Leadership Theories Free Essays

Abstract Throughout the history of education, leaders have used many different styles to lead faculty and staff. Leadership within the educational system has evolved over the years to become a more participative rather than a domineering style. The purpose of the paper is to explore in detail educational leadership theories. We will write a custom essay sample on Leadership Theories or any similar topic only for you Order Now Educational Leadership Theories Leaders are not born; however, they do have natural traits that affect their abilities. In recent years, Educational accountability has been the focus of state and local governments. Federal and state achievement standards are being created for students as well as educational leaders. Now more than ever school districts are under pressure to increase student achievement. Leaders are being asked to provide specific documentation that student performance is part of the goal and mission of the schools. Educational leaders are being held accountable for the processes they establish as well as the success of their faculty and students. They are being required to implement strategies for measuring and reporting student outcomes and connecting those outcomes to the performance of teachers and schools. How a leader successfully runs a school directly impacts how successful students can be, this is second only to classroom instruction. Leadership entwines leaders’ faculty and staff and their influence, organizational objectives, change and people. Everyone is leading someone somewhere, but the question is where and how. In order to be a good leader one must be a good employee. Many scholars define leadership as one who plans, directs, or guides people toward a mutual goal. Leadership has been described as an influence relationship among leaders and staff who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes. The basis for good leadership is a respectable personality and unselfish service to employees and the organization. The best leaders are those who are deeply interested in others and can bring out the best in them. Great leadership begins by modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act and encouraging hearts. In order for one to favor a leadership style, one must understand where the leadership styles originated. However, one may wonder if certain characteristics or traits are inherent in leaders. According to research, the 1940’s found that leaders maintain certain traits. These traits were based on physical and personality characteristics as well as intelligence and interpersonal skills (Sahin, 2004). The limitations of trait theory are that leaders cannot be developed through their skills and education (Sahin, 2004). Directive Leadership This style of leadership is considered job-centered. The job-centered (task-initiating structure) behavior focuses on the leader taking control in order to get the job done quickly. It relies heavily on faculty and staff taking orders from the leader instead of the leader offering much clarification or dialogue faculty and staff are inspired through threat of correction and reprimand. The directive leadership style offers several advantages: swiftness of task completion keeps group members from producing alternatives that influence the minority negatively, guarantees the leader is heard and informs staff when their conduct is undesirable. The disadvantages of the directive leadership style are: dissociates staff, non-development of employees and convenience. One might use this style of leadership when the faculty or staff is in danger of not accomplishing a task in a timely manner or in a crisis situation. Laissez-Faire Leadership The Laissezz-Faire leadership style places an emphasis on the staff centered attribute. Leaders who use this style fail their staff because they offer no positive or negative direction nor do they interfere at any time. Laissezz-Faire leaders renounce their leadership, giving staff a wide spectrum of decision-making which could lead to amplifying their power and influence. Leaders assume the staff will make decisions in a timely manner and handle whatever problems that arise. There are some advantages and disadvantages of using this style of leadership. It allows the staff members to develop a working relationship in an informal setting and generates an opportunity to be successful by making their own decisions. On the other hand, a staff member can dominate and take control which could lead the staff to make incorrect decisions and possibly have the staff reprimanded which would lead to negativity within the group; affecting the process and their motivation. Participative (Democratic) Leadership Participative leadership requires and encourages participation from everyone and shares decision-making for the betterment of the organization. Staff motivation is derived through obtaining self-image awards. Leaders reward staff through positive evaluations which in turn increases motivation and morale. There are some advantages and disadvantages to using this style of leadership. Leaders who allow employees to participate in decision-making showed improvement in relations and encouraged employee commitment. Coaching Leadership Coaching theories of leadership assert that people will follow leaders who are inspirational. The leader will develop a working relationship such as teacher/mentor. The overall success of the organization depends on whether the mentor has the knowledge to strengthen the work relationship and create an environment where the mentee feels as though they are respected and valued. Coaching leaders are known to establish performance specifications and make sure they are accomplished by a given deadline, limit the contentment of employees and create a low amount of employee commitment. Collaborative Leadership The affilitative leader has the ability to motivate staff to surpass their own individual aspirations for the greater good of the district. The affilitative leader is a morally responsible