1 LEADERSHIP ATTRIBUTES OF ENROLLMENT MANAGERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES By KRISTY ROBERTSON PRESSWOOD A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2011
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LEADERSHIP ATTRIBUTES OF ENROLLMENT MANAGERS IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES
By
KRISTY ROBERTSON PRESSWOOD
A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ........................................................................... 11
Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................... 11 Purpose of the Study .............................................................................................. 14 Research Questions ............................................................................................... 17 Significance of the Study ........................................................................................ 17 Definition of Terms .................................................................................................. 18 Limitations ............................................................................................................... 22 Summary ................................................................................................................ 23
2 A CONTEXT FOR INQUIRY ................................................................................... 24
The Problem ........................................................................................................... 24 Changing Workforce ............................................................................................... 25
Role of the Registrar ............................................................................................... 45 Closing the ‘Gap’ .................................................................................................... 47 Summary ................................................................................................................ 49
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................... 52
Purpose of the Study .............................................................................................. 52 Research Problem .................................................................................................. 53 Research Hypothesis .............................................................................................. 54 Research Design .................................................................................................... 55 Methodology ........................................................................................................... 55 Instrumentation ....................................................................................................... 56
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The Population ........................................................................................................ 59 Procedure for Data Collection ................................................................................. 60 Analysis of Data ...................................................................................................... 60 Research Instrument............................................................................................... 62 Summary ................................................................................................................ 63
Aggregate Data-Descriptive Statistics..................................................................... 69 Research Hypothesis One ...................................................................................... 70 Research Hypothesis Two ...................................................................................... 74 Research Hypothesis Three ................................................................................... 77 Research Hypothesis Four ..................................................................................... 81 Summary ................................................................................................................ 84
5 SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSOIN ..................................... 86
Summary of Results................................................................................................ 87 Research Question 1 ........................................................................................ 87 Research Question 2 ........................................................................................ 89 Research Question 3 ........................................................................................ 89 Research Question 4 ........................................................................................ 92
Recommendations for Further Study ...................................................................... 94 Implications for Higher Education Administrators ................................................... 97 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 97
APPENDIX
A CLUSTER DESCRIPTIONS ................................................................................. 100
B DATA FOR THE REGISTRAR SUBCATEGORY ................................................. 104
C DATA FOR THE DOCTORAL GRANTING SUBCATEGORY .............................. 116
E DATA FOR THE INSTITUTIONAL SIZE SUBCATEGORY .................................. 128
F DATA FOR THE GENDER SUBCATEGORY ....................................................... 140
G BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS ...................................................................... 152
H LEADERSHIP ATTRIBUTES ................................................................................ 154
LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 158
3-3 WAVE attribute links in other research ............................................................... 67
4-1 Mean, standard deviation, Skewness and Kurtosis of the aggregate population ........................................................................................................... 70
4-2 Kolmogorov-Smirnova and Shapiro-Wilk: aggregate population ....................... 70
4-3 Mean scores and standard deviations for the registrar and non-registrar groups (0=non-registrar; 1=registrar) .................................................................. 72
4-4 Summary ANOVA for the registrar and non-registrar groups for each of the four constructs .................................................................................................... 73
4-5 Mean scores and standard deviations for the doctoral and non-doctoral granting institution groups (0=non-doctoral granting; 1=doctoral granting) ......... 76
4-6 Summary ANOVA for the doctoral granting and non-doctoral granting groups for each of the four constructs ............................................................................ 76
4-7 Mean scores and standard deviations by institutional size (0=less than 10,000 enrollments; 1=10,000 or more enrollments) .......................................... 79
4-8 Summary ANOVA by institutional size for each of the four constructs ............... 80
4-9 Mean scores and standard deviations by gender (0=male, 1=female) ............... 82
4-10 Summary ANOVA by gender for each of the four constructs ............................. 83
4-1 Psychometric profile’s cluster and section means for both registrar and other enrollment manager line graph ........................................................................... 72
4-2 Hypothesis test summary for registrar group ...................................................... 73
4-3 Psychometric profile’s cluster and section means for both doctoral granting and non-doctoral granting institutions line graph ................................................ 75
4-4 Hypothesis test summary for doctoral granting group ........................................ 77
4-5 Psychometric profile’s cluster and section means for institutions with enrollment of 10,000 or more and institutions with enrollments of less than 10,000 line graph ................................................................................................ 79
4-6 Hypothesis test summary for institutional size group .......................................... 80
4-7 Psychometric profile’s cluster and section means for both females and males line graph ............................................................................................................ 82
4-8 Hypothesis test summary for gender group ........................................................ 83
A-1 The thought cluster, sections, and dimensions ................................................. 100
A-2 The influence cluster, sections, and dimensions .............................................. 101
A-3 The adaptability cluster, sections, and dimensions ........................................... 102
A-4 The delivery cluster, sections, and dimensions ................................................ 103
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Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
LEADERSHIP ATTRIBUTES OF ENROLLMENT MANAGERS IN HIGHER
EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES
By
Kristy Robertson Presswood
May 2011
Chair: Dale F. Campbell Major: Higher Education Administration
Literature documents the ever growing need for new leaders with newly defined
leadership skills in nearly every industry. Corporate and higher education leaders must
be prepared to adapt to the changing workforce and to address the leadership skills
gaps that exist. Identifying the leadership attributes necessary for each position within
an organization will be important as organizations struggle to meet the demand of a
dwindling trained leadership base. Leadership demands in higher education are being
created in academic affairs, student affairs and business affairs due to a domino effect
of vacancies being filled. One purpose of this report was to identify the leadership
attributes for enrollment managers in higher education institutions and to help build a
basis for future research on the development of a leadership training program.
This study built upon previous research to draw stronger conclusions regarding the
leadership attributes of enrollment managers. Enrollment management leaders who do
not hold the position of registrar exhibited stronger communication skills and ability to
impact decision making than their registrar colleagues, while enrollment management
leaders from doctoral granting institutions exhibited more vision than their counterparts
from non-doctoral granting institutions. These factors are small in comparison to the full
10
array of leadership attributes reviewed. Registrar/enrollment managers, overall, do not
differ in their leadership attributes when compared by institution type, institutional size,
position and gender. The findings support the leadership attributes identified by the
American Association of Collegiate Registrar and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) as
necessary job qualities for the future enrollment manager/registrar. This further
supports the need for future studies examining the need for leadership development
within the area of enrollment management. Senior student affairs officer positions are
typically filled from within the institution and the current non-registrar enrollment
manager, having the skills necessary to move into the senior student affairs position,
may likely be promoted to this position and will create the domino effect for leadership in
their current role (Amey, 2002; Hamilton, 2004; Campbell, 2006).
Results from this research study provide a base framework for future studies on
leadership attributes of mid-level higher education administrators and can be used to
support leadership selection and development initiatives for future enrollment managers
as the domino effect from turnover begins to unravel. Discovering what leadership
attributes are needed to be successful will assist in determining the best candidate.
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CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
This chapter will introduce the issues that contribute to the increased demand for
leaders in key higher education positions, where the vacancies are expected to have
the greatest impact, the importance of leadership training and the need for succession
planning. In addition, it will address questions related to individual and institutional
similarities. The chapter will define the research problem and will describe the purpose
and significance of the study. Finally, the chapter will conclude with the overall
organization of the study.
Statement of the Problem
The changing demographics of today’s workforce is impacting the numbers of
qualified leaders and changing the skills necessary for leaders to succeed (Jackson,
2010; Bruck, 2010; Weinstein, 2010). The American Association of Retired Persons
(AARP) reports that the unemployment rate for individuals aged fifty-five or older
declined from October 2010 to January 2011 and that almost half of the employees
between the ages of 45-70 plan to work into their seventies due to the current economic
environment (Jackson, 2010; Flecke, 2011). According to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, the numbers of individuals employed in non-seasonal positions forty-five
years of age or older in the fourth quarter of 2010 was 61,408 or 44% of the employed
population. In the fourth quarter of 1996, however, the number of employed individuals
meeting the same criteria was 59,907 or 41% of the employed population (Appendix F).
The overall workforce, due to the economic crisis, is declining, but the numbers indicate
that those forty-five or older represent nearly half of the workforce in the United States.
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In the next few years, unprecedented numbers of employees will retire and take with
them a wealth of knowledge and history (Jackson, 2010).
Additionally, the leadership traits necessary for future leaders is changing. The
Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and AARP have identified the issue
of filling the retirement void not as one of too few people, but of too few skilled people
(Jackson, 2010). The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) conducted a survey in
2009 in response to growing concern that organizations are reporting talent deficiencies
within their employment base (Leslie, 2009). CCL identified the seven leadership skills
viewed as important for future leaders as leading employees, strategic planning,
inspiring commitment, managing change, resourcefulness, being a quick learner, and
doing whatever it takes (Leslie, 2009). They went on to note that leaders lack the skills
they need to be effective and that ‘resourcefulness’ , defined as working effectively with
top management, was the only skill that was found to be a top ten current skill and a top
ten needed skill. When comparing this attribute with those in the Saville WAVE
instrument, it most closely correlates with the cluster to thought (Figure A-1). CCL
refers to this leadership skills disparity as a leadership deficit (Leslie, 2009).
Leaders in higher education are also feeling the impact of an aging workforce in
positions at every level. Charles Shults (2001) conducted research for the American
Association of Community Colleges that found that retirements of top level
administrators in community colleges posed a critical problem for the leadership of the
future. Additionally, a follow-up study conducted in 2005 revealed that a domino effect
of presidential vacancies was creating leadership gaps in key administrative positions of
institutional researchers, directors of learning resources, registrars, directors of financial
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aid, directors of admissions, directors of accounting and directors of human resources
(Campbell, 2006). In 2007, the American Council on Education (ACE) released the
latest version of the American College President Study. According to this study, the
average age of president’s grew from fifty-two in the 1986 study to sixty-one in the 2007
study. Additionally, the percentage of president’s over the age of sixty-one grew from
fourteen percent in 1986 to forty-nine percent in 2007 (ACE, 2007).
