Date of Award

Spring 5-1-1994

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Robert Boyd

Second Advisor

Alex C. Moody

Third Advisor

Gregory Ulm

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if women administrators in higher education possess leadership characteristics consistent with those described in the feminist literature. The study identified seventeen characteristics in three categories: leadership style characteristics, decision making strategies, and conflict resolution strategies which were incorporated into a iii research survey. The degree to which women administrators in higher education possessed these characteristics was compared to their years of experience (five or less years or more than five years) and the administrative structure of their unit (heterarchical or hierarchical). The population was women administrators in higher education who held the title of assistant or associate dean, dean, assistant or associate vice president or vice president, provost, president, assistant or associate chancellor, or chancellor. The population was derived from the 1993-94 membership list of a national organization of women in education. Regardless of years of experience or administrative structure, this population of women administrators in higher education possessed to a high degree the leadership characteristics identified in the feminist literature. The study also found that women who identified their administrative unit as heterarchical possessed to a higher degree the characteristics of leadership style espoused in iv the feminist literature than those women in a hierarchical administrative structure. When these women administrators were compared on the basis of experience in higher education administration, they did not differ significantly in their use of characteristics of leadership style, decision making strategies, or conflict resolution strategies. When these women administrators were compared on the basis of administrative structure, they did not differ significantly in their use of decision making strategies or conflict resolution strategies. The study validates much of the literature concerning the feminine ethos and the existence of a feminine ethos among women administrators in higher education.

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