PHENOMENOLOGY OF LIVED EXPERIENCE OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP OF HEADS OF EPARTMENT OF THE FACULTY OF ENGINEERING OF URMIA UNIVERSITY

Leadership in higher education plays an essential role in improving, institutional development and sustainability, and department heads, through educational leadership, bring faculty members around a cohesive and integrated organizational culture and draw the group’s goals and vision for them. The purpose of this study is to describe the lived experience of department heads of the educational leadership process in the university. Lived experience is the direct and unmediated understanding of experiences in ordinary life that is achieved without resorting to conceptualization. The present study is a qualitative method of phenomenology and the statistical population studied is all the heads of the Department of Engineering and Technology of Urmia University, 10 people who were selected by purposive sampling. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview protocol. For data analysis, Colizzi method was used and the findings of the interview were coded using MAXQDA 18 software. The findings were evaluated and categorized in 6 themes: group management experience, group management issues and challenges, group management requirements, group interactions, group leadership style, and attitudes toward leadership. Accordingly, structural issues are one of the main challenges of these experiences that by reviewing the duties and powers, support and application and applying the correct method of selection and training of department heads can reduce their stress and pressure.