Leadership style &
workload management
Thomas, Kwesi & Albert
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LEADERSHIP STYLES: Supervisors training
 Exposure to various leadership approaches
 Identification of leadership orientation
 To understand the leadership orientation of supervisors
 Introduce supervisors to various leadership styles
 Improvement of leadership skills for PhD supervision
 Activities:
 using questionnaires to identify their management
orientation
 Group discussion
 Assessment
 Feedback from students through questionnaires
2
Supervisors training (cont)
 Effective communication skill
 Improve communication skill of supervisors
 Improve supervisor-supervisee relationship
 Identify appropriate communication channels
 To improve monitoring and feedback on PhD work
 Activity
 Lecture by communication expert/practitioner
 Role-play based on the content of the lecture
 Assessment
 Feedback from supervisee/supervisor through interaction
 Student’s progress report
3
Supervisors training (cont)
 Motivation/encouraging skills
 Identify strategies to motivate PhD students
 Acquire the relevant motivating skills relevant to PhD supervision
 Improve commitment and work rate of students
 Identify economic, social and local needs of students
 Activities
 Lecture by an expert or practitioner
 Group work to identify and discuss strategies that relate their
context
 Develop individual action plan to motivate students
 Assessment
 Feedback on the progress of students
4
Supervisors training (cont)
 Ethical challenges – abuse and harassment
 Identify practical challenges in PhD supervision
 Identify various forms or harassment/abuse in PhD supervision
 Recommend strategies to promote high ethical standards
 Activities
 Lecture on code of ethics and ethical issues in PhD supervision
 Group discussion to share practical challenges and make
recommendations
 Individual action plans to achieve high ethical standards
 Assessment
 Feedback from students
 Institutional report on unethical behaviors
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Workload Management
 Mentoring
 To identify potential teaching and research assistants
 Train and build capacity of assistants
 To reduce workload of supervisors
 To allow supervisors to devote more time to PhD supervision
 To recommend to management to recruit prepared and tested faculty
 Activity
 Identify potential teaching and research assistants through personal
observation, class participation and academic performance
 Formal and informal training of identified assistants
 Assessment
 Deliverables – ability to perform assigned task
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Workload Management (cont)
 Team work with colleagues
 To promote team supervision
 To promote joint teaching and research
 To prepare for succession in the absence of supervisor
 To promote joint publication
 Activity
 Identify likeminded, willing and reliable faculty
 Share work and interact with each other’s students
 Seek direct assistance from colleagues
 Joint research work with colleagues and PhD students
 Assessment
 Joint research output
 Progress of jointly supervised work
 Feedback from students through deliverables
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