Practical Guide to Effective Leadership for School Managers - Essay Example

?Introduction: Although there is no absolute understanding or definition of what should be included in a practical guide to effective leadership for school managers, the following analysis will attempt to discuss and analyze two over-arching categories by which such a practical guide could conceivably be established. For purposes of this analysis, the two overarching and nuanced categories which will be discussed are ethics and communication. Naturally, the depth and complexity of these subjects means that it is almost impossible to touch upon each and every nuance that they portend. Rather, the approach will seek to analyze the most actionable means by which ethics and communication can be directed towards creating a practical guide to effective leadership and benefiting all stakeholders within the field of school management. Communication: One of the benefits that such a practical guide has is with relation to its ability to highlight key issues and problem areas that will likely remain for the duration of time in which the practical guide itself will be utilized. In such a way, a level of self analysis is needed to be performed that that once a task or approach has been completed, a level of inference can be drawn with regards to those areas that could be improved upon as well as noting and further improving those areas that proved to be key successes within the process (Avant, 2010). As a means of this, the following analysis will seek to provide a level of discussion onto the key areas in which the skills that will be noted developed as a function of individual growth as well as teamwork. Furthermore, the mistakes and difficulties that are doubtless to be experienced will also be discussed as a means of seeking to find ways in which personal and professional development can be promoted to a higher degree within the individual school of the current time as well as the future. Although an exhaustive study of these personal and professional factors would require a dissertation length response, this brief analysis will seek to hone in on three unique skills which can be developed through the course of everyday activities and seek to utilize these as a starting point for related difficulties and weaknesses that proved to be key roadblocks, although not insurmountable, in the process (Wilson, 1992). A primary skill that must be developed and leveraged at each and every stage is with regards to ensuring that lines of communication remain upon and healthy. Without this fundamental aspect, it is impossible for the flow of information to allow for a type of self-correcting entity to form that is capable of responding to threats and opportunities (Beccera & Gupta, 2003). Like any other institution/organization, it is the requirement of the educational organization to ensure that effective forms of communication be maintained and leveraged at each and every stage so that the entity can continue to express a degree of growth and development that is befitting of the times and demands upon which the environment consists (Elida-Tomita, 2010). Similarly, another key strength that must be sought to be engaged in order for effective communication to take place on any level is the ability of leadership to be able to interact with and gauge the needs that the organization puts forward; almost invariably accomplished via the process of self analysis and introspective means of measurement. By engaging in such a tangential and applied approach to communication processes, the entity can begin to take note of key strengths and weakness within the context of whatever project or goal is in question. Once these key areas of weakness have been determined, the group will able to focus a higher level of attention on these rather than awaiting the final presentation of results only to see what the ultimate shortcomings of the project were might be just prior to final implementation; or even perhaps later (Kiyomita, 2012). Facilitated by others within the group, and within leadership, such a dynamic provides a level of group introspection that helps to correct key shortcomings prior to the final delivery of results. With respect to the particular type of leadership style that such a form of interaction and participation can engender, it must be noted that there is no right or wrong means by which such a dynamic can be affected. Rather, a mixture of leadership styles can be employed which all serve to provide for the situation needs that will doubtless develop in diverse ways. This is a particular salient point for each and every individual involved within the structure to understand and appreciate (Hill & Meadhouse, 2008). This is of course due to the fact that all too often, organizations and entities become wholly and entirely concentric focused upon the idea and belief that given goals can only be affected via a particular path. Although it is oftentimes true that best practices and methods do exist to guide the organization or individual department within an educational setting to achieve certain goals, it does help to underscore an appreciation for the fact that all too oftentimes departments and leadership can become trapped in the virtual rut of establishing such a rigid system of process that little to no true changes can be effected without a massive loss of utility and efficiency. This discussion of course segues well into an understanding of how it is also required for the leadership to be ever mindful and cognizant of the impact that ethics and the interpretation and application thereof can have within the way a particular entity/organization operates. In effect, the importance that communication plays with regards to the creation and implementation of a practical guide must necessarily be contingent upon the primary and fundamental appreciation that such a process necessarily entails. What is meant by this is that if the stakeholders in