2.1.1 Leadership Defined There has been and will continue to be strong disagreement over the elusive definition of leadership, along with debates about different personal qualities that specifically frame school leadership. Leadership is often defined in general terms, such as Dwight D. Eisenhower’s definition points to “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it” (Harari, 2002). This is comparable to the prominent Christian author and motivational speaker John Maxwell, who describes leadership as “Influencing people, nothing more, and nothing less.”
2.1.2 Leadership from the Literature Leadership described by Goleman (2000) is that the skill of urging, not governing, people to work
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There are many researchers who tried to remove this misunderstanding. According to Covey (2000), “Leadership is not management” (p. 101). He concluded that anyone could become a leader given a focused passion and purpose. This confusion between leadership and management has existed for decades and makes defining leadership even more difficult if not impossible. Sergiovanni (1994) described management as the basic requirement for all organizations that want to function properly and maintain support from those who are expecting results from them. He went on to state that school principals must be effective as managers if they are to produce a well-run school than the principals should not be usually engage in the formative process of vision. Others have stated that the process of vision is a skill of leadership.
Hersey and Blanchard (1993) defined leadership as the process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in the effort toward goal achievements in any given situation. Shtogren (1999) said that good leadership is defined by the achievement of intended change in both the organizations the leaders work in and the people who work there. The leader must be competent to work toward and accomplish changes in the workplace and have the capacity for creating different systems and perhaps different people to meet the objectives of leadership and
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It has been said that the principal should be the instructional leader of the school if he is to sustain innovation and improve student achievement (Fullan, 2002). Instructional leadership, like leadership in general, is hard to define and too often presumed to be understood. Instructional leadership is a term often used in the context of principals as instructional leaders within their schools (Krug, 1992; Witziers, 2003). Krug (1992) provided five key components of instructional leadership: defining mission, managing curriculum and instruction, supervising teaching, monitoring student progress, and promoting instructional climate. Each component remains elusive, because the definitions of those ideas change according to circumstances or school setting. Instructional leadership is one idea among many concepts of school leadership that are prescribed as necessary but are still ambiguous. Elmore (2004) said that instructional leadership is the Holy Grail of educational administration. Because the actual Holy Grail is probably no more than a myth, this should be of great concern to the thousands of individuals who want to become instructional leaders. That pursuit may also be
Leadership is the ability to influence employees to voluntarily pursue organizational goals. Leadership is vision, enthusiasm, love, trust, passion and consistency. Management is to pursue organizational goals efficiently and effectively by integrating the work of people through planning, organizing, leading, and controlling organizations resources. Leadership and management are not the same. They are not interchangeable. Leadership is coping with change and management is coping with complexity (Williams 444).
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).
Management is defined as the act or manner of managing, handling, direction, or control (dictionary.com). Leadership is defined as an act or instance of leading; guidance; direction (dictionary.com). They do not mean the same thing; however, it is thought that a manager should have leadership skills to be able to manage an organization. Not all managers have great leadership skills and just because a manager does not have these skills does not mean he or she is a bad manager.
According to Blase, Blase, and Phillips (2010) educational leaders in high preforming schools effectively balance administrative and instructional leadership and provide stability, predictability and support. The current paradigm of educational leadership is management of facility, budget, school safety, and student discipline. Administrators must place more emphasis on methods to balance the responsibility of instructional leadership. It will require effective leadership characterized by their ability to redesign their schools into an effective organization. This can be done by a leader’s willingness to take risk. Risk taking would involve the leaders’ commitment to work collaboratively with teachers to set school wide and classroom goals suited to meet the unique needs of the students. It would require educational leaders to refuse to adopt a manufactured educational program but to make a commitment to their students and teachers to create a learning environment that is unique and relevant. Educational leaders would evaluate teachers on the effectiveness of their instructional practices. Each teacher would be held accountable for data that supports the need for goals developed for their classroom and methods used to track progress, use of instructional strategies, how assessment will be incorporated to drive instruction and monitor learning, and the effective use of assessment
The last issue to address is leadership. This role is challenging, but with commitment and determination it can be done. Strategies that I can take to encourage great leadership is to first build trust and confidence by fulfilling the school’s mission, vision, policy, and working environment (Drexler, 2007) on a daily basis. To be involved in school activities, in the classroom, at PTO meetings, and community affiliations will establish strong leadership skills. Providing valuable feedback, strategically planning to improve the school, and encouraging community support are other strategies that can be used to enhance leadership.
