Change in a culture of collegiality and consensus-seeking: a double-edged sword
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The study aims to move beyond idealised and predominantly trait-based typologies of leadership and leadership roles and addresses collegial leaders’ practice of change in higher education. Collegial leaders at two research-intensive higher education institutions, who had received educational leadership training, were studied. In the study, we explored ordinary actions and change practices as a way of understanding emerging practices among collegial leaders. Five categories were identified that show how collegial leaders experience change, process change and organise the practice of change. The article also contributes a critical discussion on the notions of collegiality in a consensus-seeking context, which may be relevant for academic developers, policy makers, and researchers alike.
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A collegial culture, a clear direction for the development initiatives, and strong pedagogical leadership are factors known to drive successful educational development.
“All these factors, a collegial culture, a clear direction for the development initiatives, and strong pedagogical leadership30,31 are factors known to drive successful educational development.”
From Structured Development of Learning and Assessment Tasks to Prevent Generative AI Misuse and Enhance AI Literacy in the Faculty in Physiotherapy Education (2025) · cites this paper as [31]
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“All these factors, a collegial culture, a clear direction for the development initiatives, and strong pedagogical leadership 30,31 are factors known to drive successful educational development.”
- Authors
- McGrath, C., Roxå, T., & Bolander Laksov, K.
- Affiliations
- Stockholm University (SE)
- Lund University (SE)
- Department of LIME, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Corresponding author
- McGrath, Cormac
- Venue
- Higher Education Research & Development
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-04-15
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1001-1014
- ISSN
- 0729-4360 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8366
- OpenAlex
- W2936288425
- Cited by
- 38
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 22.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Higher Education Research & Development (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Higher Education Governance and Development
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Organizational Change and Leadership
- Social Sciences › Education › Education, Leadership, and Health Research
- Keywords
- collegial leadership, consensus seeking, organizational change, higher education leadership, educational leadership preparation, academic development, leadership typology
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