Impending retirements of administrative/professionals in higher education
continues to impact the need for additional training and leadership preparation. In 2006,
the American Association of Collegiate Registrar and Admissions Officers (AACRAO),
the National Council for Student Development (NCSD) and the Council for Resource
Development (CRD) joined in a FuturesLeaders Administrative Work Profiling Session.
During this session, they restated the growing need for effectively trained administrators
and identified the registrar position within enrollment management as the one key
position whose nature of work had changed the most dramatically. The registrar
position had evolved from one of legal implementation of student policies and student
privacy to one providing strategic planning and decision making. The participants in the
work profiling session agreed that the registrar position should be re-titled as
dean/director of enrollment management and registrar (FuturesLeaders-ATG Work
Profiling, 2006).
The participants of the FuturesLeaders Administrative Work Profiling Session
expressed concern regarding the lack of a structured career path for individuals serving
in the position of registrar. The dean/director of enrollment management and registrar
position should serve as a natural succession to fill the senior student affairs vacancy.
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Student affairs officers are typically promoted from within the same college and tend to
remain at the same institution for more than ten years (Amey, 2002). As the number of
senior student affairs positions become vacant, it is critical that the candidates ready to
move into these positions are trained and well prepared. Additionally, it is imperative
that the successors to those being promoted are duly prepared for their new roles. The
registrar/enrollment managers of today will need to ensure they appropriately train and
transfer knowledge to their successors.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to determine if enrollment managers from differing
institutions, holding different positions within enrollment management had common
leadership attributes. The study built upon the previous research of Kachik (2003),
Campbell (2006), Basham (2007), Tunks (2007), Berry (2008) and O’Daniels (2009) in
identifying leadership attributes of college leaders and in determining the strength of
leadership development and effective job selection.
As noted earlier, the next positions that are to be in the most demand and in a
critical shortage are institutional researchers, directors of learning resources, registrars,
directors of financial aid, directors of admissions, directors of accounting and directors
of human resources. This study focused specifically on the growing need for registrars
and directors of admissions. Registrars rank among the highest of the top positions in
which the turnover will occur (Campbell, 2006). As stated earlier, most individuals have
a career path that is closely aligned to a chosen education track, but there is not an
educational degree for registrar or admissions directors. In a 2002 study, fifty-three
percent of senior college administrators held only a master’s degree. An additional
thirty-eight percent had earned a doctorate degree. Of those, the majority of the senior
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respondents with doctoral degrees were either presidents or chief academic officers
(Amey, 2002). Selecting the right person for the job is of utmost importance in today’s
demanding environment. Selecting an individual for a career that does not have an
education path can be even more difficult.
Discovering what leadership attributes are needed by the successful enrollment
manager candidate will assist in determining the best candidate. Leadership attributes
reviewed in this study are presented in Appendix G. Although the attributes of each
study were not exact matches, the researcher created cross-walk correlations between
each study’s indicators and descriptions and matched them to the leadership attributes
used in the research instrument (Appendix G). The non-profit sector began
experiencing a leadership gap in 2006 and commissioned the Bridgespan Report in
response. Although the report does not indicate specific leadership attributes desired
for future non-profit leader’s, Spillett does list key descriptors that would make the new
leader successful (Spillett, 2006). These descriptors have been matched to the
leadership attributes defined in this study for further examination. Kachik’s 2003 study
compared the leadership attributes of corporate leaders to community college
administrators utilizing the Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ) as the
research instrument. She identified variances in the leadership attributes of corporate
leaders in comparison to community college administrator’s based on their gender.
Research regarding gender and leadership attributes was also conducted on a group of
community college administrators from the United States (O’Daniels, 2009). This study
will build upon this research of defining leadership attributes and analyzing data to
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determine if leadership attributes are different for female registrars as compared to male
registrars.
A study describing the leadership attributes of community college presidents in
1997 found that the leadership attributes of the current community college president
was very similar to those attributes envisioned for the 21st century community college
president (Campbell and Leverty, 1997). This study also used the OPQ as its research.
Building upon the findings from the community college president’s study, additional
research has been conducted examining cohorts of higher education doctoral students,
chief business officers, national council for continuing education and training members,
and other community college administrators or board members (Tunks, 2007; Basham,
2007; Berry, 2008; O’Daniels, 2009).
This study built upon the previous research conducted on leadership attributes in
the business sector, non-profit sector and in higher education and will continue the trend
of further examination of leadership attributes in higher education to the mid-level
managers. Specifically, the overall leadership attributes of enrollment managers in
higher education institutions within the United States. This study helped to identify the
traits necessary for the new work profile of a successful registrar and may help to drive
trainings targeted at preparing future registrars for the position. Research on the
importance of leadership development and succession planning will also be extended
through this study. Results from this research study will provide a base framework for
future studies on leadership attributes of mid-level higher education administrators.
This study examined the leadership attributes of successful future enrollment
management administrators by examining the following: if leadership attributes of
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administrators differ by type of institution; if leadership traits of administrators differ by
size of institution; and if leadership traits of administrators differ by gender. In addition,
it is hoped that trainings could be developed to help better prepare and equip new
candidates for these career opportunities.
Research Questions
This study will provide some insight into the attributes most desired in quality
candidates. Specifically, the researcher will address the following questions:
1) Do registrars at differing institutions throughout the United States share common leadership attributes as other enrollment management professionals?
2) Is there a significant relationship between type of institution as defined by doctoral granting versus non-doctoral granting and leadership attributes for individuals in enrollment management positions?
3) Is there a significant relationship between size of institution and the leadership attributes for individuals in enrollment management positions?
4) Is there a significant relationship between the leadership attributes for males versus females for individuals in enrollment management positions?
Significance of the Study
The changing/aging workforce is creating a need for a new set of highly skilled
leaders. While the cost is significant, the need for making the right choice with senior
hires is more important than ever. The cost of making the wrong selection could cost
colleges millions (Campbell & Associates, 2002). Technology advancements have also
significantly impacted the workforce. The methods of knowledge exchange and
information sharing are constantly changing and evolving (GCN, 2011). Technology
has moved beyond local data storage to global network transparency. Companies must
be prepared to adapt their security training and employee development to the emerging
services that are making their way into enterprise (GCN, 2011).
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Due to these changes, the leadership attributes new leaders should have need to
be defined. Studies have been conducted by the Society of Human Resource
Management (SHRM), Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), Boston Consulting Group
and American Management Association (AMA) to address the changing workforce
demographics of the aging society and the technological advancements (Leslie, 2009;
and team building (Spillett, 2006). The differences between the leadership attribute
description of the corporate leader and that of the non-profit leader may be key to the
job expectations. Research indicates that position plays a role in determining what
leadership attributes are important for a given position (Lovell & Kosten, 2000; Campbell
& Leverty, 2007; Berry, 2008; O’Daniels, 2009). Determining how closely the higher
education leaders mirror the business leader or the non-profit leader can help to
determine their most effective leadership attributes.
A study of college of union director’s found that these leaders were
transformational leaders and exhibited leadership attributes of influence and motivation
(Mironack, 2003). A study describing the leadership attributes of community college
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presidents in 1997 found that the leadership attributes of the current community college
president was very similar to those attributes envisioned for the 21st century community
college president (Campbell and Leverty, 1997). In a 2008 study of community college
business officers and workforce development officers and national continuing education
trainers, Berry found that each group had distinct work styles from one another and that
developing a program for identifying the job attributes was beneficial (Berry, 2008). The
leadership attributes of the community college presidents and those of the chief
business officers share some similarities, but are not a perfect match as the job
requirements call for differing leadership attributes.
The skills needed to be an effective student affairs’ administrator were reviewed by
Lovell and Kosten (2000) and it was found that there are skills, knowledge bases and
personal traits that help define the role. Specifically, the knowledge of student
development theory and functional area responsibilities and the personal traits of
integrity and cooperation are necessary to a successful student affairs officer (Lovell &
Kosten, 2000). The traditional effective student affairs practitioner is “a strong
communicator and good listener who can motivate others, plan, implement and deal
with conflict and crisis situations” (Kleinglass, 2005). Student affairs leader qualities are
often associated with student feelings (Lovell & Kosten, 2000).
As leaders they, “influence the thoughts, behaviors, and/or feelings of others”
(Gardner & Larkin, 1996). “Leadership is any attempt to influence the behavior of
another individual or group” (Hershey & Blanchard, 2007). Leadership is a “shared,
interactive, culturally framed activity” (Bensimon & Neumann, 1993). These qualities
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match those identified by Lovell and Kosten for the student affairs administrator in that
they exhibit integrity and cooperation (Lovell & Kosten, 2000).
The registrar position can be defined as a mid-level administrative position in
higher education. The Higher Education Publication directory (HEP) defines the
responsibilities of the registrar as student registration, scheduling of classes,
examinations and classroom facilities, student records and related matters. The
admissions director responsibilities are described as recruitment, selection and
admission of students; while the enrollment manager responsibilities include planning,
developing and implementing strategies to sustain enrollment; supervision of
admissions and financial aid operations (HEP, 2010). Comparing the leadership
attributes of individuals within these positions will help to build careers paths and
leadership training opportunities. The American Association of Collegiate Registrar and
Admissions Officers (AACRAO) worked with the FuturesLeaders-ATG group to define
the important attributes for the new registrar/enrollment manager as strong
communication, numeric reasoning and logic (FuturesLeaders-ATG Work Profiling,
2006). The changing workforce demographics and the innovation of technology are
redefining the job responsibilities of many positions in every industry. The new
responsibilities these changes are placing on the new registrar/enrollment manager can
impact the success of the institution. As a component of the person specific review and
job description development for the new registrar/enrollment manager, the objective to
“champion technology and utilize it to project trends appropriately, maintaining student
privacy as required” was described as a necessary attribute. Additionally, three of the
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nine stated job objectives dealt directly with the use, collection and dissemination of
data (FuturesLeaders-ATG Work Profiling, 2006).