person who focuses on developing the moral maturity, values, and standards of his or her staff and strengthening their devotion to serve the well-being of others, their school, the district and the community. This leader is one who conveys a vision to inspire others sets long-term goals and emphasizes social and interpersonal skills. These leaders must possess high self-esteem, self-regard and self-awareness to effectively transform organizations and employees. Leaders with these attributes are highly admired, respected, trusted, and have a high level of self-confidence, self-esteem, and self- determination. They are usually regarded as role models and demonstrate high standards of ethical and moral conduct. There are pros and cons in using the affilitative leadership style. These leaders place an emphasis on team building, and empowering and developing potential in order to reach long-term goals. An Affilitative leader create and encourage a collaborative learning environment, improve morale, embraces accountability and conflict resolution, proactive towards change management, ignites communication and supports empowerment. These leaders also facilitate staff toward motivation and being involved in the vision they produce. Collaborative leadership is leadership shown by acting together to solve issues. It uses supportive and inclusive methods to ensure that all people affected by a decision are part of the change process. It requires a new notion of power†¦ he more power we share, the more power we have to use. The district that I am proud to be a part of has a variety of leadership styles. The leaders in the district are a compilation of Participative (Democratic), Coaching and Collaborative Leadership styles. However, this has proven to be effective at all 11 buildings within the district. My elementary building has seen drastic changed to the administration within the last 6 years. Finally, with a new superintendent as well as a new principal, the morale of the faculty and students far exceeds our expectations. References Council of Chief State School Officers. (2008). Educational leadership policy standards: ISLLC Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium. Washington, DC. Retrieved October 30, 2010, from www. npbea. org/pdf/ISLLC/PRessRelease. pdf Mitchell, Douglas E. , and Sharon Tucker. â€Å"Leadership as a Way of Thinking. † EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP 49, 5 (February 1992): 30-35. EJ 439 281. Retrieved November 1, 2010. From www. vtaide. com/png/ERIC/Transformational-Leadership. htm O’Leary R. , Bingham L. , Choi Y. Teaching Collaborative Leadership: Ideas and Lessons for the Field. Journal of Public Affairs Education. 16(4), 565-592. Retrieved November 1, 2010 from www. naspaa. org/jpaemessenger/Article/vol16-/05_16n04_OLearyBinghamChoi. pdf Sahin, S. (2004). The Relationship between Transformational and Transactional Leadership Styles of School Principals and School Culture (The case of Izmir, Turkey). Educational Sciences: Theory Practice, 4(2), 387-395. Retrieved Oc tober 30, 2010. from www. fedu. uaeu. ac. ae/Journal/PDF23/issue23-artical9. pdf How to cite Leadership Theories, Papers Leadership Theories Free Essays There are many theories of leadership applied in early childhood educational settings, some more appropriate than others.   This essay outlines the transformational theory of leadership justifying why it is appropriate to use in educational settings and discussing issues including what impact the application of the transformational theory of leadership will have on children and staff.   Ã‚  The paper refers to management and leadership and to recent peer-reviewed journal articles and published research in order to discuss transformational leadership. We will write a custom essay sample on Leadership Theories or any similar topic only for you Order Now In â€Å"Transformational Leadership† (2000) Dr John Hinchcliff states that the word transformation itself means to make a difference.   He says that this all means that our approach to dilemmas requires that we encourage ourselves to learn to see things in different ways. We must learn new ways of thinking to solve new problems. Einstein said: â€Å"We will not use the same thinking to solve the problem that we used to create the problem.†Ã‚   Therefore an outline of Transformational Leadership in education is that leaders must make a difference, and that the current problems in education can’t be solved by using age old methods – change is required. Leaders recognize that organizations must continually adapt to meet changing needs and circumstance. The astute leader will anticipate and see opportunities for change instead of sticking to a situation that no longer works. (Humphries and Senden, 2000).   This is why it is the appropriate theory to use in educational settings, particularly in Australian education. Australian Early Childhood Education Settings cater for children from six weeks until eight years of age and encompass childcare centres, preschool and primary school environments.   Leadership in educational settings is a crowded and busy terrain (Gunter, 2001).   What effects flow from quality leadership, such as staff retention, to quality child care and what impacts do these have on children, parents, staff and the wider community? The use of transformational leadership in the field of childcare would greatly assist in the reduction of staff turnover. Turnover contributes to poor-quality services for children and families, and can have serious deleterious effects on children’s development and adjustment.   Hale-Jincks, Knopf and Kempl, 2006, state this in their publication â€Å"Tackling Teacher Turnover in Childcare: Understanding Causes and Consequences, identifying solutions†.   The article likens the impact of teacher turnover on children to that of divorce, and states that effects on children are very detrimental. Hale-Jincks, Knopf and Kempl go on to recommend the following or leadership transformations: Enhance administrative support, effective communication, match caregivers to desired teaching assignments, staff rooms equipped with comfortable furniture and entertainment and increasing caregiver compensation programs.   