Diminishing hope and utopian thinking: faculty leadership under neoliberal regime. (3rd April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bosetti, Lynn; Heffernan, Troy
• Is Part Of: Journal of educational administration and history. Volume 53:Number 2(2021)
• Page Start: 106
• Page End: 120
• Publication Date: 2021-04-03
• Subjects: Higher education -- emotional labour -- critical hope -- neoliberalism -- leadership -- change; School management and organization -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Administration scolaire -- Grande-Bretagne -- Périodiques; 371.2
• DOI: 10.1080/00220620.2021.1910219
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-0620

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper aims to contribute to the literature on dean's leadership and explores the impact of corporate managerial practices and neoliberal ideology on the mindset and actions of 15 deans and heads of school in eight universities in Australia. We offer perspectives of leaders as emotional individuals who on a daily basis attempt to live up to and manage the contractions of their belief and role expectations. These leaders share their everyday experiences, struggles and vulnerabilities in restructuring their organisational unit to address the strategic goals of the university. We draw upon research on the emotional labour of leadership in higher education, the ethics of disrupting culture, and critical hope to provide insight into how these leaders move their faculty or school toward an imagined future and the impact on this work on their wellbeing.