The Impact of Leadership Communication on University Performance, Thesis Paper Example

Introduction

In today’s competitive marketplace and ever-changing educational environment, it is important to increase the effectiveness of change management in universities and colleges. There are several change management challenges that deans of universities and colleges in the United States face, due to the changes in the operating environment, demands of students and the marketplace, as well as technological advancements. According to DiFronzo (2002). “Along with exercising the necessary skills to meet the challenges of the position, the dean of an institution must always assume a leadership position”. The main focus of the below paper is to provide a change management framework for higher education leaders to make innovative projects more successful by implementing effective leadership approaches for improving communication.

Thesis

The main thesis the author would like to examine is that communication of deans has an impact on their leadership success, and consequently their ability to deal with challenges related to the changing academic environment. The risk associated with the changing external environment of the college can be reduced through effective communication while a more successful exploitation of arising opportunities can be achieved.

Problem Statement

Zusman (2005) talked about the challenges that universities and colleges are likely to face in the 21^st century. The main problems that should be solved through effective change management are highlighted by the author as: changes to funding, access of traditionally underserved student populations, level of political involvement, accountability, and new requirements of the job market. In order to successfully create shared organizational knowledge and tackle the above listed challenges, leaders within higher education need to adopt a more collaborative approach towards leadership and communication. As the internal and external environment of higher education institutions is constantly changing, the needs universities and colleges need to fulfill will be changing, as well. According to Robertson (2010, p. 18), “a key challenge here for universities is on ensuring that students experience a stimulating and high quality learning experience, not because they are a ‘customer’ but because they represent a critical opportunity to create a new, next generation of citizens whose approaches to problems will be decisive”.

This calls for advanced leadership approaches that are able to reduce the risks and build on opportunities created by the changes. The success of change management will, however, be influenced by the quality of leadership and communication within the organization. As Zulch (2014, p. 172) confirms, leaders and project managers “should know the influence and effect a style of leadership has on the management of projects and that these characteristics are essential for effective completion of projects”.

The main areas of focus in this study will be based on the list of challenges faced by Western universities and colleges, highlighted by Wegner (2008). The author confirms that the changing environment of higher education call for a greater level of optimized learning, increasing productivity and more effective allocation of funds, and the changing needs of businesses, as well as the public.

Research Objectives

The current study is looking to create a framework that helps higher education institutes deal with the challenges of the 21^st century. The main research question the study is attempting to answer is found below.

What impact does leadership communication style have on the success of change management initiatives?

The main assumption of the current study is that leadership style has an impact on organizational communication, which influences employee commitment and the overall effectiveness of project management, making change projects more successful.

Hypothesis A: Effective communication is linked to transformational leadership approaches

Hypothesis B: Transformational leadership increases deans’ ability to deal with environmental changes within higher education..

Hypothesis C: Collaboration, clear communication of the vision, and the behaviors to influence followers to gain commitment, as the main identified traits of transformational leadership positively influence the success of leadership.

Background

In order to reveal the relationship between leadership style, communication patterns, and t success of change management and organizational transformation, it is important to review some of the related theories and frameworks in the light of the specific nature of higher education organizations. The main focus of the below theoretical and literature review is the challenges, success factors, and the changing operating environment of universities and colleges. Several leadership theories and frameworks will be reviewed below in order to identify the success factors of change management within higher education organizations.

Industry Review

Zusman (2005) highlighted the main issues public higher education institutions are facing today. One of the main problems is funding: state funding’s value per student has been decreasing since 2004, according to the author (Zusman, 2005, p. 2). Reduced funding creates a great challenge of maintaining the level of education provided, while increasing the overall effectiveness of the organization. As Zusman (2005, p. 3) confirms, “long-term prospects for state higher education funding are not favorable”, therefore, long term change management projects need to be implemented by institutions in order to maintain organizational competitiveness and productivity. The impact of privatization within higher education, to bring under-performing institutions up to standards is another challenge, as private universities and colleges would face a shift in organizational priorities and a change of leadership structure at the same time. Culture change due to the impact of globalization is also likely to impact performance of institutions. The demand for quality courses is increasing with the number of students enrolling to courses growing each year. At the same time, competition from online courses creates a demand for increasing both organizational knowledge and competencies, and effectiveness. The involvement of politics and economic actors in research and scientific studies challenges the independence of institutions.

