Leading and managing in academia is often described as particularly challenging. Among other things, the university as a traditional expert organization opens up very different fields of activity, each of which brings its own logic and dynamics for the role and task as a manager.

The Scientific Leadership Portfolio1 provides academic managers with a model that offers a holistic view on the range of leadership work at the university. It explains the emergence of areas of tension at the interfaces and illustrates the skills required to be able to switch between the individual fields of activity as the situation demands and to adapt leadership behavior accordingly.

Download Scientific Leadership Portfolio

Leading Science

Researcher, Expert

  • „core competence“
  • reputation within scientific community
  • scientific hierarchy

power of expertise

Leading Education

Program Manager, Teacher

  • responsible for study programs
  • undergraduate education
  • promotion of young researchers

mentorship

Leading Networks

Head of Competence Center, Project Manager

  • more coordinator than manager
  • often external money driven
  • demands high degree of network competence

coordination, importance to convince

Leading Organization

Head of Department or Institute

  • „traditional“ line management
  • organizational hierarchy
  • function of administration

organizational power, disciplinary consequences

1 The model was developed at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, and adapted for management work at BOKU. The original description can be found in the following articles:

Sewerin, T., Jonnergård, G. & L. Birgersson (2010): Leadership at the university. Four rooms with four different views (unpublished report).
Sewerin, Thomas & Robert Holmberg (2017): Contextualizing distributed leadership in higher education. In: Higher Education Research & Development, Vol. 36, 1280-1294.