Change Management and Leadership in Higher Education

Introduction: The Headless Chicken Metaphor

The phrase "headless chicken" describes an organization that is alive and able to operate and continue to exist, but has no sense of what it is or where it is going. By applying this label to themselves, the group in the case study of a higher professional education organization correctly identified how it was feeling, and also identified how the organization arrived at that unfortunate position. Once these two factors are known, a path can be charted out of the situation by strategically installing new leadership — by someone who understands the nuances of what it will take to make the process succeed.

The process of change in an organization cannot be initiated by the simple replacement of a leader. The organization also has a culture that has been built over its lifetime. When a new leader is brought in from outside the organization, a change in culture is almost inevitable, and negotiating these issues is much like trying to reattach a chicken's head. The new leader may look the same and hold the same title, just as one chicken head looks like any other. However, without proper preparation, skillful execution, and a clear vision of what the organization will look like after the transition, the organization may emerge from the process with its head pointed in the wrong direction — focused on looking back at where it has been rather than forward to where it is going.

In the college featured in this case study, a new administrator was installed in an attempt to bring change. However, the first new principal, installed in 1996, provided little in the way of solid leadership. His laissez-faire, or possibly management-by-exception, approach gave staff no real foundation on which to build toward the future.

This paper investigates the nature of change within the organization and examines different leadership theories in order to answer the following questions:

What is the change process within an organization, and how can the organization prepare for and transact meaningful, lasting change? What leadership style is most effective for initiating lasting change? What are the differences between leadership, empowerment, and management, and how is the organization served by each?

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