Abstract
Leading and managing institutions of higher learning the world over, has not only become a
mammoth task, but also a very competitive and challenging exercise. The practice of ranking
universities has given rise to huge investments in their core functions and activities. Teaching
and learning has in most cases been regarded as the core strategic objective of higher
educational institutions ahead of research and innovation; community engagement and
leadership and administration. The role of leadership and management towards the success of
other strategic objectives particularly teaching and research; has not been researched and
documented exhaustively. This article discusses the impact of leadership and management
styles on academic performance using the faculty of engineering and the built environment
(FEBE) within the University of Johannesburg as the case study. The work used a qualitative
research approach to collect data from university documents, online platforms and semistructured
interviews. Content analysis was used to derive meaning from the data. Research
findings revealed a neat blending of traditional leadership and management styles with
innovative and transformative approaches to achieve outstanding outcomes in both teaching
and research and innovation within the faculty. The article concludes by acknowledging the
critical role of leadership and management in institutions of higher learning and ends by
recommending the adoption of blended leadership styles that are more skewed towards
transformative leadership styles.