Gender in Leadership
Literature supports the theory that leadership attributes between males and
females differ, however, they are not in agreement as to what the strongest leadership
attributes are for women (Powell, 1988). In a 1995 study by Gibson, found that many
leadership behaviors and styles did not vary across gender. (Gibson, 1995 (as cited in
Kachik, 2003). However, Balkis and Isiker indicate that gender differences do exist
between males and females in terms of thinking styles (Balkis and Isiker, 2005 (as cited
in O’Daniels, 2009).
Kachik’s 2003 study specifically focused on gender as a variable in the
relationships between personality testing and the managerial environment. The study
was comprised of male and female leaders from community college administration and
private sector business. The study concluded that there were differences in the
characteristics males and females, however, they were not as prevalent in every
construct. The detail conscious attribute showed to be the most significant with females
being more precise and accurate than their male counterparts. The greatest
significance was found between male community college administrators and female
corporate leaders (Kachik, 2003). The study also compared the leadership attributes of
female corporate leaders with those of female community college leaders and found
that female community college leaders are more detail conscious and that the
leadership attributes of the female corporate leader was more comparable to those of
the male community college administrator. Further research on gender leadership
attributes by O’Daniels found that females were more principled and striving than their
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male counterparts in that they are more discreet in work situations and are ambitious
(O’Daniels, 2009).
Talent Management
Businesses have concentrated on talent management for years. More than just
human resource management, talent management includes, “workforce planning, talent
gap analysis, recruiting, staffing, education and development, retention, talent reviews,
succession planning, and evaluation (McCauley & Wakefield, 2006). Identifying the
employees who have the aspiration and engagement to succeed in leadership roles will
be the key to the future success of businesses (Minter, 2010). Talent management will
be the most important aspect for human resource divisions in this growing environment.
“Leading-edge companies are increasingly adopting sophisticated methods of
analyzing employee data to enhance their competitive advantage” (Davenport, Harris &
Shapiro, 2010). Companies such as Google, P&G, Royal Bank of Scotland and Intel
have all established analytics groups to gather more insight into their people practices.
In 2009, Harrah’s Entertainment used organizational psychologists to create predictive
assessments for candidates in an external sales force. The results of the hiring from
these assessments helped reverse a decline in sales (Davenport, Harris & Shapiro,
2010).
Generational factors and job desire match is another component to talent
management that is allowing companies to begin to revamp their industries. As
mentioned earlier, the Millennial employee values giving back (Fallon, 2009). An
employer who can recognize this trait could allow employees to modify their work
schedules in order for them to become engaged within a particular cause. These types
of changes could enhance employee engagement and employee satisfaction for
38
business. Absenteeism and turnover rates go down, while employee satisfaction
improves when employees are given the opportunity to negotiate their work schedules
with others (Bruck, 2010). Additionally, the ability to create a flexible work schedule is
appealing to the older employee who may be interested in continuing to work, but are
not interested in maintaining the long hours (Jackson, 2010). This could be helpful in
slowing the leadership exodus and allowing for more time for knowledge transfer.
Leadership Development
Turnover has been a focus of the leadership development discussion for the past
15 years (Campbell, 2006). An aging workforce combined with the decreasing numbers
of college graduates has created a great demand of leadership development. All
industries will need to prepare the future leaders of their organizations. As noted earlier,
one of every five Americans is expected to be 65 years of age or older by 2030 (Arnone,
2006). Additionally, eighty million workers are expected to retire over the next 25 years
(Sacks, 2006). The infusion of leadership development initiatives and strategies within
all levels of business, industry, and educational institutions will help to prepare for the
impeding impact of retirements.
Although business and industry have traditionally been more proactive in utilizing
and providing a variety of venues to create leadership opportunities for their employees
they too are experiencing growing pains. A survey on CEO succession planning
conducted in 2010 found that although 69% of the respondents felt that they needed to
have someone ready to step into the position now, only 54% were actually grooming
someone to take the helm (Heidrick & Struggles, 2010). The survey also noted that
nearly half of the respondents could not identify an internal CEO candidate if the current
CEO were to leave (Heidrick & Struggles, 2010). Still others like Hewlett-Packard (HP)
39
have found ways to grow their own leaders. HP narrowed the search for a new CEO
down to three internal candidates in 2010 (Ricadela & Brady, 2010).
Some businesses are recognizing these issues, however, and are beginning to
train a new class of leaders. W.R. Grace, a chemical manufacturing company,
recognized the impending leadership gap and developed a manufacturing leadership
program in 2002 (Minter, 2010). This program allows recent college graduates the
opportunity to work within the organization for two-years, rotating between different sites
and different locations. The program is designed to allow participants to determine
which areas of the organization they like best and to help them hone their skills to be
key candidates when leadership openings occur (Minter, 2010).
Like industry, colleges have gone through cycles of preparing future leaders and
are currently on an upward trend of recognizing the need. The importance of
succession planning in higher education has continued to grow since the late 1990s.
Magner has claimed, “succession planning is going to change higher education”
(Magner, 2009). Many colleges are embracing the concept of succession planning and
creating programs within their own institutions. The approaches to these programs may
be different, but they are all seeking to build the leaders for tomorrow’s higher education
institutions.
Kennesaw State University offers a program that focuses on addressing core
leadership competencies through a variety of interactive classroom sessions, field trips
and social activities. The program participants are able to learn more about the mission
and strategic goals of Kennesaw State while gaining exposure to leadership roles at the
institution (Davis, 2011). The University of California at Riverside offers employees the
40
opportunity to enhance their current skills for future leadership positions through the
Management Skills Assessment Program (MSAP). This program is designed to allow
employees to enhance their effectiveness in their current role and become more
competitive within the workforce (Davis, 2011).
Daytona State College began the Leadership Development Institute (LDI) in 2003
(Carroll & Phillips, 2004). The LDI program is a year-long program that employees of all
levels are eligible to attend. The program enrollment is limited and employees must
apply to participate. LDI offers a full agenda of leadership training, assessments,
mentoring and formal education opportunities. LDI is one component of the College’s
succession plan (Carroll & Phillips, 2004).
In 2002, the presidents of all community colleges in Massachusetts also
recognized the impending problems of future retirements and became the official
sponsors of the Community College Leadership Academy (CCLA) (Crosson, Douglas,
O’Meara & Sperling, 2005). This program provides a year-long experience for senior
and middle management and faculty from throughout community colleges in
Massachusetts. The program features day-long monthly seminars, required readings
and writings, and activities. The program is designed to help hone leadership skills
(Crosson, Douglas, O’Meara & Sperling, 2005).
Each of these programs offer exposure to leadership concepts and current
campus leaders for the participants, but do not seem to be fulfilling the noticeable gap in
leadership. “Leaders seem caught in the currency of leadership succession patterns,
still assuming traditional paths into senior administrative positions” (Amey, 2002).
41
Rothwell (2010) explained that even succession planning is an ever-changing
process. The future of succession planning must be focused not on meeting
promotional needs, but on the need for transfer of knowledge. Additionally, there
should be an increase in the integration of succession planning and career development
(Rothwell, 2010). The idea of creating a technical succession plan versus a
management succession plan ensures that individuals nearing retirement with specific
technical abilities will have transferred the knowledge to others prior to their departure.
National organizations have also developed programs specific to their niche of
employee to help train leaders for the new college leadership roles. Some of these
programs include Future Leaders Institute, Institute for Aspiring Senior Student Affairs
Officer, Millenium Leadership Initiative, Women’s Leadership Institute and HERS
Summer Institute (ACE, 2011). Each of these programs is designed specifically for
select higher education populations and is focused on creating leaders for the
impending vacancies. Additionally, they provide a networking and mentoring
opportunity for participants in the same field.
One trend that colleges and industry must focus on, however, is the idea that more
training does not always lead to more qualified candidates (Bos, 2007). Effective
participant selection and program evaluation must accompany any leadership
development program in order to truly yield positive results (Harrison, McKinnon &
Terry, 2006).
Succession Planning
Succession planning began in the middle-ages as a transfer of land and authority
to an heir and has grown to a concept of focusing talent (Hartley, 2008). The current,
“talent age”, is one in which succession is not just defined for leadership, but is an
42
inclusive strategy for everyone within an organization (Hartley, 2008). Succession
planning is integral to business success and can be defined, “a systematic process of
developing individuals to fill an organization’s key roles.” (Harrison, McKinnon & Terry,
2006). Growing talent within an organization can provide stability and can maintain
historical knowledge (Smith, 2010).
During a time when the workforce is aging and the number of qualified candidates
is declining, the need for succession planning in business is great. Due to the aging
workforce, technological advances and potential gaps in leadership, business and
industry have also recognized the need to transcend succession planning beyond the
top positions within the organization and are now focusing on the lower levels (Bos,
2007). Organizations positioned to succeed will need to recognize that leadership gaps
will occur at every level and will be prepared to address them.
Ernst & Young conducted a survey in 2006 with the Human Capital Leadership
Institute to determine how organizations are responding to the aging workforce.