leadership but are not able to promote a level of communication throughout the various departments and divisions, the extent to which they can hope to achieve any goal will necessarily be drastically reduced (Groysberg, 2012). Although there is much talk with regards to effectively engaging with force multipliers to achieve the goals and metrics within any organization and/or industry, it must be understood that without an engagement with regards to active and passive forms of communication and furthering this throughout the school management network, it is doubtful if anything will be accomplished anywhere close to the specifications required. A particular element of communication that cannot be ignored is with regards to the level of the steam that such a process has within the culture of the given educational entity. Although it is not specifically the purpose of this analysis to discuss the means by which a culture can be altered, it must be understood that within this practical guide, it is of primary importance that the process and appreciation for communication is understood both within management and at the very lowest levels as prize. Within such a framework, it is both expected and understood that the entity in question will engage in something of a self-correcting process through which input from stakeholders at each and every level can attempt to rectify and improve ongoing processes and goals that will develop. This cultural change process can invariably take place from bottom-up or top-down; however, with regards to the practical guide that this analysis seeks to engage, the top-down impression of such a culture will be instrumental in attempting to engage with the greatest number of stakeholders in the shortest time possible and affecting a new and deep-seated appreciation for the means by which communication within the practical guidelines plays a fundamental and vital role. Ethics: Whereas one may wish to think that ethics themselves have changed little over the course of the past century, the fact of the matter is that the way in which the world has changed combined with the demands that the growth of technology and other factors have played with regards to differentiating the way that shareholders integrate with key aspects of information and the world around them has fundamentally shifted. Although seeking to understand each and every aspect of the way that ethics have shifted and changed in the years that make up the 21st century would require a thesis length response, this brief analysis will seek to understanding and briefly enumerate upon the key differentials that have come to exist within ethics of the 21st century as opposed to those that existed earlier. Furthermore, the analysis will give a particular level of discussion with regards to the means by which the recent global financial collapse was ultimately precipitated and aided by the complete disregard for ethical standards. Perhaps the most salient and important aspect of ethics that have changed within the past several decades is the level to which ethics have come to be differentiated upon the terms of both personal and systemic. If one briefly considers the way that a large company handled business back before the turn of the 21st century they would come to note that the company placed a high degree of emphasis on honesty of the employees and/or shareholders as a fundamental requirement that might be espoused. However, namely missing from such an ethical interpretation of company needs would be the reciprocal understanding that it was the sworn duty of the form to exhibit such a level of ethical responsibility with regards to both the employees as well as the end consumer. In this way, ethical considerations of the previous era were more focused on profitability and how the company may wish to safeguard its assets, inclusive of employees, while completely disregarding the ethical responsibilities that management/leadership espoused with relation to the rest of the system. This should of course not be understood to mean that all firms during this time were disrespectful to the ethical considerations that they must necessarily espouse to the customer or to the shareholder/employee. Rather, the level of emphasis, as it exists today was not to such a highly evolved, regulated, and legislated mandate that it has subsequently reached within the past several decades. Says the textbook that was used for this class, “An organization is concerned with regulating the behavior and performance of its employees to ensure safe, uniform, and effective conduct in the performance of duties” (Johnson et al, 2012, p. 77). This level of ethical understanding of as a function of profitability is perhaps the single most important reality that must be considered with regards to the global economic collapse 2007/2008. Rather than the shareholders of the situation paying particular attention to the ethical ramifications of their actions, profitability was ultimately championed as the greater good in each and every situation. Although it is oftentimes been convenient for individuals to point to the upper management of firms such as Lehman Brothers, the reality of the situation is that middle management as well as the line employees of such institutions bore as much ethical culpability as those at the top. Due to the fact that they were fully aware of the situation was taken place and did absolutely nothing to bring these concerns to light, these individuals are ethically and morally culpable as well. Although it is not the determination of this particular analysis to shed blame with regards to global financial collapse of 2007/2008, it must be understood that an ethical interpretation of the event demands that all parties be analyzed in an unbiased manner. This shared form of responsibility has become a fundamental hallmark of the ethics of the 21st century. Naturally, as have been demonstrated by a host of separate incidents and oversights, the fact