According to noted American writer and scholar Peter Drucker “management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things” (Flagello 2009, p.127). There in lies the difference, management is about implementation and leadership is about deciding which course of action to take. Leadership is about the ability to influence, motivate, and stimulate those you lead while considering their input and the objective (Bass 1985). However, just as it is with management, leadership is affected by both the situation and resources presented. The ability to lead is the culmination of a set of skills and abilities, which are acquired and developed over time through experience as long as there is sufficient motivation and desire (Kouzes and Posner, 2008). Two other critical factors are necessary in leadership; they are role models and coaching. Through these two factors, it is clear that a student of leadership can be melded by their observational and practical experiences of other leaders who serve as their mentors. Management is seen as a set of skills and abilities that are learnt, while leadership is seen as a set of innate personal characteristics (Kouzes and Posner, 2008). These personal characteristics of leadership are a reflection of the situations the leader finds themselves in and forms the basis of their own self-awareness and effort to become leaders (Kouzes and Posner, 2008). The leader must be willing to be adaptable to the situations and willing to undertake the responsibility to lead.
As a leader it is necessary to have a multitude of skills, none are exclusive but in particular the ability to communicate and collaborate are two of the key requirements for effective educational administration ( Harris 2009, p.8). It ...
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...ndom House, New York.
Leithwood & Jantzi 2005, p. 183
A Review of Transformational School
Leadership Research 1996–2005
AK eRnenveitehw L oeift hTwraonosdfo armnda tDioonrails LJeanadtzeirship KENNETH LEITHWOOD and DORIS JANTZI
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto
Leithwood, Kenneth and Jantzi, Doris(2005) 'A Review of Transformational School Leadership
Research 1996-2005', Leadership and Policy in Schools, 4: 3, 177 — 199
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15700760500244769
Kouzes, J & Posner, B 2008, The leadership challenge, 4th edn, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Silins, H 1994, ‘The relationship between transformational and transactional leadership and school improvement outcomes’, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, vol. 5, no. 3, viewed 17 April 2011, .
I had the pleasure of being able to shadow Superintendent Shirley Hall of the Maplewood School District. Ms. Hall took the reins of the district over in 2012 from a very popular superintendent who was credited with making great strides within the district. Although Ms. Hall had very large shoes to fill, she seems to be doing it with grace and enthusiasm. She credits the previous superintendent with making systemic changes and establishing the overall forward momentum of the district, but recognizes that she cannot rest on past success. Her goal is to take the district to the next level of educational excellence by focusing her and her administrative team's efforts on the P.E.L.P. coherence model from Harvard University. This model focuses the leadership's attention on the interdependence of the various aspects of their school district and how they reinforce one another to support the implementation of an improvement strategy. One of Ms. Hall's mantras was change, but not just for change sake, deep change for sustained improvement. Therefore, although Ms. Hall's predecessor was able to put the district on the right path, Ms. Hall has taken the baton and run with it; establishing her own style and path to excellence.
Standard 1 of the Florida Principal Leadership Standards (2011) describe the priority of the school leader as, “effective school leaders demonstrate that the student learning is their top priority through leadership actions that build and support a learning organization focus on student success”. Our number one priority and focus is and always should be our students. They are the reason behind our professions. It is the faculty the ones who should be supported by the administrators. The leaders should celebrate their success, encourage them, support their assertive instructional decisions, and motivate them each day to create the right conditions for learning. The principals must plan to project growth the most accurate possible, employing all the help that they could get for this challenging task. Students should not be affected because qualified teachers are not available. Strategic schools use the resources at had to relocate, and alleviate the human resources problems.
Leading organizations of school administrators offer educators various opportunities to encourage educators to become leaders. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has mandated that leaders be better prepared for the task of providing quality education to all. NCLB “… is forcing all educational stakeholders to face the weakness of contemporary school leadership and is making it impossible to ignore the need for higher quality principals” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). It is believed that all educators can be and are leaders in their own right. A leader is a visionary and has the ability to inspire others to aspire to greatness. Of the numerous opportunities that are offered, those that are most beneficial include but are not limited to leadership training programs, professional development, and creating shared leadership opportunities for teachers to become leaders. The systems “…that produce our nation’s principals are complex and interrelated – and governed by the states. Each state establishes licensing, certification and re-certification” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). States use the ISLLC standards “…as the framework for preparation programs and in service professional development of school superintendents, principals, and other leaders” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.3).
Frank, V. V. (2009, September). Framework for Improvement: Effective School Leadership Translates into Increased Student Learning. The Learning Principal: National Staff Development Council , pp. 2, 6-7.