(Arnone, 2006). The study found that few employers are undertaking programs aimed
at retaining older workers (Arnone, 2006). If efforts are not focused on retaining an
older workforce, then there must be a rising group of leaders ready to fill the roles. In
response to this, Boston Consulting Group and the world Federation of People
Management Associations, released a report in 2010 on the importance of companies
focusing their efforts on managing talent (BNA, 2010). The report found that fifty-six
percent of the survey respondents mentioned the existence of “a critical talent gap for
senior managers’ successors” (BNA, 2010). Another study released by Bridgespan in
2009 found that there would be a need to hire 640,000 senior-level non-profit managers
43
by 2016. Additionally, between June 2007 and December 2008, seventy-seven
thousand non-profit management jobs were opened and one out of every four (25%)
was filled internally (Josyln, 2009). If “homegrown talent” is the most effective to
assume leadership within the company, why is it that more than half of the executive
positions are filled from outside candidates? (BNA, 2010).
The educational level of applicants has also been reviewed. A report by Spellings
in 2006, however, indicated that higher education was in need of reform and that the
numbers of graduates was declining. Additionally, this report called for the business
community to become directly involved with higher education leaders in developing the
strategies to improve the system (Spellings, 2006). To further complicate the problem
for community colleges, the number of individuals seeking advanced degrees in
community college administration has been declining over the past two decades
(Patton, 2004).
Corporations with effective succession management plans are poised for the
crisis. Google has created a talent value model of succession planning that helps
identify why employees choose to stay with the company and creates a distribution
curve based on employee performance. The plan helps individuals who might be
“misplaced or poorly managed” by identifying the lowest five percent of performers and
infusing an active plan for improvement (Davenport, Harris & Shapiro, 2010).
Companies like Disney and GE also embraced this concept early and were able to
handpick successors for their top positions (Barden 2006).
The answer lies in the design of the succession plan and in the leadership
development tied to the plan. Studies indicate that comprehensive succession planning
44
and dedication of senior management to talent development yield better corporate
success (Minter, 2010). The American Management Association (AMA) conducted a
study on global leadership development and found “significant statistical correlation”
between market performance and the firms with global leadership development
programs (Minter, 2010).
Higher education institutions have recognized this trend and are seeking ways to
ensure a viable workforce is available. Growing demand for college leadership and a
gap in the leadership talent available makes succession planning and leadership
development a priority for higher education (Campbell, 2006). Talent management
including these concepts is the key to this transformation. Leadership style and
behavior can be modified through specific training or educational programs to better
equip the leaders of the future (Tunks, 2007). Community colleges are leading the way
for higher education in the concept of leadership development and succession planning
(Dembicki, 2006). In 2006, sixteen community colleges, two community college districts
and five state system leadership development programs were examined and similar
approaches were highlighted. These successful approaches included involvement of
upper administration in the program development and implementation, flexible
curriculum, program delivery that includes team building and mentoring and evaluation
for continual program growth (Dembicki, 2006).
Leadership development and succession planning may help to address the need.
Colleges and universities, however, have hiring practices that indicate a need for
leadership evolution (Barden, 2006). Colleges and universities are immune to fashions
and trends, they are stable and well defined. This high level of consistency has led
45
some college leaders to the notion that only real change can occur with the hiring of
outside leadership, causing the leadership evolution (Barden, 2006). However,
promotions within education tend to be based upon an individual’s academic success
and not necessarily on the best fit for the institution (Yieldler and Codling, 2004).
Role of the Registrar
The rapid changes in workforce demands, student needs and technology are also
forcing a change in the required attributes of a registrar. The new registrar/enrollment
management leaders will need to adapt to this change and continue to be at the
forefront of effective student communication.
The first registrar was appointed at Oxford in 1446 and remained a part-time
position in the United States until the early 1900s (Stewart & Wright, 1997). Early job
duties included record keeping, registering students, scheduling high school visits,
admitting students, awarding financial aid and conducting research. In 1974, the Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was signed into law and thus created a
new definition of registrar (USDOE, www.ed.gov). The new registrars were now
expected to be more data oriented, be able to respond to new legislative mandates,
provide good customer service and keep up with the growing enrollments (Pelham,
Presswood & Roof, 2006). This was the beginning of the concept of enrollment
management. Enrollment management can be defined as “a comprehensive process
designed to help an institution achieve and maintain the optimum recruitment, retention,
and graduation rates of students, where ‘optimum’ is defined within the academic
context of the institution” (Dolence, 1993). Current job duties of registrars vary between
institutions, but most contain the following, as described in a 2010 State University of
New York human resources job posting may include:
46
overall responsibility for initiating and maintaining the permanent academic record of each student and for the registration of all students; work with the academic staff in coordinating the time schedule for classes including the assignment of classroom space; maintains accurate records of all college courses and curriculum requirements; has the responsibility for planning for and supervising all pre-registration and registration for classes; preparation and printing of all registration material and forms for each registration period; initiation and maintenance of all student academic records including the collection of grades, reporting of grades, preparation of grade reports and transcripts, deficiency reports, preparation of an honors list, probation status reports, class ranking, and microfilming/imaging of student records; must have a thorough awareness of the continually increasing application of computerization and computer technology on all phases of registrar operations; works closely with institutional research and computer staff in compiling statistical data required for various college class size, faculty load and enrollment reports; is responsible for working with campus departments, divisions and schools to determine eligibility of students for graduation; maintains close liaison with the student accounting office in determining eligibility for registration and graduation; is responsible for all the administrative affairs of the registrar's office.” (SUNY, 2010)
Registrars are a hybrid between the student affairs administrator and the
academic officer. Some institutions have reporting structures where the registrar is
housed with student affairs; such as Seminole State College in Florida or California
State Polytechnic University in Pomona, California (Seminole State College, 2010;
California State Polytechnic University, 2010). Other institutions, however, have
structures that have the registrar report through the division of academic affairs; such as
Rhode Island College in Providence, RI or Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock,
PA (Rhode Island College, 2010; Slippery Rock University, 2010). As the job duties of
the registrar range from student advocate to interpreter of academic policy, it is easy to
see why the position could exist in either realm.
Kendra Hamilton (2004) explored the traditional pathways to the college/university
presidency and found that student affairs professionals are beginning to break new
ground and are finding ways to move into the top job. Her study agreed with Amey’s
47
study in 2002 that indicated the traditional path to the presidency is through academic
affairs, however, her study went on to state that student affairs leaders who have a
Ph.D., teach, publish and participate in their academic discipline are more likely to be
promoted to a presidency. The driving question is in what field should the student
affairs administrator earn their Ph.D.? (Hamilton, 2004). As many succession plans
involve the development of employees through the advancement of degrees, this
question is at the heart of the issues of student affairs officers. The traditional route to
the presidency, chief academic officer, has an academic discipline and field in which to
focus. The student affairs officer could study student counseling, student development
or higher education and stay on top of their own field while working to progress. The
registrar position, however, is a hybrid of academic and student affairs. This position
does not have a traditional educational route and therefore, a succession plan for a
registrar must be developed.
Closing the ‘Gap’
Hiring the right person for the job is becoming more important as the numbers of
vacancies grows. Tools that can identify the best person-job fit will help reduce turnover
and help companies keep their hiring costs lower. Business and industry are utilizing
personality questionnaires and simulations during the interview process to identify
person matches. Forty percent of median-sized companies are using personality
questionnaires and an additional thirty-two percent use simulations during the interview
process (Campbell, 2009). Colleges, conversely, are not utilizing these tools in
identifying candidates with only four percent of community college leaders indicating
they use these tools (Campbell, 2009). “Hiring the right person at the outset for any
administrative position is crucial to the future of a college” (Campbell 2009).
48
In 1997, the 21st Century Education Leadership Profiles Project was created to
assist in developing and selecting professionals to address the leadership gap
(Campbell, Syed & Morris, 2010). The project focused on the leadership attributes and
work styles of successful college presidents. The Profiles Project and additional
research conducted at the University of Florida, have recognized the Occupational
Personality Questionnaire (OPQ) as contributing to the translation of work styles and
confirm that it can be used to assess managerial, professional, entrepreneurial and
personal qualities (Campbell, Syed & Morris, 2010). Additionally, research conducted
by O’Daniels and Basham have further indicated that the Saville WAVE instrument
accurately measures what it is designed to measure (O’Daniels, 2009 & Basham,
2007). The WAVE instrument is designed to measure motives, talents and preferred
culture of respondents for use in selecting and training (Saville, 2006).
The changing demographics of the workforce, the dynamics of technology, the
new millennial employee and student have created a need for a newly defined registrar.
The American Association of Collegiate Registrar and Admission Officers (AACRAO)
worked with Saville Consulting in 2007 to develop a person specification and a job
description for the newly title dean/director of enrollment and registrar. As a component
of the person specific review and job description development, the objective to
“champion technology and utilize it to project trends appropriately, maintaining student
privacy as required” was described as a necessary attribute. Additionally, three of the
nine stated job objectives dealt directly with the use, collection and dissemination of
data (FuturesLeaders-ATG Work Profiling, 2006).
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Summary
The changing workforce is creating leadership skills gaps in all industries,
including higher education. The changing face of college campuses through the
advancement of technology, the aging population, the lack of prepared college
graduates and the impending retirements will change the roles of the new
administrators. These changes have created a demand for a new work profile of the
registrar/enrollment manager within higher education. The registrar is a key position in
higher education administration and this position will face dramatic changes. The
registrar must be knowledgeable in the field of technology and in their ability to bridge
the gap between the needs of students, employees and information technology
professionals. The lack of an educational career path for this field is making it more
difficult to determine the potential leadership pool.
This study built upon the leadership attributes identified in other senior college
administration positions from previous research and in the research indicating the
importance of leadership development and succession planning. This study identified
the traits necessary for the new work profile of a successful registrar and may help to
drive trainings targeted at preparing future registrars for the position. This chapter has
provided a literature review of the changing workforce demographic, leadership
attributes, talent management (leadership development and succession planning) and
specific job responsibilities of the higher education registrar. Table 2-1 summarizes the
leadership gap that exists in every industry and states possible solutions that have been
provided in this chapter. The research methodology of the study is described in the
next chapter, which includes the study population, the data collection, the
50
instrumentation and the methods of analyzing the data to address the research
questions.
