The relationship between strategic management and presidential leadership in selected Colorado state -supported and private institutions of higher education

This study explores the relationship between strategic management and presidential leadership in selected institutions of higher education in Colorado. The study, more specifically, compares strategic management and presidential leadership by analyzing the selected institutions' strategic plans and the presidents' statements. The research compares the individual components of strategic management and presidential leadership types, and then explores the relationship between the two. The sample included both public and private four-year institutions of higher education to provide a range of types of academic institutions. The strategic plans of the institutions were examined to determine the types of strategic management used. Then the presidents and vice presidents at these selected institutions were interviewed to determine the types of presidential leadership styles.;The theoretical framework for this study is Chaffee's (1984) and Cope's (1987) strategic management types and Neumann and Bensimon's (1990) presidential leadership styles. The conceptual framework links one type of strategic management to a corresponding type of presidential leadership style. Chaffee's (1984) three types of strategic management are linear, adaptive, and interpretive; Cope (1987) added another level labeled expressive. Neumann and Bensimon's (1990) four types of presidential leadership styles are Type A (initiates), Type B (connects), Type C (reacts) and Type D (distances). For each type of strategic management type, the corresponding type of presidential leadership style was identified. The evaluation of and types of strategic management were found to follow the theoretical constructs of Chaffee ((1984) and Cope (1987). The evaluation of and types of presidential leadership were found to follow the theoretical constructs of Neumann and Bensimon (1990). In the study, it was determined that several types of presidential leadership are statistically related to strategic management types.;Further research is necessary to understand how these two constructs can be operationalized better and inter-related, and to confirm that the constructs are statistically significant.