and Inspires Creativity

• Influences and Cultivates Critical Relationships

• Models Agility

• Develops Leadership Capacity

8. Please describe the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that you have

personally experienced in your leadership role in the college system. (You will

recognize this in business terms as a “SWOT” analysis)

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9. What are the system level, college level, and school level conditions within the

Ontario College System that have impacted your leadership experience?

These questions underwent minor refinements from those I had originally drafted,

following my pilot interviews. My first test subject was a former colleague from the Ontario

College system who had left to work in another province in a dean of business role in a publicly

funded college. With more than 20 years of experience in progressive roles in the Ontario

College system and participation in a similar role in another jurisdiction, the feedback from Test

Subject A, was helpful in clarifying my use of terminology relating to the Ontario College

system. My second test subject had a similar number of years of experience and had left a role of

dean of business at a member college of the Ontario College system to take an executive role in a

large multinational corporation in the human resources portfolio and had an excellent

understanding of competency frameworks. Test Subject B helped me to bring clarity to questions

in this area. Both test subjects also had undertaken their own doctoral studies in education and

were familiar with research ethics and protocols. Test Subject B was also quite familiar with

narrative inquiry as a methodology and was able to make helpful suggestions to my relational

involvement in the interview process.

The second stage of the interview process would involve a telephone interview with each

participant approximately 3–6 weeks following the initial interview. The follow-up questions,

which I also tested with Test Subject A and B, were the following five questions:

1. I would ask you to think about your own learning and development. What learning

have you engaged in while in your role? Has your learning been related to your own

business area of expertise or has it been about learning the college system? What did

you feel that you need to learn more about? What has been most effective or valuable

for you?

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2. When you reflect on your own leadership journey, how has it prepared for your

current role?

3. What role has the process of reflection played in your growth in your role? How have

you engaged in this reflection?

4. How has reflection helped you to make sense of your perceptions about what it means

to be a dean of business in the Ontario College system?

5. Now that some time has passed since our initial conversation, what additional

thoughts or perceptions can you share about your leadership journey?

Recruitment of Study Participants

As the number of potential participants for my research study is relatively small (22

English-speaking colleges in the Ontario College System, with someone in the dean of business

role), and given my own previous participation in this role as a member of the system, I was

acquainted with most of those in the role through my own professional network and previous

collegial exchanges. I was challenged to find a way to invite participation in my research study

that would allow individuals to choose freely, without fear of comprising an existing professional

relationship. The Ontario College System, under the auspices of Colleges Ontario, supports a

professional network for deans of Business called “Heads of Business” with a member-elected

executive that meets monthly during the academic year. I approached one of the Co-Chairs of

this group and advised her of my research study. She offered to send the letter to potential

research participants (see Appendix B – Letter for Referring Potential Participants) by using their

membership list to invite individuals to indicate their interest in participation to me directly. In

the letter to potential referees of research participants, I indicated my sample parameters that

stipulated that potential participants must have completed a minimum of 2 years in the role, or if

retired recently from the role, had not been out of the system for more than 3 years, to ensure

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experience of all regular cycles and functions within the role and that they had participated in the

system in its current environment. Nine potential participants self-identified in response to this

call. One was recently retired. In speaking with each potential participant and looking for

participants from across the province and of both genders, I was able to confirm 6 participants to

proceed to interviews who met the eligibility requirements in terms of time in the role and

offered a balance of representation from all four regions of the province (north, central, east, and

west as defined by Colleges Ontario). I sent information letters and informed consent documents

to these participants, which they returned to me with their signatures. (see Appendix C –

Information for Participants and Informed Consent). In the letter to potential participants in the

study, I explained that the interview process would involve two stages.

As I concluded the first interview, I reminded participants of the follow up discussion and

in which I would focus on their learning and development in the role and their reflections. The

second interview consisted of a phone conversation lasting 30–45 minutes in length. I advised

participants that I was voice recording these conversations as well, and that I would incorporate

the second conversation into a transcribed copy of these interviews. The purpose of conducting

two successive interviews is to gain the first story, often referred to in narrative inquiry terms as

a “cover story” (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000, p. 126) which may be the story that is most often

told about their career journey. A second interview is an opportunity to come back to the story to

see if another story emerges that is deeper and richer, or brings forward more guarded elements

of the story.

I indicated to participants that I would send the transcript for their review and any

corrections, clarifications, or deletions that they wished to make. Participants were advised that

once they had returned their approved transcript to me via email indicating their acceptance of it

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as accurate, that it would become part of my data set in the study, and that withdrawal of

participation was only possible up to this point. I asked them to be sure that they were

comfortable that their privacy had been safeguarded. At the conclusion of their review and

acceptance of the transcripts as final, and agreement that they would be included in my data set,

the electronic recordings of their interviews were deleted.

Decisions about sampling for generalizability and validation. This method of

sampling used is known as “purposive sampling:”

The purposive sampling technique, also called judgement sampling, is the deliberate choice of an informant due to the qualities the informant possesses. It is a non-random technique that does not need underlying theories or a set number of informants. Simply put, the researcher decides what needs to be known and sets out to find people who can and are willing to provide the information by virtue of knowledge or experience (Bernard 2002, Lewis & Sheppard 2006). Purposive sampling is especially exemplified through the key informant technique (Bernard 2002, Garcia 2006, Gustad et al, 2004, Jarvis et al. 2004, Lyon & Hardesty 2005), wherein one or a few individuals are solicited to act as guides to a culture. Key informants are observant, reflective members of the community of interest who know much about the culture and are both able and willing to share their knowledge (Bernard 2002, Campbell 1955, Seidler 1974, Tremblay 1957). (Etikan, Musa, & Alkassim, 2016, p. 4)

The process of qualitative research invites arguments about validity. Reismann (1993)

states “narrativization assumes a point of view” (p. 7). As a researcher who is using narrative

inquiry, I intend to present my findings which include my own interpretation and analysis in a

way that allows the reader to form their own interpretations and to compare their understanding

with my analysis. My focus is to strive to be trustworthy in capturing the stories of my research

study participants. This is not the same thing as capturing the absolute truth. Reismann (1993)

calls truth “objective reality,” whereas “being trustworthy moves the process into the social

world” (p. 65).

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In a similar research approach, Hertneky (2008) cites the observations of Clandinin and

Rosiek (2007, p. 46, as cited in Hertneky, 2008, p. 77) that:

Narrative data cannot be taken out of context, it is relational and temporal. . . [and] The challenge for those engaged in narrative is less one of achieving the highest possible grade of epistemic clarity, and is instead how to integrate ethical and epistemic concern – how to put knowledge in the service of enhancing human experience.

The contribution of narrative inquiry studies may be found in the using leaders’ concepts of

themselves to inform our understanding of leadership and to evaluate this on the merits of

producing new knowledge on this topic.

Lather (1983, 2007, 2011) has written extensively on validity in discourse-based

qualitative research. Lather (2011) discussed pulling together early work on the topic of varied

discourse practices across the social sciences, citing the extensive work of Lincoln and Guba

(1985) in research methodology, focusing particularly on education to trace “Lincoln and Guba’s

shifts towards post-epistemic practices” (p. 11).

Lather (2011) described owing a debt to Egon Guba for inspiring her to seek validity in

discourse-based qualitative research and to seeing narrative methodology as moving from

epistemological criteria of validity to counter-practices that take into account the crisis of

representation. Barad (2007) in discussing the use of discourse-based research and validity also

appreciated Lather (1983, 2007) and Guba and Lincoln (1994) for helping her to “acknowledge

the entanglements, distributed agencies and inter-relationalities” (p. 3) involved in capturing the

stories of participants in qualitative research studies.

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Ethical Implications for My Research

As my study involved the use of human participants, I considered the ethical implications

of undertaking my research. I anticipated that speaking candidly for purposes of the study about

organizational issues was potentially risky for the participants in my study. I was mindful of the

need to take care not to identify participants by voice, personal identifiers, or specific

background references that might undermine the confidentiality I had promised. Within a small

sample, it was also challenging to summarize the backgrounds and contexts of the participants in

a way that completely protects their privacy and anonymity. I could assure them of guarding

their identities to the greatest extent possible by offering them an opportunity to review their

transcribed interviews and to delete anything that they might feel they would make their identity

known, and referring to them by pseudonyms. The steps that I took to provide these safeguards

included using ranges rather than exact years of experience, lack of regional identification of

their specific college (as north, east, central, or west) and by referring to their previous

employment background by more generalized sector references (e.g., government, as opposed to

identifying municipal or provincial, financial services industry as opposed to insurance, avoiding

use of specific titles held but referring to senior administration instead, not identifying

individual’s ages or numbers of children or specific marital status etc.). I explained to my

participants at the end of the interview process that I would treat their stories in such a way as to

safeguard their anonymity, privacy and confidentiality, and that what I would write as a

researcher would depend on the conclusions that I drew for the stories of all the interviewees.

Data Collection and Analysis

To process the results of the interviews conducted, I transcribed the electronically

recorded interview and hand-recorded notes to produce a detailed record of each participant’s

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story. I reviewed each recording three times in this process. I elected to use a hand-coding and an

“open coding” (Strauss & Corbin, 1990, p.10) approach to the data. Once the transcripts were

complete and finalized, I began to code them according to the themes in my participants’ stories.

In thinking about these processes, I again used the resources of two colleagues with experience

in research projects using coded transcripts to review my coding structure and process, and asked

each to provide inputs and suggestions. Researcher A reviewed my intended coding structure and

said that it appeared to be sound and recommended that I also create codes to reflect unexpected

patterns and themes, suggesting colour coding as a useful technique for these elements as I read

through transcripts. Researcher B also felt that my approach was sound and recommended that in

addition to my intention to reflect parent and child codes for key themes and subthemes,

suggested one more read-through of coded transcripts with a blank-page-mindset to look for

outliers. They were both reminding me to remain open to themes that I had not predicted, yet

might be emergent in my data. As stated by Miles, A.M. Huberman, M.A. Huberman & M.

Huberman (1994), it is important to be open to inconsistent or contradictory narratives, and

outliers or surprising comments. Once coding was complete, I reviewed each transcript, pulling

out each separate code, and clustering related comments together. This made comparisons among

participants easier and also made it easier to identify widely divergent ideas.

In relating the narrative of each participant, I was careful to keep the frame of presenting

the story as researcher/interpreter, keeping my voice separate from that of my subjects. My focus

was to look for themes contained in the narratives, and to use the voices of the participants when

reporting my findings.

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Narrative Analysis

With completed and approved transcripts of the interviews prepared, I began a process of

hand coding. Once I began to see the themes emerge, I catalogued them and the codes that I

generated were related to these themes. I found that these themes were also reflected in the

literature related to leadership philosophies and practice, and learning, growth, and development

of leaders. I treated these references in the transcripts as parent codes or aspects which directly

affected the demonstration of the individual’s approach to leadership in their role as dean of

business. The individual process of reflection and the decisions about what avenues to pursue for

continued learning and growth in their practice as leaders, I treated as child codes, or that which

flowed from the practice of demonstrated leadership in their roles. Using this approach, I

explored to see if these themes existed in literature and found several of them present as:

leadership philosophy; perception of self-identity as a leader; leadership settings and sector

impacts on roles; and competency approaches to academic leadership. The individual process of

reflective practice, the ways in which reflection took place, and the decisions related to ongoing

learning and growth were secondary outcomes that are useful to understanding the individual’s

perception of their role and its requirements.

As much as I was interested in common themes that may emerge from the stories of my

study participants, I was also interested in any divergent views. I also focused on variables in

each interview that could be outliers in the experience of each leader that may highlight

something unique in the individual context but that more importantly may signal future

examination in ongoing research.

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Limitations of My Study

As a qualitative study, exploring the phenomena of leadership journeys, and using

narrative inquiry to produce data for analysis, this study is interpretative and subject to the bias

of the researcher. I took great care as an interviewer to use active listening skills, and to try to be

conscious of not attempting to finish the sentences of participants when I thought that I had a

similar experience in my own experience in the role of dean of business. The methodology of

narrative inquiry is grounded in literature. My study involves a small and specific category of

leader, and is not expected to be generalizable to all leaders. When applied to the context of my

research study, other similar studies or discussion of this phenomenon are scant, and while these

findings are not generalizable to all business deans in the Ontario College System, they may be

of interest to: colleges in the system faced with recruitment, selection and appointment of those

in this role; college human resources professionals seeking to understand learning and

development needs for ensuring effective preparation and performance of those in the role; and

executive search consultants assisting in the process, this marks the beginnings of this area of

research which may be extended by the practice of others.

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Chapter 4

Analysis and Findings

In the previous chapter, I described the process for identifying and confirming research

study participants through purposive sampling techniques. The criteria for participation in the

study was that they must hold responsibility for the portfolio of business programs in an Ontario

College system institution in the role of dean, have completed 2 years of employment in the role,

and that if retired, they had not been out of the system for more than 3 years. Once research

study participants agreed to participate and informed consent was obtained, they were

interviewed and the following profiles provide a summary of each of the participants in the

study, as an individual. When the interview process was complete, and they had reviewed and

accepted the transcripts of the interviews, these became part of my data set for coding and

analysis.

Profiles of My Study Participants

To ensure the anonymity of my 6 study participants, I have given each of them a

pseudonym.

Participant #1: Alice. Alice has been in the role of dean of business for nearly a decade.

In relating her career journey, she mentioned wanting to attend university and not being accepted

to her top choice school. As a first-generation learner, she opted instead to attend a private career

college for a short duration workplace-oriented program, and a year later launched herself into

office administrative work in order to weigh her future options while earning income. She ended

up in professional office environments and acquired para-professional skills that eventually lead

to an invitation to guest lecture on career opportunities in a college classroom. The host teacher

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remarked afterwards that she was so good in this role that she should consider full-time college

teaching.

By this time, she had a young child and was contributing to family income, so she

explored opportunities to teach continuing education classes while working full-time. In

addition, she also took on some community-based volunteer roles. A full-time college teaching

job opened up and colleagues at the college urged her to apply. She did so and was selected.

After a few years in the classroom teaching role, and continuing her voluntary work with not-for-

profits and civic-based service, she was approached by a senior college administrator who served

in a voluntary board role alongside of Alice. The college had posted an opening for a dean to

lead their school of access programs. With strong encouragement from this colleague, Alice

applied for the position and was selected. The selection process involved a panel interview and a

presentation that outlined her work experience, leadership skills and vision for the portfolio.

Alice cited her planning and organizational skills as areas of strength. She felt that these

qualities allowed her to make needed improvements quickly and effectively, in her first portfolio

as dean. She received positive feedback from the vice president - academic and the president at

the college about her performance. When a vacancy occurred in the School of Business because

of the illness of the incumbent dean, she was asked to step in and lead that school temporarily.

When it became apparent that the incumbent wasn’t returning, she was given the choice of

staying with this new portfolio or returning to her original role. She opted to remain as Dean of

Business. She describes herself as someone who values work-life balance and says that she was

always mindful of her role as a parent and spouse, in addition to her role as a postsecondary

senior administrator. She talks about the importance of fitness, leisure time, managing workload,

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taking allotted vacation, and creating boundaries between home life and work life. This allowed

her to create a stable home life as a spouse, parent, and family member.

Her approach to leadership involved clearly communicated expectations, communicating

with direct reports often, being visible, providing support and recognition to faculty and staff,

and being collaborative with other deans and management team members. She returned to school

during her time in the role, taking additional courses and eventually earning a master’s degree in

education as a part time learner.

Alice was largely unaware of the college system’s Leadership Capability Framework, but

she felt that the five capability dimensions resonated with her sense of what her role entailed.