51
Table 2-1. Leadership gap/deficit summary Business Sector Research to support Proposed solutions International businesses
Center for creative leadership (2009)
Smith (2010)
Communicate specific behaviors and skills desired Assess leaders on key skills Create training programs Expose current managers to the needed skills Support learning Encourage managers to have career goals Develop succession plan Evaluate and measure program success
American corporations
Kachik (2003) Leslie (CCL 2009) Smith (2010) American Association
of Retired Persons (AARP ) - 2009
Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM ) – 2009
Communicate specific behaviors and skills desired Assess leaders on key skills Create training programs Expose current managers to the needed skills Support learning Encourage managers to have career goals Develop succession plan Evaluate and measure program success Create flexible schedules and other incentives to
maintain and recruit the older employee
Non-profit leadership
Spillett, et. al (Bridgespan report 2006)
Provide development opportunities in budgeting, working with trustees and fundraising/development
Modify compensation and benefit packages to make the positions more appealing
Community college leadership
Campbell & Leverty (1997)
Shults (2001) Kachik (2003) Campbell (2006) American Council on
(2009) in identifying leadership attributes of college leaders and in determining the
strength of leadership development and effective job selection.
As noted earlier, the next positions that are to be in the most demand and in a
critical shortage are institutional researchers, directors of learning resources, registrars,
directors of financial aid, directors of admissions, directors of accounting and directors
of human resources. This study focused specifically on the growing need for registrars
and directors of admissions. Registrars rank among the highest of the top positions in
which the turnover will occur (Campbell, 2006). As stated earlier, most individuals have
a career path that is closely aligned to a chosen education track, but there is not an
educational degree for registrar or admissions directors. Selecting the right person for
the job is of utmost importance in today’s demanding environment. Discovering what
leadership attributes are needed by the successful enrollment manager candidate will
assist in determining the best candidate.
53
This study continued the trend of further examination of leadership attributes in
higher education to the mid-level manager. Specifically, the overall leadership attributes
of enrollment managers in higher education institutions within the United States. This
study examined the leadership attributes of successful future enrollment management
administrators by examining the following: if leadership attributes of administrators
differ by type of institution; if leadership traits of administrators differ by size of
institution; and if leadership traits of administrators differ by gender. Results from this
research study will provide a base framework for future studies on leadership attributes
of mid-level higher education administrators.
Research Problem
Critical shortages in administrative positions in higher education across the United
States are expected in the next five years. In 2005, a group of community college
presidents were asked to project retirements within their institutions. As noted earlier,
this study indicated that student affairs administrators are among the highest in which
this turnover will occur (Campbell, 2006). Some of the presidents within this group also
indicated that, even though they were satisfied with the job performance of their current
registrar, they would not rehire that individual if the position were to become vacated.
The registrar position was traditionally the policy interpreter and enforcer for a
college. This individual would implement the procedures for which policies would be
adhered to and disseminate the information appropriately. Strong logic and
communication skills were critical in this role (Stewart & Wright, 1997). As enrollment
growth has expanded, so has the role of the registrar. Many registrar positions today
also hold responsibilities in enrollment management. These individuals remain
responsible for the policy implementation, but they are also involved in the development
54
and decision making of the policies. They now must interpret entering student trends
and the technological needs for their staff in order to continue to provide effective
services. Today’s registrar must have strong logic and communication skills, but may
also need numeric reasoning and complex decision making skills (FuturesLeaders-ATG
Work Profiling, 2006). The leadership attributes for this position have clearly evolved,
however, these new traits may not be the same for all types of colleges.
This study provided some insight into the attributes most desired in quality
candidates. Specifically, the researcher addressed the following questions:
1) Do registrars at differing institutions throughout the United States share common leadership attributes as other enrollment management professionals?
2) Is there a significant relationship between type of institution as defined by doctoral granting versus non-doctoral granting and leadership attributes for individuals in enrollment management positions?
3) Is there a significant relationship between size of institution and the leadership attributes for individuals in enrollment management positions?
4) Do female enrollment management professions at differing institutions throughout the United States share common leadership attributes as male enrollment management professionals?
Research Hypothesis
H0-1: Those leaders identified in registrar positions will not exhibit any significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability or delivery than their enrollment management counterparts.
H1: Those leaders identified in registrar positions will exhibit significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability or delivery than their enrollment management counterparts.
H0-2: Those leaders identified in any enrollment management position working at doctoral granting institution will not exhibit any significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their enrollment management counterparts at non-doctoral granting institutions.
H2: Those leaders identified in any enrollment management position working at doctoral granting institution will exhibit significant difference on the constructs
55
of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their enrollment management counterparts at non-doctoral granting institutions.
H0-3: Those leaders identified in any enrollment management position working at large/medium sized institution will not exhibit any significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their enrollment management counterparts at small/moderate sized institution.
H3: Those leaders identified in any enrollment management position working at large/medium sized institution will exhibit significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their enrollment management counterparts at small/moderate sized institution.
H0-4: Those female leaders identified in any enrollment management position will not exhibit any significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their male enrollment management counterparts.
H4: Those female leaders identified in any enrollment management position will exhibit significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their male enrollment management counterparts.
Research Design
Survey research was conducted to analyze the leadership attributes of admission,
registrar and enrollment managers at varying educational institutions throughout the
United States that are members of the American Association of Collegiate Registrar and
Admission Officers, hereto throughout referred to as AACRAO. Statistical analysis,
including analysis of variance and descriptive statistics was used to determine if there is
a relationship between leadership attributes among individuals in similar positions at
differing institutions, if these attributes remain the same if the institution type changes, if
these attributes remain the same if the institution size changes and if the WAVE is a
suitable tool for determining these attributes.
Methodology
To explore the research questions, a leadership inventory was selected and
distributed to a diverse population of admissions officers, registrars and enrollment
56
managers throughout the United States. The diversity is defined by location of
institution, type of institution, type of position and size of institution. The leadership
inventory selected was the Saville Consulting WAVE assessment.
As data from the WAVE was collected in December 2006, through collaboration
between the American Association of Collegiate Registrar and Admissions Officers,
AACRAO, and Saville Consulting for a diverse group of admissions, registrar and
enrollment managers, the researcher requested access to this data to address the
research questions.
The data analysis summarized the individual responses into four distinct
categories. The categories are gender of leader, size of institution, type of institution
and type of position. The gender is defined as either male or female and is self
reported in the inventory survey. The size of the institution is defined by either
small/moderate schools with enrollments of less than 10,000 in the Fall 2009 integrated
postsecondary data system (IPEDS) report or medium/large schools with enrollments of
10,000 or greater in the Fall 2009 IPEDS report. The type of institution is defined by
either doctoral degree granting or non-doctoral degree granting as defined by the
National Center for Educational Statistics website. (http://nces.ed.gov/globallocator/).
The types of positions are registrars or other enrollment management or admissions
professional as a self-identified component of the survey instrument.
Instrumentation
The instrument used for this research, WAVE, is a “behavioral questionnaire
developed for use in selecting, developing and establish career paths in businesses”
(Saville & Holdsworth LTD., 1996(as cited in Campbel & Kachik, 2002 and Basham,
2007). The WAVE is a personality test based upon four clusters, including thought,
influence, adaptability and delivery. See Appendix A. Each of the four clusters contains
three sections, each of the three sections contains three dimensions and each of the
three dimensions contains three facets. Overall, there are 108 facets. Each facet is
presented two to three times throughout the questionnaire.
This study focused specifically at comparing each group defined above within
each cluster. The cluster of thought contains the sections of vision, judgment and
evaluation. The cluster of influence contains the sections of leadership, impact and
communication. The cluster of adaptability contains the sections of support, resilience
and flexibility. The cluster of delivery contains the sections of structure, drive and
implementation. Each of these clusters is further display in Appendix A.
The WAVE is validation centric. It is designed to reveal personality characteristics
of an individual, assesses the individual’s leadership potential and describes the
environments in which the individual will work best or in which they should not work
(Saville, 2006). The questionnaire takes about 35-45 minutes to complete.
Respondents can receive a wide variety of reports from the test. The respondents in
this study received the Types report and the Expert report. The Types report outlines
the typical approach the respondent would have in their work setting towards people
and tasks. A respondent could be identified as an adaptor, transformer, individualist or
influencer in regards to people and a thinker, transactor, preserver or doer in relation to
accomplishing tasks. The two traits combined help to describe the respondent’s
leadership style. One example may be that the respondent’s results indicate that they
are an influencer-transactor. This type of leadership style is indicative of someone who
is capable of leading people to deliver impressive results. They create a compelling
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vision and use assertive approaches to get people to buy into their plans. They know
exactly where they are going and focus on getting results. This single-minded pursuit of
a clear direction can at times lead to an autocratic leadership style (Saville, 2006).
The expert report provides the respondent with an executive summary of their
results, grouped under the four major cluster headings of thought, influence, adaptability
and delivery. Under each of the four major clusters, the sten score for each is displayed
for all 36 dimensions. The report also defines the response summary and rates the
respondent’s acquiescence when answering questions, consistency of rankings, the
motive-talent agreement and the normative-ipsative agreement. Scale descriptions of
these can be found in the 2005 Saville Consulting Technical Document.
Saville Consulting’s extensive research indicates the best predictor of performance at work is generally the score indicated by the sten marker (combined Normative-ipsative). Information is also provided on subtle differences highlighted by the profiler: facet range, motive-talent split and normative-ipsative split. (Saville, 2006)
Results from the WAVE test-retest were based on a sample size of 112 with a
retest period of one month. The alternative form normative, ipsative and combined were
based on a sample size of 1153 Results indicate a mean reliability of 0.79, the
minimum 0.71 and maximum of 0.91 as shown in Table 3-2. (Saville, 2006).
