Management and Leadership Chapter 11

1. COURSENOTES
COURSE TITLE: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
COURSE CODE: EPB2033
PREPARED BY: TENGKU NOORAINUN TENGKU SHAHDAN

2. COURSE: EPB2033: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
FACULTY: EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
TOPIC 11: Leadership in Schools
(Textbook Chapter 12)
11.0 Introduction
This topic will explain leaders and leadership are important. The topic also covers the basic
assumptions for leadership. Learners should be able to give example of: (a) definition of
leadership; (b) traits, and skills of leaders. At the end of this topic, learners should be able to
explain the critical situational factors in educational leadership are environment, leader roles,
nature of subordinates, and characteristics of the organization.
11.0.1 Overview
Leaders stress adaptive change and getting people to agree about what needs to be
accomplished. Leadership broadly defined as: a social process in which a member or
members of a group influence the interpretation of events, choice of goals/outcomes,
organization of work activities, motivation, abilities, power relations, and shared
orientations. As a social influence process and a specialized role, leadership is
comprised of both rational and emotional elements.
Leaders and leadership are important because they serve as anchors, provide guidance
in times of change, and are responsible for effectiveness of organizations.
Personality, motivation, and skill factors appear to be systematically related to
leadership in schools.
11.1 Key Contents
11.1.1 Definition of Leadership
• Bennis (1989) considered leadership is like beauty, it is hard to define, but we
know when we see it.
• Martin M. Chemers (1997) stated that leadership is a process of social influence
in which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in
accomplishment of common task.
• Katz and Kahn (1978) identify three major components of leadership 1) an
attribute of an office or position, 2) characteristic of a person, and 3) a category of
actual behaviour.
• Rodney T. Ogawa and Steven T. Bossert (1995) stated that leadership is a quality
of school organizations, which flows broadly through social networks and roles.
• Mark A. Smylie and Ann W. Hart (1999) support for leadership as an
organizational property of school.
• Finally, traditional definitions of leadership tend to emphasize rational processes
in which leaders influence followers to believe that it is in their best interest to
cooperate and achieve shared task goals.
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3. COURSE: EPB2033: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
FACULTY: EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
11.1.2 Trait, Skills, and Leadership
Three sets of characteristics such as personality, motivational, and skills very much
important, that are related to leadership effectiveness. Aristotle thought that
individuals are born with characteristics that would make them leaders. Bass (1990)
observes that early in 20th
century, leaders were generally regarded as superior who,
because of fortunate inheritance or social circumstance, possessed qualities and
abilities that differentiated them from people in general.
Early Trait Research
Ralph M. Stogdill (1984) reviewed 124 trait studies of leadership that were
completed between 1904 and 1947. He classified the personal factors associated
with leadership in the following five general categories;
i) Capacity - intelligence, alertness, verbal facility, originality, judgment.
ii) Achievement- scholarship, knowledge, athletic accomplishments.
iii) Responsibility – initiative, persistence, aggressiveness, self-confidence,
desire to excel
iv) Participation – activity, cooperation, adaptability, humour.
v) Status – socioeconomic position, popularity.
a) Personality Traits
According to Yukl (2002), personality traits are relatively stable dispositions to
behave in a particular way. Five particularly important;
i) Self-confident leaders are more likely to set high goals for themselves and
their followers.
ii) Stress-tolerant leaders are likely to make good decisions, to stay calm,
and to provide decisive direction to subordinates in difficult situations.
iii) Emotionally mature leaders tend to have an accurate awareness of their
strengths and weaknesses and to be oriented toward self-improvement.
iv) Integrity means that the behaviours of leaders are consistent with their
stated values and that they are honest, ethical, responsible, and
trustworthy.
v) Extroversion or being outgoing, sociable, and comfortable in groups.
b) Motivational Traits
Motivation is a set of energetic forces that originate both within as well as beyond
an individual to initiate work-related behaviour. Append herewith five
motivational traits are especially critical for leaders;
i) Task and interpersonal needs are two underlying dispositions that
motivate effective leaders.
ii) Power needs refer to motives of individuals to seek positions of authority
and to exercise influence over others.
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4. COURSE: EPB2033: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
FACULTY: EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
iii) Achievement orientation includes a need to achieve, desire to excel,
drive to succeed, willingness to assume responsibility and a concern for
task objectives.
iv) High expectations for success of school administrators refer to their belief
that they can do the job.
v) Self-efficacy, the belief in one’s ability to organize and carry out a course
of action, is related to leader performance and transformational leadership
(Bass and Riggio, 2006)
c) Skills
An important but often neglected component of educational leadership is the
skills to compete a job. Yulk (2002) and Northouse (2004) discuss three
particularly important categories of skills associated with leader effectiveness:
technical, interpersonal, and conceptual.
i) Technical skills mean having specialized knowledge about and being
adapt at a specific type of work, activity, and procedure.
ii) Interpersonal skills encompass an understanding of feelings and attitudes
of others and knowing how to work with people in individual and
cooperative work relationships.
iii) Conceptual or cognitive skills involve the abilities to form and work with
concepts, to think logically, and to reason analytically. Meaning help
leaders develop and use ideas to analyze, organize and solve complex
problems.