Other interventions are also appropriate. Child care workers should have opportunities to move up the career ladder and should have chance to increase training –   leaders should make this more accessible. (Hale-Jincks, Knopf and Kempl, 2006). The transformational leader would make training easily accessible to his staff, in the knowledge that the better trained the staff member is, the better impact that staff member would have upon children and parents. To enhance the quality of child care and to reduce rates of teacher turnover, caregivers need an educational background that will prepare them for the challenges of working in an early childhood setting. Evidence researched by Scarr and Eisenberg suggests that college level training courses are particularly helpful in providing a training experience related to high-quality interactions which is something that should be borne in mind by leaders wishing to enhance the learning experience of their children. In order for learners to obtain the full benefit of transformational leadership other aspects of child care are equally as important – the number of children enrolled in nonparental child care has increased in the last two decades, so has the emphasis on child care quality in the research literature (Scarr Eisenberg, 1993). Research results have demonstrated the strong association between high-quality child care and better developmental outcomes for children. For the best outcomes it is important to keep the number of children in classes small.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lower teacher-child ratios, smaller group size, and more teacher education are factors that are closely related to positive teacher behaviours which would enhance the experiences of children and parents.   (Shim, Hestenes and Cassidy, 2004). It is therefore of utmost importance that once a quality teacher has been employed by an educational institution, he or she is kept happy in order to reduce staff turnover and therefore lessen stressful impact upon all concerned. These measures would ensure that by the time a child has completed the childcare phase and is ready to enter junior primary, he or she would be optimally primed to benefit from the opportunities transformational leadership offers there. Children in junior primary can also benefit extensively from the theory of transformational leadership in education, although the issue is not as clear cut as it appears to be with childcare – Barnett, McCormick and Conners conducted a study detailing the relationship between the transformational and transactional leadership behaviours of school principals in some New South Wales schools. They introduce the study by stating that schools continue to be challenged, in the name of restructuring, to change governance structures, open themselves up to community influence, become more accountable, clarify standards for content and performance and introduce related changes in their approaches to teaching and learning   and conclude that Further research is needed to clarify not only perceptual differences that exist with transformational leadership but, more importantly, the relationships that transformational and transactional leadership behaviours have with aspects of school-learning culture in the context of Australian schools. However, there are a number of factors which influence student performance in schools, being social class, gender, school sector and size (Silins and Murray-Harvey 1999).   Teachers would be able to use transformational leadership to overcome these.   It is suggested by Walker and Walker that for schools to match the needs of their changing communities they need to value and learn from their inherent differences.   This would ensure effective leadership. Griffiths finds evidence in results of a research paper, entitled   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Relation of Principal Transformational Leadership to School Staff Job Satisfaction, Staff Turnover and Public Performance† (2003) that the theory of transformational leadership describes effective leadership in many settings including education. Quality leadership in early childhood settings leads to quality child care which has a good impact on children. Research shows that schools classified as successful possess a competent and sound school leadership (Huber).   The theory of transformational leadership facilitates this and allows the resolution of problems facing the educational system in Australia such as high turnover on staff and lack of training in staff, which have a detrimental effect on children. Word Count 1099 References Barnett, McCormick and Conners, â€Å"Transformational Leadership in Schools – Panacea, Placebo or Problem?† Vol 39 pp 24 – 46, 2001 Griffiths, â€Å"Relation of Principal Transformational Leadership to School Staff Job Satisfaction, Staff Turnover and Public Performance† 2003 Gunter, â€Å"Critical Approaches to Leadership in Education† Journal of Educational Enquiry Vol 2, No 2, pp98 – 108 2001 Jongee Shim, Hestenes and Cassidy, â€Å"Teacher Structure and Childcare Quality in Classrooms†, 2004 p143 – 158 Journal of Research in Childhood Education Hale-Jincks, Knopf and Kempel, â€Å"Tackling Teacher Turnover in Childcare: Understanding Causes and Consequences, identifying solutions† Childhood Education 2006 p219 Hinchcliff, J, 2000, â€Å"Transformational Leadership† Huber, â€Å"School Leadership and Leadership Development†, Independent Research Group Humphries and Senden, 2000 â€Å"Leadership and Change, a Dialogue of Theory and Practice† Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 2000 p26 Silins and Murray-Harvey â€Å"Students as a Central Concern† 1999 Flinders University Walker and Walker â€Å"Challenging the Boundaries of Sameness: Leadership through Valuing Difference† How to cite Leadership Theories, Essay examples