Abstract:

This study forecasts new century challenges facing doctoral faculty who teach in organizational leadership programs, exploring issues impacting doctoral education such as globalization and technology and addressing 21st century faculty competencies specific to such programs. As the surge in technology continues to bring about global changes, preparing leaders to help their organizations thrive in a dynamic, interconnected world is critical. To this end, the researchers set out to discover what issues doctoral faculty will face and what competencies they will need to address the challenges of the future.
The researchers utilized a Delphi method with a panel of faculty who teach in an organizational leadership doctoral program. The study was conducted in three rounds beginning with data gathered from the literature and faculty interviews to identify issues and competencies. Rounds two and three consisted of participants rating the items. The research produced current and anticipated issues and related competencies. Competencies were categorized into five roles with the following primary functions: Teaching, Advising, Scholarship, Service, and Colleagueship.
Findings from this study illuminate pervasive issues facing doctoral faculty; for example, most faculty noted a sense of constant internal and external change in organizational environments. This idea of change in this study is related to new technologies that are disruptive, either changing the way faculty does things, or requiring new skills, or both. While optimistic about the future and the new opportunities that come with emerging technologies, the expert panel noted that technologies should be deployed within academic programs thoughtfully, in alignment with program goals and values, with faculty input, and with sufficient opportunity for faculty to learn to use them effectively. Moreover, the panel recognized that we don’t really know what the future holds and can only guess what challenges and changes lay ahead. They acknowledged however, that change is expected to persist related to improvement in higher education programs and learning. Therefore, faculty should continually assess global trends and issues as they emerge, staying flexible and ready to change as needed.

Keywords:

Higher education, learning technologies, faculty development.