Recruiting and Developing Academic Leaders

Abstract

The overall success of any organization is greatly influenced by effective leadership. For effectiveness, leaders need to possess competencies, some of which are general and some specific. However, universities, particularly in developing countries, have traditionally appointed academic leaders based on seniority in the academic rank regardless of whether or not the candidates have proven leadership competencies. Using 360° assessment of the behavioural competencies of deans who were recruited and developed using the leadership competency model, and those who were recruited using the traditional approach of voting by colleagues over a period of three years, it was found that on average the former performed better than the latter. It was concluded that recruiting and developing leaders based on an academic leadership competency model provides effective academic leadership.