Abstract
Purpose. This study revisits the 1990 descriptive-comparative case study conducted by Virginia Baxter on the role of leadership in the development stages of specific, successful California Community College Foundations. The purpose of this study was to describe the role of leadership in the ongoing stage of organizational maturity, defined as institutional advancement, for the benefit of these and other organizations in the development of successful organizational models. The original 1990 theoretical framework, based on leadership theory and change management, has been updated and expanded through the use of a dynamic, systems thinking view describing the multiple memberships of democratic participation. Procedure. The original five organizations have been re-examined and compared regarding the leadership characteristics utilized during longitudinal and structural changes. The original research design using survey and interviews was repeated for comparability. Additional secondary data were obtained for triangulation. The original matrix report design was recreated for consistency and comparability. Narrative reports add to the depth and value of the data. Principal Findings. New attention was found to be focused by the leadership on the environmental impacts of overlapping memberships in the context of political participation. The current stagy of organizational maturity, institutional advancement, emphasizes community participation, collaboration, and public relations in a professional fundraising setting. What changes have occurred are described in relationship to leadership roles, skills, attitudes and knowledge, change strategies used, and different patterns of support and resistance in the institutional advancement stage of community college foundation development. The changes were reported in comparison formats using the original 1990 tables. Conclusions and Recommendations. All of original five foundations have evolved into a stage of institutional advancement. Within this industry specific classification, Henry Mintzberg's model of organizational maturity can be used to further define these organizations as having passed the stage of autocracies into stages of meritocracy, instrument, or missionary. A substantive grounded theory was developed using both qualitative and quantitative data. That theory found each foundation to be acting independently given environmental impacts, that leadership actively pursued bridging activities into the communities and there is a fervent aspect to the new leadership of these organizations.