Table V Concepts of leaders in... | Emerald Publishing

Table V

Concepts of leaders in university merger

Theory	Description	Strong and weak points
Transformational and neocharismatic leadership	The leader sets the direction of change and allows for quick, efficient and effective operations. This approach is based on the mutual trust of the leader and team members. It is also based on values and shaping of collective and individual identities. The leader focuses on transforming the perception and interpretation of reality (sensemaking and sensegiving), which allows the group to believe in the sense and value of the change that is taking place	There is a threat concerning the creation of illusions and mistakes. Therefore, the perspective of transformational leadership should be balanced; its task is to combine a positive attitude to change with a pragmatic view of the process implementation
Situational school of leadership	The basis of research in this approach is searching for the conditions of effective leadership in university mergers processes that is affected by a particular situation/conditions. It means that each case is to be analyzed on an individual basis	The benchmarks are precious. In the literature on the subject of university mergers, case studies are the most numerous, although at the same time there is no comparative analysis. In the induction process, large number of data on effective leadership is gathered, however it is still difficult to build a universal theory now
Team leadership	Team leadership in complex organizations such as universities plays a key role. Effective mergers of universities can only be carried out by committed, competent and flexible employee teams. The role of leaders is important because it involves making strategic decisions; however, with a significantly high level of organizational complexity of merger processes, the co-decision makers are mostly team members. Team leadership focuses on self-learning teams that by cooperating with each other and with external entities develop a consolidation project	Not always it is possible to build a team that meets all the requirements of an effective and efficient cooperation. Behavioral aspects make crucial role in the works of teams
Critical perspective of leadership	The processes of mergers at universities create changes that may have a negative impact on the objectivity of leaders. They may fall into the traps of autocracy, narcissism, oppressive treatment of employees, manipulation of people and treating the scientific and educational mission as a smokescreen	Critical analysis allows leaders to combine ethical solutions with pragmatism necessary to implement organizational changes (Aasen and Stensaker, 2007)

Theory	Description	Strong and weak points
Transformational and neocharismatic leadership	The leader sets the direction of change and allows for quick, efficient and effective operations. This approach is based on the mutual trust of the leader and team members. It is also based on values and shaping of collective and individual identities. The leader focuses on transforming the perception and interpretation of reality (sensemaking and sensegiving), which allows the group to believe in the sense and value of the change that is taking place	There is a threat concerning the creation of illusions and mistakes. Therefore, the perspective of transformational leadership should be balanced; its task is to combine a positive attitude to change with a pragmatic view of the process implementation
Situational school of leadership	The basis of research in this approach is searching for the conditions of effective leadership in university mergers processes that is affected by a particular situation/conditions. It means that each case is to be analyzed on an individual basis	The benchmarks are precious. In the literature on the subject of university mergers, case studies are the most numerous, although at the same time there is no comparative analysis. In the induction process, large number of data on effective leadership is gathered, however it is still difficult to build a universal theory now
Team leadership	Team leadership in complex organizations such as universities plays a key role. Effective mergers of universities can only be carried out by committed, competent and flexible employee teams. The role of leaders is important because it involves making strategic decisions; however, with a significantly high level of organizational complexity of merger processes, the co-decision makers are mostly team members. Team leadership focuses on self-learning teams that by cooperating with each other and with external entities develop a consolidation project	Not always it is possible to build a team that meets all the requirements of an effective and efficient cooperation. Behavioral aspects make crucial role in the works of teams
Critical perspective of leadership	The processes of mergers at universities create changes that may have a negative impact on the objectivity of leaders. They may fall into the traps of autocracy, narcissism, oppressive treatment of employees, manipulation of people and treating the scientific and educational mission as a smokescreen	Critical analysis allows leaders to combine ethical solutions with pragmatism necessary to implement organizational changes (Aasen and Stensaker, 2007)

Source: Authors’ own study