Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this qualitative study was to obtain community college career technical education (CTE) department chairs’ lived experiences toward synthesizing leadership skills. This study sought to identify the lived experiences of CTE department chairs at community colleges. The research question was “How do CTE department chairs at community colleges describe their experiences toward synthesizing leadership skills?”
Theoretical and Conceptual Framework. The conceptual framework for this study combined the full range leadership model, specifically transformational leadership and the skills approach. Transformational leadership theory is founded on support, motivation, and improvement of followers and promoting follower growth. The skills approach is a method used to identify which skills are most used and most important for leaders in an applied format. By combining the theory and method, this study aimed to explore a holistic experience of participants.
Methodology. A qualitative, phenomenological design was used in this study to explore the experiences of community college CTE department chairs. This methodology was appropriate for the purpose and sought to find the lived experiences of CTE department chairs through open-ended interviews. Participants were selected within Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties who led these CTE disciplines: automotive, culinary arts, continuing education (noncredit), and welding.
Findings and Conclusions. This study found that CTE department chairs possess technical, human, and transformational leadership skills. Six themes were found to be significant; these included (a) dynamic involvement, (b) direct involvement, (c) communication, (d) collaboration, (e) influence and motivation, and (f) mentorship. CTE chairs identified their dynamic involvement and need to be directly involved in all aspects of the department as significant as their most important technical skills along with communication and collaboration as their identified human skills. Transformational leadership was prominent with CTE chair leadership; participants recognized mentorship, influence, and motivation as needed aspects of leadership within their disciplines.
Recommendations. Areas for future research include expanding to different geographic regions of California and other states focusing specifically on one discipline of CTE department chair, comparing CTE chairs with traditional discipline chairs to find commonalities and differences, and exploring more with conceptual skills and department chairs at community colleges.