Am I Really a Leader?How Leadership Theory can Inform Academic

Advising

# N A C A D A 1 4 | # C 2 5 6 | R o o m 2 0 0 H

Welcome!

Today’s Agenda

• Leadership, Advising, and Theory: What are They?

• Advising Theory in Brief• Leadership Theory in Brief• Leadership Theory in Advising• Authentic Leadership, Authentic

Advising?• Toward a Theory of Advising

What is Leadership?

How did you describe it?

“A process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Northouse, 2012).

So, What is Advising?

How did you describe it?

Were there any similarities?

Of the 17 example definitions on NACADA’s clearinghouse “definition of advising” page:– “process” appears in 15– “goals” appears in 9

So, What is Advising?

“A process whereby an advisor influences students to achieve a set of common goals.”

What is Theory?

Theoria (θεωρία), Greek for “contemplation”, corresponds to the Latin contemplatio, “looking at”, “gazing at”, “being aware of”

A theory is a thoughtful and rational explanation of the general nature of things.

Implies testing for validity, replication, and falls between hypotheses and laws.

Aristotle contrasted theory with praxis, or practice, which is still an important dynamic today.

Advising Theory (in brief)

Advising Theory (in brief)

The Handbook promotes no single theory:

“Use of an array of theories will lead to an understanding of this broadly complicated phenomenon known as academic advising” (Hagen & Jordan, 2008).

Advising Theory (in brief)

Theories are divided into two groups:• Normative

– From the earlier days of advising theory (or before), exhort advisors to advise in a certain way

– Include developmental advising, psychosocial and identity development theories, cognitive development theories, and personal preference or type theories

• Analogic– Borrow from other fields and apply them to advising

and tend to represent more recent scholarship– Include narrative advising (from narrative therapy),

Socratic Method, and social norms theory

Advising Theory (in brief)

When viewed in light of its first edition, the Handbook demonstrates a growing interest among academic advisors in exploring other theoretical areas to inform their practice.

Advising Theory (in brief)

Advising Theory (in brief)

Academic Advising Approaches:• Presents a variety of established

advising practices and strategies in a contemporary context

• Written to expand knowledge bases and link theory with practice

• Also does not promote any one theoretical perspective

Advising Theory (in brief)

Arranges approaches into three areas:• Advising as Teaching

– pedagogical theory– learning theory– developmental advising

• “A New Light” (established, different social science perspectives)– motivation theory– appreciative inquiry (via appreciative advising), – positive psychology theory (via strengths-based advising), – self-authorship theory, – counseling theories (via proactive advising),– advising as coaching

• “New Lenses” (not typically associated with advising)– constructivism & systems theory– hermeneutics

Advising Theory (in brief)

Marc Lowenstein concludes Approaches with a reassertion of the position that theory is critical to the future of discipline.

(more on Dr. Lowenstein later… ;-) )

Advising Theory (the debate)

Reliance on analogies and metaphors is a weakness, obscuring advising’s uniqueness and masking the importance of the scholarship that underlies its practice.

Schulenberg & Lindhorst, 2008

Analogical theory building is a strength and advisors have both “license to draw upon a wide array of theoretical perspectives” and “the obligation to do so.”

Hagen & Jordan, 2008

Leadership Theory (in brief)

Northouse (2012) documents well the dense and complex field of leadership theory

Dihn, et al (2014) reaffirm this reality, identifying 66 different leadership theory [thematic] categories.

Leadership Theory (in brief)Era Themes/Developments

1900-1929 control, centralization of power, domination, imposing of will, obedience

1930’s personality traits, influence, give-and-take

1940’s leadership as part of group behavior, persuasion vs. coercion

1950’s goals, effectiveness, group dynamics framing leader behavior

1960’s shared goals

1970’s organizational behavior, reciprocity, process

1980’s scholarly and popular publishing explosion, all the above revisited, transformational leadership

into the 21st Century

globalization, diversity, technology, ethical/moral dimensions

Leadership Theory & Academic Advising: bff’s?

1. Influenced by other disciplines and theories

2. On-going evolution in understandings of the influence relationship

3. Growing public interest in and policy addressing accountability

4. The scholar-practitioner model5. Commodification of frameworks

Leadership Theory in Academic Advising

Goes relatively unnoticed in the Handbook and Approaches Sporadic forays in scholarly literatureThree theoretical frameworks emerge:– situational leadership– servant leadership– transformational leadership

Situational Leadership

• Developed by Hersey and Blanchard (1969)

• Based on Reddin’s (1967) 3-D management style theory

• Used extensively in organization leadership training and development

• Premise: Different situations demand different kinds of leadership

• Leaders should match their style with the developmental level of followers

Situational Leadership2008: Alan Lerstrom’s “Advising Jay,” the NACADA Journal• Connects the development of followers in Hersey and Blanchard’s

model and the dominance of developmental theories in academic advising

• Takes an anecdotal and models approach and does not offer empirical evidence of the relationship

