Understanding University Management from a gender perspective: an international study based on the perception of women as educational leaders.

Author(s):

Inmaculada Martinez-Garcia(presenting / submitting)Enrique Alastor Garcia Cheikh-Lahlou(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 11 A JS,

Joint Paper Session NW 22 and NW 26

Time:

2017-08-24

17:15-18:45

Room:

K5.04

Chair:

Katja Brøgger

Contribution

In the last few years, there have been many economic, social and demographic changes worldwide. The process of transformation, which is taking place in the context in which the University is developing, brings new challenges to be faced. In this time of change, it may be necessary to rethink the organizational performance and the internal structures of the institution (Castro 2011; Fernández, 2008; Llinas-Audet, 2011; Sánchez & Elena, 2007; Sánchez & Zubillaga, 2005).

One example is the emergence of new models of University management and organizational structures that adapt themselves to current circumstances (Aebischer & Ricci, 2008; Batanaz, 2003; Martínez & Viader, 2008). It is therefore necessary to study and question the structures of management and governance in the University and their possible adaptation to modern times and the net new University that arises. We refer to recent conceptions of management such as governance regimes and University management by Brunner (2011), the emerging paradigm called New Managerialism (Deem, Hillyard & Reed, 2007; Girotto, Mundet & Llinas-Audet, 2013; Whitchurch & Gordon, 2010) and the idea of professionalization of the management roles at the University (Whitchurch, 2008).

This idea of change converge with the transformation of the university in terms of gender issues due to the massive incorporation of women to the institution in general and to the performance of the leadership roles particularly. However the number of managerial positions played by women at university is lower than the ones runned by men in the most areas of knowledge (Smith, 2002; Trinidad, 2005). The actual data shows that nowadays it is important to bear in mind the relevance of the research on the field due to the importance of the role as pedagogical leaders in the improvement of the quality of teaching in Higher Education.

In recent years, the number of studies about management in Higher Education from a gender perspective has increased, some examples of topics are: the leadership style of women (Pounder & Coleman, 2002), comparatives studies about women as educational leaders in universities (Read & Kehm, 2016) and gender disparity and perceived barriers to leadership (Howe-Walsh & Turnbull). Therefore, we consider it is interesting to offer and in-depth study about women academics who develop this kind of roles, their perceptions, feelings, needs and experiences. We will follow the feminist theory (Adkins & Skeggs, 2004; Ghaill, & Haywood, 2006) and the idea of glass ceiling (Moreau, Osgood & Halsall, 2007) and the idea of the power and women in organizations (Ragins & Sundsdrop, 1989).

This is the third phase of a study that has been developed as a way to expand one line of research that was started in a previous research. Though this study we are trying to understand the way that women in leadership positions at different Universities perceive the structure of the organization and compare the way they develop their position and the understanding they have about it from a gender perspective using a comparative methodology. To this end, the research questions of this study is the following one: what perception about management and educational leadership do women that develop a post at University have?

Study aims:

-Analyze the perceptions about gender differences experienced in the performance of a post.

-Examine the feelings and experiences of the women in the developing of their role.

-Evaluate the difficulties that women managers face in the performance of a leadership position.

-Investigate the opinions about gender differences at developing a managerial post at university.

-Identify the training needs that women as educational leaders show in the performance of the post.

Method

This is a qualitative study that aims to give an understanding of the university context and the circumstances underneath the gender differences based on the perceptions of women in a management position in this institution. The study has an international character as the data has been collected in three universities that belongs to different countries, Spain, United Kingdom and Canada. Participants: The participants are made up of 30 women that develop the Head of Department position in three Universities from different countries: 10 women from a Spanish University, 10 from a British University and 10 women from a Canadian University. Due the confidentiality agreement they had to sign and that was required by the ethical approval of each institution, the name of each specific University cannot be presented. These participants were selected in accordance with certain criteria relevant for the study: years on the post as Head of Department, previous experience in management, field of knowledge and the managerial system of the country that has been selected for the study Data collection and analysis: The data collection has been made through three different phases from 2014 to December of 2016 as it has been required to travel to every university, to design the proposal for the ethical approval committee and to collect the data. The study is based on the application of an in-depth interview of 45 minutes that has been designed for the study. They were arranged with the participants in their personal office. The aim of this instrument is to obtain participants’ perceptions and general view of the university context, the management positions and the women within the university as an institution from a gender perspective. In the interview there were different sections with general topics as a brief introduction of specific questions presented. The questions were focused on their perception of the post, expectations, difficulties and opinions about gender differences at developing a managerial post at University. They took them as a point of reference and made their speech about the issues they considered more important in the topic as well as they enrich their speech with personal experiences. The interviews were taped for later transcription. For the data analysis it was used content analysis through the design of a category system.

Expected Outcomes

The conclusions in the first and second phase show a different view of educational leadership practice from a gender perspective. On one hand they think there are no gender differences and on the other hand, there is a group that relates educational leadership in women with skills traditionally confer to this group (communication, mediation). Nonetheless, the emerging results of the third phase show that participants agree to state that there is a clear difference on the way that managerial positions are developed from a gender perspective. The previous results show that some women feel discriminated as managers and some others declare that try to work against the (as they say) traditional “masculine model” of educational leadership in order to develop different ways to lead a group of academics. We also find some testimonies in the third phase that develop this idea. Regarding the training needs, most of the women agree that it is necessary to get some training for the development of the position, however, institutions face the idea in different ways. In Spain the participants don’t agree, in UK they talk about the need of training in gender and educational leadership practices and in Canada, they mention informal organizations made up of women as a place to share experiences and obtain advice through mentoring. We are working in the analysis of the third phase; the results will be ready for the conference. The testimonies enrich the previous results, as they are similar despite the different contexts. In addition, the 30 participants have assured the gender perspective is one key aspect that influences management roles nowadays and highlight the need of research in the field in order to decrease the difficulties that women present as educational leaders. There is a disparity of men and women in managerial positions at University.

References

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Author Information

Inmaculada Martinez-Garcia (presenting / submitting)

University of Seville, Spain

Enrique Alastor Garcia Cheikh-Lahlou (presenting)