On Leadership Style and Staff Management Skills of a Head of a University Department

The aim of the article is to offer practical recommendations for forming an effective individual leadership style among scientific and pedagogical staff on the basis of monitoring the activities of the departments' heads. The authors examined various classifications of leadership styles that are based on such criteria as orientation towards innovation, the goal of leadership activity, involvement of subordinates in managerial decision-making, the key object of management, the key method of management, “maturity” of subordinates, concern for people and the emphasis on the production process. 350 heads of departments of Russia's higher educational institutions took part in the monitoring that was carried out on the basis of the questionnaire. During the research, it was found that working style of heads of departments is mostly characterized as democratic, whereas authoritarian and liberal styles are not so common. The paper states that the use of the given practical recommendations will allow establishing an effective leadership style when managing a university department in the modern context.