Pressing leadership challenges in contemporary organizations

¶ … Higher education [...] challenge of financial funding and fund raising in today's complex economy. The American and world economies are in crisis, and one area where many states are cutting costs is education, especially higher education. University presidents must deal with numerous challenges throughout their tenure, but one of the greatest right now may be the crisis of shrinking educational funds. Dealing with this crisis is difficult for any university president, regardless of the stature or level of the university.

As the text notes, true leadership "is a process that is concerned with change" (Astin & Astin, 2000, p.8). College presidents qualify as true leaders in that they are always dealing with change in some way, from changing education models and curriculums to funding. In the current economy, funding has become a major issue for many colleges and universities across the nation. They also note throughout the text that good leadership is a collaborative effort, and that good leaders foster leadership qualities in others. Thus, the effective university president should foster change and growth in those around him, and foster it in the curriculum, as well. They should also be able to cope effectively with change, and do what is best for the university in the aftermath of change. Universities across the nation have lost funding because of the state of the economy, and this is a major problem facing almost all universities, especially publicly funded institutions. State university systems are seeing budgets reduced, salaries reduced, while student populations are often growing as more unemployed workers go back to school to update their skills. How can a university president deal with this financial crisis?

There are many options for the university leader to cope with this process, and show themselves to be a valuable leader in the process. The president, in the spirit of collaboration, could form a leadership group to tackle the problem of funding. The group could be made up of not only academics, but industry and business leaders, legislators, alumni, and students. The group should not be too large, but have enough members to be creative and offer different perspectives. The president should sit on the group, but should not become the leader of the group; the leadership should be shared. Once the group dynamics are set, the group could look for alternative methods of funding education, from private donations to grants, business funding for technical and specific training classes, and other ways to raise new funds. They could explore other types of class offerings, such as weekend, online or new degree programs that could bring in new sources of revenue. They could also approach the community for support for funding education, and think of alternatives to raising tuition. For example, in the summertime, dorm rooms could function as hotel rooms for budget-minded tourists in many colleges.

The group should provide a written report to the president and the board of trustees, outlining their ideas for funding and fundraising, along with an analysis of the expected cost savings or revenue, and how the plans would be implemented. The president could have input into the report and the ideas by sitting on the committee, and the president and board would make the decision of what plans to accept and what plans not to accept.

When funding drops, services are affected, so the university must find other ways to save money, as well. The university president could take suggestions from staff and students to come up with creative ways to save money and keep tuitions at current levels. For example, the president could decide to close the campus one day a week, and have staff work four 10-hour days, saving on energy usage, wear and tear on the classrooms, and maintenance costs. Services would still be provided, but most buildings would shut down, except for vital services, such as the library, maintenance, and the student union.

One of the jobs of most college presidents is fundraising, so the president will already have experience at raising funds for his or her school, but clearly, this fundraising will have to be stepped up. They may lobby their legislators into supporting funding for education, and they will interact with the community in an attempt to bring in more funding. They will have to become more creative with their fundraising efforts, as well. They should become more visible in the community, and offer examples of the successes their university has had in education and research to gain support. Most of all, they should encourage thinking "outside the box" for their staff and students to come up with creative ways to gain funding and income without cutting student services or curriculum.

They will have to encourage their staff to do more with less while keeping up morale, too. In this, the president becomes a statesman, and sets an example by cutting their own salary, working more hours, or giving up benefits like car or housing allowances. The president's ultimate goal should be the stability of the institution and providing high-quality education to the student population, so they must be quite aware of their goals and interests for the school, above everything else.