She spoke to opportunities within the college system to learn more about program creation and

development, and cited the value of the Heads of Business network. She describes herself as a

systematic planner of what she wanted to accomplish each year in both professional and personal

terms. While she didn’t consider it as engaging in formal reflection for growth in her role, she

did speak to how her regular processes of reviewing her goals and outcomes created an

accountability framework for herself, and allowed her to identify opportunities and challenges. In

consideration of these, she sought out conferences to attend or colleagues to network and engage

with, in an effort to be more effective.

Alice did consider career advancement to the vice president - academic role as the next

logical career progression step when the role became vacant in her own college. She applied but

was not selected and decided that she enjoyed the Dean of Business role immensely. And valued

continuing in this role over seeking similar advancement opportunities in other institutions. She

felt valued and supported throughout her time as Dean, and felt that the Dean of Business role

was significantly more challenging than some of the other dean portfolios in the college system.

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She credits her previous business background and experience with allowing her to blend

administrative skill and experience with her learning about academic programming and quality to

best serve students and that this has resulted in a dynamic and fulfilling career journey.

Participant #2: Bryan. Bryan has served more than 10 years in his role leading the

school of business at his college. During his time as a university student, he worked in a student

residence and upon graduation while contemplating a career in human resources, was offered a

full-time role in residence management. He accepted the job and became immersed in student

life and student affairs. His employer offered a tuition subsidy for further education and he used

this as an opportunity to achieve a master’s of business administration (MBA) degree.

After graduating with his master’s level degree, he was hired by a college for a student

affairs role serving international students. During this time, he was asked to teach a class of

international students. He found that he really enjoyed interacting with students inside the

classroom.

Newly married, with his spouse securing a job opportunity in another community, he

opted to move there and applied for a full-time teaching role at the local college. He was not

selected and so started an entrepreneurial venture, and a few years later responded to a posting to

lead the business school.

After an exhaustive process, involving an external recruiter, numerous panel interviews,

and questions about his “fit”, he was offered the role. Bryan feels that his unique blend of student

services experience, his business experience and own further doctoral studies in the area of

leadership, give him a unique skill set as a college senior administrator. He believes that the dean

of business role attracts leaders who are inclined to innovation and agility, easily able to adapt to

changing priorities and conditions. He cites the community of the Heads of Business network as

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highly collegial and collaborative, and a forum for both ideas and best practices, as well as

support.

Bryan also expressed some frustration at feeling out-of-step with other deans who have

non-business portfolios. He felt that that this was accentuated in the approaches that he observed

among the academic management team at his college. He said that he prioritizes work-life

balance and makes a commitment to ending this day in a timely way to pick his children up from

school and engage in activities with them. He consciously tried to avoid take-home work or

weekend work.

Bryan was aware of the Leadership Capability Framework and felt it was being used in

performance management and succession planning at his college. He was most introspective

about cataloguing the strengths-weaknesses-opportunities threats in his role, internalizing them,

rather than applying this matrix to external conditions.

He talked about reflective practice as an on-going and important part of his regular

practice, but did not use systematic tools or approaches. Bryan reads extensively and uses his

reading for entertainment and professional growth, as well as a prompt for reflection.

Bryan felt that he had availed himself of the opportunity to learn about the college

system, largely through the network of Heads of Business. For learning and growth in his role,

he was most likely to seek out conferences outside of the college system with a business focus.

Bryan has been frustrated in his attempts at career advancement within his own and other

colleges. He wonders if he is too much of a “maverick” and if his background is seen as

“unconventional.” He also expressed the awareness that he may be seen as quick to challenge the

status quo, and as a big picture thinker that may not focus on institutional policy and process. He

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describes his leadership style as highly communicative and supportive, and focused on future

directions and creating a climate of embracing change. Despite feeling that other progressive

roles may be out of reach, he describes his role as leader of the school of business as dynamic

and fulfilling.

Participant #3: Colin. Colin has had more than 2 decades of academic leadership

experience as a chair, associate dean, and dean at various institutions. His current role as dean of

business will be his last stop in his career journey before retirement and he has spent more than

10 years in the role.

Colin has teacher certification from a province outside Ontario, and a master’s level

degree in arts management and worked in a variety of settings including the not-for-profit sector,

municipal government and corporate organizations. He found himself downsized while working

in a corporate environment and accepted a buy-out package. He began teaching part-time

through continuing education at his local community college. After 2 years of combining

reaching and consulting work, he responded to a posting for a full-time college teaching position

and was successful. Soon after, he became a program coordinator. When his chair vacated his

position, Colin applied and secured the job. He enjoyed this role and felt he had the support of

senior leadership – particularly his vice president - academic. When his dean left, he applied for

the role but was not selected. When the supportive vice president also left the organization, he

felt that there was no place for him in the new culture of the institution. Some reorganization was

occurring and he again accepted a buy-out package and returned to consulting work. While

engaged in supporting a municipal project as a consultant, a former colleague made him aware of

an opportunity at an Ontario college. A recently selected candidate for a dean’s role had accepted

the position and then backed out to take a lucrative corporate position. Colin entered the new

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competition and went through two panel interviews, making a presentation. He was short-listed

to return for a further panel interview and by the time he returned to his hotel room, he was

called and was offered the position. The college employed an external reference checking service

that contacted six referees for in-depth conversations.

Being offered the dean of business role came at the right time for his family, in terms of

secondary and postsecondary transitions for his children. His spouse and family supported the

move to Ontario. He took up the role of dean of business and felt that he had several

opportunities to serve on college-wide committees and projects, and to serve in the community

supporting municipally funded entrepreneurship and innovation projects, as well as chairing an

important local business group. He feels that the role of dean of business garners a lot of respect

externally.

Colin also expressed that the role for him and his fellow deans of business in the Ontario

college system carries high expectations, and that they can also serve other program areas and

disciplines by contributing expertise related to entrepreneurship and innovation that is

increasingly being demanded across sectors. He cited the incredible collegiality and value in the

college system Heads of Business network for information exchange joint initiatives and

advocacy.

In terms of the Leadership Capability Framework, he was not aware of it and felt it was

not really being applied in his college setting. When he talked about his own learning and

development, outside of formal credentialing at undergraduate and master’s levels of education,

he gravitated to conferences to learn about the college system, and joined business networks for

maintaining currency in his field.

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Colin engaged in reflection regularly, but not in formal or systematic ways. He felt his

repertoire of management and leadership skills grew as a result of this and that these skills had

further changed and developed as a result of various experiences in his college career. He had

one experience managing a different site on a seconded basis and that gave him a heightened

sense of the value of communicating regularly with direct reports, both formally and informally.

He describes his college career as dynamic, rewarding, and fulfilling.

Participant #4: Deborah. Deborah has been in the role of academic leader in the college

setting for more than 10 years. She describes her career journey as starting in health care settings

in therapeutic environments. She gained work in this field in two provinces and progressed into

health care management. She operated her own consulting practice and acquired a master’s level

degree in public administration.

While she was consulting and under contract to lead a significant change and process

improvement initiative, she was invited to guest lecture at a few colleges in the province. In her

current college, she was invited to teach part-time and took it on. From this role, a senior college

administrator asked her to revamp a college student services function. While engaged in this

project work, she was encouraged to apply for an academic chair role.

When some significant organizational and leadership challenges emerged at the college, a

dean’s role was posted and she was encouraged by the vice president - academic to apply. She

did so and was selected to this role. Less than 1 year later, a further reorganization occurred that

combined several portfolio areas with business being the largest of these. In this way, she

became the dean of business.

Deborah describes the culture within her college as being “conflict avoidant.” This is

diametrically opposed to her previous professional training and work. She feels the current

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climate and culture are affected by trust issues as a result of previously self-serving management.

Her priority has been to try to personalize communication with as many of her staff members as

possible, and as a result practices “management by walking around” as much as possible. She

experienced the culture among the deans who are her peers as quite protective of turf and silo-ed.

Deborah ascribes to a strong feminist ideology and is very thoughtful about her own

leadership practice and style, and the dynamics of power. She emphasizes authenticity, a

willingness to address conflict head-on, and the empathetic listening as key to her own practice.

She decries competition and protectionism.

Deborah feels that the demands of the dean of business role in the community and with

university partners, is more extensive and time-consuming that it is for her dean colleagues in

other portfolios. She describes the difficulty of trying to maintain work-life balance. She feels the

role is respected externally and that she (and her business dean peers at other colleges) help to

advance entrepreneurship and sound management practices within their colleges.

She was aware of the Leadership Capability Framework and says that there were initial

efforts to base performance management activities on elements of the framework. Some flaws in

the internal execution of the performance management tool led to widespread concern among

administrative staff in her college, so the approach seems to have been shelved. She feels that it

has not been applied in any meaningful way to succession planning and that this is an area of

weakness within her college.

Deborah’s training in human service work meant that she used reflection significantly for

training, learning and growth. She has tried several formal and informal practices for regular

reflection. In formal practice, she used journaling and practice groups for regular dialogue and

accountability. For informal practice, she described going for long walks to mull over challenges

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and opportunities, or making calls to a friend in the higher education sector in another province.

She currently uses the latter informal or systematic approaches, but says that she engages in

frequent reflection.

Her goals for learning in her role have been to better understand the college system and

the ministry regulations and funding mechanisms create that create impacts for her, in the role of

leading a school within a college. She has identified some areas that she feels are important for

her further learning but feels these are best addressed through mechanisms such as reading and

conferences.

One area for Deborah expressed a view that differed significantly from her peers was in

the value of the provincial Heads of Business network group. She acknowledged that it was seen

as a major support for many business deans but felt that it was characterized by a “too narrow”

focus on developing programs rather than looking further out to the future. She expressed the

wish to see smaller networking groups that might meet over a quarterly breakfast or lunch

meeting.

Deborah feels that the role of dean of business has been engaging and has allowed her to

make contributions as a college administrator and that participation in the study was prompting

further reflection for her about what the role would demand for her in the future.

Participant #5: Eldon. Eldon has always lived, studied and worked in the region in

which his college is located. Upon graduation from university with a major in business, he

worked in two different sectors: financial services and technology. He has had more than 10

years of experience in the dean of business role.

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After his first decade of work experience, his employer in the technology sector was

experiences contraction and layoffs amidst a global recession. Eldon saw this as an opportunity

to accept a buy-out package and made a conscious choice to change career directions. With an

interest in teaching business, he approached both a college and a university, and found himself

hired for contract teaching roles in each setting simultaneously. After a few years, he responded

to a posting for a full-time teaching position at the college, and was selected on his second time

of applying, as a full-time business school faculty member. A few years after that, he became a

program coordinator. In 2 more years, a chair position became vacant in his school and several

faculty colleagues urged him to apply. He did and was selected. Following a short time in this

role, the dean role in the school of business became vacant. He was asked by the vice president -

academic to take on this role on an acting basis. When the role was posted as a permanent

position about 18 months later, he applied for the position and was selected. This competition

involved the use of an external recruiter, a panel interview requiring a panel interview,

psychological testing, and detailed reference checking.

Eldon was unaware of the Leadership Capability Framework and felt that his college has

not really begun to apply it, despite having a well-developed internal leadership program. The

five capability dimensions resonated strongly for him in thinking about his role.

He feels that there are considerable differences between working in the role as a college

dean of business, as compared to the same role in a university. He noted that the college deans of

business are expected to be forward thinking and agile, and make different contributions to the

college from other college deans.

Eldon felt the impact of the system decisions and conditions keenly in his role as dean of

business. His own learning and development choices have focused on trying to learn and

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understand how the college system works. Early on as a chair, he undertook a master’s of

education program and completed it to obtain a formal credential, but has focused recent actions

on informal learning gained through conference attendance and reading.

Eldon did speak to the value of attending various college system learning programs such

as the Nation Enhanced Leadership Institute (NELI) sponsored by Colleges and Institutes

Canada, the annual Ontario Colleges Administrative Staff Association (OCASA) conference, and

the Ontario College System Management Academy offered by the Ontario Colleges Committee

on Human Resource Development (CCHRD). He also felt that the collegiality and networking

benefits of the provincial Heads of Business group was very important to remaining current.

He describes his own reflection process as ad hoc but recognizes that he regularly

questions his own performance improvement and growth in the role. Eldon made one or two

attempts at securing career advancing roles, but felt that the lack of a doctoral degree was a

barrier and that he was not motivated to acquire this credential and decided to focus on the dean

of business role.

In reflecting on his progress and accomplishments to-date, he said that he was happy with

his decision as he felt that he really enjoyed his work as a dean of a school of business, and that it

provided challenge and fulfillment, as a respected role in the college system and the community.

Participant #6: Francis. Francis has been in the role of dean of business for

approximately 5 years. He came to the colleges system from a regulated consumer goods

industry, where he held a senior management role.

He traces his desire to engage in an academic administrative role to significant

experiences and decisions that occurred while he was attending graduate school overseas. He

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became interested in the possibility of a career in academia and was planning a doctoral thesis

topic with an advisor when a lack of language fluency related to his intended subject forced him

to re-evaluate. He returned to Canada and undertook a second master’s degree in an

administrative discipline. From there, he secured work in government and not-for-profit

environments, before moving into a regulated industry. This allowed him to acquire 20 years of

senior level administrative experience. A chance encounter with a leader of an academic research

team engaged in a project for his employer led to an invitation to guest lecture at the business

school of a university in his city. This turned into an invitation to teach part-time. Francis has

continued in the role for more than 10 years.

A senior position in the college system was advertised by a well-known recruitment firm.

Francis responded and was invited to interview for the role. He became one of the final two

candidates and then considered the implications of relocating to another community on his

family and withdrew. The recruiter returned less than 1 year later to make him aware of a local

dean of business role. He applied, participated in multiple interviews involving a presentation

before a panel, and was delighted to be offered the role.

His teaching experience helped him to establish credibility and shared experience with

the faculty in his new school. The school that he joined had experienced turnover of a number of

successive leaders over a 10-year period, and he felt that his priorities were the rebuilding of:

programs, engagement of students, reputation, and the morale of faculty and staff.

While he admits the need for system learning and understanding the college processes

and working, he feels that he adapted successfully by the end of this initial year in the role. He

was able to clearly articulate a leadership style and practice, but was unaware of the Leadership

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Capability Framework. The dimensions of the framework resonated strongly for him as

reflecting the requirements of his role.

He described his learning as being related to trying to better understand system and

school priorities. He felt that he is highly reflective and engaged in reflection regularly, but in

informal ways at the end of the day through reading, or periods of “alone time.”

Francis said that he found attending conferences and reading on business topics the most

effective ways of remaining current in the field of business and that his college has well-

developed supports in place to guide him through the program development process, and

interpretation and application of academic policies of the college. He cited the robustness of the

Heads of Business provincial network group and said that he valued the collegial exchange, the

sounding board of other business dean colleagues, and the opportunities to take on system-wide

initiative or to advocate with the strength as a group for resources or opportunities.

With some changes within his own college, he contemplated applying for a career

advancing role that had become vacant in his own college, and another at a college within

commuting distance. In the end, he decided against applying to these roles. He described himself

as feeling extremely fortunate to have gained this role and spoke to the ensuing feelings of pride,

contribution, and personal fulfillment that he has experienced. Francis says that his present role

includes some of the finest work that he has ever done in his career. He related his happiness and

his work as critical to living the kind of life that he wishes to lead in order to be the kind of

spouse, father, and family member that he strives to be, and is extremely grateful to be in a role

that supports this work-life balance that he values so highly.

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Leadership Themes and Findings

The following themes are common to all participants in the research study.

Leadership philosophy. When given the opportunity to articulate a philosophy of

personal leadership, I observed that all of the participants framed their views using two

constructs; one was to discuss what they believed were the core beliefs of their leadership

practice; and the second was to articulate the concrete ways that they believed that demonstrated

that practice. In terms of core beliefs, they talked about their intentions as leaders (centered on

goals, effective communications styles and responsibility to those they lead), and the desire to

support those whom they led in terms of their own performance of work, growth and fulfillment

through a meaningful and positive work environment.

