Designing the synergistic leadership model for universities of Iran based on grounded theory

A review of the existing leadership literature in organizations shows that there is no comprehensive theoretical framework for synergistic leadership that is generally agreed upon. Therefore, this study seeks to identify and explain the dimensions of synergistic leadership in the form of a systematic model for Iranian universities using the grounded theory. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The target population of the study were knowledgeable management experts and people with management experience in universities. Purposeful (theoretical) sampling was performed using a network of experts (snowball). Interviews of 13 scholars and academic executives were analyzed using Strauss and Corbin's (1990) three-stage coding method. Validation was done through participant review and peer review and repeated study by the researcher herself. Totally, 506 open codes were extracted from the interviews, which, after axial and selective coding, identified 6 dimensions of paradigm model including Causal conditions (11 categories), synergistic leadership components (8 categories), context (12 categories), intervening conditions (7 categories), strategies (13 categories) and consequences of implementing of synergistic leadership model (12 categories). Finally, a synergistic leadership paradigm model was designed and presented to Iranian universities.