of the matter is that ethical oversights and concerns still continue to pervade the business environment; however, this being said, the fundamental shift and perceptional focus of ethics within the past few decades have shifted responsibility from the individual to the corporate or organizational structure. This of course does not mean that the individual shareholder has been absolved of any responsibility within the 21st century understanding of ethics; rather, it merely denotes the shift that has occurred with regards to holding each and every person responsible for the representation of ethics within the entity. This level of responsibility and the dynamics that such a self-correcting entity exhibits has led to a much higher rate of ethical issues being voiced to the general public. This has served as something of a double sided coin for the firm or organization in question. Although the ultimate demands of the business environment should encourage ethical behavior as a means of promoting the continuation of whatever firm or corporation is in question well into the future, any lapses in ethics can have detrimental effects on the way that eh entity is perceived within the public. As a function of this, allowing for each and every shareholder to be responsible for ensuring that such an eventuality does not come to pass has meant that a far greater number of shareholders are now able to “blow the whistle” and report on unethical and/or illegal aspects of the business model or actions of a particular entity. Perhaps one of the greatest reasons why such a shift has occurred over the past few decades is the understanding that different shareholders within the firm or organization are motivated by different factors (Shadnam & Lawrence, 2011). Whereas leadership and management may ultimately be focused upon greed and maximizing the bottom line of the company, the lower level shareholders will necessarily have a less nuanced interpretation of right and wrong and will be more likely to voice concern and seek to rectify a situation that affects their conscience than those that are ultimately benefitting from such unethical behavior in the first place. A similar change that has affected the way in which ethics is both understood and practiced within the 21st century as compared to previously is the manner in which ethics have become a systemic priority for many firms and organizations within the business world. Ultimately, it is the belief of this author that this has been effected due to the means by which organizational shareholders and owners alike have come to understand the painful and oftentimes detrimental effects that a lack of ethics or an incomplete interpretation and/or application thereof can have for the future success of the entity (Heugans, 2010). Although it might be convenient to believe that ethics have become more fully developed within the business environment as a function of the fact that shareholders at each and every level have determined their presence is the morally correct way to direct and guide the entity, the fact of the matter is that like any and all business decisions, the bottom line is ultimately considered when implementing such a plan. Due to the fact that it has consistently been proven that firms that operate within a strictly ethical framework operate more efficiently, have a higher bottom line, and perpetuate their business plans longer than their competitors that do not, the underlying reason for why such actions have been taken within the recent past to instill such a level of ethics within firms that had formerly nebulous ethical institutions is more appropriately understood. However, beyond merely referencing the ways in which ethics and its overall interpretation within the business environment has changed over the past several decades, such an analysis would not be complete without at least considering the means by which the current exemplifications of ethics within the current system will likely change and morph within the coming years. As such, it would of course be hubris to expect that the current exemplification of ethics within the system is the most advanced and most appropriate that can be engaged. Surely the failures of such giants such as Enron and Lehman Brothers are an indication of the means by which even current ethical standards within large seeming monolithic firms that have a stratified and well defined code of ethics can ultimately fail (Svensson et al, 2011). As a function of this, it is the belief of this author that the way in which companies and individuals will embrace an interpretation of ethics within the coming model will necessarily involve a more applied level of values based culture as well as responsibility. The trends themselves have already been indicated within the business world; however, due to the fact that these components lie at the very heart of an interpretation of ethics and its representation in the business environment as well as integration with the end consumer, it is reasonable to assume that this will come to be a more definitive and determinant aspect of ethics as they continue to evolve within the coming years (Abends, 2013). Ultimately, the companies that operate within the current paradigm continually seek to find new ways in which they can safeguard their reputation, avoid negative media coverage, and comply with regulations. To such an end, the establishment and differentiation of a robust and ever-evolving set of ethics is little less than a fundamental requirement to stay relevant as well as profitable within the current business environment. As function of the way in which ethics, and ethical interpretations, have changed over the past several decades, it can readily be seen how these changes have both helped to further differentiate and define the understanding of corporate ethics as well as underscore some of the most pertinent and salient shortcomings that exists within the corporate world (Phillips, 