Zusammenfassung
A valuable resource in American higher education has gone unrecognized. Women presidents represent a disproportionately small number (less than 12\%) of the presidents of colleges and universities. The number of women chief executive officers of two-year colleges has increased faster than any other segment. There are distinct characteristics which women presidents of two-year public and private colleges possess which reveal how they operate in their positions. This research was designed to assess the perceptions of managerial style and leadership skill of these women presidents. A questionnaire was adapted to include four cognitive frameworks--Blake and Mouton's Managerial Grid, Getzels and Guba's Leadership-Followership style, Lipman-Blumen and Leavitt's Achieving styles, and McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y managerial philosophies--for assessing leadership skill and managerial style characteristics. Demographic data on personal/professional information, career progression, and professional development activities provided a foundation for understanding the women president's perceptions of how managerial style and leadership skill contributed to their appointments as the chief executive officers of two-year colleges. The following four objectives were assessed: (1) To discover if there were differences among the perceptions of the women presidents of two-year public and private colleges as to their managerial styles and leadership skills; (2) To determine if there were differences among women chief executive officers' perceptions of what contributed to their ascensions into presidencies of two-year public or private colleges; (3) To identify the degree of influence the perceived leadership skills and management styles of women presidents of two-year colleges contributed to their ascensions to the presidencies; (4) To determine the relationship among personal/professional development items, tenure in office, mobility, age and ethnicity. Analysis of the data revealed striking similarities in the managerial style and leadership skill of the women presidents of two-year colleges. Although the opportunities for presidential appointment are disproportionately small they are ever increasing. This research provides empirical data on the women presidents of two-year colleges whose perceptions of leadership style and managerial skill is a model and framework exemplifying a quality and pride of achievement worth emulating.
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