Based on the above review, it is clear that in the 21^st century, universities and colleges are facing changes that need to be tackled through effective leadership, and the outcome of these projects would determine the future of the institution. Transformational leadership has been found to be the most relevant trait to managing change, therefore, the current study will focus on the relationship between this leadership approach and university initiative outcomes.

A relevant study by Beck-Frazier et al. (2007)  focused on the different leadership approaches of academic deans. The authors found that “Leadership of an academic division is a chief responsibility of academic deans” (Beck-Frazier et al., 2007, p. 1),  and highlighted the fact that the role of deans is complex: they need negotiation, communication, and facilitating skills. The above skills and traits are in the focus of the current study with a great emphasis on the impact of communication style on managing change within organizations.

In higher education, according to Shaw (2012), leaders need to have the ability to create and communicate a vision, while aligning the organization’s mission with specific roles and tasks.

The main challenges that deans need to tackle within today’s academic environment, identified based on the above review are: increased diversity of students, lack of funding, culture change, and delivering social equality by supporting underserved populations.

Literature Review

Before attempting to review the literature related to the change management capabilities of leaders engaging in various leadership styles, it is necessary to clarify some of the terms and definitions used in the below literature review and the following research.

As a recent study by the NSF Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Awards (n.d). confirms, the main leadership tasks expected to be carried out by deans are:

• communication and accommodating communication between the public and the organization
• improving college through coming up with new ideas
• assigning responsibilities and duties
• leadership planning and organization
• activity coordination
• representing the college

Further, Walker (2000) quotes Bragg’s list of six core knowledge and competency areas of deans that are required for managing change and improving community college performance, as: knowledge of the mission, history, and philosophy of the institution, a learner-centered orientation, an instructional leadership, knowledge of information and educational technologies, accountability, and administrative skills.

As the above list confirms, the role of deans is closely related to communication. Indeed, all the above tasks involve using advanced communication methods. Further, the main challenge that Walker (2000) is talking about is dealing with diverse populations and adjusting the policies to their needs. As it has been previously confirmed, due to the impact of globalization, this is a growing issue that needs to be tackled through effective leadership.

When researching the success and failure of projects, the leadership traits, skills, and approaches of deans should be the main area of focus. The position of the academic dean is important in every aspect of higher education leadership. That stated, it is important to note that in order to build consensus, facilitate needs, and represent different interests, deans need to have advanced communication skills; something that has been identified as one of the strengths of transformational leaders. As it has been identified, deans are likely to be responsible for the majority of change management projects within higher education institutions, therefore, based on the above overview of leadership hierarchy and theories, the authors would like to focus on studying the leadership style of deans and its impact on project outcomes. However, before proceeding with developing a research design and methodology, it is important to review the industry-specific challenges that leaders of higher education institutions are likely to face today and in the next few decades.

Mintzberg (2010) talks about two ways to manage: heroic leadership, and engaging management. Further, in a more focused paper about leadership, the author (Mintzberg, 1975) defined the roles of leaders as: interpersonal, informational, and decisional. All the above are related to the role of academic deans discussed above: dealing with diverse populations, culture change, and supporting underserved populations.

I would like to adopt Winston & Patterson’s (2006) integrative definition of contemporary leaders for the purpose of the research, as it is closely related to the above listed roles of academic deans as leaders. The authors define leadership as “A leader is one or more people who selects, equips, trains, and influences one or more follower(s) who have diverse gifts, abilities, and skills and focuses the follower(s) to the organization’s mission and objectives causing the follower(s) to willingly and enthusiastically expend spiritual, emotional, and physical energy in a concerted coordinated effort to achieve the organizational mission and objectives. There is a clearly visible feature of the above definition that shows that a leader is not equivalent to a manager: managers’ task is to complete tasks, while leaders have to transform organizations and communicate visions. As Bryman (2007, p. 10)  states, leaders motivate people and see opportunities, while managers complete tasks and administer organizations. The main focus of the above definition is on the influence of the leader on followers. This approach, usually attributed to transformational leadership (discussed later in the paper), can support both culture change through developing and adapting the organization’s vision and mission to serve disadvantaged populations and address individual needs. Through effective communication, leaders can engage with their followers, increase employee commitment, and create a shared vision. As Mintzberg (1973) confirms, leaders spend 50 percent or more of their time with communication. While there are several facets of leadership, and several theories have been created in the past to identify personal and ideological traits, today’s organizations need leaders who can transform organizations through creating and communicating clear goals and visions.  The below review will list some of the most influential theories related to leadership, focusing on skills and capabilities that make change management projects more effective.

