Date of Award
2009
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Department
Educational Leadership and Policies
First Advisor
Katherine Chaddock
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to observe, describe and analyze what practices supervisors of student affairs professionals utilized in aiding their staffs’ multicultural competence development. Pope, Reynolds and Muller (2004) defined multicultural competence for student affairs professionals as “a distinctive category of awareness, knowledge, and skills essential for efficacious student affairs work; this category may assist student affairs practitioners in creating diverse and inclusive campuses” (p. 9). In Mueller and Pope’s (2001) study, respondents who had “discussions with supervisors about multicultural issues” (p. 140) were more likely to exhibit multicultural competence. In the 2001 study, “results suggest that the supervisor can play an important role in developing the professional competencies of the supervisee” (pg. 141).
Therefore, the following questions were posed: What actions do student affairs professionals in supervisory roles undertake to develop and/or enhance multicultural competencies in staff members who are new to the field at predominantly White campuses in the Southeast? What do the supervisors and the staff members perceive to be the impact of those actions on their sense of multicultural competency and their demonstration of multicultural competency?
In order to explore the research questions, interviews were conducted with sixteen participants on eight different campuses. Questions for participants were developed based on the following sub-questions: What do multicultural conversations entail? How do supervisors structure their implementation of development opportunities beyond conversations with staff? How are those interventions received by their staff? What opportunities do supervisors create for their staff members to grow in their multicultural competency?
Themes emerged from participant comments regarding their experiences with supervision, multiculturalism and the intersection of the two. Supervisors in this study rarely focused systematic supervisory efforts on multicultural competence. Overall, there were a few examples of direct action by supervisors which demonstrated intentional efforts to help staff members develop multicultural competence. It was difficult to glean from the data in this study that multicultural competence is a regular topic of conversation within the supervisory relationship. Staff affirmed this notion and did not perceive that their supervisory experience regularly included multicultural competence. One of the fruits of qualitative analysis was the opportunity to explore the absence of significant findings. Several aspects of the data suggested why there was a lack of action by supervisors to infuse development of multicultural competence in their supervisory practices. Other aspects to multiculturalism and supervision were uncovered in the course of the research and are noteworthy. Multicultural issues occurred regularly in the participants student affairs work. Staff meetings seemed to be a forum for some participants to engage in multicultural discussions. Each participant had their own story to tell regarding their multicultural journey. Most supervisors reported no training in the area of supervision. Finally, participants also suggested that institutional expectations around supervision were fragmented and unclear and the evaluation process for staff was troublesome.
Rights
© 2009, K. Sean McGreevey, Jr.
Recommended Citation
McGreevey, K. S.(2009). Infusing Multicultural Competence in Supervision: Current Practices for Student Affairs. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/8584