Women as change agents in the headship of higher education organizations

This paper tackles the relationship between women's leadership and their role in the transformation of university organizations. It is based on eight case studies analysed in the context of a broader research work on women who occupy high managerial posts in Spanish universities. Two of the cases will be more deeply described and discussed in terms of the relationships in relation to the organizational context in which these female leaders performed their managerial functions, the leadership styles that they deployed, as well as the modifications which they promoted in critical moments of the organizations that they ran. The final conclusions reveal the outstanding ability of these female managers to smoothly drive through such changes, greatly preserving social cohesiveness and an optimal climate in the workplace. This was achieved by adopting a flexible leadership style on the basis of a wide range of power sources. Nothing such a unique and homogeneous 'femininine style of leadership' was found, although some traits and some common trajectories to reach power positions were identified. On the basis of such findings it will be suggested that loosely coupled structures characteristics in higher education organization need 'soft' ways of power management, more oriented towards informal social networks than formal issues. This will allows us to discuss the innovative role that women potentially, and currently, play in higher education organizations.