“The Ones Who Move Things Along”: How Women Mid‐Level Managers Navigate Academic Landscapes

Abstract

This chapter uses feminist and empowerment theories as a framework to examine how women in mid‐level professional leadership perceive their level of influence and define leadership. Results indicate that empowerment behaviors are central when these women engage in opportunities to influence institutional decision‐making, in the ways they identify individuals with power and influence and use their positionality to “move things along.”

“Power does not exist, what exists is influence”: How mid‐level business and finance staff in private colleges navigate the higher education landscape

“…Additionally, all participants believed they had a sufficient or high level of autonomy and trust (self‐determination and trust) from their supervisors. These findings are consistent with the findings of García, Nehls, Florence, Harwood and McClain (2020).…”

“…For the second research question, approximately half of the participants believed that there lacked sufficient communication and consultation of mid‐level staff by senior administrators, which resulted in not having a voice. This finding is different from that of García, Nehls, Florence, Harwood and McClain (2020) where they found that almost all participants felt “they were listened to by upper administration” (p.32). One observation that may explain the difference in findings between the studies, is that all participants in this study are business staff, who are tasked to manage compliance across campus with laws, regulations, and policies.…”

“…Our results indicate that empowerment theory is useful for understanding the ways mid‐level business and finance staff navigate higher education and use their positions, their skills, and trust with leadership to collaborate with constituencies as well as to mentor and include others. These results fall in place with other recent studies having examined the importance of empowerment for managerial positions ‘in the middle’ (Bodine Al‐Sharif et al., 2021; García et al., 2020; Taising & Karuppannan, 2020; Yoopetch, 2021). For the first research question, emergent themes indicate participants in this study perceived their own ability to influence institutional decisions as a function of the dimensions of empowerment theory.…”

“…For the third research question, approximately half of the participants expressed that informal mentoring from their current supervisors was good (approximately 20%) or very good (approximately 30%). The importance of mentoring mid‐level staff has been previously pointed out in the literature (Cooper & Boice‐Pardee, 2011; Dorantes & Peterson, 2020; García et al., 2020). Based on some explicit and implicit comments made by some participants, it is possible that mentoring is not considered a high priority by some CBO's given a constant feeling of an overwhelming workload.…”

“…This study builds on the research of The Ones Who Move Things Along : How Women Mid‐Level Managers Navigate Academic Landscapes (García et al., 2020). In this study, we attempt to add to the growing body of literature regarding mid‐level business and finance staff and how they navigate higher education structures through the lens of empowerment, and how empowerment influences their roles within leadership.…”