What is management? Management is a position of authority. Management says what need to get done and supplies the material to get it done. Management tends to be the more educated than the experienced. Managers can be trained to hold a position. Management is a position of leadership. Can leadership and management be the same? Leadership and management are not the same. Anyone can be a manager and not have any followers. Being able to manage is knowing the aspects of a mission. A leader knows the aspects, has the knowledge and the skills to accomplish the mission. But leadership and management work hand in hand with each other. The management sets the stage and the leadership makes it happen. Leadership is a human relationship process. No scientific method can be used for testing leadership. Leadership is based on human factors and no two humans are the same.
“Effective school leadership is transcended through qualities that enable an individual to step to the forefront of a situation and take command by overseeing, delegating, and providing guidance.” P.3. An Educational Leadership Philosophy for School Leaders, by Derrick Meador 12/07/17. A good attitude goes a long way in promoting success and effecting how a school is run.
Thomas Sergiovanni (2015) describes three essential dimensions of leadership as “the heart, head, and hand of leadership.” The heart describes those characteristics within the school leader that reflect personal “beliefs, values, and dreams.” The head of leadership refers to the practice of teaching and educating. The hand of leadership reflects actions taken by school leaders with respect to management behaviors. (p. 5) Within these elements, there is room for personal choice in how leadership is practiced and it is incumbent on new principals to find an individual leadership style that responds to the uniqueness of each school.
My leadership model would keep quality education and its goal as the universal, underlying focus or vision much like the Instructional Leadership Model. Similarly, capable and motivated educators would be sought, curriculum and instruction would be reviewed for effectiveness, training or additional support would be given to develop teachers’ abilities and appropriate, relevant textbooks and supplies would be provided. However, one key departure from the Instructional Leadership Model is th...
Leadership and management have several meanings and mean something different to everyone. Leadership has been defined similarly to management from time to time and can be defined by every individual
Leadership and management are two words that are commonly mistaken; the relation and the differences between them are often unclear. Leadership can be defined as the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or a set of goals." Managers are there to plan, organize, lead and monitor employees' activities. Leaders also have to be able to guide an organization through change. As we will see later, vision is a crucial component in the success of this task.
York-Barr, J. & K. Duke (2004) what do we know about teacher leadership? Findings from two decades of scholarship. Review of educational research 74(3), 255-316.
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.
The role of teacher leader has been defined as “teachers who aspire to stretch beyond their classrooms to engage in leadership roles that take many shapes and forms, both “informal and formal”. (ECS, 2010). Teacher leadership has also been described as “the process by which teachers, individually and collectively, influence their colleagues, principals, and other members of the school community to improve learning practices with the aim of increased student learning and achievement.” (ECS, 2010). In years past, a majority of teacher leadership roles took the form of department chair, committee chair, grade level chair, etc. It was more of a representative role versus a leadership role. Their responsibility primarily involved dispersing information from administration to their counterparts and taking information back to administration from the group. Their position lacked decision-making power and true leadership that brings about “real” change. These tasks are still viewed as opportunities for teacher leadership; however, recently, the
As mentioned before, leadership styles take an important role in running a school. Unfortunately, many principals have not yet defined their leadership style and struggle to administrate their school. They are responsible not only of teachers and students, but of every employee in the school. They have the power to control all the resources available to improve and meet academic goals. Despite their power, principals need to identify appropriate leadership styles to succeed as