Leadership Soft Skills of Deans in Three Malaysian Public Universities

Abstract

This study aims to examine the leadership soft skills of deans in three public universities of Malaysia from the views of their support staff. For decades, the focus of management and leadership was on technical skills, i.e., the so-called ‘hard skills’. Technical skills are critical as to perform effectively within an organization. Nowadays, employees also need leaders with critical soft skills. These soft skills are more generic in nature and are the keys towards effective performance across job categories. The main purpose of this study is to explain and interpret the implementation of the eight components of leadership soft skills, namely collaboration/teamwork, communication skills, initiative, leadership ability, people development/coaching, personal effectiveness/personal mastery, planning and organizing, and presentation skills. This study employed qualitative method using face-to-face interview to collect data from 12 support staff (Grade 17-36). Among the 12 respondents, six respondents are working under deans with reportedly high leadership soft skills and the other six respondents are working under deans with reportedly low leadership soft skills. Findings showed that there are some similarities and differences between the deans with high and low leadership soft skills. This study attempts to advocates about the importance and value of leadership soft skills in higher educational institutions. Additionally, researchers hope that the findings can provide information to assist administrators in developing high-quality interpersonal relationships with their associates and support staffs.