The systematic and scholarly study of leadership consumed much of the twentieth century and continues to remain a vital topic of discussion today. Theories abound as to what makes one a good leader and, despite the continued efforts of many, no single operable expression of the meaning of leadership exists. In an attempt to address this issue James Kotterman wrote, “Leadership Versus Management: What’s the Difference.” The following review shall briefly summarize Kotterman’s article and follow with conclusions based on the experiences of this author.
Two years ago School District 74 organized a series of leadership workshops designed to strengthen the leadership performance of school administration and teaching staff. Participants were encouraged to think of themselves as leaders and to identify situations in which they were or could be leaders. The idea seemed to be not only that our school system will be improved through the development of strong leadership (on its own an important recognition), but also that anyone (and everyone) can be a leader in his or her own position within the system. This is a ridiculous idea. If leadership is approached as the only label that designates personal merit or importance, then the implication is that followers are less capable, less thoughtful and less important than leaders. If everyone is a leader, then the idea of leadership quickly loses its meaning; leadership implies followership, and without followers leaders could never lead effectively. Past emphasis on leadership has largely ignored the reciprocal relationship between leadership and followership. The purpose of this paper is to briefly discuss followership, and to acknowledge its importance to organizations, especially school systems.
Generating momentum for change can be innovative or challenging. The Change Leadership Group believes the successful leadership of transformational improvement process in schools and districts require sharpening capacities in two quite different directions at the same time:
‘Leadership’ and ‘Management’ are two commonly using words in nowadays organizations. The essential and integral part of productive management is leadership. Effective leadership is crucial to an organization’s success. Leaders can take a quantity of different steps to help keep projects from failing. The main and highly important focus of the leader is to make things happen. According to Griffin (2008), ‘Leadership, as a process, the use of non coercive influence to shape the group’s or organization’s goals, motivate behaviour toward the achievement of those goals, and help define group or organizational culture; as a property, the set of characteristics attributed to individuals who are perceived to be leaders’. Equally as management, that
Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.
Presently many of us have learned that managers are primarily administrators who have learned to write business plans, utilize their resources and keep track of progress. We must learn that we are not limited by job title, and that means we can utilize our management skills in any position that we are in. We must also know that we can use our leadership skills in the same situations. On the other hand we have also learned that leaders are people who have an impact on those that surround them. The main difference that separates these two roles is that management is a function that must be utilized in any type of business, and leadership is the relationship that the leader has with his followers, which in turn can motivate and energize the organization.
With the passage of NCLB, many school reform efforts have been initiated using top-down model in which each school leaders have been charged with initiating bold administrative changes to address the legislation. With the number of leadership theories and models, researchers have become interested in studying those to determine which might bring forth the most significant results for leading such change. Due to the lack of highly qualified administrators and the increasing demands for administrators, Bush, O’Brien & Spangler (2005) studied a program, the Southern Tier Leadership Academy, a collaborative of the New York Education Department. The study included three separate cohorts who completed an eight month program. Whereas, Somech (2005) chose to investigate directive and participative leadership approaches, and which would more significantly impact school effectiveness. Perhaps Somech’s reflect Scherer’s (2009, p.7) understandings as described in Educational Leadership, ‘broom-wielding leadership can indeed be beneficial’ as is putting advocates into positions of power and influence and building teams, both of which are seemingly contrasting opposites.
In building leadership capacity it is important to ensure that there is broad-based skillful participation. We want the students, parents, community, and staff to be participants. This is important because it allows for staff to take responsibility for the growth and development for not only themselves but for their peers in doing the work of leadership. It is helpful to have the community working together towards the common goal as opposed to ...
What does leadership mean in the context of educational leadership? Many definitions of leadership in education co-exist, attesting to the complexity and multi-faceted phenomena of the concept (Elwell & Elikofer, 2013). Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood organizational and psychological areas of study. Despite volumes of research and numerous theories, no one theory of leadership emerged as the sole predictor of the success of educational leaders. The current body of knowledge about leadership consists of narrow definitions of leader effectiveness that are disconnected from their context (Latham, 2014). Educational leadership influences and affects every dimension of the educational process from the
Leadership and management are two fundamental concepts which are involved in the effective management of organizations. Leadership in my opinion is a complex concept, which includes association of human qualities and the result of their activities. To be a great leader means not only following own visions, but also work towards company’s goals.
Education is a very important aspect in the life of a child. The level of success a student has in the classroom is greatly influenced by their teachers. Students, as well as their parents, depend on the teachers to guide them through their education. But who guides a teacher to perform successfully in the classroom? Principals and teachers play an important role in schools. A good relationship among school leaders and teachers is necessary and play an important role in making improvements in the school. Leadership refers to the “process in which one person successfully exerts influence over others to reach desired objectives”. (Okoji, 2015) Good leadership involves honesty, vision, confidence and commitment. It is the ability to inspire a