Higher Education Managers/Executives/Administrators
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of vocational advisory committee chairs and members regarding advisory committee chair leadership behaviors.
METHODOLOGY The population were 175 advisory committee advising vocational programs at the 17 New Mexico community colleges, from which a stratified random sample and usable response rates yielded 41 advisory board chairs (38% response rate) and 241 committee members (35% response rate). Respondents completed either the Leadership Practices Inventory Self or Observer form. The typical respondent had 25 years of employment (27%), was male (51%), and over 30 years of age (93%).
KEY FINDINGS Advisory committee chairs rated themselves significantly higher than the Kouzes Posner normative data base on all the practices with the exception of Enabling. In terms of frequency the rank order was Modeling, Challenging, Encouraging, Enabling and Inspiring. A similar pattern was found from the advisory committee members' perspectives of their chairs, compared with the normative database. Committee chairs rated themselves significantly higher than their constituents on the leadership practices of Modeling, Challenging, Enabling and Encouraging. The rank order of leadership practices between Chairs and Committee Members was the same for Modeling, Challenging, and Encouraging at the high end and at the low end Inspiring and Enabling were reversed in their rankings.