A case study of American Association of Community College leadership characteristics as translated into executive leadership knowledge areas, skills, and abilities: Ranked perceptions of importance by Frederick Community College trustees, administrative s

A review of the literature on executive leadership leads to the conclusion that there is much confusion about the definition and discussion of that role. Among the various ways of discussing leadership are descriptions of "traits," "characteristics," "competencies" and "knowledge areas, skills and abilities (KSAs)." This lack of definition and imprecise usage of terms/models is also present in the community college literature on executive leadership.; This study attempts to remove some of the imprecision in terminology by examining the perceptions of members of the Frederick Community College (FCC) administration, faculty and staff by asking them to discuss the current leadership environment at FCC and to rank their perceptions of importance of the various characteristics as related to successful leadership in the College. The study was primarily based upon, or built around, the list of "executive leadership characteristics" developed by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). The Department of Defense (DOD) Joint Medical Executive Skills (JMES) competency list was also used for specific knowledge areas of the methodology.; The study concludes similar findings in a community college competency-based (or other term) position description environment will be achieved by using the knowledge area, skill and ability translation methodology. This is true even though the AACC list is based on "characteristics" rather than the KSA methodology. Secondary research questions examined similarities and differences in perception rankings between trustees, faculty, administrators and graduates of the FCC executive leadership class. The secondary research question findings for each employee subset generally supported the high rankings of the AACC list, with the executive leadership class graduates showing the highest percentage rankings. However, the study findings were inconclusive as to similarities and differences for the subset of public administration faculty.; It is concluded that the choice of executive leadership terms used in position descriptions does not matter as long as term usage is consistent and fully explained to employees. This is due to the legal status of position descriptions and their impact on institutional recruiting and their subsequent affect on individual employee evaluation, professional development, retention and promotion decisions.