Leadership and management in vocational education and training: Staying focussed on strategy - Volume 1

The study and objectives

This project has its origins in a broad recognition among the vocational education and training (VET) community of the changing roles of leaders and managers within VET provider organisations, the changing expertise required to perform these roles, and the need to identify approaches to management and leadership development that might provide this expertise. The specific objectives of the project were to:

• identify the roles and functions of senior and frontline managers in VET organisations

• identify the expertise needed by these managers, and these organisations, to manage and lead

• examine approaches to developing management and leadership expertise and the strengths and limitations of these approaches

• identify approaches to management and leadership, and management and leadership development, that may best serve organisations in the VET sector.

The project involved:

• a mail survey of managers in registered training organisations. A self-completion questionnaire was mailed to executive and senior managers in 1551 provider locations in five states. In total, 365 questionnaires were returned, representing a response rate of 23.5%

• 147 telephone interviews with senior and frontline VET managers from 79 registered training organisations. Approximately 30 interviews were undertaken in each of the five states

• 10 intensive case studies of practices of managing and leading in VET providers, in each of the five states (two in each state). The case studies involved observation of organisational practices and in-depth, semi-structured interviews (50 altogether).

Key findings

Key influences on leadership and management in VET

There has been an increased focus on the external environment as opposed to the internal environment in terms of VET products and services. There are at least seven powerful external forces that providers must contend with today:

• the changing work environment: 'People are working harder and stress levels are rising'

• the changing policy environment: 'One person [is] employed full time now working [on] Commonwealth Government compliance issues, tax issues, paperwork issues, forms, all of these kind of things'

• increased administrative responsibilities: 'We've got checklists for just about everything that exists'

• reduced government funding: 'You have this vision for where your organisation is likely to be with absolutely no certainty that there will be any funding support for that'

• increased expectations regarding corporate connections/industry links: 'You have got to have the sort of attitude of wanting to work with industry'

• increasing use of technology and e-commerce: 'Reusable learning objects is one of the newer kinds of directions in online learning'

• increasing expectation in relation to links with other sectors, agencies and organisations; for example, universities, schools, adult community education providers: 'We have a lot more relationships with other training providers in alliances'.

Policy interventions and initiatives that require compliance have a considerable influence on management and leadership within VET providers. The mutability and uncertainty of the policy environment where new initiatives appear regularly creates pressures for providers. Uncertainty over government funding is the key pressure point in technical and further education (TAFE) institutes and group training companies. Compliance demands on small business management hit small providers particularly hard.

A clear trend to increased adoption of strategic management processes is discernible in VET providers. Strategy concepts can be seen as an attempt to move providers from traditional management models (strictly functional, operational or task-based approaches) to one which is more businesslike and corporate in approach. They can also be seen as an attempt to build key private sector practices into the operation of the public sector.

Market activity defines the operating environment of VET providers. However, a number of VET managers have reservations about the appropriateness of a market structure in vocational education and training. Managers in various states are considering, and initiating, co-operative arrangements not only as a means to 'build up business' but also as a mechanism for developing an alternative method of provision in VET. These managers support a sectoral or systemic approach, rather than competitive, individual, institutional provision. A network-based approach to organisation where linkages between providers take precedence over the providers themselves may be emerging in VET.

Leadership and management roles

The roles of senior and frontline managers in VET providers are expanding. Managers themselves note that 'there is a much more complex range of functions than managers were involved in five years ago'. Senior managers are found to perform five broad leadership and management roles:

• business management and development

• strategic leadership

• change leadership

• people-centred management

• boundary management (external focus).

Unlike frontline managers whose roles are more dispersed, senior managers' roles are relatively integrated. Senior managers also experience more autonomy in their roles than frontline managers. The impact of change has been felt more fully at frontline management level than executive or senior level. Frontline managers' roles are both strategic and operational. Frontline management is 'where the rubber hits the road, as far as doing business is concerned'. Frontline managers perform six broad leadership and management roles:

• financial management

• administration and operational management

• strategic management

• people-centred management

• consulting

• educational leadership.

Ultimately, their responsibilities are financial, human and physical resource management.

Management roles and responsibilities are being redistributed. 'Flatter' management structures and staff reductions have meant that leadership and management is increasingly the responsibility of a wider range of staff: 'We rely on our principal lecturers and advanced skills lecturers to provide leadership to the lecturers now'.

Expertise required to perform leadership and management roles

The capabilities required of senior and frontline managers to perform their leadership and management roles are comparable. The capabilities required of frontline managers were reported to be similar to those described for senior managers 'but to a lesser degree'. Frontline managers in publicly funded VET providers are increasingly required to perform managerial rather than educational/professional roles. VET leaders and managers require expertise in eight specific domains:

• business management: resource management; project management; contract management; information systems management and maintenance (for example, implementing systems and standards); planning and budgeting; tendering; monitoring processes and procedures, targets and goals; utilising new technology and conducting e-business

• business development: identifying business opportunities; 'looking for breakthrough stuff'; sales and marketing; promoting the organisation

• strategic leadership: discerning trends; future-casting; setting corporate directions; promoting a shared vision; undertaking strategic planning; engaging in strategic thinking and taking strategic action

• change leadership: creating a vision for change; creating readiness for change; building work cultures that support change

• people-centred management/human resources development: interpersonal relations; communicating information; consulting with staff; consulting with 'clients'; including staff in decision-making

• education management: co-ordinating and scheduling teaching teams; co-ordinating courses; monitoring learner management plans

• boundary spanning: forming productive alliances; consulting, liaising and meeting with industry and community groups; public relations; articulating the value of vocational education.

Leadership and management development

Vocational education and training organisations are characterised by a paucity of management and leadership development activity. Work-based learning or work-related learning, of a formal and informal kind, is the preferred means of development. Four broad approaches to leadership and management development are endorsed by VET managers:

• work-related learning of a formal kind: mentoring, coaching, work shadowing, deputising, project-based learning, action learning, experiential learning and one-on-one consultancy

• work-related learning of an informal kind: casual meetings, support groups, 'chat rooms for peers', self-directed reading and 'be[ing] somewhere in another organisation [to] gain a perspective on how other leaders operate'

• seminars and workshops: participants who are drawn from different sectors can 'cross-pollinate', share ideas and talk, network and problem-solve, using case studies, simulations and scenarios as support

• traditional courses and short courses: conducted by various organisations which provide 'formal qualifications in a practical context', for example, Master of Business Administration.

Leadership and management development needs to take teamworking and networking into account. Strong management, it seems, grows out of cross-sectoral activity where information from disparate groups can be gathered and used to support innovation and creativity in vocational education and training.

Sustaining valued leadership and management in VET

Given the heightened responsibilities attaching to managerial roles and the shortfall in leadership and management development in the VET sector, there is a clear need for greater leadership and management support. In planning for the future, attention could well be given to:

• increasing opportunities for development at senior management level

• creating pathways for prospective managers and leaders, most particularly at frontline management level.

Change leadership and change management are the preferred processes for effecting organisational change in VET providers. Sub-cultures are easily overlooked or not taken into account during the process of changing the culture of the organisation. Strong leadership in vocational education and training requires acknowledging a sense of the 'high tension zone'-the complexity of the relationships involved in simultaneous membership of different cultures (for example, business, occupational, professional).