Do academic supervisors know what their employees want from work?

This research has meaning to higher education learning institutions regarding faculty and staff motivation. Effectively motivating employees has captivated management theorists in search of higher morale and higher productivity. This study challenges the assumption by Hersey and Blanchard (1993) based on Lindahl’s (1949) study that supervisors do not know what their employees want from work.

Higher education has seen dramatic shifts in course delivery (more distance learning) organizational and economic structure in recent years, precipitated significantly by a global pandemic. Furthermore, there is a growing leadership bottleneck within higher education, with the average age of institution presidents increasing over the last few decades (Ebersole, 2014). This makes administrative focus on job satisfaction critical, both to improve faculty retention and bolster productivity. Effective leadership strategies can be critical to achieve this goal.