Behavior Characteristics Desired in Faculty, by Deans at California Community Colleges: A Delphi Study

Purpose: The community-college system in the United States has evolved tremendously since its beginning in 1901. There have been many changes, but one important aspect of the community college's structure that has continued to remain of utmost importance is the roles and responsibilities of faculty. The faculty has been traditionally hired based on their hard skills such as experience, training, and education. This study focuses on the soft skills such as human behaviors that deans who hire faculty feel are important. This research is important to fill the gap of knowledge regarding the behavior characteristics needed in faculty at community colleges.;Methodology: A quantitative Delphi study was deployed to 25 deans at California community colleges who hold the title of dean, have occupied their position for a minimum of three years, oversee 10 or more faculty, are responsible for hiring new faculty and have taken the DISC Assessment. The goal of the methodology was to come to a consensus among the deans on which behavior characteristics are the most important when hiring faculty.;Findings: Each round of the Delphi study narrowed down the initial list of 96 behavior traits down to the top five preferred traits. The five qualities that were given to participants in round three were Sincere, Original, Willing, Enthusiastic and Good Listener. The final results showed the top three behavior traits were Sincere, Enthusiastic and Willing were very closely ranked with the trait of Willing rising to the top.;Conclusions: The research showed that the behavior traits given to the participating deans all had some importance when making a hiring decision. However this research is just scratching the surface of the connection between soft skills and faculty members. Recommendations: It is recommended that further research between behavior traits that faculty are seeking and researching to find a correlation between what Deans are seeking and what behaviors students are desiring. This is a very interesting field and much more research should be done to fill in the remaining gaps.