Accountability. Some of the statements that exemplify their accountability as leaders are

reflected in “Being a leader means having goals… and maintaining those and evaluating where

you are on track, considering when you are unable to meet a goal, and if you could have done

something differently” (Alice), and “Accountability and meeting one’s goals are really important

to me. I do hold people accountable and I am not afraid to do that as a leader” (Deborah), and

“You have to focus people’s energies and make sure that you are keeping everyone moving in

the right direction to accomplish the goals for our school” (Francis).

Communication. Demonstrating a communication style that was authentic and clear for

followers was also prominent in the comments of each participant. Comments such as, “I talk

about what leadership is with my team – my commitment to helping them be successful”

(Francis), “I do a lot of walking around to connect with my faculty and staff, to get them to talk

freely about what they are facing and then buffering things between levels of staff in the college”

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(Bryan), and “I think that I try to relieve ambiguity and talk with people about what they do and

try to support that” (Deborah), are indicative of these beliefs.

Responsibility to followers. A keen sense of responsibility to those that report to them

was also a hallmark of participants’ philosophies. This was evidenced by statements such as:

“Being a leader is having a certain responsibility to others – I relate to the theories of servant

leadership” (Alice), “It is more about the relationship between being a leader and those who are

the followers, than it is about being in charge . . .I think that I view leadership as the notion of

sacrifice for the success of others” (Bryan), and “I have some power and I am prepared to use it

to get things done, but I only have it based on the good will of the people who report to me,” and

“I want to be recognized as a leader who helps his followers succeed” (Colin).

Developing others. In terms of supporting the growth and fulfillment of those who were

members of their staff team, they gave heart-felt expression to this aspect and went beyond

ensuring accountability to expressing genuine care and concern for those they led. This was

reflected in such comments as; “My view of leadership is to make those around me successful”

(Colin), “Watching my people succeed – seeing them have the ability and the autonomy to act

confidently on their own” (Francis), “I talk with my people about what they do and try and

support that and I have empathy” (Bryan), and “Work should allow people to grow personally

and professionally, be happy, interact positively with their colleagues, and not be belittled or

berated. I try to make the work environment a place that my people actually want to come to in

the morning and enjoy their work” (Francis).

Leadership behaviour in practice. When asked to describe their leadership style

(putting leadership thought into practice), the participant comments were as follows: “I tend to

function in a methodical and linear way. I run good meetings that start and end on time. I meet

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with each direct report and asked ‘what is important to you and what do you want from me?’”

(Alice), “I try to influence both my faculty and students to see their roles as part of how they

conduct themselves as business people” (Bryan), “I have gone through a bit of a metamorphosis

as the result of a secondment. I am out of my office more trying to gather as much input as I can

and involve others in the process, I more collaborative.” (Colin), “I am candid, and collaborative,

but with an end zone. I am prepared to look at other’s view and I am transparent” (Deborah), “I

try to stay calm. I am analytical. I talk with people about things and then work with them to get

things done. I like to celebrate people’s successes and encourage them to get things done”

(Eldon), and “I am a builder – what gives me pleasure and satisfaction is creating something and

keeping it moving along. I try not to micro-manage. Everyone is going to make mistakes, I think

a quality of good leadership is to accept it and see it as part of the journey to support them as

they move forward” (Francis). I believe that these comments are congruent with the theoretical

concepts of leadership that they expressed earlier.

Demographic Characteristics of Participants

The participants included 4 males and 2 females. Three participants were between 45–54

years of age, 1 was between 55–64 years of age, and 2 were age 66. One participant had 5 years

of service, 3 participants had 10–15 years of service, and 2 had more than 25 years of service.

The participants represented all four geographic regions of the Ontario College system – east,

west, north, and central regions. All participants were able-bodied and none were people of

colour. Three participants had moved progressively through roles in their colleges to the role of

dean, and 3 were recruited from external candidates to fit the role. All participants had

experience teaching in post-secondary institutions. Only 1 participant had not taught in a college

institution before assuming the role of dean. All participants had masters level degrees, with 2 of

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them had completed a doctoral degree. Two participants held a master’s of business

administration, 2 had a master’s in social sciences fields, and 2 had a master’s of education.

Perception of the Role of Dean of Business in the College System Context

In the discussion of the role of dean of business, I was interested in the perceptions of the

participants relative to the similarities and differences that they felt may exist for their role when

compared to other dean portfolios in the college system. Participants were asked about unique

aspects of the role, accountability, time involvement, and advancement opportunities.

The participants were unanimous in their view that the dean of business role was different

than other dean portfolios within their colleges and the colleges in the system. This is illustrated

in the following comments: “I would say that portfolios are not equal, mine is significantly more

demanding.” (Alice), “Our role is different. We are always looking at what needs changing and I

don’t know if it will come out in your research, but we don’t like status quo” (Bryan), “In many

other roles, deans have M.Eds – in business we are more likely to have MBAs. Very few of us

have an academic career path only” (Colin), “I think the business world is very different – if you

are meeting those in the business community, it is going to be after their business day. We are

expected to show up at local business events” (Deborah), “I am involved with strategic planning

in my own school and there is also an expectation that I will contribute from my business

knowledge to high level strategic direction, goals and outcomes across the college on various

projects” (Eldon), and “Well, a difference that I think rattles people, and it is intentional, is that I

use the language of business when talking about academics” (Francis). The participants also

reflected that the role of business dean garnered respect in the college and in the business

community, and that the business deans were assumed to have superior understanding of

strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

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When asked about requirements of the role in terms of functions to be performed, the

participants cited the following: academic administration; human resources management and

development, program development; enrolment management, and contribution to the broader

strategic goals of the college.

Specifically, I asked the questions “what are you accountable for in carrying out your

role?” The participants identified goal accountability to the senior academic leadership of the

college through the vice president - academic, and processes of goal setting with objectives and

timelines. They also talked about operational accountability, which was aptly summarized as

“For the school, there is academic leadership of associate deans/chairs, faculty and staff, budgets,

new programs, staffing, and enrolment management. Within the college, there is participation in

cross-college communities where I am expected to lead and contribute.” This comment

exemplifies the understanding across all participants.

We also explored the time involvement in carrying out the functions and responsibilities

of the role with participants. Responses to this question fell evenly into two camps: one where

the deans expressed the need for work-life balance and a firm sense of priorities, and one where

deans felt the time demands were considerable and often overwhelming. Among the former

group, there were comments such as: “I told them that I would not regularly put in 60-hour

weeks” (Alice), “I don’t want to work overtime every day – I want to be able to leave to pick up

my kids” (Bryan), and “I try to manage my work so that I am not here all day, and then all

evening too” (Deborah).

Those who felt it was difficult to manage the encroachment of the job into their other

lives, expressed that; “A big part of partnership and strategic work is after hours. I have been out

three evenings this week already. You rarely gain that personal time back” (Deborah), “There are

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so many meetings, lots of reading documents and responding, receiving and filtering information

. . . the days are full and there are community events in the evenings but I try not to work on

weekends, but it doesn’t always happen” (Eldon), and “I have realized that I have to be more

careful with my time going forward as I am getting pulled to do more and more things after the

work day, and away from my school and team” (Francis).

The next logical career progress step for any dean in the college system is to the role of

their boss, the vice president–academic, as the more senior academic role in the institution.

Participants were asked about their interest in pursuing career advancement opportunities. Each

participant admitted to giving consideration to applying for this role. Four of the 6 actually did

apply, going through recruitment processes, while 2 decided not to actively pursue application

for this role. Those who made an attempt said: “I applied when the role was vacant here and I

wasn’t the successful candidate, but I think that, well . . . it was all for the good” (Alice), “I

applied when the role was in recruitment here, but I had the sense that I had not had some of the

developmental experiences that I needed to prepare myself for the role” (Colin), and “I applied

for the role here, but I think the lack of a doctorate was a major consideration. I didn’t get to

interview” (Eldon). Those who did not pursue this advancement role said, “I have done senior

management and executive roles in industry and they are not as appealing as what I am doing

now as dean” (Francis), and “I would feel too removed from the student and faculty contact that I

enjoy as some of the most fulfilling parts of my job, so I didn’t pursue it” (Bryan).

Applying SWOT Analysis to the Dean of Business Role

The acronym “SWOT” stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It is a

widely recognized business framework for strategic planning and assessing the potential for

success in achieving business objectives. The origins of the framework are somewhat obscure. It

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has been credited to Albert Humphrey of the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) when he led

projects in the late 1960s and early 1970s to assess the effectiveness of strategic planning in

business, using data from Fortune 500 companies in the USA. Humphrey (2005) himself does

not claim individual credit, citing that his work was conceptually informed by business thought

leaders such as Michael Porter, Gary Hamel, Jim Collins, Claus Von Clausewitz, Henry

Mintzberg, and Clayton Christensen. This framework was immediately recognized by each of the

participants. I asked them to describe their own role in terms of these four variables. Their

responses were best captured using the following Table 1.

Table 1

SWOT Analysis Responses: Participants’ Reflective Observations

Participant Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

#1

Alice

“One of the strengths that I experienced was the opportunity for professional development. During the time that I was Dean, I got my masters. There was good opportunity for succession planning and I did get to go to the Chair Leadership Academy”. “Another was working with a great team. The other deans were terrific – we were given good guidelines by our VPA and the AVP was fantastic.”

“I think that for some people the stress of the job impacts the quality of life, and that may be related to difficulty with work/life balance.”

“I don’t think I was ever denied an opportunity of going to a conference. I always engaged in professional development. I wouldn’t say Deans were encouraged to do this but because of my experience outside of the college, I would ask to go.”

“When you aren’t unionized, there is always a threat that you will be dumped, or that you will have a negative relationship with your direct manager that isn’t sustainable, or that funding will be cut in your area.”

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Participant Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

#2

Bryan

“It is my focus on relationship building and the best way to describe it is that I have always been known for being a champion of the people who work for me. I am someone that a lot of people want to work with.”

“What I think that my weakness is, is that if you don’t interact with me on a regular basis, I can be seen as a challenger, or that I can be too much sometimes.”

“I think that an opportunity for me is that with the way the world is going, there are lots of opportunities for people like me as a multi-disciplinary person. I enjoy the change and the dynamics of it, and I think I could go anywhere and do anything because of my understanding of the importance of relationships.”

“The threat for me is that I don’t think that higher education in Canada is moving fast enough. I think I might get frustrated and opt out of this world and regret that.”

#3

Colin

“Strengths – probably my partnerships, and my background and my business ability. I have worked for several diverse kinds of businesses – and I’d like to think my people skills. And my drive.”

“One of my personal weaknesses is frustration – I don’t always hold back, but I think that I have gotten better. If I am faced with something that I think is wrong, I will say so. I think that my relationships now are solid and I recognize how much I can say when others are around.”

“Interacting with young people – it is an amazing opportunity to be able to develop them and the job keeps you young. The chance to make a difference and work with amazing colleagues and to see my vision and desire for what my school can become.”

“Changing demographics. The new funding formula, the new tuition plan is having an adverse effect, and if Ontario doesn’t become more like western Canada and offer a more cohesive transfer system – students shouldn’t have to go through hoops to get degrees.”

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Participant Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

#4

Deborah

“Strengths – my own work experience and that I have taught. Also, respecting others, I may not agree, but I am for respectful treatment. I also bring the strength of dealing with conflict and my approach as a woman with a feminist perspective is not about winning or power. I was also trained how to challenge disordered thinking.”

“Not much orientation offered by the college – or mentoring. I would have appreciated guidance and mentoring to learning the system. With two different departments in my portfolio, I feel pulled in different directions. There is also not much collegial connection among the deans in the team.”

“To demonstrate skills gained from other sectors, support and confidence of the President who gave me an opportunity here. Lots of things have been positive. I think my non-traditional route to the college allowed me to grow. My feminist perspective has let me experience non-traditional roles and gain from them.”

“Not enough PD opportunities and no encouragement to use peer support in the system. The instability for contract staff makes it hard to manage the delivery of our programs effectively, and creates divisions among faculty, and that is a systemic condition.”

#5

Eldon

“Strengths are that you do have influence and people expect that you will be doing things that can develop relationships that can help the programs and the professors. I do have personal strengths. Being a dean has respect in the community and you have to conduct yourself that way.”

“It really depends on the organization. As a dean, it is hard to influence public policy. We are an arm of the ministry.”

“I love that the colleges can offer things to people that we think up ourselves and be very creative. We still have to look for the money to support it.”

“In Ontario, it is highly competitive. If you are a dean, it is how your school positioned and progressing, there are threats to enrolment but also opportunities with international students and online learning.”

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Participant Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

#6

Francis

“I think that my strategic planning background has been a positive thing, and my friendly personality and openness, given where my school was when I arrived. I try to balance that – I make hard decisions and don’t hold grudges. I think that I am a good learner, I seek information from various sources, not always the ones that people might assume. I think differently because I haven’t been carried through the system for my whole career so I can see my way through, I am a good problem solver.”

“I tend to like to work at a high level and not get really detailed. Luckily, as I dean I can mitigate it because I can delegate. I am a fast mover and more inclined to figure out 65% of a problem and move ahead than figure out 100% of a problem and wait for a year. That’s a weakness.”

“I get a lot of personal satisfaction from this role. I love taking someone and giving them a chance to learn and grow, a chance to exercise some creativity.”

“Change of the executive or senior level can provide a different perspective or view on what you are doing. You could be going along well and someone new will question what it is you are doing. There are externalities to be aware of – enrolment demographics, international students, the structure for administrative employees, and inadequate compensation.”

The SWOT analysis yielded some individual perceptions and gave room for participants

to catalogue their own personal strengths. Often these were derived from previous experience

and skills gained in business environments (such as strategic planning, innovation, people

management, partnerships, and relationship building). Weaknesses were reflected evenly among

participants in either personal terms or conditions faced in the college system. Opportunities

described showed optimism about their ability to have an impact and a sense of agency in their

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work. Threats were related to system conditions such as enrolment, funding, and the pace of

changes, along with a sense of vulnerability about senior leadership changes and perhaps being

found unable to meet changing requirements.

The Leadership Capability Framework Designed for the College System

The Leadership Capability Framework was described early in its development as

stemming from a decision by the Ontario college system’s Committee of Presidents to contact a

human resource consultancy to determine the leadership capabilities or competencies required at

each level of the college system management structure. The full framework document is

contained in Appendix D. The Leadership Capability Framework dimensions appear in Table 2.

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Table 2

Leadership Capability Framework

Plans for the Future Innovates & Inspires Creativity

Influences & Cultivates Critical

Relationships

Models Agility

Develops Leadership

Capacity

By taking a longer-term perspective, anticipates the implications of emerging academic and economic trends, and spots promising opportunities that align with the strategic priorities of the college.

Champions innovation and continuous improvement by challenging the status quo, presenting new approaches, ideas and solutions, and encouraging others to do the same. Maintains a supportive environment to develop and implement new approaches effectively balancing risk-taking and return on investment.

Builds effective and influential working relationships (internally and externally) and collaborates to achieve mutually beneficial goals.

Demonstrates both the focus and flexibility necessary to lead self and others during continuous change and ambiguity, while delivering results and maintaining exceptional levels of service to students and stakeholders.

Identifies and actively develops the leadership talent necessary to realize the college’s vision and successfully execute its strategy.

The following is a graphical depiction of the five Leadership Capability Framework

dimensions (see Figure 3). They have been colour-coded to categorize them as leader behaviours

that anticipates, shapes, or delivers outcomes. This is carried out in the context of modelling the

values of the college as an educational institution, with a focus on student success at the core.

