The Relationship Between Perceptions of Presidential Leadership Practices and Organizational Effectiveness in Southern Community Colleges

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the leadership practices of community college presidents and the Organizational effectiveness of the community college.

METHODOLOGY
The sample consisted of 303 community college presidents (from institutions accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) and 900 employees who reported directly to these presidents. A total of 180 college presidents participated (59%), along with 445 direct reports (49%). Participants completed the Leadership Practices Inventory (Self and Observer forms). Organizational effectiveness was examined using the Cameron (1984) National Center for Higher Education Management Systems effectiveness instrument as modified for community colleges by Hamm (1992); which yields nine dimensions.

KEY FINDINGS
The leadership practices scores of college presidents were all significantly higher than those provided by their direct reports. The same was true for eight of the nine dimensions of organizational effectiveness. The five leadership practices were all significantly correlated with each of the nine dimensions of organizational effectiveness.

The author concludes: "Findings show that two of the nine Organizational effectiveness factors (faculty and administrator employment satisfaction and organizational health) had a significant and moderate relationship with presidential leadership practices; five of the nine factors (student educational satisfaction, student academic development, student personal development, systems openness and community interaction, and ability to acquire resources) had a significant but weak relationship with presidential leadership practices; and two of the nine factors (student career development and professional development and quality of the faculty) had no relationship with presidential leadership practices" (p. 77).

Enabling Others to Act had the most influence in predicting factors of organizational effectiveness. Modeling the Way was next most influential, followed by equal influence from Challenging and Inspiring. Encouraging had no influence in predicting any of the nine factors of organizational effectiveness. Also, none of the five leadership practices had any influence on student career development or professional development and quality of the faculty.