The validity of the WAVE instrument and dimensions, as mentioned earlier, is
based on validation centric development, where items are selected for inclusion in the
instrument based on their validity in predicting external job performance criteria (Saville,
2006). The WAVE instrument has also been correlated against the 16PF, the Myers
Briggs Type Indicator, the Gordon Personal Profile,and the DISC. Results of construct
validation studies suggest the WAVE is valid and measures what it is intending to
measure (Saville, 2006). Additionally, previous studies utilizing the WAVE and its base
59
prediction inventory, the OPQ have been conducted to confirm that the instrument is
“valid, reliable, and does measure what it intends to measure” (Basham, 2007).
The Population
The population for this study consisted of members of AACRAO in admissions
officer, registrar and enrollment manager positions at institutions of higher education in
the United States. The population of seventy individuals represents fifty-four institutions
from twenty-nine states. Thirty-seven (54%) of the population is made up of individuals
from doctoral degree granting institutions. Thirty (42%) of the population are males.
The institution size will be segmented into two distinct categories; small/moderate
and medium/large. Small colleges are those institutions who enroll less than five
thousand students. Moderate colleges are those institutions who enroll between five
thousand and ten thousand students. Medium colleges are those institutions who enroll
between ten thousand and twenty thousand students. Lastly, large colleges are those
institutions who enroll more than twenty thousand students. There are sixteen
individuals from small institutions, fifteen from moderate institutions, eleven from
medium institutions and twenty-six from large institutions. Combined into the two
segments, there are thirty-one small/moderate institutions and thirty-seven
medium/large institutions.
The position types will be segmented into two distinct categories; registrar and
other enrollment management/admissions professionals. The population consists of
thirty-two registrars and thirty-five other enrollment management/admissions
professionals. Two individuals are not associated with a specific institution and one
individual cannot be classified into one of the three defined positions, however, all have
a direct relationship with enrollment management functions.
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Procedure for Data Collection
In December 2006, AACRAO held its annual State and Regional Leadership
workshop. This workshop is comprised of registrars, admissions officers or enrollment
managers from institutions throughout the United States. These individuals were
selected to attend the workshop as a part of their leadership in their state or regional
associations. Attendees were invited to participate in the online questionnaire between
October and December 2006. The participants were assured of anonymity in the
reporting and were treated in accordance with the ethical standards of the American
Psychological Association. Saville Consulting, Ltd., agreed to release a small subset of
the collected data for the dissertation research in return for first right of viewing after
defense.
Analysis of Data
Parametric statistical tests rely on two key and fundamental assumptions. First,
these tests are based on the assumption that the frequency of the data are normally
distributed for both the sample population and for the total population from which the
sample is taken. Secondly, they rely on the assumption of equal variance between the
test populations. When these parameters cannot be assumed, non-parametric
statistical tests should be performed to make statistically reliable inferences based on
the test datasets. Non-parametric tests are also well suited for analyses that are based
on relative small sample and cell sizes.
The researcher used both the Kolmogorov-Smirnova and the Shapiro-Wilk tests to
examine the normality of the construct data for the total and test populations. These
same tests were used to determine the degree of normality for these data in the sample
populations as well.
61
The first hypothesis was analyzed by grouping those respondents in the sample
who are identified as registrars from those in the sample identified as an other
enrollment management/admissions professional and comparing them to one another
with respect to the specific constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery in
the WAVE instrument. A two-way mixed measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) was
used between the means for the group of registrars and those from the group of
enrollment management/admissions professionals using data from the executive
summary, psychometric profile and expert reports.
The second hypothesis was analyzed by grouping those respondents in the
sample who are identified as leaders from doctoral degree granting institutions from
those in the sample identified as leaders from non-doctoral degree granting institutions
and comparing them to one another with respect to the specific constructs of thought,
influence, adaptability and delivery, respectively, in the WAVE instrument. A two-way
mixed measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used between the means for the
group from doctoral degree granting institutions and those from non-doctoral degree
granting institutions using data from the executive summary, psychometric profile and
expert reports.
The third hypothesis was analyzed by grouping those respondents in the sample
who are identified as leaders from a large/medium sized institution from those in the
sample identified as leaders from a small/moderate sized institution and comparing
them to one another with respect to the specific constructs of thought, influence,
adaptability and delivery, respectively, in the WAVE instrument. A two-way mixed
measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used between the means for the group
62
from the large/medium sized institutions and those from the small/moderate sized
institutions using data from the executive summary, psychometric profile and expert
reports.
Lastly, the fourth hypothesis was analyzed by grouping those respondents in the
sample who are identified as females from those in the sample identified as males and
comparing them to one another with respect to the specific constructs of thought,
influence, adaptability and delivery, respectively, in the WAVE instrument. A two-way
mixed measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) will be used between the means for the
group of females and those from the group of males using data from the executive
summary, psychometric profile and expert reports.
Research Instrument
The Saville Consulting Wave Professional Styles questionnaires use a validation
centric development approach to maximize the validity of the instrument. This validation
method determines the validity of the item among other criteria. “The average validity of
one Professional Styles scale in relationship to its work performance criterion is 0.39
and the composite validity of more than one Professional Styles scale across criteria is
0.46” (Saville Consulting Wave, 2006).
Figure 3-1 shows the structure of the WAVE with four clusters, twelve sections and
thirty-six dimensions. This study focused on the four clusters in all comparative data
analysis. As displayed in Table 3-1 and as provided by the Saville Consulting Wave
research, there are 36 dimensions of the Wave instrument. As displayed in Table 3-2,
these dimensions have a combined score (ipsative and normative) of 0.86 in reliability
with a minimum of 0.78 and a maximum of 0.93 (Saville Consulting Wave, 2006).
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Summary
This chapter has provided an explanation of the research methodology used in the
research study, including, the study population, the WAVE questionnaire characteristics,
the data collection and the methods of analyzing the data. The next chapter will present
the results of the research questions in examining the leadership attributes of
registrar/enrollment managers throughout the United States.
Developing Expertise .19 .19 .35 .38 Analyzing Situations .26 .34 .30 .36 Documenting Facts .29 .27 .29 .27 Interpreting Data .46 .42 .44 .62 Making Decisions .48 .50 .64 .64 Leading People .68 .66 .70 .70 Providing Inspirations .62 .64 .64 .64 Convincing People .26 .26 .56 .60 Challenging Ideas .47 .49 .45 .47 Articulating Information .66 .60 .68 .68 Impressing People .32 .30 .56 .45 Developing Relationships .42 .50 .64 .66 Establishing Rapport .63 .57 .71 .67 Team Working .32 .32 .46 .40 Understanding People .35 .31 .47 .40 Valuing Individuals .34 .28 .46 .44 Resolving Conflict .38 .38 .48 .40 Conveying Self-Confidence .40 .34 .66 .78 Coping with Pressure .36 .34 .32 .30 Inviting Feedback .26 .22 .40 .32 Thinking Positively .40 .38 .42 .48 Embracing Change .42 .48 .42 .34 Organizing Resources .32 .38 .22 .42 Upholding Standards .21 .21 .20 .16 Completing Tasks .26 .31 .34 .41 Taking Action .54 .56 .56 .54 Pursuing Goals .28 .42 .44 .46 Tackling Business Challenges .42 .38 .48 .45 Checking Details .39 .31 .24 .23 Meeting Timescales .45 .43 .41 .43 Following Procedures .26 .24 .44 .14 Key: SA = Supervised Access Form, IA = Invited Access Form, *Dimension validity is the correlation between a single Professional Styles scale dimension (weighted combination of ipsative and normative scores) with the matched work performance criterion. Total sample matched is N=556-658 (sample size varied due to no evidence option on criterion ratings). **Cross validated is the correlation of the composite regression equation from initial sample on hold out sample based on a hold out sample of N=252-316. All validities are corrected for attenuation based on reliability of the criteria (based on 236 pairs of criterion ratings). No further corrections were applied (e.g. restriction of range, predictor unreliability). The composite validity of each of the two Professional Styles forms in relation to overall job proficiency is 0.34 and 0.42 (N=325). The composite validity of each of the two Professional Styles forms in establishing external ratings of potential for promotion is 0.54 and 0.64 (N=324).
This hypothesis centered on the general research question of whether or not
registrars at differing institutions throughout the United States share common leadership
71
attributes as other enrollment management professionals. The specific attributes
considered are the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery1
H0-1: Those leaders identified in registrar positions will not exhibit any significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability or delivery than their enrollment management counterparts.
.
H1: Those leaders identified in registrar positions will exhibit significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability or delivery than their enrollment management counterparts.
The dataset was divided into two samples, one containing those individuals who
indicated their position as a registrar (n = 32) and those who indicated a position other
than registrar (n = 38). A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) yielded a significant
effect for the registrar subcategory in the construct of influence, F(1, 68) = 4.539, p =
.037<.05 significance level, such that respondents indicating they were not registrars
was slightly higher in the construct of influence (M=5.71, SD=.868) than for registrars
(M=5.24, SD=.979). The construct of thought, F(1, 68) = 2.535, p = .116, adaptability,
F(1, 68) = .319, p= .574, and delivery, F(1,68) = 1.446, p= .233 were not significant
between the registrar and non-registrar respondents. Additionally, a non-parametric
test of the hypothesis for each construct was run and indicated the same significance
results with a significance factor of .027 for influence. The psychometric profile’s cluster
and section means are displayed graphically for both groups in Figure 4-1. The
registrar group descriptive data indicating the means and standard deviations for each
where 0=non-registar and 1=registrar can be found in Table 4-3. The registrar group
ANOVA data indicating the significance of the construct of influence can be found in
Table 4-4. The non-parametric data for the registrar group is displayed in Figure 4-2.