2010: Elizabeth Yarbrough’s dissertation, Auburn University• Conducted quantitative analysis of connections between follower

ability and willingness to engage in academic advising behaviors and outcomes

• Has not seen further publication • Focused largely on student development, college readiness, and

self-reporting• Did not provide significant correlative evidence between situation

leadership theory and academic advising

Servant Leadership

• Originated in the writings of Robert Greenleaf (1970-1977), theory “built” over last 40 years

• Mostly prescriptive, little early empirical research (more lately)

• Focused initially on how a leader should ideally “be,” not necessarily what they “do”

Servant Leadership

Key Servant Leader Attributes:• Conceptualizing (thorough understanding of the

organization’s purpose, mission, complexities, etc.)• Emotional healing (empathy, availability,

openness, commitment to others’ wellbeing)• Putting followers first (putting their interests and

success above your own)• Helping followers grow and succeed• Behaving ethically• Empowering • Creating value for the community

Servant Leadership2007: Jeffrey McClellan, “The Advisor as Servant,” the NACADA Journal• Holds a doctorate in Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University• Among the earliest in the academic advising literature to directly apply

leadership theory to academic advising practice. • Applied the “theoretical-philosophical construct” of Servant Leadership

Theory to advising in an analogic sense, not in an empirical or quantitative sense.

• Concluded with a wish: “Hopefully this will spawn interest in further exploration of this relationship in both theory and practice.”

2012: Paul, Smith, & Dochney, “Advising as Servant Leadership,” the NACADA Journal• Set out to test McClellan’s Servant Leadership hypothesis• Sole example of scholarly discourse regarding leadership theory in • Validated McClellan’s supposition via an empirical methodology• Conducted at only one university in the southeastern United States and

was purposely sampled• Replication efforts would be beneficial.

Transformational Leadership

• Term first coined in 1973, but really emerged as a leadership approach with the work of political sociologist James McGregor Burns in 1978

• Distinguishes between transformational and transactional leadership

• One of the most popular leadership frameworks

Transformational Leadership2007: Brad Johnson’s “Transformational supervision,” Professional Psychology• Exploration of clinical supervision in a clinical psychology graduate

program • Connects academic advising as a related practice to faculty

mentorship and supervision• Does not provide any quantitative support, only anecdotal

2010: Deborah Drozd’s dissertation, Texas A&M University• Found associations between academic advising and

transformational leadership via student development theory, Chickering specifically

• Connected perceptions of academic advisor behaviors with “idealized influence”

• Produced quantitative evidence that “transformational leadership activities were transferable to activities performed by undergraduate academic advisors,” (p. 46)

Authentic Leadership

Began with the popular, practitioner-based works, Robert Terry’s “action wheel” (1993) and Bill George’s True North (2003)

Scholarship explosion after Gallup Leadership Institute in 2004 at the University of Nebraska

Authentic Leadership

“A pattern of leader behavior that draws upon and promotes both positive psychological capacities and a positive ethical climate, to foster greater self-awareness, an internalized moral perspective, balanced processing of information, and relational transparency on the part of the leaders working with followers, fostering positive self-development,” (Walumba et al., 2008).

Self-Awareness

Internalized Moral

Perspective

Balanced Processing

Relational Transparency

Authentic Leadership

Positive Psychological Capabilities

Moral Reasoning

Self-Awareness

Internalized Moral

Perspective

Balanced Processing

Relational Transparency

Authentic Leadership

Critical LifeEvents

Moral Reasoning

Self-Awareness

Internalized Moral

Perspective

Balanced Processing

Relational Transparency

Authentic Leadership

Critical LifeEvents

Confidence Hope

Optimism Resilience

Authentic Advising?

Common themes:• Calls for stronger measures of accountability• Increased expectations from students and

family members for:– Trustworthiness– Relationship-building– Compassion

• Emergent in nature (Are academic advisors in positions of campus leadership?)

Authentic Advising?

Conclusions:1. Investigations of advising theory should

consider the moral/ethical component. 2. Connections between the structure of

Authentic Leadership Theory and existing advising approaches should be explored.

3. Evaluations of epistemologies and nomothetic networks will be critical.

4. Instruments should be created or adapted and put to use.

Toward a Comprehensive Theory

In a 2013 webinar, Marc Lowenstein argued that the development of a unified theory unique to academic advising is a singular necessity for our profession.

Now more than any other time in its history, scholar-practitioners in the discipline of academic advising need to be testing the theoretical waters.

Toward a Comprehensive Theory

If we are going to reach Dr. Lowenstein’s goal of an advising theory that is comprehensive, common, normative, and unique to to the profession, theoretical fields from all disciplines should be explored as aggressively as previously dominant theoretical fields have been.

Am I Really a Leader?How Leadership Theory can Inform Academic

Advising

# N A C A D A 1 4 | # C 2 5 6 | R o o m 2 0 0 H

THANK YOU!