Title: Middle management in academia: social skills and academic professional awareness wanted

Authors: Nanna Paaske; Solfrid Tandberg Øhrn; Lene Berge Holm; Anne Berit Walter

Addresses: Department of Primary and Secondary Teacher Education, Faculty of Education and International Studies, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway ' Nordre Aker School, Municipality of Oslo, Oslo, Norway ' Department of Life Sciences and Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway ' Department of Life Sciences and Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway

Abstract: What kind of leader does an academic really want? Is it a colleague-based leader from the same profession, with comparable scientific skills, or a leader with typical management skills? If a university seeks middle managers of the first mentioned type, how does that comply with management literature, and the employee's preferences? In this study from a Norwegian modern university, employees were asked to rank their preferences for skills of their immediate leader. These results were compared to management literature and to the university's middle management recruitment policy. The results demonstrate that while the university's recruitment policy emphasised formal competency, experience with research, and ability to implement new technologies, the employees preferred leaders with social skills and academic professional awareness, who are solutions-oriented, open-minded, and able to motivate and build good teams. In leadership theories, key element is social competence, which is more in line with the university employees' preferences.

Keywords: academic professional awareness; middle management; academia; leadership theories; recruitment strategies; employees' preferences; social skills.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2023.127775

International Journal of Management in Education, 2023 Vol.17 No.1, pp.68 - 88

Received: 31 Jan 2022
Accepted: 31 Mar 2022
Published online: 16 Dec 2022 *