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Figure 3. Depiction of the 5 Leadership Capability dimensions categorized by colour to reflect the leadership actions as anticipates, shapes, and delivers. Central to the framework for leaders is to model college values and to place student success at the core.

Three of the participants were aware of the existence of this framework, and the other 3

were not. Of the 3 who recognized the framework, 2 indicated that it was in initial stages of

being incorporated in performance management systems at their institutions. One participant

recognized that some of the framework language had recently been incorporated in job postings

by their college. One participant was also aware that it was being incorporated in an internal

leadership development program at their college.

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When asked about the capability-competency of Plans for the Future, all participants felt

this resonated strongly with expectations in their role for demonstration of this capability.

Sample comments reflecting this are:

In terms of Plans for the Future, typically the deans would be involved every time

a strategic plan was renewed. There would be a business plan that we would be

asked to connect how our school is supporting the business plan. We were

certainly involved on a regular basis in planning and monitoring goals for the

year. (Alice)

Strategic planning? Sure – and enrolment planning, HR planning, business

planning – that is the building part. For me, that’s Job #1. (Francis)

On the topic of Inspires and Innovates Creativity, there was some tension between the

idea of innovation and creativity. More of the participants felt that it was innovation that was

expected of them and that creativity didn’t fully capture the requirement of their roles, as

described by the following statements:

Creativity is an interesting word. I don’t know that I would have chosen

creativity. I would certainly spend a fair amount of my time inspiring people to be

the best they could be to contribute to the college. (Alice)

Creativity is about developing something of value – being creative is just – I have

a million ideas. Innovation – there are a lot of misnomers – it is not as technical a

process as people think. Human innovation is an area that we need to focus more

on. (Bryan)

I think innovation is there, but I don’t know if I would go so far as to say that we

inspire creativity. (Eldon)

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The capability dimension of Influences and Cultivates Critical Relationships was seen as

a key requirement of the role of dean of business. This is supported by the following statements:

Cultivating relationships is a key part of the job” (Deborah)

We have more relationships now with external industry and associations. We

strive to build relationships with employers, there are a lot more articulations, a

lot more exchange agreements, a focus on capital fundraising, etc., all giving us

even more reasons to connect with donors and corporations. Like all places, we

have to try to maintain the internal relationships too. (Eldon)

Yes, and one thing that I aim for in relationships is face-to-face contact. I try to

communicate with people by email, but I would rather walk into their office and

say ‘let’s talk about this.’ I find email to be a clumsy communications tool, it is

open to serious misinterpretation. What is important in relationships is knowing

when to intervene with human interaction – it is vital and needs to be done

quickly when things go sideways. (Francis)

The capability of Models Agility also found traction among the participants, as they

recognized the changing nature of their environments. Some representative comments are:

You know, change is ongoing. I was always open to growth but wanted to be

resourced. If resources lag behind the growth, there would be periods of stress

related to such agility. (Alice)

Models agility is very interesting. We are trying to institutionally model agility

but I would say that we do a very poor job. It is very hard to move things quickly

through an academic system. It is going to kill us in the postsecondary world if we

don’t learn how to get better at it. Do I personally try to do it? Yes. Do I find it

extremely difficult? Yes. I feel PSE institutions are ruled by their systems, not the

other way around. (Deborah)

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To me, agility is adapting to your environment and change. That is the part of my

job that I like the best. For example, in the early weeks of the semester, I got a

call saying that there were 300 more international students on their way wanting

my programs, and I thought that was fabulous. (Francis)

The last capability referenced is that of Develops Leadership Capacity. This one was very

important to participants. The following comments reflect this importance:

The highest level of achievement that I can have is seeing one of my people move

up or ahead. Two of my chairs have indicated that they want my job and I am

delighted. Once they have made that indication, I will work with them and try to

work more critically as in “these are the kinds of things that you need to do if you

want to be successful.” I might talk about a scenario or situation that I am

handling and tell them why I have decided to make the decision that I did. I think

it is giving them the background to set them up realistically. For me, I would love

ideally to have every single person in my operation come from within. With that

being said, there are some really amazing skills and opportunities that come from

taking people from external applications as well. (Colin)

Oh, that’s where I get my enjoyment – you can have all these people working on

projects, and you help and support them. You can represent all the good things

going on in your area. (Eldon)

Love that. I love building a team and seeing people grow. One problem that we

have in the college system, and I think this is a challenge for all deans, is the

inability to develop leadership capacity in the faculty level below the chair. There

is no financial incentive that exists within the system for that, which should be a

development path. I have had one experience with one faculty member who has

moved to the chair role and I think that is the exception rather than the rule. And

there may be others that have done that, but maybe previously the delta between

faculty and management was different. (Francis)

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Participants were asked to comment on the impacts on their role of the college system,

their own particular college administration and the activities of their own schools. At the system

level, they cited funding and policy issues and the impact of the Ministry of Training, Colleges

and Universities (MTCU). This was reflected as follows:

At the system level, I would say the finances, the political stuff, and I wish that

there was actually more time allowed for deans and chairs to meet. I think it has

impacted my leadership – the lack of a companion group. (Deborah)

The way that we have been funded – an example is the focus on developing new

programs right now in order to get more funds. I am not sure the ministry is aware

of what’s going on in our institutions. The strategic mandate agreements and

trying to figure out where this is going, and we are slowly but surely getting more

information from the government, but it always feels like we are making it up on

the fly. (Eldon)

In terms of their own institutions, institutional culture was the biggest factor in describing

positive or negative experiences. The two comments below reflect both sides of the experience:

We have been through a lot of change. At the time I was hired, the leader was

very involved in minutiae and very top down in decisions. The next leader was

not a strong decision maker and now we have an amazing leader. (Colin)

At the college level, it’s money and finances . . . and what has had a big impact is

the conflict avoidant culture here. It permeated beyond the culture to personality

and right down into decision-making, as reactions are taken personally. (Deborah)

The activities within the individual school of the participant created conditions for their

work but it was there where they felt they had the greatest impact, as indicated in the following

statements:

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In terms of the school level conditions – in both of the schools where I worked, I

would say that I was never micro-managed. If I had a problem, I always brought it

to my superior with a solution. Did I make mistakes – sure – periodically

everybody makes mistakes, but I was honest about it. I didn’t always think that

the people that I worked for, shared my vision or did a great job, but they mostly

left me alone. (Alice)

We are going through an interesting transition where we have a number of faculty

who are near retirement. Then we have some new faculty. One thing that I find

challenging is constraints. The older faculty are becoming constrained by as the

number of things they can teach is getting narrower the longer that they have been

out of the work force, and the younger faculty are constrained by time and family

demands. It means dealing with a diverse group. About 60% of faculty are

contract staff. Dealing with the transition, we are expected as a school, to be a

cash cow and also innovate and embrace technology. The aura around business is

interesting. The major challenges for the school is getting it to adapt and be ready

for what it will face in the next 5 to 10 years. We are going through interesting

times. (Colin)

I certainly think that the management level in the school - whether the managers

are good or bad makes a huge difference. It has been hammered home to me, in

my experience and everything that I have read, that hiring the right people, hiring

for talent, and employing their skills really well, is important. That has really

impacted me a lot. (Eldon)

Learning, Growth, and Reflection in the Role of Dean of Business

The subsequent follow up interviews by telephone occurred several weeks after the initial

face-to-face interview with participants. At this time the conversation shifted to the learning

activities that they had sought out to help them initially master the aspects of their job

requirements, and to grow in their knowledge and skills in the role.

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All participants expressed that it was difficult to identify a best source program or

learning experience that would help them to understand the ministry regulation of the college

sector, the processes for funding and development of programs, and the sources of expertise on

issues. The following comments are illustrative:

In a way, I think that everyone who becomes a dean should be exposed to the

provincial and national system levels, because it is beneficial for them to

understand that we are a network. (Alice)

I would say a large part of my learning has been how the college functions and

how the Ontario college system, functions and how it changes over time.

(Deborah)

When asked about the types of learning they had sought for themselves, the activities

described were mostly related to business trends and issues. Examples of this are contained in the

following:

I want to learn about the future of the world, not just business. I want the big-

thinking stuff and then to apply it to my school context. (Bryan)

Most things that I have done have been related to business or programs that I want

to run. (Francis)

Under the auspices of Colleges Ontario, the system of advocacy, policy, and

communications association representing the 24-member colleges, a group called the Heads of

Business has been established to meet quarterly and discuss issues related to college business

schools and programming, and to make recommendations to the system reporting groups of the

Vice Presidents Academic, as well as to receive system directives from this group. All of the

participants except once spoke of this collegial network as effective and providing high value in

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terms of acclimatizing and supporting newer deans. It was seen as a collaborative group who had

taken on several joint initiatives and projects. The one dissenting dean felt that certain voices

within this group tended to dominate and was seeking more mentoring and individual discussion

opportunities.

When asked about any formal learning programs that were valuable to the dean of

business role, the identified learning offerings were generic to all college deans or leaders. These

were listed as the National Enhanced Leadership Institutes (NELI) run by the national

association Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan; Colleges Institutes Canada, n.d.), the Higher

Education Summit – an annual conference sponsored by Colleges Ontario (Colleges Ontario,

n.d.), The Chair Leadership Academy, a cohort-based leadership program meeting twice during a

6-month period with assigned mentorship as sponsored by a U.S.-based national association

called The Chair Academy (The Chair Academy, n.d.), representing higher education institutions

with an annual conference and learning offerings. While many of all of the participants had

earned formal credentials at the master’s level, these were split between MBA/MPA programs

and M Ed programs. Most participants did not feel motivated to pursue doctoral work. The desire

for informal learning to be gained through reading, conferences, or 1-day industry-sponsored

events predominated.

When asked about the role of reflection in their own learning and growth in their roles,

most eschewed any systematic or formal processes. One participant spoke of having a personally

driven approach to planning both professional and personal goals that were reviewed regularly,

but this was a notable exception. Everyone else described ad hoc approaches but indicated that

they spent time frequently reflecting on events, decisions, interactions and outcomes, and all

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expressed that this was an important way to work through the stresses and concerns of their

roles.

Sample comments reflecting this sentiment are:

I think it (reflection) needs to be more of “I” – what did I do, and why do I feel

this way? It can be 10 minutes on your lunch break just thinking about some of

those small things like “today, this is where I wanted to spend some time.” I think

that is a small piece reflection and understanding your reflexes. (Bryan)

I think that my previous work and training has set me to spend a lot of time

thinking about how I interact and deal with people, and how it influences my

relationships with people. I think people feel too busy to do conscious reflection

and it takes time so it has to be something that you want to do. I think it is not

really rewarded. (Deborah)

I think I am pretty reflective, but in informal ways. I find it difficult not to

constantly think about either the road forward or behind to the point where I need

to engage in physical activity to shut off my brain. (Francis)

Mentoring was not an activity that the majority of the participants had experienced in

their college roles and any references to mentors pre-dated their joining the college and was

related to their earlier business careers.

Unique Aspects of Experience in the Dean of Business Role

In addition to examining participant stories for common themes related to the role of the

dean of business, I was also interested in any divergent thoughts or experiences or things that

could be considered outliers among the stories of others in a similar role.

Among the outlier comments, I found three that may be valuable in indicating other

dimensions for further, future study in examining this role of dean of business, or other college

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leadership roles. The following three comments have particularly captured the nature of the most

potent of these comments with the following descriptors:

I had extensive background working for the city and government agencies and

volunteer organizations. (Colin) [value of volunteer, non-profit, or government

roles]

Powerful women are expected to be nurturing not challenging. Women are

viewed more harshly if they demand accountability. (Deborah) [women’s

leadership]

I feel very privileged and grateful to be doing the work that I do. As one

progresses, through a career trajectory and does various jobs, and you think about

what you want to do next. In many ways, what I do right now represents for me,

the finest thing that I’ve ever done. (Francis) [fulfilment in the role]

These may indicate themes of the value of previous volunteer, non-profit, or government

experience, women’s leadership approaches, and a sense of meaningful work in the role, as

possibilities for future examination.

Summary of Findings

The rich content of the narrative stories of a sample of six individuals who hold the role

of dean of business in the Ontario college system has allowed me to examine their self-described

experiences in order to relate these to forma theories of leadership.

I asked participants to analyze their own leadership in their roles using a SWOT

(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis approach. This is a commonly used

business sector approach to analysis of a situation developed by Harvard business scholar

Michael Porter (1991) and this tool was known to each participant and resonated with them as an

approach to analysis of their own leadership.

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The Ontario College System’s presidents (the most senior leaders in the system) have

commissioned the development of a leadership capability framework that outlines areas of

competency and skills of college leaders. It was interesting to examine the participants’

awareness of this framework and the extent to which the elements resonated with how they

viewed the framework of the role of reflection in ongoing learning.

The comments that represented unique views or experiences were captured in

documenting these as themes that may have been present only for one of the participants in the

study but may be revealing in terms of other dimensions that could be studied in the future for

college leadership roles.

In the next chapter, I will relate these findings to leadership theories and concepts. In the

final chapter, I reach conclusions based on the examination of participants’ own stories and the

established body of knowledge on leadership.

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Chapter 5

Discussion

My Theoretical Framework

My theoretical framework places leadership at the confluence of identity and

development, with leadership identity (Lord & Brown, 2003), and leadership learning and

growth as defined by Lord and Hall (2005), and reflection for learning and development as

defined by Schön (1983). To explore these findings in these two important pieces of work, I

worked with my research study participants who perform the roles of dean of business in the

Ontario College System, using narrative inquiry as a methodology through which to gain their

stories, and examine if the findings in previous research were reflected in the lived experience

and thinking of these leaders.

Returning to My Research Questions

My study asked four major research questions of the participants. The first was, “How

did their leadership journey prepared them for their role as dean of business?”

The findings in my study of leadership as seen through an examination of the

dean of business role in the Ontario College System, are that leaders who have spent

significant portions of their careers working outside the college system are those

candidates most frequently hired into this role. Each of them cited individualized skills

sets gained through their prior business experience that they felt enabled them to perform

effectively as leaders within the dean of business role in the Ontario College System.

They felt that they were uniquely equipped among their other dean colleagues who lead

schools of health, technology, hospitality or trades etc., to appreciate the external

environment and trends that impacted college operations. They felt that their skills in

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initiating innovations, developing partnerships, building external relationships, handling

conflict, acting as administrative managers, and understanding financial contribution and

the importance of their schools to college bottom line, were the functions of this previous

experience.

The second research question asked, “How did they describe their own leadership

identity (their own thinking and practice of leadership)?”

These leaders are quite clear in their identity as leaders and able to articulate both

theories of leadership that they ascribe to and practices that are consistent with those

concepts. Their actions as they practice their leadership roles demonstrate the beliefs that

they hold about leadership. They credit their prior career journeys and experiences with

giving them tools and skills that they believe they use to perform effectively in their

college leadership roles. They feel a great responsibility to staff who report to them in

their schools. They talked of their roles as developers of capacity in the people working

with them, and putting together teams among their staff members, who would

competently and enthusiastically carry out the initiatives to support mandates of their

schools and their colleges as a whole, as being an important and rewarding part of their

jobs. They view work in the Ontario College System as fulfilling, meaningful and

intrinsically rewarding. They indicated that they thought their role as dean of business

was respected both inside their institutions and in the community.

The third research question asked, “How did the competencies outlined in the leadership

capability framework developed for the Ontario College System compare to their actual

experience in the role?”

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The five competency dimensions are: Plans for the Future, Innovates and Inspires

Creativity, Influences and Cultivates Critical Relationships, Models Agility, and Develops

Leadership Capacity. All of the research study participants agreed that these five

dimensions resonated to a certain extent with their experience in their roles, in terms of

skills that are required and that they practiced. They questioned two aspects of the

framework: the use of the word creativity in the capability area of “Innovates and

Inspires Creativity,” and the scope of development in “Develops Leadership Capacity.”