Table 4-4. Summary ANOVA for the registrar and non-registrar groups for each of the
four constructs
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Thought Between Groups 3.880 1 3.880 2.535 .116
Within Groups 104.069 68 1.530 Total 107.949 69
Influence Between Groups 3.844 1 3.844 4.539 .037
Within Groups 57.582 68 .847 Total 61.426 69
Adaptability Between Groups .381 1 .381 .319 .574
Within Groups 81.197 68 1.194 Total 81.578 69
Delivery Between Groups 1.390 1 1.390 1.446 .233
Within Groups 65.386 68 .962 Total 66.776 69
Figure 4-2. Hypothesis test summary for registrar group
74
Research Hypothesis Two
This hypothesis centered on the general research question of whether or not
enrollment managers at doctoral granting institutions throughout the United States
share common leadership attributes as other enrollment management professionals at
non-doctoral granting institutions. The specific attributes considered are the constructs
of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery. 2
H0-2: Those leaders identified in any enrollment management position working at doctoral granting institution will not exhibit any significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their enrollment management counterparts at non-doctoral granting institutions.
H2: Those leaders identified in any enrollment management position working at doctoral granting institution will exhibit significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their enrollment management counterparts at non-doctoral granting institutions.
The dataset was divided into two samples, one containing those individuals whose
institution confers doctoral degrees (n = 43) and those whose institutions do not confer
doctoral degrees (n = 25). A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) yielded a
significant effect for the doctoral granting subcategory in the construct of thought, F(1,
66) = 7.477, p= .008<.05 significance, such that respondents indicating they were from
doctoral granting institutions was significantly higher in the construct of thought
(M=6.76, SD=1.11) than for those from non-doctoral granting institutions (M=5.93,
SD=1.37). The constructs of influence, F(1, 66) = 1.626, p= .207, adaptability, F(1, 66)
= .713, p=.401 and delivery, F(1,66) = .724, p=.398 did not show significance between
the doctoral granting institution respondents and non-doctoral granting respondents.
Additionally, a non-parametric test of the hypothesis for each construct was run and
indicated the same significance results with a significance factor of p=.016 for thought.
The psychometric profile’s cluster and section means are displayed graphically for both
groups in Figure 4-3. The doctoral granting group descriptive data indicating the means
and standard deviations for each where 0=non-doctoral granting and 1=doctoral
granting can be found in Table 4-5, the doctoral granting group ANOVA data indicating
the significance of the construct of influence can be found in Table 4-6. The non-
parametric data for the doctoral group is displayed in Figure 4-4.
Figure 4-3. Psychometric profile’s cluster and section means for both doctoral granting and non-doctoral granting institutions line graph
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
6
6.5
7
7.5
Doc
Non
76
Table 4-5. Mean scores and standard deviations for the doctoral and non-doctoral granting institution groups (0=non-doctoral granting; 1=doctoral granting)
Table 4-6. Summary ANOVA for the doctoral granting and non-doctoral granting groups
for each of the four constructs
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Thought Between Groups 10.980 1 10.980 7.477 .008
Within Groups 96.925 66 1.469 Total 107.905 67
Influence Between Groups 1.464 1 1.464 1.626 .207
Within Groups 59.406 66 .900 Total 60.870 67
Adaptability Between Groups .872 1 .872 .713 .401
Within Groups 80.658 66 1.222 Total 81.529 67
Delivery Between Groups .698 1 .698 .724 .398
Within Groups 63.658 66 .965 Total 64.356 67
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Figure 4-4. Hypothesis test summary for doctoral granting group
Research Hypothesis Three
This hypothesis centered on the general research question of whether or not
enrollment managers at large/medium sized (10,000 or more enrollments) institutions
throughout the United States share common leadership attributes as other enrollment
management professionals at small/moderate sized (less than 10,000 enrollments)
78
granting institutions. The specific attributes considered are the constructs of thought,
influence, adaptability and delivery.3
H0-3: Those leaders identified in any enrollment management position working at large/medium sized institution will not exhibit any significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their enrollment management counterparts at small/moderate sized institution.
H3: Those leaders identified in any enrollment management position working at large/medium sized institution will exhibit significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their enrollment management counterparts at small/moderate sized institution.
The dataset was divided into two samples, one containing those individuals whose
institutions have yearly enrollments of 10,000 or more (n = 37) and those whose
institutions have less than 10,000 yearly enrollments (n = 31). A two-way analysis of
variance (ANOVA) yielded no significant effect for respondents in the institutional size
subcategory in the constructs of thought, F(1,66) = 2.855, p =.096, influence, F(1, 66) =
Figure 4-5. Psychometric profile’s cluster and section means for institutions with enrollment of 10,000 or more and institutions with enrollments of less than 10,000 line graph
Table 4-7. Mean scores and standard deviations by institutional size (0=less than 10,000 enrollments; 1=10,000 or more enrollments)
Table 4-8. Summary ANOVA by institutional size for each of the four constructs
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Thought Between Groups 4.475 1 4.475 2.855 .096
Within Groups 103.430 66 1.567 Total 107.905 67
Influence Between Groups .258 1 .258 .281 .598
Within Groups 60.612 66 .918 Total 60.870 67
Adaptability Between Groups 1.199 1 1.199 .985 .325
Within Groups 80.331 66 1.217 Total 81.529 67
Delivery Between Groups 1.150 1 1.150 1.200 .277
Within Groups 63.207 66 .958 Total 64.356 67
Figure 4-6. Hypothesis test summary for institutional size group
81
Research Hypothesis Four
This hypothesis centered on the general research question of whether or not
female enrollment managers at institutions throughout the United States share common
leadership attributes as male enrollment management professionals. The specific
attributes considered are the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery.4
H0-4: Those female leaders identified in any enrollment management position will not exhibit any significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their male enrollment management counterparts.
H4: Those female leaders identified in any enrollment management position will exhibit significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their male enrollment management counterparts.
The dataset was divided into two samples, one containing the responses of the
female respondents (n = 40) and one containing the responses of the male respondents
(n = 30). A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) yielded no significant effect for
respondents in the gender subcategory in the constructs of thought, F(1,68) = 1.023,
Table 4-10. Summary ANOVA by gender for each of the four constructs Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Thought Between Groups 1.601 1 1.601 1.023 .315
Within Groups 106.348 68 1.564 Total 107.949 69
Influence Between Groups .066 1 .066 .073 .788
Within Groups 61.360 68 .902 Total 61.426 69
Adaptability Between Groups .963 1 .963 .812 .371
Within Groups 80.614 68 1.186 Total 81.578 69
Delivery Between Groups 2.483 1 2.483 2.626 .110
Within Groups 64.294 68 .945 Total 66.776 69
Figure 4-8. Hypothesis test summary for gender group
84
Summary
In this chapter the results of this study including analysis of variance and
descriptive statistics were presented. A summary of the hypotheses results can be
found in Table 4-11. The analyses needed to answer the research questions in Chapter
3 were also presented. Chapter 5 will discuss these results in detail and use them to
answer the proposed research questions.
85
Table 4-11. Hypotheses Summary Hypothesis Description Result H1 Those leaders identified in registrar positions
will exhibit significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability or delivery than their enrollment management counterparts.
Differences in the construct of influence, F(1, 68) = 4.539, p = .037<.05 significance level Non-registrar enrollment mangers yielded higher scores
H2 Those leaders identified in any enrollment management position working at doctoral granting institution will exhibit significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their enrollment management counterparts at non-doctoral granting institutions.
Differences in the construct of thought, F(1, 66) = 7.477, p= .008<.05 significance Enrollment managers at non-doctoral granting institutions yielder higher scores
H3 Those leaders identified in any enrollment management position working at large/medium sized institution will exhibit significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their enrollment management counterparts at small/moderate sized institution.
Fail to reject the null hypothesis
H4 Those female leaders identified in any enrollment management position will exhibit significant difference on the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery than their male enrollment management counterparts.
Fail to reject the null hypothesis
86
CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSOIN
This chapter presents additional analyses and conclusions based on the
results from the previous chapter, while comparing the findings to literature. This
chapter also presents recommendations for further research and implications for
higher education.
The purpose of this study was to compare leadership attributes of
registrar/enrollment managers in the United States to determine if there were
common attributes based on the type of institution, the size of institution, their
position or their gender. Another purpose of this study was the further explore
the research of leadership attributes and to provide a base framework for future
studies of mid-level higher education administrators.
Specifically, this study provided some insight into the attributes most
desired in quality candidates and addressed the following questions:
1) Do registrars at differing institutions throughout the United States share common leadership attributes as other enrollment management professionals?
2) Is there a significant relationship between size of institution and the leadership attributes for individuals in enrollment management positions?
3) Is there a significant relationship between type of institution as defined by doctoral granting versus non-doctoral granting and leadership attributes for individuals in enrollment management positions?
4) Is there a significant relationship between the leadership attributes for males versus females for individuals in enrollment management positions?
The next four sections will focus on the findings from the previous chapter
and answer each of these questions. These sections will resolve the research
questions by comparing the leadership attributes of the population in respect to
87
the constructs of thought, influence, adaptability and delivery in respect to their
position, institutional size, type of institution and gender.
Summary of Results
Research Question 1
Do registrars at differing institutions throughout the United States share
common leadership attributes as other enrollment management professionals?
The results indicate that enrollment managers, whether they are registrars
or leaders from another area within enrollment management do not have differing
leadership attributes. The construct of influence was the only cluster, of the four
within the WAVE, that showed variability in the responses between those who
indicated their position as registrar and those who were in other enrollment
management roles. The influence cluster is further defined by the sections of
leadership, impact and communication. There are also nine dimensions, three
for each section, within the cluster of influence (Appendix A). When reviewing
the data to the section and dimension levels, the section of communication was
the only section of the three within the cluster of influence that showed
significant.
