Sensemaking and Sensegiving: Leadership Processes of New College Presidents.

Abstract

This dissertation is a study of how new college presidents simultaneously learn about the organization while being in charge. Eighteen semi-structured interviews were completed with new presidents who were organizational outsiders and first-time presidents. An equal third were at baccalaureate colleges, master’s college and universities, and research universities.

Motivations for this study include: 1) understanding why such a large percentage of presidents are hired as outsiders, estimated at around 80 percent in higher education compared to 40 percent in business; 2) why the tenure of college presidents seems relatively short (around 6-7 years) and if this is a problem or a reasonable pace for organizational renewal and leadership transition; 3) understanding the experience of being in charge of an organization while being a newcomer, and 4) to contribute to the theoretical perspective of sensemaking and sensegiving—which, put simply, is how people think (sensemaking), and how people attempt to influence how others think (sensegiving).

Utilizing grounded theory methods, some significant findings include how presidents use strategic ambiguity through “safe harbors,” cautiously know and doubt their knowledge when they begin, and find trusted individuals to help them interpret situations. Presidents were also quickly relied upon for new meaning and direction (sensegiving) which came in several forms, such as priority-setting, framing, setting forth an inspiring future image, constructing crisis as a means to initiate change, and re-labeling and re-organizing. As newcomers, I also found presidents acting as “lay ethnographers,” unknowingly using many of the methods of ethnography to understand the tacit, contextualized knowledge of the culture.

Several barriers to sensemaking also emerged, including the isolation of being in a formal position of authority where people are unlikely to tell you the truth, and constituents expecting presidents to be highly deliberate, meaning presidents had little affordance to “think out loud.” Finally, I found a large disconnect between the certainty and clarity with which presidents spoke and the ambiguity and complexity described in the organization theory literature. This disconnect was evident in descriptions of strategic planning and the use of the language and rhetoric from management bestsellers.