Department Heads’ Self-Perception of their Leadership Styles at Jimma University, Ethiopia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the self-perception of department heads about their own leadership styles at Jimma University. The study employed descriptive survey method and used quantitative approach. Department heads were source of data. Using availability sampling technique, all 51 department heads in the university were included in the study. Accordingly, LEAD-Self instrument and Demographic Variables Survey questionnaires were employed to collect data. The data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics and finally examined using relevant literature. The result of this study showed that department heads perceived the leadership style ‘selling’ as their own predominant and ‘participating’ as their secondary leadership style. The study further revealed that the perception of department heads did not significantly vary across demographic variables such as work experience, level of education and disciplinary background. Finally, the researchers recommended that department heads, as leaders; need to vary their leadership style in order to fit into the situations. Specially, in higher education institutions, where majority of the teaching staff hold post graduate degree, deligative leadership style seems to be appropriate and department heads, therefore, need to exercise such kind of leadership style as needed. Moreover, the university is advised to arrange continuous and relevant training for department heads to make them capable of varying their leadership styles to fit into situations. In addition, since leadership styles can vary across situations and time, further research needs to be conducted if there may be differences in the leadership styles of department heads longitudinally.