While they were very interested in the development of those reporting to them, and

engaging and empowering the learning and growth of their staff, they questioned whether

or not it was leadership that they were developing, citing the reluctance of many of their

staff to assume leadership roles, but supporting those who had interest. They also felt that

this capability dimension did not directly speak to their own development as leaders.

A leadership framework that is only focused on skills and the discreet dispositions

of leaders does not provide the depth to understand what it means to be successful in the

dean role. In examining the leadership frameworks available in the post-secondary sector,

there were no references to the processes of teaching and learning. The frameworks

available for K–12 (primary and secondary school) educators include this focus but have

tended to follow the model of becoming the head teacher in a school and promotion is

only gained through a lock-step linear progression through the roles of lead teacher, vice

principal, principal, supervisory officer, and director. In all of the frameworks, there is no

place that talks about the development of the leaders themselves.

The fourth research question was, “What activities of continuing learning and reflection

did they use as leaders?”

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While they displayed an ongoing interest in continuing to develop themselves as

leaders, they did not seem to engage significantly in formal programs that are aimed at

leadership development for the college system or otherwise. They did not reference

significant use of mentoring as a way of guiding their learning, growth and development.

They were interested in staying current and ahead of developments or trends in the

discipline or field of business, and consumed business-themed conferences and

workshops or events as their primary forms of additional learning. Their learning about

the nature of the Ontario College System, and the provincial government oversight of the

college sector and its system-wide regulation of funding, reporting of enrolment and

graduation, program development and quality assurance, is gained through informal

processes and learning on the job. Peer networking through the Heads of Business or

establishing collegial networks were the primary ways in which they learned about the

specific requirements of leadership as a dean of business for the aspects of the job that

related to teaching and learning, and creating, developing, and assessing programs to

ensure Ministry compliance, and effectively delivered engaging programs.

The Ontario College System network group of the Heads of Business is seen as a strong support

for the deans of business to learn about the system, and to learn how to proceed with turning

their ideas and goals into initiatives and outcomes that will benefit them in their individual

colleges. With the exception of only one participant in the research study, each of the deans

found considerable value in the Heads of Business group organized by Colleges Ontario and

reporting to the collective group of the Vice Presidents Academic of the Ontario College System

(known as CCVPA). They cite this network as instrumental in helping them with Ministry-

regulated processes for program development, quality assurances processes, and partnerships

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with universities and business organizations. They speak positively of the sharing of information,

collegial assistance with problem solving, and resource sharing.

Returning to My Conceptual Framework for Discussion

The individual stories shared by the participants in my research study prompted me to

return to the Leadership Capability Framework and to use their powerful stories as the basis for

examining the framework and commenting on its applicability and use. I sought to determine

how deans learned what they needed to know in order to lead their schools effectively, if most of

them had indeed honed their leadership skills outside of the Ontario College System.

I used my conceptual framework to analyze the data derived from the participant stories

in an effort to identify what might be unique about the experience of business deans in the

Ontario College System, and what aspects of their experience can inform the leadership learning

and growth for other deans in non-business schools within the Ontario College System. To

accomplish this goal, I turned again to the stories of my research participants. Each of the

participants shared aspects of their individual business sector experience prior to assuming the

role of dean that they believed had an impact on the way in which they practice their leadership

in the dean role.

Additionally, when I reflected on my own experience and approach to the dean of

business role as someone who shared the experience of significant prior leadership work outside

of the Ontario College System with my research study participants, I became aware of

differences between my experience and that of some of my other dean colleagues and peers who

led other schools within the college. My business experience contributed to my own

understanding of the external drivers of public policy, regulation, economic, technological, and

social factors on organizations. My prior experience of work included the settings of a private

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corporation, a teaching hospital, and a professional services partnership firm. Where other dean

colleagues that I worked with had the experience of a career of linear progression through a

series of roles within the school that they led. I was struck by the breadth of my perspective and

consideration of issues that affected the whole college as opposed to their focus on the vertical

depth of knowledge and subject-matter expertise in their schools. When senior college leadership

raised issues of needing to accelerate enrolment growth, through internationalization and

recruitment and admission of foreign visa students, or needing to innovate delivery methods or

develop an entrepreneurial mindset in students to address the growing opportunities of contract

and self-employment, my sense was that myself and Heads of Business colleagues readily

understood these imperatives. These issues of globalization and competitive pressures have been

present for some time for many businesses in Canada and they were not new to those with

business experience.

The Journey to Leadership

Each of the 6 participants told stories of being unaware of potential careers in the college

system until they encountered the possibility of working in a college through a friend, colleague,

or professional connection. All had had contract teaching experience after being introduced to

higher education as a field that was interested in their business experience and skills. Each of the

participants had engaged in some form of volunteer or civic work prior to working in the college

system. The goal of becoming a business dean emerged as they either indicated an interest in

progressive positions within the college where they initially gained work (3 participants) or were

referred to the opportunity by a professional colleague (3 participants). Three of the participants

made a transition to the role of dean from the position of externally recruited candidate in

business, consultant on a college project, or faculty member. Three participants progressed from

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the role of a department manager or chair, but without having performed all of the roles typically

leading to that position. The career pathways of the business deans were not a linear progression

through each of the academic roles in a business school (e.g., part-time instructor, full-time

professor, program coordinator, department chair or associate dean, and then dean). Each of the

participants had careers outside of the college system as well as within it, and they felt that this

enabled them to be effective in their roles. As study participant Alice explained, her husband had

pointed out that the initial job posting for the position looked like it was designed with her

experience set in mind, as it asked for significant community experience. She valued this

experience and felt that it was excellent preparation for her role. Colin echoed this idea and

explained that he became a manager at age 24 and worked in this capacity for decades. He felt

that very few of his fellow deans had come to this role through an academic career path straight

from graduation to the workplace.

These journeys and the stories they told, while sharing some commonality, were also

highly individual, in terms of the experiences that they believed were formative and impactful

for their present-day leadership roles.

Deborah, who had a background and master’s level degree in human services, talked

about her experience in leadership and administration in healthcare and community settings as

equipping her to deal effectively with conflict. Her experiences in handling conflict in her

college role led her to conclude that her own work experience and the fact that she had taught

were her strengths. She also described respecting others, along with dealing with conflict. She

felt that her approach helped, believing that, as a woman, it is not about winning or power. In her

background, she was trained to challenge disordered thinking. She describes what she labelled a

feminist perspective. She felt that as a feminist, she tried to change her language to reflect that

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her actions were about challenging thinking rather than seeing it as conflict. She was conscious

of trying to model that having different ideas doesn’t have to blow things up. She saw this as a

personal strength that she brought to a conflict avoidant culture. Deborah characterized her

analysis of her own lens on leadership thinking and practice as a feminist approach. She was the

only participant to identify her approach in this way.

Bryan reflected on his early career role in student service and his first managerial role in

a student service facility as prompting his decision to need to understand more of the business

aspects of performing successfully in administrative roles. He enrolled in and completed a

masters of business administration as a result. Bryan felt that this early experience was impactful

for establishing his leadership thinking and practice. He saw himself as a professional academic

administrator who could work in any academic setting and be effective as a leader because of the

depth of his experience and his business background.

Alice had a background of extensive volunteer work in her community prior to beginning

work at the college. She also held an elected position briefly. Once employed by the college, she

was encouraged to pursue a master’s of education if she was interested in career advancement

and she did so. Alice felt that this experience was valuable for teaching her about the importance

of establishing networks and partnerships with business and community agencies. This had

informed her approach to her leadership thinking and practice as she believes in developing

partnerships with stakeholders who could help her to meet the goals and objectives for her

school. She expressed that she spent a fair amount of time trying to inspire and engage people to

be the best they could be as employees or partners in order to contribute to the college.

Colin had previously worked in a corporate management role and took a re-organization

incentive to leave this employer. He became involved in supporting a public sector project that

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was centered on promoting his city as a tourism destination. This work brought him into contact

with the local college and later on, a professional contact from this sector advised him of the

vacancy for a dean of business role at his current college. He felt that his strengths were his

partnership skills and his background in business. He had worked in a multinational corporation,

a family company, and in businesses that were start-ups and entrepreneurial. He had a diverse

background. He felt that people skills were also his strength.

Eldon had two career roles, in financial services and in a technology company, before

joining the college. When contraction of the technology company caused significant downsizing,

he took an incentive package to leave, and decided to pursue a master’s of business

administration degree. He feels that his corporate experience informed his decisions about

championing the mission and goals for his school, and his approach to learning and development

for his team to have the capacity to achieve these goals. He felt that he has benefitted from the

corporate approaches to these functions. He described his personal strength as developing good

relationships and that that this was meaningful to people in the community and opened doors for

him, his team, and the college. He enjoyed having all of his team engaged in working on key

projects, and helping and supporting them. He felt this was a way to represent all of the good

things going on in his school to show contributions to the big picture and the rest of the college.

Francis was contemplating doctoral work as an international student and changed his

plans, deciding to return to Canada and become employed in the public sector. He switched his

educational goals to completing a master’s of public administration. He feels that he learned to

recognize the impact of public policy and the political environment on various sectors, and that

he learned valuable lessons about establishing networks to monitor opportunities and emerging

trends to create value and contribution, both financially and in terms of human capital. He talked

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about agility being key – adapting to the environment and changing. He liked that part of his job

the best. He felt that he thought differently because he hadn’t been carried along through the

system, so he was accustomed to seeing problems in a different way. He liked to tell his staff that

it was okay to take chances – and that they would learn, grow, and develop that way. He pledged

his support and the resources they would need to get things done.

Through these stories each of the participants describe aspects of their business

experience that has shaped their present-day leadership thinking and practice. While their stories

have been congruent in many aspects of the value of their prior business experience, each of

them highlights something individual and unique that they have carried into their present roles

from their previous experiences.

Developing a Leadership Identity

Each of the study participants could describe thinking about leadership that represented

their own values, and the way in which they practiced leadership as individuals. I feel that it is

important to ask leaders both how they conceive of the idea of leadership and how they describe

their leadership in practice. I am looking for congruency and seeking to understand how they

identify as leaders in thought and action. This is the notion of praxis. Freire’s (1970/2014) legacy

has been to describe the concept of praxis as “reflection and action upon the world in order to

transform it” (p. 36). Lather (1986) defined the concept of research as praxis and examines it in

the context of social science research. Lather explains that empirical research is designed to

advance knowledge through a process of inquiry characterized by negotiation, reciprocity and

empowerment. In my research study, I asked participants to talk about the learning they felt they

needed to develop and grow in their leadership, and whether or not they engaged in regular

reflection on their own leadership thought and actions. participants to reveal their own process of

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inquiry around their leadership identity. Zuber-Skerritt (2001) provided a framework for action

learning and research and states that these have been proven to be appropriate methodologies and

processes for (re)creating change, innovation, leadership, and personal, professional, and

organizational learning.

My participants self-described their leadership identities using this thought–practice lens.

For Alice, being a leader meant strategic thinking, having goals and planning over a period of

time, considering and evaluating whether or not she was on track, and what actions to take if she

could not cannot meet a goal. She also felt that servant leadership as described by Greenleaf

[Greenleaf, 1983] was personally meaningful, as she related to those theories [thought]. She also

described herself a leader who tended to function in a methodical and linear way, running good

meetings, and being straight up with people and honest. [practice]. A few years ago, Alice

recalled meeting a retiree at a local coffee shop who told her that he appreciated that she was

completely honest with faculty members as the dean, always explaining why she was asking

them to do something, and what the expected outcomes were. Even if they didn’t like it, they

could understand the thought behind her directives, knowing why they were necessary.

Bryan de0scribed his: view of leadership as the notion of the sacrifice for the success of

followers, recognizing the importance of the relationship between the leader and the follower,

which he felt was more than being in charge” [thought]. He also understood the need to be

accountable to the organization and the need to demonstrate and prove that. [practice]. Bryan

reflected on a performance management discussion with his vice president in which he was told

that he always followed through on the plans and strategies that he committed to, and that he

ensured that his staff did the same.

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Colin described being a leader as being about watching his people succeed – with the

ability and autonomy to act confidently on their own. He really wanted to be recognized as a

leader who helped others succeed [thought]. He felt that he had changed his style over time to be

even more participative with staff and to gather as much input as possible, involving them more

in the processes. While he saw this as a collaborative style of leading, he understood that he was

accountable, that there were tough decisions, and it was his responsibility to make them

[practice]. Colin had spent secondment time at another campus, and this was pivotal in his

development as a leader as it enabled him to realize that everything was better the more that he

listened to and engaged with people. They could give their input, and if he came back with a

decision that they didn’t like, they still felt that they had been heard. This made him see the

priority of spending even more time in his role talking to people and making them feel heard and

supported.

Deborah described leadership power as based on the good will of other people and their

decision to accept her as their leader. She felt it was important to be genuine and transparent, and

to buffer, protect, support, and develop those who reported to her [thought]. She felt that her

leadership actions showed that she was candid and collaborative, but with an end-zone. She was

prepared to look at all views. She did a lot of walking around to hear more of what people were

thinking and to be visible to them [practice]. Deborah described a challenging situation when she

was asked to take on an additional portfolio in which she had no subject-matter expertise and that

she went directly to the staff group attached to this area and told them that she needed to learn

from them about what is needed to support them and their programs, and that she would do her

best to make their needs heard and understood. She felt that this resulted in building trust and

rapport and created strong relationships.

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Eldon felt that, in his role as leader, the people who reported to him were responsible and

accountable. He supported them but also needed them to share what they were doing. He valued

being as collaborative and consultative as possible. He celebrated people’s success and

encouraged them to try new things [thought]. He saw himself as determined, analytical, and

having a sense of humour, and that he dealt fairly well with ambiguity and relieving it. He liked

building processes, frameworks, and principles. He enjoyed one-to-one chats with his people

about what they were doing and tried to support them. He felt that he could also be objective and

knew when to draw the line [practice]. Eldon said that he had been praised by his vice president

for creating a high-performing school that had been stable over a long period of time, with low

staff turnover, and that he had gained a reputation for developing very capable department chairs.

He said that it did felt good to hear his vice president and his managers, and even some of his

faculty, tell him at a recent convocation ceremony, that he deserved a great deal of credit for the

positive environment he had created in his school.

Francis described his thinking about leadership as being responsible for creating a work

environment that would allow people to grow personally and professionally, and that the

workplace should be a place that people want to come to enjoy their work and interact positively

with others [thought]. He said that in his work as a leader of the school, he saw himself as a

builder, creating something and moving it along. He loved building teams and seeing them grow

and prosper and take pleasure in their work. He felt that if they fell, he would want them to get

back up and do it again. He accepted it as part of their journey and support them to refocus their

energy [practice]. He described a situation where a program had struggled in terms of enrolment

and retention and he challenged the faculty team involved with the program to come up with a

number of ideas about changing the program, indicating that he would obtain the necessary

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resources to implement the changes. While not all of their ideas were workable, the good will

that he obtained by letting them try, meant that they course-corrected willingly and felt that he

had been more than fair to them. He learned that it is okay to let people make mistakes, because

the next attempt could be successful.

In these descriptions of the concepts of leadership that each of the participants held, I was

struck by the congruence of themes around the following: concern for the well-being and

fulfilment of their staff, the need to support them and allow for their learning and growth, and

accountability for the outcomes of the work of their mandates. Their self-descriptions of their

leadership in practice emphasized the attributes of honesty, transparency, collaboration,

consultation, communication, supportive and empathetic behaviour, and decision-making. The

emphasis on authenticity, relationship themes, and learning are aspects of leader identity as

characterized by Hillier (2005), Van Knippenberg et al. (2005), Madsen (2008), and Mullen and

Robertson (2014). This is also consistent with the key elements of my theoretical framework that

support that leader identity is shaped by the reciprocal relationship with followers who take

meaning from leadership actions, allowing them to self-regulate within their specific context

(Lord & Brown, 2003) and that leader identity is honed and shaped through learning and growth

using reflection (Lord & Hall, 2005). The stories of my participants and their articulation of the

ways in which they think of themselves as leaders (expressing their own philosophies or ideas

that guide them as leaders), and the way in which describe their practice of leadership,

corresponded to the core research findings on the development of leadership identity that I have

cited.

