Ambiguity Why Is Leadership Within

Ambiguity

Why is leadership within academic organizations so often perceived as having a high level of ambiguity?

Leadership implies some congruence between the object is of the leader and the led" yet within institutions of higher education, administrators often have different goals than professors and professors often have different goals than students. Administrators may want the school to have a high reputation for attracting quality students, name-brand faculty, and obtain high levels of funding, including alumni support. Professors may want to do research that is significant within their specific specialty and publish in their field -- teaching is an afterthought. Students may want to have fun, get good grades, and graduate within four years. Emphasizing undergraduate teaching may frustrate faculty members although it may attract more applicants. Students may prefer teachers who are better instructors rather than well-respected in esoteric subjects, or their desire for more radical programs of study may alienate alumni who are more conservative and big-name school donors.

Universities are intensely factious and bureaucratic, which can create divergent goals by the unintentional nature of the institution's design. Universities may be subject to social forces beyond their control that affect institutional interests in different ways. Students may want more technical courses to meet the needs of the job competitive market, professors, particularly in certain disciplines may value a liberal arts education that questions social and political assumptions, and administrators want to see their students succeed after graduation, balance their institution's budget, draw star faculty, gain a quality reputation for athletics, extracurriculars, and academics. Administrators, professors, and students all need the school to thrive and prosper, so that their reputations and the value of degrees do not suffer in the future, but all have divergent short-term interests and visions.

Part 2

Please create a metaphor for some higher education organization situation. Share and explain the metaphor.