11.1.3 Three Types of Leadership
• Laissez-faire Leadership
Leaders avoid expressing their views or taking action on important issues, fail
to make or at least delay decisions, ignore responsibilities, provide no
feedback, and allow authority to remain not active.
• Transactional Leadership
Leaders who motivate followers by exchanging rewards for services for
example, a principal provides new instructional materials or increased
planning time to teachers so they can institute a new curricular program.
• Transformational Leadership
Transformational leadership is an expansion of transactional leadership that
goes beyond simple exchanges and agreements. Transformational leaders are
proactive, raise the awareness levels of followers about inspirational collective
interests, and help followers achieve unusually high performance outcome.
 Idealized influence builds trust and respect in followers
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5. COURSE: EPB2033: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
FACULTY: EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
 Inspirational motivation changes the expectations of group members
to believe that the organization’s problems can be solved (Atwater and
Bass, 1994)
 Intellectual stimulation addresses the problem of creativity (Atwater
and Bass, 1994)
 Individualized consideration means that transformational leaders pay
particular attention to each individual’s needs for achievement and
growth.
11.1.4 Path-Goal theory of leadership
Defined and redefined by House (1971, 1973, 1996) and House and Mitchell (1974).
Core assumption: followers will be motivated if they feel capable of doing the work,
they believe efforts will produce desired outcomes, and rewards will be worthwhile.
Leaders complement task environments, subordinates’ abilities, and compensate for
deficiencies
Five basic leader behaviors related to situational factors
• Path-goal clarifying behaviors: make subordinates’ needs and preferences
contingent on effective performance. When task demands are satisfying but
ambiguous, path-goal clarifying behaviors will motivate.
• Achievement-oriented leader behavior: encourage excellent performance,
set challenging goals, seek improvements, and show confidence. Will be
effective when subordinates have individual responsibility and control over
work.
• Supportive leader behavior: show concern for welfare, create
psychologically supportive environment, and consider subordinates’ needs
and preferences. Will be most necessary when situation is dangerous,
monotonous, stressful, frustrating. Will have limited effect when tasks are
intrinsically satisfying or situation is not stressful.
• Value-based leader behavior: appeal to followers’ values, enhance self-
efficacy, and tie self-worth to contributing to leader’s mission. Define the
vision for the group and support with symbolic behaviors. Will produce
intergroup conflict when values in the leaders vision conflict with dominant
coalition or prevailing culture.
• Shared leadership: share leader behaviors with members of the work group.
Will enhance cohesiveness and performance when work is interdependent
within the work unit.
11.2 Administrator or Leader?
Administrator: emphasizes stability and efficiency. Plan and budget, organize and staff,
and control and solve problems. Structured observation studies reveal similar
characteristics of administrative jobs across countries and organizational settings:
• School administrators work long hours at a physically exhausting pace.
• School leaders rely on verbal media, and spend much time walking through
the building and talking to individuals and groups.
• Administration requires the ability to change gears and tasks frequently.
• Span of concentration for school administrators is short—the job is
fragmented and discontinuity is prevalent.
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6. COURSE: EPB2033: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
FACULTY: EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Leader: emphasizes adaptive change, consensus building. Establish direction, align
people, motivate and inspire.
Both terms refer to individuals who occupy positions in which they are expected to exert
leadership for subordinates or followers.
11.3 Summary
Leadership in schools is a complex and ambiguous process. It involves more than mastering
a set of skills; find the right situation and exhibiting a certain style of behaviour.
11.4 Tutorial Activities
11.4.1 Activity 1
Analyze of transformational leadership in your school organization. Think of a
principal or other leader with whom you have worked. Describe the individual using
the factors of transformational leadership and how followers reacted.
11.5 REFERENCES
Wayne K. H, & Cecil G. M. (2008). Educational Administration: Theory, Research, and
Practice. Eight Edition -International Edition. New York: McGraw – Hill Companies.
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Date: 18/03/2011
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7. COURSE: EPB2033: MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION
FACULTY: EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Leader: emphasizes adaptive change, consensus building. Establish direction, align
people, motivate and inspire.
Both terms refer to individuals who occupy positions in which they are expected to exert
leadership for subordinates or followers.
11.3 Summary
Leadership in schools is a complex and ambiguous process. It involves more than mastering
a set of skills; find the right situation and exhibiting a certain style of behaviour.
11.4 Tutorial Activities
11.4.1 Activity 1
Analyze of transformational leadership in your school organization. Think of a
principal or other leader with whom you have worked. Describe the individual using
the factors of transformational leadership and how followers reacted.
11.5 REFERENCES
Wayne K. H, & Cecil G. M. (2008). Educational Administration: Theory, Research, and
Practice. Eight Edition -International Edition. New York: McGraw – Hill Companies.
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Date: 18/03/2011
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