Hiring college and university presidents: communication, agency, and culture

Dwyer, Maria; Sahay, Surabhi

doi:10.1080/13603124.2023.2264254

Cited by 1 publication

(4 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…With a new president, this group "saw their recent reality being threatened," which directly aligns with the research literature's findings on power shifts caused by presidential transitions (Bien & Sassen, 2020;Ciampa & Dotlich, 2015;Hasinoff & Mandzuk, 2018;Johnson & Eckel, 2013;Lam et al, 2018). Heron uncovered how individuals question their identity, place within the institution, and understanding of the organizational culture when new leadership arrives (Degn, 2018;Dwyer & Sahay, 2023). Even after three years, this identity and power-sharing issue has not been fully resolved since President Heron's relationship with that particular staff group "remains tricky to this day.…”

Section: List Of Tablessupporting

confidence: 55%

“…Various sources and methods are needed to prepare a recently appointed president to lead a college or university. Onboarding, mentorship, and professional development are some of the tactics recently appointed presidents use to equip themselves for the complexity of their new positions (Al-Asfour et al, 2021;Briscoe & Freeman, 2019;Dwyer and Sahay, 2023;Klein et al, 2015;McNair, 2015). Through passive and proactive tactics, preparation can also come through absorbing, examining, and understanding the existing organizational culture and the power dynamics (Garza Mitchell & Maldonado, 2015;Tierney & Lanford, 2018).…”

Section: Chapter Two: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the price tag associated with these programs can deter many potential aspiring presidents (Cooney & Martin, 2021). If possible, prioritizing professional development can help universities and their leaders, and perhaps the industry, by increasing success and potentially reducing the number of resignations (Dwyer & Sahay, 2023). Preparedness efforts and building skillsets are more critical for first-time presidents.…”

Section: Preparedness and Professional Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…New presidents who want to navigate their onboarding process deftly set their own pace (Ciampa & Dotlich, 2015) to become prepared. Dwyer and Sahay (2023) warn that with the amount of presidential turnover, onboarding initiatives will become more burdensome and lose effectiveness. Onboarding is a symbiotic process between the organization and the new employee to achieve mutual benefit.…”

Section: Onboardingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensemaking in higher education: the experiences of first-time public university presidents

Merrill

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This study examined how recently appointed, first-time public university presidents made sense of their new institution and position during their transition into their presidency. The information gained from these interviews is expected to illustrate how first-time public university presidents prepare, collect information, and learn about their new role and institution. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with seven university presidents who have served for more than or equal to one and a half years but less than but up to five years in the role. Utilizing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to analyze transcripts of the interviews yielded three themes and 12 subordinate themes.The three emergent themes were 1) participants felt ready to take on the role of president because of their professional experience and preparation methods, 2) after being named president, the participants proactively engaged with various stakeholder groups to develop relationships and extract information, and 3) participants felt overwhelmed by the responsibilities of the position and the demands on their time. This study suggests that the higher education industry needs to place a greater emphasis on succession plans to prepare incoming leaders better, new presidents should find ways to network with presidential peers to exchange information and provide support, a more significant focus should be placed on the work-life balance of presidents to avoid burnout and increase institutional success, and more opportunities to learn about the complexity and difficulty of being president should be made available to aspiring presidents.

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