The Challenges of Knowledge Age and Transformational Leadership in Higher Education Institutions

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue XII, December 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Challenges of Knowledge Age and Transformational Leadership in Higher Education Institutions

Muftahu Jibirin Salihu
National Higher Education Research Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Abstract :- This study is intended to explore the concept of ‘challenges’ in the context of workplace with specific attention to higher education institutions through the industrial era, knowledge age, and the present globalisation time. Similarly, with the philosophy that the greater the quality of leadership, the higher the possibility of an institution to overcome its challenges, this paper decides to examine how to address these challenges from the leadership point of view by theorising the various approaches of organisational transformation and organisational leadership, their characteristics, and types with a case study on how these theories, characteristics, and types can remarkably transform organisations from challenges into success and contextualise their application to higher education institutions towards a better educational system for sustainable tomorrow.

Keywords: Challenges, Workplace, Change, Knowledge, Transformation, Higher education

I. INTRODUCTION

The term ‘challenges’ in the context of the workplace is probably the most commonly used concept when providing descriptions that pertain to specific corporations and organisations. However, not too many people are aware that in higher education institutions, the term ‘challenges’ equally applies in this globalised age (Senge, 2000). The rapid transformation of higher education institutions from the industrial age to the knowledge age is a natural product of globalisation. The sudden boom of technologies is fuelled by the globalisation phenomenon that has widely affected many different countries worldwide, which triggered major changes in the way higher education institutions operate. The move from the industrial to post-industrial era, also called the ‘knowledge era’, requires a different perspective of seeing and making sense of the world (Drucker, 1994). The main challenge in the present knowledge age is the adaption to change. This change is revolutionary and massive to the point of totally transforming various social and economic relationships, both in the corporate and educational contexts (Drucker, 1994). Many change factors raised pertinent questions for the higher education institutions, new knowledge perspectives created controversies, and the existing higher education institutional structures experienced challenges in meeting the demands of the knowledge era (Hargreaves, 1994).

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