A STUDY OF THE LEADERSHIP STYLES OF THE CHIEF STUDENT AFFAIRS ADMINISTRATORS IN SOUTHERN BAPTIST COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

The problem with which this investigation was concerned was the level of knowledge about the leadership style of the chief student affairs administrators in Southern Baptist colleges and universities. The four purposes of the study were as follows: (1) To determine the prevalent leadership style of the chief student affairs administrators in Southern Baptist colleges and universities in terms of the Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid concept; (2) To determine if self-reported leadership style is congruent with the leadership style determination obtained through an instrument developed to analyze leadership style; (3) To determine if the following are factors in the leadership choice of the chief student affairs administrators in Southern Baptist colleges and universities: (a) Size and complexity of the institution; (b) Age; (c) Years of experience as a chief student affairs administrator; (d) Educational preparation, i.e. academic, administrative, or religious; (e) Type of professional experience; (f) Level of educational preparation; (g) Affiliation of the institution where the highest level of education was obtained; (h) Administrative level within the institution; (i) Number of subordinates reporting directly to the administrator; (4) To determine if the leadership style of the chief student affairs administrator is predominently people-oriented or purpose-oriented. Thirteen hypotheses were generated from these four purposes.;Various factors were isolated and analyzed to determine their effect on the choice of leadership style used by these institutional officers. Chi-square, the t-test, one-way analysis of variance, the Scheffe test, and the Spearman Rho correlation coefficient were used in the statistical analyses. The null hypothesis was rejected at the .05 level. For the purpose of analysis, the administrators were divided into three groups according to the size and complexity of the institution.;The following were the major findings from the analyses: (1) The 9/9 (Team) leadership style was the highest weighted choice of leadership style of these administrators with the 1/9 (Country Club) style ranked second. (2) The officers reported a stronger direction toward the more effective leadership styles (9/9 and 5/5) and less direction toward the least effective styles (1/1 and 1/9) in their self-ranked statements from the questionnaire than as measured on the Styles of Leadership Survey. (3) No significant difference in leadership style choice was found in the following factors: size and complexity of the institution, age, educational preparation, level of education, affiliation of the institution granting the degree, administrative level in the institution, number of subordinates, and the sex of the administrator. Significant differences were found in the choice of leadership style in the following factors: years of experience, previous professional experience, and comparison of people-orientation and purpose-orientation. (4) These administrators report a preference for the 1/9 (people-oriented) style over the 9/1 (purpose-oriented) style of leadership.;The findings from this study reflect only the self-reported perception of leadership style.;The chief student affairs administrators in the forty-six senior level colleges and universities affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention made up the population of the study. Thirty-nine (84.7 percent) of these administrators participated in the study by completing a demographic questionnaire and the Styles of Leadership Survey. The Styles of Leadership Survey, based on Blake and Mouton's Managerial Grid concept, is a weighted-choice instrument which measures the strength of concern for people or for purpose.