My conceptual framework framed leadership journeys and identity development within

the context of the Ontario College system. I examined the capabilities (or competencies) needed

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in Ontario College System leaders and compared this with the self-identification of learning by

my participants of their learning and growth needs, and the use of reflective practice as a tool for

this purpose. The stories of my participants also validated the interrelationship of these ideas as

integral to leadership practice in this leadership context.

The Role of Leadership Competencies in the Lived Experiences of Leaders

The Ontario College System Presidents commissioned the development of leadership

competencies as presented in the Leadership Capability Framework (Molinaro, 2012).

Previously, I made reference to the work of Leithwood et al. (2012) with a leadership

competency framework for K–12 school leaders in Ontario called the Ontario Leadership

Framework. This framework has four key standards of practice: Shared Vision; Strategic

Leadership; Assessment and Instruction; and Parent and Community Partnerships. All four

standards of practice provide a clear focus on student achievement, with alignment and feedback

at all levels. Bryman (2007) identified 13 dimensions of leadership behavior that were applicable

to university department heads in the United Kingdom. Among these dimensions, he cites

individualized consideration of the subordinate, creating trust, empowerment of subordinates,

and a change orientation that is always open to new ways of doing work. Scott (2008) in

Australia developed a competency framework for postsecondary leaders in universities and

polytechnic institutes. The five competency or capability areas he defined are: personal

capabilities, inter-personal capabilities, cognitive capabilities, generic competencies, and role

competencies. In the U.S. in 2005, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC),

also developed competencies for community college leaders. The competency areas in the latter

framework are defined as: communication, community college advocacy, organizational

strategy, resource management, collaboration, and professionalism (Boswell & Imroz;2013).

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A Critique of the Leadership Capability Framework for Ontario College System Leaders

The five competency areas of the Leadership Capability Framework for the Ontario

College System are: Plans for the Future; Innovates and Inspires Creativity; Influences and

Cultivates Critical Relationships; Models Agility, and Develops Leadership Capacity. It was

intended that this framework would apply to all Ontario College System leadership roles,

including those employed in providing corporate or administrative services, in addition to the

academic divisions of the colleges.

I did not find critiques in the current literature of these competency frameworks. The

focus of the university competency frameworks in the United Kingdom and Canada talked more

about supporting faculty to encourage the growth of scholarship and to empower members of

their departments to embrace change, and the role of administrators to mediate conflicts among

department members. The Australian and American frameworks addressed more generic

administrative competencies. The Ontario College System Framework did address the need for

change and innovation and did address the need to develop staff reporting to leaders, but it does

not address the role skills needed by deans in creating and leading engaging teaching and

learning environments. This was missing from all of the post-secondary frameworks. In the

university frameworks, the target group were academic administrators. In the Ontario College

System, the framework applies to administrative leaders in the corporate services and student

services roles as well. The only one of all the frameworks reviewed that addressed the aspect of

teaching and learning specifically was the one developed for Ontario’s K–12 system.

Within my study, I examined the relevance of these capability dimensions to the lived

experience of the business deans in their school leadership roles. The Leadership Capability

Framework categorizes each of the five capability dimensions under the following descriptors:

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anticipates (plans for the future); shapes (innovates and inspires creativity, and influences and

cultivates critical relationships); and delivers (models agility, and develops leadership capacity).

The framework also positions at its core, a focus on student success, described as: an unwavering

commitment to academic excellence; a passion for students and the process of learning; and a

knowledge of the professional practice of teaching. While these would seem like reasonable

underpinnings for an academic institution, I did not find clear descriptions of these core

elements, nor significant representation in the detailed descriptions of each of the five capability

dimensions. As the framework was intended to serve the development of leaders across the three

broad areas of the colleges: academic services, student services, and corporate services. These

core underpinnings need to be related to the leadership practice in each of these areas. It is

difficult to for me to see how someone in a corporate services role in a director of facilities role

might have knowledge of the professional practice of teaching or how someone in a student

services role might have an unwavering commitment to academic excellence. Each of the

participants was asked to comment on the Leadership Capability Framework dimensions and

indicate if they were applicable to their own work in leading their schools.

In terms of the capability of Plans for the Future, all participants were able to give

examples of the kinds of activities that they regularly led their schools to perform or for which

they had defined accountabilities. They described contribution to college strategic plans, the

business plans for their schools, strategic enrolment management plans, program quality review

cycle, new program development plans, and their own annual performance management plans.

This capability emphasized some important elements such as: remaining current with academic,

industry, and relevant external environment trends, and clearly communicating the strategic

vision, priorities, and expectations of the college to their followers, but does not specifically

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address what constitutes creating an environment of academic excellence, or determination of

21st century pedagogical approaches in the face of anticipated demographic changes that reduces

the number of direct-entry-from-high-school learners in favour of significant increases in mature

(24 years and older) learners and a growing international learner cohort who are more focused on

preparation for the workplace or meeting eligibility requirements for professional designations or

further university learning.

The capability of Innovates and Inspires Creativity drew support for the need to be

constantly innovating in program offerings, in delivery of learning, in seeking funding through

partnerships or applied research, and in creating engaging learning environments. The

description in the framework cites development of innovative services and academic programs as

“core to strengthening brand reputation and establishing a unique value proposition” (Molinaro,

2012, p. 5) but, within the capability descriptors offers only a vague statement about “enhancing

teaching and learning by bringing innovation and creativity to the classroom” (Molinaro, 2012,

p. 5). It did not address what creativity looks like or what is needed to foster a climate in which it

can grow. It was interesting that each of them objected to the use of the word creativity however.

They felt that it was not measurable. This was underscored in a comment from Eldon who said

that he believed that innovation was there, but wouldn’t go as far as to say that the leaders could

inspire creativity.

The capability of Influences and Cultivates Critical Relationships was one that resonated

with all participants with Deborah describing it as a key part of the job. The capability

framework description emphasizes public accountability and cross-college and cross-

departmental collaboration. This element of the framework probably most closely matched the

experiences that the participants described. They talked about forging good relationships within

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their colleges with other deans who are their peers, with staff at the college across the major

divisions of corporate, academic and student services, and talked about forming partnerships

with universities for articulation and transfer, and with industry contacts to support applied

research, cooperative employment and experiential learning, and potential donors who could

fund scholarships and infrastructure improvements The period of interviews with my participants

was September 2016–March 2017. A very acrimonious period in the collective bargaining

history of the college system began during the late months of 2016 and continued to an

unprecedented nearly 6-week-long strike by faculty in October of 2017. The key demands under

dispute were academic freedom (previously discussed in Chapter 2 as control over curriculum,

and freedom of speech in classrooms and staffrooms, and other college forums), and the

(executive) college leaders were relaying very prescriptive messaging to college system leaders

about the position of the colleges in these matters, I was surprised that my participants did not

seem to take this side in describing their view of the faculty members reporting to them and the

reasonability of their expressed needs and wants, or engagement in the key directions of the

college. This was not discussed by my participants with the depth that I might have expected.

The fourth capability, Models Agility, also was embraced by all the participants. This

element of the framework captures the dynamic context of the Ontario College System and

emphasized the need to maintain exceptional levels of service to students and stakeholders. The

capability descriptions do not specifically mention students, learning or academic excellence in

any terms, or how to model a culture that embraces change as a positive force. The participants

spoke of the dynamic nature of the external environment and of the government directives and

new initiatives that might require sudden adjustments to goals or processes in place. As one of

them expressed that they needed to react and be nimble, but not to be reactive. It seemed more

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about modelling enthusiastically embracing the change for staff within their schools and offering

them encouragement to make the needed changes and shifts in direction.

The fifth capability, Develops Leadership Capacity, was enthusiastically received by the

participants. This element descriptor talks about requirements for a breadth of leadership

capabilities and continuous development of new skills in self and others. The only reference to

leadership development for themselves is expressed as “focuses on developing as leaders

themselves” (Molinaro, 2012, p. 8). The participants mainly addressed this capability as it related

to developing their followers. Four of them claimed that this was one of the most enjoyable

aspects of their roles, and that they took immense pleasure in seeing their staff succeed and grow.

As expressed by Alice, if staff had capacity, it would be encouraged, and expenses for their

further learning covered even if it meant that they would go on to another role.

According to Rothwell and Dubois (2004), community college leadership competencies

as used in the American system, have several implications for practice. They may be used to

create individual development plans for community college leaders as well as in various human

resource management functions such as selection, hiring, training, and rewards. This seems to be

the level of use and application that is being demonstrated with the Leadership Capability

Framework developed for the Ontario College System. There is not a great deal in these

competency frameworks that addresses the specific context of being an administrator in an

educational setting, where understanding pedagogy, effective teaching practice and faculty

development, assessment and evaluation of learning, technology enhancement of teaching and

learning processes, program and curriculum development, program quality assurance, external

regulation of programs and curriculums, and government funding mechanisms is key to

performance in the role of the dean as an academic leader.

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Examining Leadership Frameworks for Applicability to the Role of Dean of Business

In the case of the dean of business role, most leaders come into the Ontario College

System from external career paths. While each of the participants found that the capabilities

outlined in the Leadership Capability Framework resonated with the skill requirements in the

work of a dean of business, there were some that they felt were less important. The two areas that

they felt were the least evident in their performance in their roles were Innovates and Inspires

Creativity and Develops Leadership Capacity. They all agreed that innovation was a key

expectation and that a business background hones the skill of paying attention to externa drivers,

consideration of the broader environment, and evaluation of risk, and then forming solid plans

for new initiatives. They felt that it was nearly impossible to inspire creativity and had difficulty

defining creativity. They were all keenly interested in the development of leadership capacity for

themselves, and for those administrators that reported directly to them. While they expressed a

desire to support faculty champions for initiative in their schools and to encourage faculty

members to strive to create engaging teaching and learning experiences for students, they all felt

that it was extremely difficult to get faculty interested in moving into administrative

opportunities at the college, citing the strength of collective agreements in creating very codified

approached to workload and hours of work, and too narrow of an increase in wage rates on the

administrative pay scale to entice faculty to consider giving up job security, flexible schedules

and 10 weeks of annual vacation. The general tenor of the participants’ perspectives on their

followers (primarily faculty, but also including support staff and technologists in some areas of

specialization) was one of empathy and support. They seemed sincere in their desire to create

environments in their schools where everyone would work collaboratively to serve students,

provide high quality learning experiences, and contribute effectively to overall college goals.

They reiterated that this was the approach of business people and they felt that they had a

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superior understanding of these imperatives than some of their other senior leader colleagues

who had spent their lifetime career journeys within the college system.

Continuing Learning and Development and Reflection

When my research study participants talked about the learning opportunities were

provided to them within their respective colleges, often these offerings were internally created

programs that addressed institutional guidelines and criteria for job performance, human

resources management processes, managing within collective agreements, business planning

processes, and conflict resolution. The tasks were often related to priorities and process cycles

within the particular college.

When I asked about the continuing learning that was needed to perform in their role, they

were quick to differentiate between learning related to the college system and leading within it,

and the learning related to the subject matter areas of business. On the subject of learning related

to the Ontario College System, Alice expressed the idea that everyone who becomes a dean

should be exposed to the provincial system (and national, too), because it is beneficial to

understand that we are a part of a system and a network. Deborah also supported this as she felt

that a large part of her learning had been about how the college functions, how the Ontario

College System functions, and how they changed over time.

In terms of learning about things related to the specialized discipline of business, they

talked about two dimensions: the need to stay ahead of business trends, and the value of

belonging to the Ontario College System Heads of Business network group for exchange of

information, advocacy as a group for the business schools, and support for each other’s

initiatives. Bryan talked about the first dimension of staying ahead of trends. He wanted to learn

about the future world, and then to apply it to the context of his school. Colin felt that there was

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real learning value being in the Heads of Business group as the interactions and the professional

associations positively impacted his programs. Within the Ontario College System, there is a

mechanism for networking groups (called “Heads of…”) that are organized by subject matter

expertise (e.g., health, technology, business, tourism, etc.) These groups are organized under the

auspices of Colleges Ontario, the administrative and advocacy organization for the college

system, but the Heads of Business group is known for being particularly strong, cohesive, and

collegial in its interactions and for its willingness to take on joint projects with business sector

partners.

When I asked about learning and credentialing, each participant agreed that a master’s

level degree was appropriate credentialing for a business dean. Half of the participants achieved

this degree level before joining the Ontario College System, the remaining three earing the

degree while working with a college. Three of the candidates held at least two master’s level

degrees. Two of them continued on to earn doctoral degrees. The degree specializations earned

were: master’s of business administration (2 participants); master’s of public administration (2

participants); and master’s of education (2 participants). The doctoral degree specializations were

a doctorate in education leadership, and a doctorate in business administration.

The participants described the ongoing learning that they pursued after completion of

these credentials as not being related to further shorter-term certifications or courses in discipline

specific business studies, but rather learning that could be obtained through conferences and

workshops. On the subject of continuing learning about the college system, all of the participants

except the newest person in the dean role, had sought out college leadership development

training either provided internally in their own college or through The Chair Academy. The

following text appears on the organization’s website, describing the organization and its purpose:

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The Chair Academy is a premier leadership development organization for higher education and organizational leaders globally. Our mission is centered around advancing academic and administrative leadership across all levels of higher education. With a 30-year history offering world-class, competency-based leadership development programs and services, the Academy develops transformational leaders. A key ingredient to our success is the ability to connect and cultivate a leadership community, providing a forum for collaboration, insight, and discovery. (The Chair Academy, n.d., Home page)

The Academy’s Annual International Leadership Conference offers a forum for

continued professional development, interaction, engagement, and networking, while

recognizing exemplary leadership and leaders. With world-class speakers, concurrent, and

roundtable sessions, this conference provides practical and informative learning opportunities,

experiences, and resources to promote positive change. The Academy’s journal, LEADERSHIP,

is a refereed and respected publication offering best practices in leadership around themes and

trends throughout higher education. While the mission declares the outreach of this organization

is global, it is most heavily used by North American college leaders. The focus of the

programming is leadership training within a postsecondary college context, as opposed to system

or process learning for administrators.

As each of the study participants expressed a level of interest in forms of continuing

learning while in the role of dean of business, I explored whether they used processes of

reflection in their learning activities. Schön and Argyris’s (1983) work on reflection described

reflection as being both “in action” and “on action” (p. 190). Schön and Argyris (1983) and

Brookfield (1992, 2009) urged educators and educational leaders both to engage in ongoing

reflective practice which can be undertaken individually or with peer support or mentors, to

systematically examine the actions within their work and think about the outcomes achieved,

whether these could be changed or improved as a result of thoughtful consideration and review,

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and the affective experience. Engaging in reflective practice can be regular and systematic, such

as journaling, video or audio recording, notetaking, peer discussion groups or meetings, or

mentor sessions. It can also be informal and engaged in as a personal period of thought and

review, or in ad hoc discussions with a peer or mentor when an issue emerges that the individual

seeks to explore and learn about.

All of the participants claimed to engage in reflection regularly, perhaps even weekly, but

in very informal ways. Most commonly described as taking personal and alone time to think

about an action or event, and interrogate themselves about whether they could have improved on

the outcome or their role in the action or event. Occasionally, they would arrange an in-person

telephone call with a trusted peer or mentor to discuss a situation.

