Department head leadership and the use of faculty credit hours as a measure of faculty workload

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if faculty credit load assignments were an accurate measurement of faculty work loads. The study also identified management techniques of department heads at a private university and determined if these techniques are reflective of leadership used in a learning organization. In this study faculty work logs were used to collect data on the number of hours full time faculty were working and faculty credit hour assignment cards were collected to determine the load assigned to the faculty member by the University. An interview for each department head was conducted to determine department headship strategies. In order to determine if leadership techniques of department heads were consistent with the strategies within a learning organization that encourage flexibility, experimentation, acquiring knowledge from sources outside the organization, and the diffusion of knowledge Yukl (2002) interviews were conducted. Person-to-person interview questions (Merriam, 1998) were developed with consideration of learning organization characteristics.