La Union Provincial Library

Bibliography: pages 203-210.

This study assessed the leadership communication competence of the middle managers of level II and III duly-accredited academic programs in the Higher Education Institutions in La Union in terms of their managerial leadership communication competence along ethos or image and emotional intelligence and their level of leadership communication competence along managing interpersonal conflict, performance counseling, faculty morale, and difficult faculty. It also made comparative and relationship analyses of these variables and identified the capabilities and inadequacies of the middle managers. The findings served as bases in developing a Leadership Communication Model and a validated Training Program for the Middle Managers of HEIs in La Union. It used the descriptive research design with questionnaire as the data gathering tool. A total of 403 respondents composed of deans, faculty and middle managers of duly-accredited Level I and Level III academic programs of HEIs in La Union participated in the study. The data gathered were treated using weighted means,ANOVA, Pearson-r and t-ratio test. The study found out that: the middle managers of duly-accredited academic programs of HEIs in La Union were very competent along the two dimensions of managerial leadership communication competence; namely: ethos or image and emotional intelligence. There was no significant difference in the perceptions on the level of managerial leadership communication competence of middle managers according to the deans, the faculty, and the middle managers themselves. The middle managers were perceived very competent along the four dimensions of leadership communication competence. There was no significant difference in the perceptions on the level of leadership communication competence of the middle managers according to the three groups of respondents. There were no significant differences in the perceived level of leadership communication competence of middle managers along managing among the identified areas. Generally, there existed significant relationship between managerial leadership communication competence
and leadership communication competence. The middle managers were capable in the two dimensions of managerial leadership communication competence and in all the four areas of leadership communication competence but were inadequate in several specific skills along the same areas. A proposed leadership communication model and a validated training program were evolved to address the inadequacies and to sustain the capabilities of the middle managers. Based on the findings, the following conclusions were drawn: The middle managers project a positive image and manifest emotional intelligence in communicating with the faculty. The middle managers see themselves as competent as what their deans and faculty perceive them to be along leadership communication competence. The middle managers possess the needed skills in performing their leadership communication tasks. The middle managers concur with the deans and the faculty's impression on their leadership communication competence. The greater the managerial leadership communication competence, the more competent they are in managing their management tasks. The middle managers of HEIs in La Union exemplify the leadership communication competence in managing their faculty at a remarkable degree. The researcher recommended that: The validated proposed training program should be adopted and implemented by the HEIs in La Union to further hone the skills of the middle managers in performing their leadership communication tasks. The middle managers should attend seminars or trainings along the managerial leadership communication to enrich their current repertoire of leadership communication strategies, consider every communication event with the faculty an opportunity to put into practice the acknowledged concepts of effective managerial leadership communication, and empower themselves by consistently developing their core communication skills, their managerial skills and even their corporate leadership communication skills in any way possible. The HEIs, through the Human Resource Office, should devise a formal or informal orientation program tailored to the leadership communication needs of the faculty about to assume a middle management position. Finally, a parallel study should be conducted periodically to give middle managers ample opportunities to assess their
managerial leadership communication competence and discover better ways to improve their managerial performance.

CHED-La Union Donation March 5, 2015