The Transformational Leadership Approach

Transformational leadership, first introduced in the literature by Bass and Avolio (1993) focuses on the leader’s ability to face change and challenges of the internal and external organizational environment. Based on the 1993 definition (Bass  and Avolio, 1993), “Transformational leaders integrate creative insight, persistence and energy, intuition and sensitivity to the needs of others to “forge the strategy culture alloy” for their organizations”. As a contrast, transactional leaders build the rules, rewards, and goals on the existing culture, norms, and standards.

The main behaviors of transformational leadership are: individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence. Individualized consideration is relevant to the leader’s ability to meet the needs of diverse populations. Intellectual stimulation is suitable for empowering people to achieve more and improve their skills, creating a shared knowledge. Inspirational motivation of transformational leaders is able to engage with stakeholders and gain commitment. Idealized influence, the last behavior trait has a positive impact on organizational change.

A good example of implementing transformational leadership in higher education can be dealing with the challenges of an increased diversity of students and tutors. As the demand for language and academic support services is increasing, due to the higher proportion of international and bilingual (English as a second language) students, academic deans will need to create a culture that accommodates the needs of all students, and this involves changing the vision, policies, as well as processes. Therefore, it is evident that transformational leadership is effective for improving the performance of higher education organizations to serve stakeholders better.

One of the most significant works on transformational leadership and change management was created by Kotter (1993). The eight steps of transforming organizations created by the author have one thing in common: they all involve communication. No dean can establish a sense of urgency or empower others without using their communication skills. Further, according to Appelbaum (2010), communication of leaders in a socio-technical system is essential for change management.

The theory of Kotter confirms the initial statement that the success of change leadership in educational organizations greatly depends on the quality of communication. This connection is relevant to the topic of the current research, therefore, it needs to examined in detail. The main question of the current study is whether or not communication patterns of academic deans support change leadership that results in better organizational performance, distribution of social justice, and promoting diversity.

Hechanova & Cementina-Olpoc (2012) examined the impact of transformational leadership on change management in academic institutions. The authors found that this approach to change management has the ability to create a high level of commitment towards change.

Related to the impact of leadership communication approaches on project success, Zulch (2014) created a comprehensive review of literature and theories. The author found that in order to determine the success factors of change management projects, it is important to review the roles and skills of project managers. According to Zulch (2014, p. 175), project management does not only require analytical and practical management skills, but also calls for the project manager to take on effective leadership roles. The author also looked at the factors of leadership failure in the context of project management, and found that one of the main reasons why leaders do not succeed is “poor people and interpersonal skills” (Zulch, 2014, p. 177). The connection between leadership failure/success and communication, therefore, is confirmed by the research, as several authors have found a positive correlation between communicating change initiatives and the positive outcome of strategies through employee and stakeholder engagement. Without being able to communicate a vision and creating engagement with stakeholders, the commitment level within the organization will be lower, and the success rate of change initiatives will be lower.

The different types of communication methods based on direction within project management are also listed by the authors, and these need to be reviewed in order to determine which has an increased relevance to leadership success. In hierarchical organizations, vertical (up and down) communication is the most likely to occur. Further, horizontal (peer communication) and diagonal (supplier and partner) communication can occur. All these are used to create a sense of urgency, commitment, and consensus (Kotter, 1990) From the project management perspective, communication vertically and diagonally is likely to impact the success rate, as the interest of stakeholders needs to be considered, while commitment to the goal and vision needs to be obtained through communication. As Zulch (2014, p. 177) confirms, “leaders lead through effective communication”.

Another area I would like to explore before beginning the research is the success factors of  change management. Munns & Bjeirmi (1996) listed the main factors that can cause change initiatives to fail. While I am primarily looking at the success factors of managing change within organizations, the list would help determining what should not be done if leaders are looking to achieve positive results. The list off Munns & Breirmi (1996, p. 82) starts with planning and ends with execution and commitment. The main reasons for organizational change failure, according to the authors are: inadequate basis, wrong personnel to lead the project, unsupportive management, failure to define tasks adequately, lack of skills to manage change  and their mis-use, lack of planning for close-down, and lack of commitment (Munns & Breirmi, 1996, p. 82). According to Kotter (1990), however, the main reasons of transformational effort failure are: lack of a well-established sense of urgency, failure to create a powerful coalition, the  lack of vision, undercommunication of the vision, failure to remove obstacles to the vision, and the leader’s inability to create short term wins, or declaring the victory too soon. Finally, aligning the vision of the transformational effort with the culture of the organization can reduce the chance of successfully executing change.

