2013 Awards for Excellence

Citation

(2014), "2013 Awards for Excellence", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 28 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-01-2014-001

2013 Awards for Excellence

Article Type: 2013 Awards for Excellence From: International Journal of Educational Management, Volume 28, Issue 1.

The following article was selected for this year’s Outstanding Paper Award for International Journal of Educational Management

“Educational middle change leadership in New Zealand: the meat in the sandwich”

Steven Gregory Marshall

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report findings from a larger study into the role of middle leaders of change in New Zealand higher education.
Design/methodology/approach – In total, ten middle leaders from the New Zealand higher education sector took part in a recent research project which examined successful change leadership in higher education. As part of that larger study, each middle leader answered questions about their views on being in the “middle” in their change leadership roles and their views on middle leadership in general.
Findings – The ten middle leaders all described their place in their respective organisations in terms of being “caught in between”, or “sandwiched between” senior management to whom they were accountable, lecturers whom they described as colleagues or peers, and subordinates for whom they had some functional and often moral responsibility. The paper discusses the perceptions of being in the “middle” and how change leaders reconcile their position as a subordinate, an equal and a superior. Insight is gained into how educational leaders reconcile their position in the “middle” as they hold management responsibility for both academic and general staff who are hierarchically, beneath them; lead teams of colleagues in collegial decision making; and answer to higher authority in the form of senior organisational leadership.
Research limitations/implications – The participant contributions of personal observations and unfolding real life stories which meld personal common sense with local meaning have formed a unique local ontology therefore allowing for a deeper understanding of the contributing factors towards being in the “middle”. Some of these perspectives have been used by the author's own organisation in the development of leadership training for future organisational change, particularly those aspects concerning communication and participation that are tailored to meet the unique needs of management and staff.
Practical implications – For middle change leaders the focused examination of the working relationship between middle change leaders and staff groups might prove to be a rich area of further study. These relationships take a variety of forms, including where a staff member has risen through the ranks (off the shop floor as it were) to take on the mantle of leadership, or simply where there is a shared understanding based on subject or professional backgrounds which binds the two together. Further investigation into these relationships may provide perspectives that enable leaders to develop a greater understanding of how change occurs.
Originality/value – The paper shows how the participants locate themselves as being “very much” in the middle in terms of line management of both resources and academic matters and often as being caught between competing imperatives, institutional dynamics and institutional structures.

This article originally appeared in Volume 26 Number 5, 2012,International Journal of Educational Management

The following articles were selected for this year's Highly Commended Award

"Successful school leadership in Sweden and the USA: contexts of social responsibility and individualism"

Betty Merchant, Helene Ärlestig, Encarnacion Garza, Olof Johansson, Elizabeth Murakami-Ramalho, Monika Törnsén

This article originally appeared in Volume 26 Number 5, 2012,International Journal of Educational Management

"The construction of a public face as a school principal"

Jorunn Møller

This article originally appeared in Volume 26 Number 5, 2012,International Journal of Educational Management

Outstanding Reviewers

Dr George Marcoulides
Professor Hechuan Sun