Brookfield (1992) stated:

In order for us to claim that we are reflective practitioners, we must be able to show that we are trying to find out what our assumptions are and that we are constantly checking these assumptions for their validity and accuracy. (p. 13)

While I could see that the participants did engage in reflection in order to learn and potentially

improve their leadership, I think the level of their practice was probably nascent and could not be

considered robust, according to the practices described in the literature. None of the participants

describe regular journaling practices or meeting with mentors or peers on a regular basis to

discuss reflections. None of the participants cited working with a coach or advisor to try to

improve leadership practice, and only two of them described seeking out leadership development

programs, but did not cite these as having a major impact in helping them to forge their identity

as a leader. Their identities as leaders were reflected in the stories that they told as they gained

experiences within their roles that built upon learning that they had gained earlier in their pre-

college system careers.

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It is significant to me that they struggled with trying to learn the processes of the Ontario

College System, particularly with respect to their mandates to develop new academic programs,

and to implement higher levels of technology-mediated teaching and learning delivery and

expressed dissatisfaction with the current level of college system learning offerings in this vain.

This was part of the reason that they highly value the network of the Heads of Business group. It

was here that they indicated that they obtained some of their most valuable lessons in this vein.

By the classification suggested by Lord and Hall (2006) of leadership performance as

progressing in learning from novice to intermediate to expert, I would classify all of the

participants as functioning at the expert level:

Expert leaders show: greater dependence on understanding of situation and more collaboration with others in the area of knowledge use; a principle level of knowledge in terms of knowledge content; and a principled understanding of situation and others in terms of values, emotions and identities in accessing knowledge. (p. 594)

The leadership actions that they described with respect to engagement with their followers were

grounded in their values.

Additionally, the majority of the participants had indicated an attempt to advance to the

role of vice president academic in their own college or another Ontario College and none of them

had been successful in these bids to-date. None of them questioned whether their learning about

the Ontario College system had been inadequate to prepare them for this opportunity, but a few

wondered if the culture of business that they believe that they demonstrate in their leadership is

at odds with the culture of college system leadership.

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Summary

The rich stories shared by the research participants in my study have allowed me to take

my theoretical and conceptual frameworks and examine their interrelationship to the career

journeys of the selected deans of business who participated in my study. I have looked at the

development of their own individual leadership identities, and considered the role of the

Leadership Capability Framework of the Ontario College System in their lived experience in

their roles, and examined the framework for its applicability to their work in this context. I have

also examined the continued learning and development that they sought, and the reflection

activities that these deans engaged in while in their roles, to see if they were actively trying to

improve their leadership capability to meet the professional and personal growth challenges of

their roles. In the final chapter that follows, I reach some conclusions for my study.

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Chapter 6

Conclusions

Reviewing My Goals in My Study of Ontario College System Leadership

In undertaking my own study of leadership in the Ontario College System, I was initially

motivated to try to better understand what was required to succeed in the most senior leadership

roles. For my own personal career journey, the one role that eluded me was to progress to the top

academic role in the college – the vice president–academic. During my 30-year career, I felt I

had performed all the progressive job roles (although not in a purely linear fashion as I did return

to a faculty role for a time after holding the position of department chair). I served as a dean in

an academic support role (a teaching and learning center) and as a leader of an academic school

(dean of business). I became the associate vice president–academic. Even as a leader of academic

support functions, I was adept at securing grant funding to underwrite staffing and project costs

of several significant endeavors. I was regularly called upon to participate in or lead pan-college

initiatives and was often significantly involved in external partnerships, but still this top role (for

which I believed I had the requisite skills and experience) eluded me. I believe that I am

considerably self-aware and highly reflective, but like the participants in my study, I was never

selected as the successful candidate in a vice-presidential competition. Initially, I thought I

would make the vice president–academic position the focus of my research, but upon further

consideration, I felt that examining a role that I had experienced would allow me to make a

stronger contribution to the body of scholarly work on leadership in the Ontario College System.

Out of my study, I hoped to learn more about individual leadership identity and how it

gets developed. Through my research, I wanted to learn about leadership in the context of the

Ontario College System. I also wanted to learn more about myself as a leader. Talking with other

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leaders in the system, who had shared the same role seemed like the best way to gain further

insights for myself.

At the same time, I wanted my work to make a two-fold contribution. I wanted to add to

the body of scholarly work about postsecondary academic leadership roles in the Ontario College

System (an area that has received very little attention to-date), and I wanted to contribute to the

understanding of how those in the role of a dean (using the dean of business role) develop, learn,

and grow. I believe that these findings can help to inform the Ontario College System about the

types of learning and development that are needed for growth in a leadership capacity. This issue

of leadership learning had been the focus of a commissioned report by the Committee of

Presidents in an effort to streamline offerings, share costs and resources, and help the system

prepare for the predicted exit of experience administrators that has begun with the exit of the

baby boomer demographic.5 I believed that the findings from my study could address a number

of human resources development concerns of the Ontario College System: leadership learning

and growth; leadership capabilities; and recruitment of new leaders.

My Personal Reflection on Leadership and Learning in the Role of Dean of Business

Listening to the rich stories of my study participants about their leadership experiences

makes me think that we are the sum total of all of our experiences, both personal and

professional. As my participants have had significant portions of their career experiences outside

of the Ontario College System, prior to assuming the role of a business dean, they talked with me

about roles they held, education gained, key projects that they had been involved in, employer

relationships and organizational cultures that they had experienced, and successes and failures

5 As mentioned om p. in Footnote 3, Tamblyn International was contracted to prepare a report on this matter.

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they counted. They told me how they had advanced through their careers and then how they

applied and were selected for their roles in the Ontario College System leading to their

appointment as a dean of business.

I was struck by what seemed to be the biggest challenge for them in performing in the

role of business dean and realized that it was not consistent with my own experience because of a

significant point of difference in my own career journey when compared with that of my

participants. Each of my study participants observed that one of the most challenging aspects of

their role was the development and renewal of the very programs that lead students to obtaining

their college credential. The program development process is subject to a provincial government

policy that are articulated in a framework for all postsecondary programs of instruction offered in

the Ontario College System. Programs must have a general education or breadth requirement met

by a specified number of courses, must include instruction of essential employability skills, and

must be built around a standardized or comment set of vocational learning outcomes that come

under cyclical review by the government ministry responsible for higher education in Ontario.

These outcomes must be constructed at a level appropriate to the type of college credential (a 1-

year certificate has a different level of learning expected than a 3-year advanced diploma) and

programs must fall within a specified range of hours of instruction. The process of developing

programs that conform to these requirements (which are reviewed and validated by an arms-

length quality assurance body) before they are sent to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and

Universities (MTCU) for approval to be offered by an individual college, is one that my

participants found to be the subject of continuous discovery for them.

While MTCU published a document containing this framework, participants struggled to

understand the processes, timing, relationship to external quality assurance boards, and

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parameters that would result in the development of programs at appropriate levels of learning

outcomes. The role of Program Advisory Committees (volunteers from industry and sectors who

advise the colleges on program-related issues) and how to use their input most effectively was

often unclear. There is no system mandated course or workshop that provides instruction in these

processes and no step-by-step procedural guides that show processes and time lines. Each college

in the system can establish its own processes and supports for these activities. Some colleges

have well-developed academic support units and others expect this responsibility to be handled

within schools. This is an important reason that my participants found the Heads of Business

network invaluable. They could connect with peers with similar programming needs and

requirements and learn from each other.

With significant turnover in the college system management ranks as Baby Boomers exit

the system, many deans find that this knowledge and expertise is not resident in their schools by

those in chair and associate dean roles. Two of my study participants had actually spent time in

the department chair role, albeit briefly, (and in one case, it was in another province), but they

also said developing this knowledge was an area of challenge in the role of dean.

In my own leadership journey, I held several progressive roles within the college, but not

necessarily in a linear career path. My appointment as dean of business came after I had already

experienced the roles of program chair in the business school, dean of a teaching and learning

centre, and as an associate vice-president–academic. While I served as dean, I continued in the

latter role with some additional assist to provide me with relief of some duties to allow me to

focus on the school. My experiences had actually provided me with a very solid background

related to program development and quality assurance. I was not typical of the career journeys of

my participants in that respect.

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The prior business experience of my participants, as opposed to years of progressive

levels of contact with student issues related to program fit, entrance and progression, also made

some of the aspects of understanding the Ontario K–12 milieu and the university governance and

process differences, also a process of discovery. This had an impact for deans of business in

forming appropriate partnerships, articulation of programs, and transfer agreements between

these other systems. Some aspects of evaluating prior learning and advising the Registrar on the

appropriateness of admission decisions where business applicants had atypical backgrounds or

experience proved to be challenging as well. My study participants observed that gaining

knowledge and understanding of these variables was often through trial-and-error, or

encountering resistance to projects that they were trying to move forward, and finding it difficult

to gain clarity on where the stumbling blocks were actually located. All of them expressed great

willingness to gain skill and expertise in this area, and expressed wanting to meet student and

employer needs, and create thriving environments for learning and success in their schools.

As each of the participants described that business culture was decisive and innovative,

and even characterized by others as bold, several of them wondered if theses dispositions were at

odds with the nature of the college academy, and if this was why advancement beyond the dean

portfolio had not been met by success for those who had applied to further progressive roles

I believe that this is a very significant outcome of my research. There is no formal, stated

requirement that college academic leaders must possess doctoral credentials, as is true for nearly

all university academic leaders. In the K–12 system, all school leaders (principals) at least

possess the common credential of the principal’s training program. Other schools within the

college system such as health, engineering, or liberal arts studies are often led by individuals

with a doctoral credential. It may be that this is a more common requirement of the fields in

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which these schools offer programs and may equip those leaders with more exposure to

academic policy, practice, and the language of learning. This may be more in line with the

expectations of the way in which the most senior academic leader in the college would talk about

issues of learning. The fact that none of my research participants were successful in their

attempts to secure the role of vice president–academic may signal that the experience of these

professionals from the business sector is not being read as applicable to the leading of various

college units, or that they are not framing their potential for leadership of an academic

organization in ways that broadly resonate with stakeholders. More examination of this

phenomenon could be valuable to determine if the culture of business is viewed as producing

leaders who are too pragmatic and bottom-line oriented, or lacking in the understanding of the

nature of academic policy about admission and credentials, learning outcomes, and assessment

and evaluation mechanisms that are fundamental to college learning. Other college leaders who

may have had exposure to these academic processes in their own programs of higher education

may seem better equipped to help others in the college to see their necessity and importance.

They also observed that being formal in reflective activities (journaling or regular sharing

in peer groups for this purpose) was something that was more common in academic settings than

in business organizational culture. Several of my study participants had pursued further learning

in business disciplines or public administration. My own further learning at master’s and doctoral

levels in education brought the disposition of being a reflective practitioner into my practice.

What I have described, I believe is the content portion of the dean of business role as it

relates to process knowledge. As this content is not well-documented to guide newer entrants to

the Ontario College System, it represented a significant learning curve. For me, the opportunity

for the Ontario College System is to recognize that it is this content area of learning that needs to

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be supported for business deans, and potentially other deans in the system. The Leadership

Capability Framework for the Ontario college System does not address the content or context of

the college system and is more generically focused on leadership role behaviours. Brown and

Conrad (2007), in a study of school leadership in Trinidad and Tobago, provided the important

observation that,

To be successful, leaders must understand the people they lead and the complex nature of the environment within which they function. Such contextual knowledge influences leadership styles and behaviors (Blanchard et al., 1987; Fiedler & Garcia 1987). (p. 181)

Another area that was surprising in discussion with my participants was related to

diversity, equity, and social inclusion. My study participants appeared on the surface of things to

be quite homogenous in background, Canadian-born, and educated. There was no identification

of difference in terms of being part of visible minorities, and issues of gender identity, creed,

family status, and ability did not surface in their self-descriptions. While it may seem that they

currently carry privilege as economically successful, educated members reflecting the dominant

culture of the country, I cannot confirm that they had not transcended invisible disability, gender

identity discrimination, or poverty to reach their current position. These aspects did not surface

in our interviews. Given the increasing diversity of Canadian society and the incredible growth

within the system of a diverse, global student population who enter Canada on study visas, the

need to ensure a diverse and culturally competent workforce in the colleges is a growing

imperative. In their discussion of leadership, this was not an area that was specifically

mentioned, where as the need to recognize the credentials of foreign trained professionals in the

areas of health and technology often means the introduction of programs aimed at diversity and

inclusion. A question for further examination is to what extent this is an issue in most business

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enterprises today or whether business is seen as already providing some sort of level playing

field for those who choose careers in this field.

Each of my participants was experienced as an administrator and leader. When it came to

establishing structures and processes within their schools, hiring and developing staff and team

members, forging partnerships both internal and external to their college institutions, and

understanding the importance of effective communication and developing strong relationships

with colleagues and external contacts, they were seasoned and experienced. They could be

categorized as expert leaders as described by Lord and Hall (2005).

It is this aspect of leadership – the human-connected, relational, nurturing stances, while

assuming responsibility for direction-setting, guiding and assuming responsibility for outcomes –

that I believe was displayed in each of my participants. They had built these leadership

behaviours as a result of the sum total of their experiences, prior to entering the college system,

and then honed their skills in the context of the Ontario College system. I would say that same

has been true of my own leadership journey. An area that may invite further research is to ask,

why is this leadership experience not being read as providing the background and experience to

allow the deans of business in my study (and me) to advance to the key leadership role of vice-

president–academic in the Ontario College System?

Implications

From the stories of my research participants, I have been able to identify the following

implications for supporting their leadership and growth:

1. A system-wide mechanism is needed for learning the government policy directives

that guide creation, development and implementation of college programming

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learning offerings. It does not happen though Colleges Ontario’s reporting groups that

represent the most senior human resources management leaders, or training and

development leaders of the Ontario College System. Because of jurisdictional and

policy variability (education as a provincial mandate) there are no offerings through

CICan in any of their leadership skills programs. This is required to help business

administrators become effective academic administrators.

2. Formal mentoring programs would benefit new college leaders. Most colleges in the

Ontario College System or leadership programs offered across the country lack any

sort of formal mentoring programs where experienced college system academic

leaders can guide development of newer administrators taking up the role of dean

which has both business administrative/management components and academic

leadership components. The participants in my research study mentioned that this was

missing from their college workplaces. I think it would be extremely valuable to

develop academic administrators in the college system.

3. The Leadership Capability Framework does not address the skills needed for the core

“business” of the college system – the provision of learning offerings. The framework

is intended to support all administrative leaders in the Ontario College System from

the three broad divisional areas of academic, student, and corporate services. It would

benefit all of them to gain a base knowledge of pedagogy and the dynamics of

teaching and learning. This is required in setting the direction and offerings of the

Ontario College System learning offerings, and leaders need more grounding in how

to effectively create and manage learning.

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4. The Leadership Capability Framework needs to have the commitment of all member

colleges to be considered truly representative of the requirements for Ontario College

System leaders. It has been unevenly implemented to date in the Ontario College

System. It is used to varying degrees in the colleges and in many cases for the

functions of recruitment to express position requirements, or is being incorporated in

some aspects of performance management. It does not guide development and

succession planning to ensure that deans will be prepared for more senior level

executive roles in the Ontario College System.

5. Examining a particular leadership role, in this case, the dean of business, has provided

a perspective on this role that exists in all 22 English-speaking colleges in the Ontario

College System. Areas for further research may be to compare and contrast the roles

of deans across the varying schools within a college, to examine the roles of academic

leaders at other levels of hierarchy in the system (e.g. chairs of departments, associate

deans, or vice presidents–academic), or even to look at a comparison of comparable

leadership roles across the three systems of education in Ontario: K–12, college, and

university.

