Faculty member perceptions of department head leadership effectiveness at a state university in Turkey

Abstract

This article examined the leadership effectiveness of department heads at a state university in Turkey using a model of leadership effectiveness that includes the use of multiple leadership roles to manage situations arising from internal and external university environments. Leadership effectiveness was measured by surveying 70 faculty members in three social sciences departments using a modified instrument based on the competing values managerial behaviour framework. The instrument also provided scores ranking the use by department heads of various leadership roles, which were categorized into four leadership functions. The top five leadership roles employed by department heads were: facilitator, producer, driver, innovator and mentor. Leadership functions were positively correlated with one another and with leadership effectiveness. Multiple regression analysis showed that the four leadership functions and the gender of survey respondents were significant predictors of leadership effectiveness. The strongest predictor of leadership effectiveness was the create leadership function, which includes motivator, visionary and innovator leadership roles.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Meltem Akbulut

Meltem Akbulut is a PhD candidate at Educational Sciences Department in Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. She works for Istanbul Sehir University as the Professional Development Unit Head. Email: [email protected]. She completed her master’s degree in Adult Education in 2011 in Bogazici University.

Fatma Nevra Seggie

Fatma Nevra Seggie is an associate professor of Educational Administration, Supervision, Planning and Economics in the Department of Educational Sciences at Boğaziçi University, College of Education, Department of Educational Sciences, North Campus, Office No: 312, 34342 Bebek, Istanbul, Turkey. Email: [email protected]. She has published in book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and articles in different journals such as Higher Education and Education and Society, and presented at various national and international conferences including Association for Study of Higher Education, Comparative & International Education Society and the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations, among others. Her research interests include an examination of how democracy, secularism and religion manifest within higher education in the Middle East and Turkey; policy development and analysis in education, issues of gender and identity in higher education systems, and analysis of organizational change and leadership in developing countries.

Bengü Börkan

Bengü Börkan, PhD, has been an assistant professor at Boğaziçi University, College of Education, Department of Educational Sciences, North Campus, Office No: 208, 34342 Bebek, Istanbul, Turkey since 2007. Email: [email protected]. She has received her MS and PhD degrees from the Ohio State University in Ohio/USA. Her research interests focus on applied statistics and measurement and evaluation in education.