As a contrast, in order to achieve positive outcomes, managers need to set realistic goals, consider the interest of third parties, and an effective implementation process. From the above list, one thing is clear: in order to manage change in an effective way, considering the interest of stakeholders and gaining commitment are crucial. Therefore, translated to the language of leadership theories, transformational leadership, being able to gain commitment and communicating clear visions and goals is likely to positively impact the success rate of projects.

Another review, created by Carter, Tull, & VanRooy (2013) provides even more insight into the relationship between leadership approaches and project management outcomes. The authors ask two relevant questions: which leadership behaviors contribute towards project management success, and how can organizations accelerate learning to create value for all stakeholders and competencies that result in organizational benefits? The main leadership skills and traits of project managers believed to increase success rates were: promoting teamwork, influencing and motivating people, following up the project, being proactive and flexible  (Carter et al., 2013). The key leadership behaviors of project managers leading to success, according to Carter et al. (2013) are strong communication skills, the ability to deliver results, and delivering results through others. Two of the three focus areas described above are related to transformational leadership qualities and approaches: communicating vision and influencing followers to engage in the project. This also indicates that transformational leadership implementation is likely to lead to better organizational performance outcomes. The main aspects of transformational leadership that have been found relevant to the current research, based on the above literature review are: creating and communicating a shared vision, engaging with followers, gaining commitment, and considering individual needs. Applying these approaches will result in serving disadvantaged populations better, transforming the organization to perform better, and changing the culture to suit the needs of diverse stakeholders.

Change Leadership and Communication

Ajmal et al. (2012) also studied the impact of leadership on change management outcomes. As it has previously been identified, higher education is facing several challenges that call for organizational change. Therefore, reviewing the study above is likely to benefit the literature research. The first clarification the authors provide is that change within institutions is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process.  Change management, according to the authors (Ajmal et al. 2012, p. 112) is needed for dealing with emerging technological, competitive, and globalization-related challenges. Change processes to transform the organization, on the other hand, in order to be successful, need to be planned and effectively communicated, and it has been established that communication patterns used by transformational leaders can have a positive impact on the outcome of change management. Leaders within organizations can, and must become change agents, in order to initiate and facilitate positive outcomes. The behavior of the leader is thought to have a close correlation with the outcome of the project. A visionary leader would be able to generate ideas, align visions of employees with organizational missions, and create changes that benefit all stakeholders.

One of the studies found a direct connection between communication patterns, leadership styles, and change management. Scott et al. (2008) tried to determine how to measure the success of academic leaders. According to the authors’ research, the indicator of leadership effectiveness in higher education is “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members” (Scott et al., 2008, p. 4). None of the above tasks can be completed without communication. Mentoring, coaching, listening, motivation, and empowering individuals involves communication through gaining commitment.

Jiang (2014) also examined the relationship between leadership communication styles and the success of change initiatives. These factors include mission development, communication, and personnel management. Further, describing the new competencies needed for leaders who are attempting to oversee a change projects included empowerment of employees and team members, influencing others, and motivation (on the individual and team level).  Communicating new initiatives, improving the service provided for underserved student populations, creating support systems for groups, and developing collaboration procedures to create consensus (Kotter, 1990) can increase the overall success rate, through increased commitment to the main goal or vision developed by the organization, and communicated by the academic dean.

Communication and Transformational Leadership

According to Nevarez et al. (2012), all transformational leaders are effective communicators, and their successful communication patterns enable to gain followers’ commitment through effectively sharing the vision and empowering people. Increased commitment, in turn, results in better project outcomes. In the cases of change management, overcoming resistance is one of the greatest challenges that leaders face. The author of the current study, therefore, will focus on measuring transformational leadership among academic deans in selected higher educational organizations.

Education – Emerging Trends

Leadership effectiveness is hard to define, and it needs to be clarified in order to proceed with the research. Harris et al. (2004) list some important factors that can contribute towards effective leadership, such as: the ability to establish a vision, remaining committed to the shared goal, and to communicate the vision with others. Therefore, assuming that effective leadership results in effective change management, as McCarthy & Eastman (2010) confirm, it is important to measure the above qualities and traits to find a correlation between leadership approaches and change management project outcomes.

