Exploring Leadership Dilemma for Faculty: A Case of Higher Education institutions in Pakistan

Effective leadership in academia is crucial as well as an important component for the success of higher education institutions and to produce graduates of the twenty-first century. However, the complexity of educational reforms, multiple goals, and traditional norms stimulate vague and contested leadership amongst faculty members. The paper reveals the significance of leadership for higher education institutions and explore how leadership abilities can be indoctrinate at the faculty level. A qualitative study was designed by arranging a series of focus group discussions to collect the data. By conducting thematic analysis; few themes emerged which enlightens the significance of academic leadership. In higher education institutions faculty members directly promote the institutional teaching mission, advance learning, and research by representing themselves as core human resources of higher education institutions. Lastly, the paper presents the art of practicing situational leadership in educational reforms considering different paradigms of leadership.