Educational Leadership Theory Essay

Introduction

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

The Great Man theory postulated that great leaders are born not made. This theory attempted to identify the set of attributes that all natural born leaders have in common. There is indeed truth to the belief that some people inherently have more leadership gifts than others, however, it has now become clear that leadership is actually learnable. This perception birthed the trait theory of leadership that examines which individual characteristics should be pursued to lead effectively. The premise of this concept is if you possess certain traits and attributes people will follow you. The weakness of this theory is that it identified dozens of traits but no single set emerged as ideal for all circumstances. Closely related is the skills theory of leadership, as in trait theory it attempts to identify a key set of attributes but in this case practical skills rather than staple qualities of a leader. The premise of the skills theory is that if you want people to follow you, you need technical, conceptual, and persuasive skills along with diplomacy, affability and visionary acuity to see the big picture and to think strategically (Day, Fleenor, Atwater, et al, 2014). Next, there is the Situational Leadership theory which argues that there is no one size fits all model. Certain traits, skills, and styles fit better in one situation than another so a leader must adapt. Transactional leadership and transformational leadership are two theories that can be considered together. Transactional Leadership proposes there is a reciprocity of behavior between the leader and follower and people will follow based on the incentives in place. Therefore, the leader’s job is to find the right combination of rewards and