Higher Education Managers/Executives/Administrators
OBJECTIVE To examine the leadership practices of North Carolina community college presidents and how these are related to ethical perspectives.
METHODOLOGY Surveys were sent to all 58 North Carolina community college presidents, with 42 responding (72%). Each respondent completed the Leadership Practices Inventory (Self), the Ethics Position Questionnaire (EPQ; Forsyth, 1980) and supplied demographic information. The typical respondent was a Caucasian (94%) male (81%), holding a doctorate (93%), with an average of 10 years of experience as a college president.
KEY FINDINGS The highest mean scores on the LPI were for Enabling and Modeling, followed by Inspiring, Encouraging and Challenging. All of these were, on average, higher than shown on the Kouzes Posner normative database. No significance differences on the LPI were found on the basis of gender or race. No significance differences were found between the five leadership practices and the EQP scores (idealism and relativism). The longer in office for respondents the more likely they engaged in the leadership practice of Challenging the Process.