2010). Ultimately, this process of evolution and growth should not be understood to me that ethics is are ultimately becoming better or worse. Instead, the rate at which society is integrating with an appreciation and understanding of ethical behavior as well as the rate in which the corporate world is seeking to codify and legislate many of these ethical decisions, it can and should be the understanding of the reader that the role that ethics play within society is likely to increase within the very near future. As has been evidenced by the scandals that have rocked the banking and financial institutions within the last five years, the existence of ethics alone within corporate structure does not in and of itself guarantee that malfeasance will not occur (Rhodes, 2013). Rather, codification of ethics is only useful in so much as it is appreciated and understood by the relevant shareholders of the firm and/or organization in question. As has been discussed, the core means by which ethics of the 21st century have deviated from those representations that have been exhibited by previous models are fundamentally concentric upon the increase in the shared core values that a firm puts forward to its employees, shareholders, leadership, and end consumers (i.e. students) (Lawrence et al, 2012). This is invariably accomplished through creating and establishing something of a common language that is used intra-company by means of a stratified and all encompassing ethics policy; something that was previously neither a common practice or something that a firm sought to operate based upon (Travino et al, 2008). Thirdly, although prior representations of ethics were promoted by the entity in question from the very highest levels, the extent to which this was practiced throughout the firm was noticeably less than what can be recognized within the current model. Likewise, the “commitment from the top” as many have termed it was necessarily dubious (Nelson et al, 2012). Although great strides have been made within the 21st century with regards to ethics and their implementation within the firm, there remains a massive amount of work to be done. This is not only the function of a lack of education and/or well defined ethics policies but rather the same greed, corruption, and desire for personal gain that exists within all humanity and gave way to the rise of ethical concerns and the need for robust ethics policies and practices in the first place (Wood, 2010). Rather than stating that the work is complete, this research has noted the key differentials that exist between prior representation of ethics and those that exist within the 21st century. As such, the reader/researcher should understand that the work of ethical improvement is something that is perennial and without end. Again, the creation of such an ethics policy is problematic due to the fact that by defining it in such strict and rigid terms it invariably requires that certain aspects of ethical behavior and performance as well as expectation is invariably left out. Moreover, as more and more entities around the globe have recently noticed, it is becoming increasingly necessary to have the ethical statements and codes of conduct be both sustained and readily available to the stakeholder. In such a way, it is almost certain that key nuances of the ethical behavior expectations will not be effectively communicate and stakeholders. Once again, this points the reader back towards the direction of the importance that culture plates in helping to define the means by which the entity will grow over time (Hopkins, 2013). Although it is conceivable that a broad and all encompassing ethics policy could be developed, a far better approach with regards to the health and longevity of the entity in question would be to engage with an ethical interpretation that hinged upon a cultural appreciation for ethics rather than a codified and quantified system by which ethics were only mentioned within the space of certain meetings or pointed to with regards to dismissal of personnel. As a means of creating a living and breathing system they continually integrates with the culture, a far more reasonable and equitable approach would nonetheless be evidenced (Ryan, 2008). Conclusion: From an understanding of the processes and approaches that it herein been defined, it should be understood by the reader that the two most basic, must be leveraged in order for a greater degree of success to be realized is with regards to restrict adherence and application to ethical determinants as well as seeking to maximize the level and extent to which communications are exhibited throughout the component parts of the organization. Although it may seem as if such an approach is something of a best case scenario, this brief which has been put together effectively highlights and elaborates upon the step by step means through which such an entity can hope to leverage and maximize the overall chance of eventual and continued success that they might otherwise hope to achieve. It should not be understood that what has been presented is a foolproof means of effecting positive leadership and change within the educational institution; rather, it is a groundwork from whence the stakeholders can not only be made aware of the levels of rules and regulations that they should ascribe to as component parts of such an entity, it also encourages a level of active communication and participation so that this process does not lapse into a once sided and authoritarian approach. References Abend, G 2013, 'The Origins of Business Ethics in American Universities, 1902-1936', Business Ethics Quarterly, 23, 2, pp. 171-205, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 May 2013. Anant, H 2010, 'Interpersonal Perceptions Within Organizations: An Exploratory Study', IUP Journal Of Soft Skills, 4, 4, pp. 34-47, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 26 May 2013. 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