Situational leadership applied to the dissertation process

Abstract

For more than 40 years, concern has been expressed over the attrition rate of students in Ph.D. programs in American universities. Although there are a number of significant factors at work, attrition of doctoral students in sciences such as anatomy may lead to a dearth of trained teaching anatomists as well as research scientists in the anatomical sciences. Failure to complete the Ph.D. process including the dissertation carries a high cost, not only to the students who fail to complete their programs, but also to society at large due to the expenditure of scarce education resources. A variety of factors have been examined in the various studies, but two stands out of major interest for this article: student personality factors such as perseverance and the level of faculty mentoring/support to the students during the graduate education process. A new approach to providing faculty support based on the needs of the individual student is presented in this article. Situational Leadership(R) has been developed over the past 40 years by Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard and their associates. This leadership model is unique in that when it is applied to the dissertation process, it requires the faculty member to determine the readiness level of the graduate student. Because each student is a unique individual, the faculty mentor assesses each student based on the specific task at hand in order to provide the appropriate style of mentorship each student requires.

Investigating uses and perceptions of an online collaborative workspace for the dissertation process

“…Individuals would work alongside an expert, and knowledge about the skill would be transmitted for the purpose of the apprentice becoming like the expert (Collins, Brown, and Newman 1989). No matter the terminology used Á supervisor, advisor, chair, mentor, facilitator Á mentorship from the advisors through the dissertation process is a primary reason that doctoral candidates complete their dissertations, finish their degrees and become discipline experts like the advisors (Holsinger 2008). Galbraith (2003) said, mentoring in the dissertation process is an ''intricate, long-term, one-on-one relationship that goes well beyond simply providing information.…”

How to share the process of graduate advising

“…In 2010, H. Wagner (an ecologist and graduate advisor) performed an initial search for relevant concepts and training materials that quickly focused on Situational Leadership ® (motivated by Holsinger 2008 andGatfield 2005) and Transactional Analysis, which were extensively and internationally used in managerial leadership training (e.g., by the WHO). This led her to embark on three years of professional development training in organizational and educational Transactional Analysis provided by R. Napper (a teaching and supervising transactional analyst (TSTA) in the fields of organization, education and counselling), where she met I. Dankert (lecturer in intercultural coaching and team development) and was introduced to the Functional Fluency model that S. Temple had developed recently in her PhD in Education.…”

“…1). This model is derived from Situational Leadership ® (Blanchard et al 1985), which has been previously considered for graduate training (Gatfield 2005;Holsinger 2008), higher education (Grow 1991), and clinical supervision (Bedford and Gehlert 2013), reflecting the recognition that supervisory style should adapt as students become more independent over the course of their program (Revelo and Loui 2016). We draw on the Situational Leadership II ® model (Blanchard et al 1985), which prescribes a sequence of four leadership styles (Directing, Coaching, Supporting, and Delegating) to match a learner's task-specific development level (Enthusiastic Beginner, Discouraged (or Disillusioned) Learner, (Capable but) Cautious Performer, and Self-reliant Achiever).…”

Invest in Research Supervision, Enhance Timely Completion of Postgraduate studies

“…From Quinn's model (Vilkinas, 2002), the research process takes the right path if it is well monitored, directed, coordinated, and facilitated by the supervisor. The supervisor's support has in several studies been highlighted in driving continued progress and success in postgraduate research especially to doctoral candidates (Jr, 2008;Ismail & Hassan, 2011;Devos et al, 2017). On the same note according to Grady et al (2015), unsupportive supervisory roles like delays and inappropriate feedback (Teklesellassie, 2019) develops psychological, social, and academic conflicts that strain candidates progress in postgraduate research.…”