| While there is much in the research literature on effective leadership and successful leaders, in comparison, there are few writings on leaders who fail. This study explored leadership failure in a two-year community college system. This qualitative study utilized grounded theory methodology to investigate why some leaders who are affiliated with the two-year community college system fail.; The researcher's overall objective was to provide information on educational leaders that will significantly impact organizational leadership in an ever-changing society. The study was conducted in a 2-year community college system in South Carolina using semi-structured qualitative interviews with 27 educational leaders who are affiliated with the 2-year community college system. The leaders have extensive experience and are from diverse backgrounds in diverse geographical regions of South Carolina. The researcher utilized the semi-structured interviews to discover some of the reasons some leaders are failing to satisfy organizational goals. As a result, themes that are inherent in leaders who fail emerged from the data. The reasons the leaders fail and the themes were reported in tabular form.; The major findings revealed that leaders fail due to the inability to communicate, insensitivity, lack of support, lack of knowledge, close-mindedness, lack of integrity, selfishness, lack of vision, inability to get along with others, lack of leadership skills, cultural differences, lack of fairness, lack of commitment and vision disparity. The lessons learned included the importance of retrieving information from individuals who have first-hand knowledge and the importance of seeking information by non-traditional means. Hopefully, the information discovered and the themes reported will be the impetus for future research utilizing semi-strature interviews extensively in the educational arena and in other diverse organizations to discover additional reasons leaders fail. The data collected add value to leadership research. Ultimately, the goal was to increase organizational effectiveness by decreasing the number of unsuccessful leaders in society. Perhaps, the discovery will help circumvent some of the leadership problems that are negatively affecting diverse organizations in society. |
