Abstract

This study aims to contribute to the discussion about the role of leadership in academic departments in research-intensive universities. The objective here is to understand how leadership and teaching are perceived in the context of an academic department of one elite US research-intensive university. Semi-structured interviews carried out in a dialogical manner aimed at grasping faculty perceptions of leadership in their academic department were the main data gathering method. Complexity theory which involves the investigation of how apparently random patterns of behaviour form complex dynamic systems, constitutes the theoretical framework of this study. The contribution of this school of thought is the emphasis on non-linearity as the main approach to understanding living systems. The main finding of this study is that participants identified self-organization as their main organizational strength. Dispersed, non-hierarchical leadership was described both as an outcome and as major factor contributing to what was perceived as organizational success.

Key words: Leadership, complexity theory, systems thinking, higher education.