Limitations of My Study

1. My study was conducted with a small, purposeful sample of deans and is not

generalizable to the entire population of English-speaking business deans in the

Ontario College System (n = 22).

2. There may be significant differences in the experiences of those who are deans in

other portfolios within the Ontario College System, and they were not represented in

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my study which focused on the dean of business role. The findings of my study are

not generalizable to all deans in the Ontario College System.

3. The recent Ontario College System faculty strike of October 2017 was a very divisive

and disruptive event. Many faculty members felt their roles and perspectives were not

valued by the system, that they were upholding the interests of their contract

colleagues and integrity in student learning, and that the management tactics in

bargaining were in bad faith. Several of them returned to work angry and

demoralized. The deans in my study scarcely mentioned the looming specter of the

impending strike during our conversations between September 2016 and March 2017.

I was surprised by its omission in their conversations. As this event had implications

for management rights in future collective bargaining, it is definitely an area for

further research.

4. The Leadership Capability Framework was commissioned by a human resources

expert external to the Ontario College System who hold a doctorate of education, but

had not taught or managed within the system. The framework may have developed

differently with in-depth consultation with academic leaders in the college system if

they had been able to participate in focus groups or consultations on the development

of the framework. The level of exposure and knowledge of the framework contents

among my participants was very much at a surface level.

Concluding Thoughts

I hope that the examination of the leadership journeys and the self-descriptions of how

selected individuals in the dean of business role practice their leadership, the way in which they

view the leadership capabilities created for college administrators, and their learning needs, will

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inform the Ontario College System as it undertakes the recruitment, selection, development, and

retention practices to effectively attract capable leaders. Experienced leaders from the business

sphere outside of the college arrive with many of the skills that they need to be effective

administrators on the basis of their experiences honed in the world outside of the college system.

While there are many differences between the Canadian and American community

college systems, the following comment provides an apt summation of the importance of finding

mechanisms to support the learning and growth of those who lead in the college sector of higher

education:

Furthermore, practitioners could utilize their leadership development experiences to facilitate the application of the competency model. Community colleges have a significant role in our education system, and supporting the applicability of the AACC Competencies for Community College Leaders can be beneficial for the leaders and students of the community colleges. After all, community colleges offer an opportunity to pursue a post-secondary education to many students who are otherwise unable to attend four-year colleges. (Boswell & Imroz, 2013, poster presentation conclusion)

The biggest challenge for those in the role of dean of business seems to be accessing the learning

needed to make the transition from effective administrator to academic leader within the Ontario

College System. The mechanisms for this learning are implicit rather than explicit, and much of

this knowledge is gained through learning on the job and sharing through peer networks.

In Davison’s (2012) study of Canadian university leaders, he concluded that:

The findings suggest that leaders may be working through the evolution of an emerging leadership practice, one that seeks to integrate and recast traditional post-secondary education values within contemporary society. (p. 27)

I think this statement could also be applied to the Ontario College System leaders in my study.

College system leaders such as the deans of business in my study provide access to

postsecondary education to a wide range of learners through their programs and are responsible

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for a significant portion of enrolment in the Ontario College System. It is their role to evaluate

what types of program offerings in their discipline of business are needed to meet the needs of

our current and future labour markets and societal realities.

It is my hope that findings of my study may lend support to the business case for the

colleges to make leadership learning opportunities and support available to these leaders—

leaders within the college system who care about their leadership practice and are interested in

becoming even better leaders. To empower them, and enable their ongoing learning and growth,

the Ontario College System would be wise to support them in their work by providing them with

the opportunities to learn and develop the required competencies for their own growth and

advancement—within a system they believe does important work in creating access and learning

opportunities, and creating work-ready graduates who will have lives—as a result of their

education—as contributing citizens to our provinces, our nation, and our global relationships.

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Appendix A

Guiding Interview Questions

Thank you for agreeing to be a participant in my study. I am really looking forward to hearing your own personal leadership story. Before we start our conversation, I want to review your rights as a research participant as described in the Information Letter (Appendix C). (Summarize here – participation is voluntary, non-identifiability in all reporting of the findings; right to decline to answer and questions, right to withdraw by informing me by any means; consent to audio-record our conversation. If you agree – please sign the consent form) Once signed you can begin the interview: Semi Structured Questions for Interview # 1 Questions will be modified to reflect past tense for participants who are no longer in a dean role. 1. Let’s try to construct a time line for your own personal career journey or pathway that

brought you to the role of dean of business. I would invite me to tell me in your own words, the story of your leadership journey and how it led to you being in your present role.

2. Tell me about the recruitment and selection process, specifically for the dean of business role. What was it like for you?

3. Had you worked in an educational institution previously on a full or part time basis? Have

you been engaged in teaching previously? Tell me about this part of your experience.

4. How would you describe the role of the dean of business and the performance requirements of the role? What are you accountable for? How do you spend most of your time?

5. How would you describe yourself as a leader? What does being a leader mean to you? What

may be different in this setting, compared to your previous experiences? How would you articulate your own style of leadership and your personal philosophy about leadership?

6. How aware are you of the Ontario college system draft Leadership Competency

Framework? How has it been used in your current college setting?

7. When you think about the five system level competencies defined for in the draft Leadership Competency Framework for the Ontario college system, how have these been part of your experience in your role as dean of business, or not?

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As a reminder, these are the five competencies in the framework:

Plans for the Future Innovates and Inspires Creativity Influences and Cultivates Critical Relationships Models Agility

Develops Leadership Capacity 8. Please describe the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that you have personally

experienced in your leadership role in the college system. (You will recognize this in business terms as a “SWOT” analysis)

9. What are the system level, college level and school level conditions within the Ontario

college system that have impacted your leadership experience?

Semi Structured Questions for Follow Up Conversation #2 Thank you for allowing me to talk with you further about your leadership role. There may also be other opportunities for us to speak about your perceptions, as I continue to work with the study data.

1. I would ask you to think about your own learning and development. What learning have you

engaged in while in your role? Has your learning been related to your own business area of expertise or has it been about learning the college system? What did your feel that you need to learn more about? What has been most effective or valuable for you?

2. When you reflect on your own leadership journey, how has it prepared for your current role?

3. What role has the process of reflection played in your growth in your role? How have you

engaged in this reflection?

4. How has reflection helped you to make sense of your perceptions about what it means to be a dean of business in the Ontario college system?

5. Now that some time has passed since our initial conversation, what additional thoughts or

perceptions can you share about your leadership journey?

I would like to thank for assisting me with my study. Your participation has been a very important contribution to allowing me to shed some light on this role in the college system. I will now be working with the data provided and will pass the transcript back to you for verification and agreement, before I begin to aggregate the very rich data provided.

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Appendix B

Letter for Referring Potential Participants

OISE ONTARIO INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES IN EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO October 20, 2016 To: (Addressed to Individual Heads of Business Group Co-Chairs, Directors of college teaching and learning centres/academic research centres, and the offices of the Vice Presidents Academic) Call for Referral of Potential Participants for a Doctoral Research Study Dear Ms. Mary Pierce and Ms. Karen Murkar: My name is Kristi Harrison, and I am writing to advise you of a doctoral research study that may interest you. After 29 years in the Ontario college sector, I have recently left the role of Associate Vice President – Academic at an Ontario college and I am now focusing on completion of my doctoral studies in Educational Administration with a focus on leadership and policy. Through my time in the sector, I have experienced many roles: professor, program co-ordinator, dean of a teaching and learning centre, and a school of business, culminating in the associate vice president role. I look on my time in the college sector as providing me with rewarding career opportunities in a dynamic sector. I am keenly interested in the leadership roles and opportunities within the college sector, and this is an area that has received very little scholarly research to-date. I am writing to ask for your consideration of assisting me by referring potential participants for my doctoral thesis study that will examine the leadership journeys of selected individuals in the dean of business role at an Ontario college. Through their participation in this study, they will be asked for their perceptions about their own leadership journey or path that they have taken to achieve their role as a business school dean. In sending this letter, it is my hope you might think of a potential candidate who is currently or recently retired in the dean of business role and will be interested as a potential participant, and refer them to the opportunity to participate in this study. What is study about? The formal title of my research study is: “Examining the Leadership Role of the Dean of Business in Ontario Colleges: Using Narrative Inquiry to Reflect Leadership Identity Journeys of Selected Deans in this Role”. This purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions about the leadership role of the Dean of Business drawn from a small sampling of deans employed across the twenty-two English-speaking Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology in Ontario. Through completion of this study, I am hoping to further understanding of this role of dean of business in the Ontario colleges. I have found very little research conducted to date in the setting of the colleges in Ontario, or Canada. The demographics of the available workforce identify an accelerating rate of attrition in this key role, as many of the individuals currently in these roles progress towards retirement age. Currently, nearly 25% of college sector student enrolment is in business programs, so it is important to attract, develop and retain leaders in this role.

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What’s involved for participants? The methodology of my study is called narrative inquiry. It is a method that uses interviews that are audio-recorded and transcribed, with the specific informed consent of participants. In this case of this study, this will take place as an individual face-to-face interview of 60-90 minutes in length, with follow up conversation by telephone or SKYPE approximately three weeks later, to provide an opportunity for participant reflection. In the interview, participants will be asked for their perceptions about their own leadership journey or path that they have taken to achieve their role as a business school dean. The interview will include questions covering the following topical areas: individual leadership experience and career path to attaining the role of dean of business; the draft Leadership Competency Framework for the college system; and leadership experiences in the role of dean .Follow up contact, through a second 30- 40 minute conversation telephone or SKYPE conversation, approximately three weeks later, will explore the growth, learning and development experienced and any additional reflections on the experience in the role. Valuing Input and Protecting Anonymity Participants will have an opportunity to review and edit the transcripts to ensure accuracy before the data are included in my study. Audio-recordings will be deleted immediately after I receive approved transcripts. Responses will be confidential and neither participant nor their college will be identifiable in any reporting or presentation of the findings; only non-identifiable pseudonyms will be used. Data will be treated with the utmost care and I will take every precaution to maintain confidentiality and anonymity. However, because there is only one such position in each Ontario College, there is a very slight chance that someone very familiar with the college context may think they are able to identify individuals because of the circumstances discussed. Participants may decline to answer any of the questions and/or withdraw from the study at any time (without explanation or penalty), until the data are aggregated, by simply informing me by any means. All data will be stored on a fully-secured hard drive that is password protected and will be accessible only to me and my Thesis Supervisor. All data will be destroyed five years after completion of the thesis. If there are any questions or concerns about the study, please contact me, at kristi.harrison@mail.utoronto.ca, and/or my Thesis Supervisor, Dr. Reva Joshee at [email address] or [telephone number]. If there are any questions about your rights as a study participant, please contact the Office of Research Ethics at the University of Toronto at ethics.review@utoronto.ca or at 416-946-3273. Thank you for reading read this letter. Your input to this project will help to build greater understanding of the role of dean of business within the College system. I look forward to your participation. To participate in this important study, interested potential participants are encouraged to contact me at [email address] to negotiate mutually agreed upon meetings times and location(s). At the beginning of the first interview, I will review the rights of a participant in a research study and ask for a signed consent form. Sincerely, Kristi Harrison, M.Ed. Ed.D. Candidate OISE/University of Toronto 252 Bloor Street Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6

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Appendix C

Information for Participants and Informed Consent

OISE ONTARIO INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES IN EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Information About the Research Study and Informed Consent Form for Participants

October 21, 2016 To: (Dean Participants) Title of Research Study: Examining the Leadership Role of the Dean of Business in Ontario Colleges: Using Narrative Inquiry to Reflect Leadership Identity Journeys of Selected Deans in this Role Dear Participant: My name is Kristi Harrison and I am a doctoral student in the Educational Administration program, at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. I am writing to explain the details of your agreement of participation in my study of “Examining the Leadership Role of the Dean of Business in Ontario Colleges: Using Narrative Inquiry to Reflect Leadership Identity Journeys of Selected Deans in this Role”. My Thesis Supervisor is Dr. Reva Joshee. Study Purpose This purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions about the leadership role of the Dean of Business among a small sampling of deans employed currently or recently retired, across the twenty-two English-speaking Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology in Ontario. Through completion of this study, I am hoping to further understanding of this role of dean of business in the Ontario colleges. I have found very little research conducted to date in the setting of the colleges in Ontario, or Canada. The demographics of the available workforce identify and accelerating rate of attrition in this key role, as many of the individuals currently in these roles progress towards retirement age. I am happy to provide a summary of the findings to each participant upon request. Methodology The data collection will involve an individual face-to-face interview of 60-90 minutes in length, with follow up contact (as described below) across a three-week period. The interview will include mainly semi-structured questions divided into sections. These are: perceptions about your own leadership journey or path that you have taken to achieve your role as a business school dean leadership; experience in attaining the role; awareness and use of the draft Leadership Competency Framework for the college system; and the relevance of the competencies to the role. Follow up contact, through second shorter 30-minute interview by telephone or SKYPE conversation, approximately 3 weeks after the initial conversation, will include further semi-structured questions. The questions will explore the learning and development that you have experienced and your reflections on your experience in the role. With your specific consent, the interviews will be audio-recorded and you will have an opportunity to

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review and edit the transcripts as you see fit before the data are included in my study. Audio-recordings will be deleted immediately after I receive your approved transcript. Your responses will be confidential and neither you nor your college will be identifiable in any reporting or presentation of the findings; only non-identifiable pseudonyms will be used. Your data will be treated with the utmost care and I will take every precaution to maintain your confidentiality and anonymity. However, because there is only one such position in each Ontario College, there is a very slight chance that someone very familiar with the college context may think they are able to identify individuals because of the circumstances discussed. You may decline to answer any of the questions and/or withdraw from the study at any time (without explanation or penalty), until the data are aggregated, by simply informing me by any means. All data will be stored on a fully-secured hard drive that is password protected and will be accessible only to me and my Thesis Supervisor. All data will be destroyed five years after completion of the thesis. If you have any questions or concerns about the study, please contact me, at kristi.harrison@mail.utoronto.ca, and/or my Thesis Supervisor, Dr. Reva Joshee at: [email address], or by mail or [telephone number]. OISE/University of Toronto 252 Bloor Street, 6th floor Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6 If you have any questions about your rights as a study participant, or if you have any complaints or convers about how you have been treated as a research participant, please contact the Office of Research Ethics at the University of Toronto at ethics.review@utoronto.ca or at 416-946-3273. Thank you for reading read this letter. Your input to this project will help to build greater understanding of your role within the College system. I look forward to your participation. If you are willing to participate in this important study, please contact me at [email address], to negotiate mutually agreed upon meetings times and location(s). At the beginning of the first interview, I will review your rights as a participant and ask you to sign the attached Consent Form. Sincerely, Kristi

Kristi Harrison, M.Ed., Ed.D. Candidate OISE/University of Toronto 252 Bloor Street Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6

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Informed Consent for Participants

Consent Form for Participants To be printed on OISE Letterhead Date: _____________________________ Consent for Participation in Interview Research Title of Research Study: Examining the Leadership Role of the Dean of Business in Ontario Colleges: Using Narrative Inquiry to Reflect Leadership Identity Journeys of Selected Deans in this Role System. Researcher: Kristi Harrison Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Reva Joshee By signing this Consent Form I confirm that I have read and understand the proposed research as described in the Information Letter for this study, and that all of my questions have been fully answered. I agree to have the interviews audio-recorded Yes □ No □ I would like a copy of the summary of the findings sent to me at…………………………….. _________________________________ ________________________ Participant’s Signature Date _________________________________ ________________________ Participant’s Printed Name Signature of the Researcher, Kristi Harrison Please keep a copy of this consent form for your records.

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Appendix D

The Leadership Capability Framework

Note. The remaining seven pages of this document are presented in landscape orientation.

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