This book provides a comprehensive guide to the role of the academic department chair in a time when the chair's role is rapidly becoming more important and more complex. Part 1 describes the new roles chairs face, followed by a general discussion of their responsibilities. Part 2 is concerned with the department chair's work with people, including faculty, students, and department staff. Part 3 is about the chair's operational responsibilities for the department. Part 4 explores the chair's roles and responsibilities in connecting with audiences beyond the department.
Emphasis is on bridging the chasm that often exists between administration and faculty.
Individual chapters focus on the chair and the dean, legal issues for chairs, evaluating the department, and the chair and external audiences. Leadership Without Easy Answers. After an introduction, Part 1 presents an overview of the meaning of leadership focusing particularly on the concepts of adaptation and authority. Part 3 discusses leadership in the absence of any conferred authority, formal or informal, in two chapters which discuss creative decision making without authorization and strategies for dealing with stressful situations. Part 4 examines how to maintain one's position of relative safety and respect in two chapters about, first, character and physical assassination and, second, meeting personal challenges in isolation.