The Role of Leadership Competencies in Supporting the Al Nahda University for Becoming a Learning Organization: A New Qualitative Framework of the DLOQ

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to contribute to research on learning organizations in higher education institutions (HEIs), by researching the role of individual, group, and organization competencies and skills that support the (NUB) Al Nahda University in Egypt toward becoming a learning organization.

Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight executive academics and researchers in (NUB) Al Nahda University in Egypt. Questions emphasised leadership competencies, including those at individual, group, and organizational level, for utilising their skills in creating, sharing and transferring knowledge for modifying and changing their behaviour to achieve a learning organization.

Findings: Leadership competencies emerged as a complementary component to the DLOQ framework and it was found that the Seven Characteristics (7Cs) proposed by Watkins and Marsick (2003) did not lead to being a learning organization, nor did being a learning organization lead to knowledge performance and financial performance by itself unless fully supported by leadership competencies, as was confirmed in the case of the Al-Nahda University operating in Egypt.

Originality/value: There is still a lack of investigation and global response to the question of how leadership competencies can support learning inside higher education institutions. The outcomes of this research allow a better understanding of how leadership competencies can support the process of becoming a learning organization in HEIs, via a qualitative investigation of the DLOQ framework.