Main findings

Based on the above analysis, it can be concluded that three main success factors within leadership approaches are likely to positively influence the success of managing projects:

1. clear and clearly communicated vision that focuses on positive change
2. follower engagement through communication and consensus-creation
3. collaborative leadership approaches that empower individuals using collaborative tools within the organization to align the goals of all stakeholders (students, industries, government, and the organization)

The above list of selected success factors will be analyzed through the following chapter, focusing on the leadership approaches, communication patterns, and project management success rates within Michigan higher education institutions.

Methodology

The study will assess and compare project management and leadership literature searching for the above identified keywords thought to be related to the success of change management and dealing with organizational challenges within higher education institutions. The comprehensive research of literature published in the past 10 years is focused on assessing the main success factors of projects identified by various authors. The research is designed to reveal what authors and leadership researchers believe is the most necessary for successfully designing and managing projects, in order to create a framework for higher education institutions that can easily be implemented in the organizational structure and leadership process, to achieve higher overall efficiency and competitiveness.

Data Collection Methods

A review of policies and communication methods within Michigan universities will be completed, in order to analyze the leadership approaches applied by the institution and academic deans, related to the main traits of transformational leadership.  Managing an institution and communicating vision, engaging with stakeholders is in the main focus of the research. The research study will review several relevant projects, leadership related publications, and communication paths designed to communicate the vision and mission of the universities, in order to attempt detecting the presence of the main transformational leadership traits and the success rates of projects. The study will attempt to prove the above thesis statement two different ways:

1. Finding a correlation between transformational leadership approaches within the Michigan universities and the success of leadership.
2. Using the found correlation, the study will next focus on a larger sample of Michigan universities, in order to confirm the positive correlation between the level of presence of transformational leadership and organizational leadership capabilities for serving disadvantaged groups, promoting social equality, and dealing with the challenges of diverse campus population.

In order to assess the success of different initiatives (past and present within Michigan universities will be assessed. The communication effectiveness and stakeholder engagement will be examined, as well as the level of vision communication. The main purpose of the below research is to reveal the patterns within higher education leadership that increase leadership effectiveness in the light of change management projects.

The first step of the research will be analyzing questionnaires completed based on the assessment of the universities. The assessment is created on the basis of Nevarez &Wood – Transformational Leadership Inventory (NW- TLI), (Nevarez, 2012) attached in Appendix A. The questionnaire offers a simple scoring system for assessing transformational leadership. The results will then be compared with the effectiveness of the individual projects’ outcomes within the organization. Based on the completed literature review and thesis developed, the author is expecting to see a positive correlation between the level of transformational leadership and the positive project outcomes.

A Differentiated Transformational Leadership Inventory (DTLI) was also used to measure the presence of transformational leadership traits within the universities assessed. The model is suitable for developing individual measures that can be applied to each aspect of transformational leadership. Intellectual stimulation’s measure was measured in coaching and development program presence. Individual consideration was assigned to coaching program assessment, Inspirational motivation was measured through the community support programs, and inspirational motivation was based on the assessment of the academic support program and initiative present at the given university.

Five universities in Michigan were studied in order to obtain the following answers focused on the main challenges and related leadership traits of higher education institutions in the United States:

1. Has the university got a diversity policy and a language support department that would accommodate the needs of disadvantaged students?
2. Has the university created community programs to promote social justice among students and members of the organization and communicate values?
3. Does the university’s leadership have a coaching and development program to empower individuals and form a shared vision, creating a higher level of stakeholder engagement?
4. Has the university got an Academic Support program?

The university’s rating for each leadership related activities and approaches will be based on a scale of 1-5, in order to allow the researcher to quantify results.

Sample and Research Focus

The five Michigan universities the current research is involving are: Cornerstone University, Eastern Michigan University, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Concordia University. Data was collected using the universities’ policy and admission documents, statistical publications, and secondary sources.

Data Analysis

Based on the analysis of the five websites and university policies, the author was comparing the academic results of the university, their ranking, and the leadership score of the organization. Correlations between performance and the presence of transformational leadership traits within the organization were drawn, in order to determine the impact of communication traits and leadership quality.

