Abstract
This article critiques conventional administrative hiring practices in higher education, tracing how search committees rely on faculty centered models that ignore the distinctive competencies required for leadership roles. Using examples from advertising, reference checking, job description design, and interview protocol, it demonstrates that assumptions about professor to administrator transferability, token committee composition, minimal position detail, and single shot advertisements impede candidate diversity and organizational fit. The discussion applies management theory, communication studies, and human resource principles to expose myths of automatic managerial competence, advocate multidimensional evaluation of budgets, human relations, and strategic planning skills, and recommend iterative advertising, inclusive stakeholder participation, telephone reference verification, and comparative finalist assessment. By integrating leadership communication, organizational behavior, and personnel selection scholarship, this article provides a pragmatic blueprint for transparent, effective, and equitable administrative searches.
Recommended Citation
Jugenheimer, Donald W.
(1991)
"How Not to Conduct an Administrative Search,"
Association for Communication Administration Bulletin: Vol. 75, Article 12.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/aca/vol75/iss1/12
