Rethinking the "L" Word in Higher Education: The Revolution of Research on Leadership: ASHE Higher Education Report, Volume 31, Number 6

Leadership has moved from being leader centered, individualistic, hierarchical, focused on universal characteristics, and emphasizing power over followers to a new vision in which leadership is process centered, collective, context bound, nonhierarchical, and focused on mutual power and influence. This book summarizes research and literature related to new concepts of leadership to inform practice.ew of the new concepts have been examined, however, and reflect important areas for future research and examination by practitioners. Higher education would benefit as a field if more studies would use critical and postmodern paradigms to uncover new ways to conceptualize leadership; explore explicit examinations of power dynamics embedded in leadership processes; focus on failed examples of leadership; study the implications of globalization for leadership; focus on entrepreneurialism, accountability, and cross-cultural leadership; explore empirical studies of specific cultural phenomena that affect leadership in higher education such as symbols or story telling; develop empirical research from the perspective of social movement; study the interaction of various levels (micro, meso, macro) and aspects (different units) of the higher education context; focus on negotiating conflicts that are inevitable with collective forms of leadership; use interdisciplinary research to understand ethics, global leadership, and empowerment; and study leadership over time, as relationships take time to develop.

In these times of change and challenge in higher education, pleas for leadership have become frequent. However, the type of leadership required within this new context (of globalization, demographic changes, technological advancement, and questioning of social authority) may call for different skills, requiring a re-education among campus stakeholders if they want to be successful leaders.

In the past twenty years, there has been a revolution in the way that leadership is conceptualized across most fields and disciplines. Leadership has moved away from being leader-centered, individualistic, hierarchical, focused on universal characteristics, and emphasizing power over followers. Instead, a new vision has emerged: leadership that is process-centered, collective, context-bound, non-hierarchical, and focused on mutual power and influence processes.

This volume summarizes research and literature about new conceptualizations of leadership to inform practice.

This is volume 31, number 6, of the ASHE Higher Education Report, a bi-monthly journal published by Jossey-Bass.

See our entire list of ASHE Higher Education Report titles for a wide variety of critical issues facing Higher Education today. 

The revolution in leadership A world apart: new paradigms of leadership A world anew: the latest theories of leadership Revolutionary concepts of leadership Higher education leadership in the new world Revolutionary leadership concepts in higher education Practical implications for the leadership revolution Framing leadership research in a new era Notes Appendix: three case studies.