The Cornerstone University achieved a total of 15 points out of 20, scoring maximum for Academic Support and diversity policy. The Eastern Michigan University had a total score of 16, with an international program and learning support System. the Michigan State University scored a total of 19, with a strong focus on engagement, policies to empower talented students, and a policy for global outreach that enables social change. The University of Michigan had a separate “Giving” page, focusing on initiatives to promote social equality and had an engagement center that was designed to communicate shared goals, visions, missions, and initiatives. By fostering collaboration and empowering disadvantaged students through their international students program, and the creation of learning communities, the university scored the maximum of 20. The Concordia University had a strong focus on helping disadvantaged students to promote equal opportunities, while its community page fostered communication and collaboration among stakeholders. The university scored 13 out of 20.

The above scores, compared with the universities’ ranking scores below will help determine whether or not effective leadership communication patterns have an impact on overall effectiveness.

Findings of the Descriptive Study

The above table clearly confirms the initial thesis that the author drew up in the beginning of the study. Provided that the above scores are related to the leadership communication effectiveness, it is clear that the ranking of the university is in a close correlation with the transformational leadership traits related to internal and external communication patterns.

Based on the above assessment of the universities, and the analysis of transformational leadership traits, it is time to revisit the research questions that the current study is attempting to answer.

Which communication methods are the most successful in change management within higher education institutions?

Communication through organizational channels, based on close collaboration within the organization and with external stakeholders (government agencies, businesses, and other universities, professional bodies) has been found to be effective in delivering positive change.

Consequently, communicating the university’s human resources policies and guidelines, in line with the organization’s values has increased follower engagement.

What impact does leadership communication style have on the success of change management projects?

The communication style of the leadership within the universities has acted as a facilitator for change and collaboration. Further, it has encouraged followers to get involved in new initiatives. Communication within transformational leadership reinforces shared vision, and the highest scoring universities in Michigan have taken full advantage of this ability. By engaging with communities, listening to their needs, and supporting the global initiatives, universities were able to create a long term change and increase the impact of the work carried out by students and researchers on a global scale.

Hypothesis testing

Based on the findings of the above research and literature search, it the hypotheses are tested to help policymakers and academic deans implement leadership approaches that benefit the organization’s ability to deal with challenges originating from the changing internal and external environment.

Hypothesis A: Effective communication is linked to transformational leadership approaches

Based on the results of the literature search, and the positive correlation between ranking and communication, the hypothesis has been confirmed.

Hypothesis B: Transformational leadership increases deans’ ability to deal with environmental changes within higher education.

The success rate measured by scores among five Michigan universities has confirmed that there is a positive correlation between transformational leadership and the organization’s success, however, the direct impact of leadership on the overall success rate is not clearly confirmed.

Hypothesis C: Collaboration, clear communication of the vision, and the behaviors to influence followers to gain commitment, as the main identified traits of transformational leadership positively influence the success of leadership.

The above thesis was confirmed by the results of literature search and the DTLI research completed among five universities.

Limitations of the study

While the author used the DTLI assessment framework to evaluate universities’ leadership communication effectiveness, and translate different initiatives into leadership traits, the scale of the study was limited. Focusing on only five universities, however, was necessary, due to the time limit of the research. A correlation between transformational leadership and organizational success has been found, however, there are other aspects of organizational success that the current study did not cover, such as competition, popularity, etc. However, the author assumed that decisions about fees, courses, and admission were highly influenced by deans’ leadership approaches and decisions, therefore, there was a strong connection between dean’s leadership and the success rate of the organization. Further, the assessment of academic deans’ leadership behavior could have positively impacted the reliability of the data. While at this time it was not possible to survey individual deans from all universities researched, in the future, the author is planning to create a follow-up study that would confirm the findings of the current research. While that assessment would be based on self-reports, compared with performance tables, results, and stakeholder satisfaction statistics, it could provide further information on the relationship between leadership communication and the organization’s ability to deal with higher education challenges in the 21^st Century.

Conclusion

The above research has confirmed a strong presence of transformational leadership characteristics within Michigan universities. The person-centered communication patterns of the university confirm that the leadership focuses on sharing and reinforcing the vision, and consequently increasing follower engagement. This also indicates that there is a close, positive direct relationship among the presence of transformational leadership, open communication, strong vision and mission, and the outcome of new initiatives aligned with the organization’s main principles. It has also been confirmed that open communication of well defined goals and missions can increase follower commitment and engagement, and the success of change management.

While the above completed research is not comprehensive, and only assessed a few areas of leadership, future studies focusing on individual communication methods and change management practices can reveal more about the above correlation.

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