Six Maryland community college presidents: Organizational challenges, change processes, and leadership approaches

Leading organizational change is among the most important and challenging leadership responsibilities. Leaders confront challenges and embrace opportunities that are produced by their operating environments. Environmental pressures and uncertainties require distinct organizational change processes and leadership approaches.;In an effort to surface the organizational challenges and uncertainties that forced organizational changes in some community colleges, discover what organizational change processes were implemented to overcome the challenges, and describe what leadership approaches were used to lead change, six Maryland community college presidents were guided through conversations in the Autumn of 2003. Their ordinary and routine details of everyday work life were reported using qualitative ethnomethodology and document analysis research techniques.;Their challenges included: declining state funding, internal organizational culture, employee retention and recruitment, external community relationships, campus infrastructure growth, student access to the baccalaureate, and new learning program demands. Two distinct change processes emerged and were categorized as either general organizational activities or specific organizational behaviors. Their leadership approaches were situational, collaborative, and directive.;The presidents' definitions of leadership and its essence, along with their leadership development experiences, are also presented.