Leadership, governance, and organization in higher education: select books for administrators

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this bibliography is to provide academic administrators, and those studying higher education administration, a targeted collection of recommended resources that inform the practice of academic management. Design/methodology/approach – Reading lists from two advanced educational programs were consulted: Indiana State University’s faculty training program, Leadership-ISU, sponsored by the Office of the President, and the Indiana State University doctoral program in higher education administration, taught by the Bayh College of Education. Criteria for selection were based on canonicity, comprehensiveness and the inclusion of useful bibliographies and practical appendices. Findings – Broad scholarship on management, traditionally focused on for-profit institutions, can sometimes be applied to academia. But management research specific to that of the higher education environment more fully addresses the corresponding information needs of the academic administrator. Research limitations/implications – A limitation of this bibliography is its scope. Due to the rich environment of research on academic management, any abridgement of this literature will result in the omission of many worthy titles. Just seven English language, print-based publications are selected as representative of the pool. Although many of the concepts found in these resources can be generalized to all of academia, authors’ perspectives mainly concern higher education environments in North America. Originality/value – The literature on academic management is rich and varied. This bibliography pulls together representative and canonical works providing a focused, one-shelf collection of critical resources for busy practitioners and novice researchers.