Additionally, all three of the dimensions within the section of communication
indicated significance. Comparing the means for the registrar and the non-
registrars within each of these dimensions shows that those that indicated they
were not registrars ranked themselves higher in all three of the dimensions within
the section of communication (self-promoting, interaction and engaging
dimensions).
88
The results of the analysis of the data indicate that registrars and other
enrollment managers do not differ in their leadership attributes. However, those
non-registrar enrollment managers consider themselves to be better
communicators than their registrar colleagues. This finding is consistent with the
findings of the previous research. The studies of non-profit leaders, community
college presidents, college chief business officers, student affairs officers and
other higher education administrators all propose that communication is a key
leadership attribute for the future leader (Table 3-3). The leadership attribute of
communication includes the skills of networking, establishing rapport and giving a
good first impression (Appendix G).
The CCL leadership study did not indicate communication, as defined in
this study, as one of the top ten attributes needed for the future leader, but it is
within the top twenty (Leslie, 2009). The finding is also consistent with the job
description profiling of the new registrar/enrollment manager attributes defined in
the job description developed in the FuturesLeaders-ATG Work Profiling session
with AACRAO in 2006. That session found that the new registrar must have
strong logic and communication skills (FuturesLeaders-ATG Work Profiling
session, 2006). Additionally, Kleinglass noted that the qualities of the senior
student affairs officers include strong communication (Kleinglass, 2005). This
further supports the concepts that student affairs administrators are typically
promoted from within and that the current non-registrar enrollment manager has
the skills necessary to move into the senior student affairs position and will
89
create the domino effect for leadership in their current role (Amey, 2002;
Hamilton, 2004; Campbell, 2006).
Research Question 2
Is there a significant relationship between type of institution, as defined by
doctoral granting versus non-doctoral granting, and leadership attributes for
individuals in enrollment management positions?
The results indicate that enrollment managers, whether they are from
doctoral granting institutions or non-doctoral granting institutions tend to not differ
in their leadership attributes. The construct of thought was the only cluster, of
the four within the WAVE, that showed variability in the responses between those
who indicated they worked at a doctoral degree granting institution and those
whose institutions do not confer doctoral degrees. As described earlier and
displayed in Appendix A, the cluster of thought has three sections (vision,
judgment and evaluation) and each of these sections has three dimensions.
Further examination of the results of the data indicate that respondents from
doctoral granting institutions rated themselves higher in the section of evaluation
and the dimensions of abstract (thought cluster/vision section), learning oriented
(thought cluster/judgment section) and change oriented (adaptability
cluster/flexibility section).
The results of the analysis of this data indicate that individuals from doctoral
granting institutions are problem solvers who enjoy thinking about and
developing concepts, are motivated by learning new things, are strong
communicators and enjoy new challenges. In comparing with other leaders
specific to doctoral granting institutions, this is consistent with Mironack’s 2003
90
study of college union directors. His study found that these leaders were
transformational leaders and exhibited behaviors of influence and motivation.
The previous research of non-profit leaders and corporate leaders support this
finding as a key leadership attribute for the new leader (Spillett, 2006; Kachik,
2003; Leslie, 2009). Each of these studies indicates attributes within the thought
cluster as critical for the future leader. Only the CCL study, however, also
identifies the attribute of flexibility as a key future leader attribute (Leslie, 2009).
Higher education and community college studies find importance in the
leadership attributes of the thought cluster, even though the majority of
respondents are from non-doctoral granting institutions (Campbell & Leverty,
1997; Kachik, 2003; Tunk, 2007; Berry, 2008, O’Daniels, 2009). This further
supports the idea that the leadership attribute is job specific within the
organization and that individuals fulfilling different responsibilities will have a
need for differing leadership attributes.
Respondents from non-doctoral granting institutions, in contrast, show
stronger significance in the section of implementation(meticulous, reliable,
compliant) and the dimensions of principled (delivery cluster/structure section)
and compliant (delivery cluster/implementation section). All of these attributes
are within the delivery cluster. This indicates that these individuals need
structure and are pleased with following set requirements. These results are
consistent with the WAVE scale in that they indicate that individuals scoring high
on compliant are very likely to score low on change oriented (Saville, 2005). All
previous studies displayed in Table 3-3 indicate structure as a key leadership
91
attribute for the future leader. Compliant, however, is only supported by the
research on the leadership attributes of non-profit leaders, student affairs officers
and other higher education administrators (Lovell & Kosten, 2000; Spillett, 2006;
Tunks, 2007). This further supports the concept that leadership attributes are
position driven. Non-profit leaders and student affairs officers likely must comply
to state policies, government regulations or funding provider limitations and a
strong leader will understand the need for compliance. Overall, those
respondents from the doctoral granting institutions are more change oriented
while those from the non-doctoral granting institutions are more compliant.
Research Question 3
Is there a significant relationship between size of institution and the
leadership attributes for individuals in enrollment management positions?
The results indicate that enrollment managers, regardless of the size of
institution in which they work do not differ in their leadership attributes. For each
of the four clusters examined, there are three sections and three dimensions.
When reviewing the data to the section and dimension levels none of the twelve
sections showed significance. In the cluster of thought the three sections are
vision, judgment and evaluation. In the section of evaluation there are three
dimensions (analytical, factual and rational). Comparing the means for the
small/medium institutions to the moderate/large institutions shows that those
enrollment managers working at moderate/large institutions ranked themselves
higher in the dimension of analytical.
The results of the analysis of the data indicate that enrollment managers
from different size institutions do not differ in their leadership attributes.
92
Enrollment managers at moderate/large institutions consider themselves to be
more analytical than those respondents from small/medium sized institutions.
Analytical, for the purposes of this study, indicates an individual is a good
problem solver, probing and effective at analyzing information. Previous studies
of corporate leaders, college chief business officers, student affairs officers and
other higher education administrators indicate that analytical is a key leadership
attribute for the future leader (Lovell & Kosten, 2000; Kachik, 2003; Berry, 2008;
O’Daniel, 2009). The non-profit leader of the future and the international leaders
in the CCL study both indicate that analytical is not a key attribute for future
leaders in their industry (Spillett, 2006; Leslie, 2009). These differing concepts
regarding the attribute of analytical support the concept that leadership attributes
are position specific and that organizations’ need to define the attributes for each
position in order to effectively identify the best candidate.
Research Question 4
Is there a significant relationship between the leadership attributes for
males versus females for individuals in enrollment management positions?
The results indicate that enrollment managers, whether they are male or
female do not differ in their leadership attributes. There were no significant
differences between the leadership attributes of males or females in any of the
four constructs. When reviewing the data to the section and dimension levels,
the section of structure was the only one that showed significant with a p=.007.
The dimension of activity oriented (delivery cluster/drive section) also showed
significant with a p=.009 indicating that females tend to rank themselves higher in
this category. Structure, for the purposes of this study, the leader exhibiting this
93
attribute is organized, principled and activity oriented. The results of the analysis
of the data indicate that female respondents tend to find importance in planning,
work at a fast pace, cope well with multi-tasking and like to follow set procedures
at higher levels than their male counterparts. These factors are comparable to
Kachik’s 2003 study in the aspect of detail conscious. That study found that
female administrators are more detail conscious and precise than male
administrators. A direct conclusion that females are more detail conscious
cannot be drawn, however, without further examination of the differences in the
populations. The Kachik study compared community college administrators with
corporate leaders.
Further examination of the data revealed that the dimension of rational
(thought cluster/evaluation section) showed significant with a p=.021. This
finding indicates that the male respondents tend to rank themselves higher in this
category. For the purposes of this study, rational refers to number fluency,
technology aware and objective. The data also shows that the male respondents
tend to see problems solving as one of their strengths, are comfortable working
with numerical data and are highly competitive at higher levels than their female
counterparts. This is particularly important for the future role of the registrar.
The leadership attributes defined by AACRAO at the FuturesLeaders-ATG Work
Profiling session in 2006 listed numeric reasoning and complex decision making
as two of the desired attributes for future registrar/enrollment managers
(FuturesLeaders-ATG Work Profiling, 2006). Overall, this data shows that
94
enrollment managers tend to not have differing leadership attributes regardless
of their gender.
Recommendations for Further Study
As the literature reviewed demonstrated, leadership styles can be defined
Receptive to feedback, open to criticism, feedback seeking
Tough Minded Does not suffer hurt feelings
Positive (Adaptability/Flexibility)
Optimistic, cheerful, buoyant Optimistic Keeps optimistic outlook
Change oriented (Adaptability/Flexibility)
Accepting challenges, accepting change, tolerant of uncertainty
Change Oriented Seeks change/variety in work
Organized (Delivery/Structure)
Self organized, planning, prioritizing
Forward Planning Enjoys forming short & long term plans
Principled Activity oriented (Delivery/Structure)
Quick working, busy, multi-tasking
Active Enjoys active jobs/activities
Dynamic (Delivery/Drive)
Energetic, initiating, action oriented
Active Enjoys active jobs/activities
Striving (Delivery/Drive)
Ambitious, results driven, persevering
Achieving Is ambitious for success
Enterprising (Delivery/Drive)
Competitive, entrepreneurial, selling
Competitive Likes to compete and win
Meticulous (Delivery/Implementati
Quality oriented, thorough, detailed
Detail Conscious Is concerned about details
157
on) Reliable (Delivery/Implementation)
Meeting deadlines, finishing tasks, punctual
Conscientious See routine tasks through
Compliant (Delivery/Implementation)
Rule bound, following procedures, risk averse
Traditional Follow conventional approach
158
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