Transformational Leadership on the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia - Research Proposal Example

Research Impact of the application of transformational leadership style on the Saudi Ministry of Education. Aim of the research: The aim of this study is to discover the merits and demerits of the application of the concepts of transformational leadership on the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia. This is essential in order to identify the loopholes in the suitability of transformational leadership to the educational sector so that measures can be taken to help improve the system. Problem statement: In Saudi Arabia, the educational sector is rapidly growing and a large number of public and private institutions are working under the ministry of education. The ministry is facing great challenges in governing these institutions as the requirements of creating skilled human resources keeps on rising. Also, the goals of nation building, transparent practices, and global environmental efficiencies are the main preferences to ministry. There is a need to improve the performance of the various institutions functioning under the governance of the educational ministry with the help of more rational transformational leadership. This calls for a need to identify the barriers to the adoption of full transformational leadership in the educational ministry of Saudi Arabia. Significance of the research: In context, transformation leadership application and its impacts will be judged in this research. As ministry can play a decisive role in removing ambiguity, enhancing employees’ motivation, decreasing uncertainty, and reducing risks in new educational policies, the implication of an effective leadership model is vital. The education leadership models developed after 1990s are focused on empowerment, sharing resources and vision, and organizational learning (Leithwood, 1994). Study of the effects of transformational leadership can help change the normative structures of educational institutions for good (Bass et al 1985). The following MLQ measurements (Bass and Avolio, 1990) will constitute the theoretical framework against which the leadership practices of the Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education will be compared and evaluated: Idealized influence: The extent to which leaders serve as role models for followers and enhance their emotional commitment towards the common vision. Inspirational motivation: The extent to which the leader uses charisma to inspire the followers to achieve greater goals. Intellectual stimulation: The extent to which the leader employs intellectual stimulation to heighten followers’ awareness of current problems in contrast with the common vision for the future. Individual consideration: The amount of personal attention and advice, mentoring and opportunities leaders give to their followers to enhance their capacity development. Research objectives: The most fundamental objective of the proposed research is to improve the leadership practices in managing educational institutes working under the ministry of education in Saudi Arabia. The characteristics of transformational leadership need to be deeply assessed to discover their influence on the educational ministry. 1.  To evaluate compliance of the existent leadership practices within the Ministry of Education of Saudi Arabia with the demands of transformational leadership. 2. To estimate the future impacts of transformational leadership on the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia in case it is found non-existent presently. 3. To identify the present impacts of transformational leadership on the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, if found existent presently. 4. To develop a relation between the traits of transformational leadership and the consequences of its application in the Saudi Ministry of Education. Research questions: What is the usefulness of transformational leadership in the educational ministry? What qualities in a leader are polished if he/she adopts transformational leadership? Literature Review: Introduction to leadership: Leadership as defined by Robbin (2003) is the capability to influence individuals and their groups to attain common goals. House (1995) explained leadership as a target oriented social process that articulates a collective vision. Leadership has various models and multiple theories. In our context of research, the literature review of transformational leadership and its application is presented below. What is transformational leadership? In educational leadership, transformational and instructional leaderships are the two approaches followed in the latter half of the last century. In effective school research, the most prevalent approach employed was instructional leadership until the end of 80s (Hallinger & Murphy, 1986). Burns (1978), founder of transformational leadership theory, stated that transformational leadership leads followers to their self improvement, to a higher level of liberty, morality, equality, and spirituality. According to Burns (1979), the two types of leadership, transformational and transactional, are opposite in application. Bass (1994) developed transactional theory which deals with capability of the leader to control the environment through his vision, as he directs followers to achieve desired results. On the other hand, the transformational leader motivates followers to achieve their common goals (Burns 1979). Transformational leadership demonstrates an emotional and affectionate relationship between leader and followers, as the leader enhances their ambitiousness and courage (Denchatog & Muijen, 1997). The leader realises the need for change, creates the strategy, transfers the vision to his followers, and then creates a commitment to achieve the desired goal. Characteristics of transformational leadership: Antonakis et al. (2003) categorise four main dimensions, widely agreed by the majority of authors in the field to be the factors that constitute transformational leadership. These are idealised influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualised consideration. These factors (The Four Common I’s) have much in common with Leithwood’s Six: building vision and goals, providing intellectual stimulation, offering individualised support, symbolising professional practices and values, demonstrating high performance expectations and developing structures to foster participation in decisions (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2000). Shamir (2003) also resonates with Antonakis, Leithwood et al. in recognising the importance of three words; empowering, morality, and motivation, in transformational leadership theory. Contrary to other leadership theories, transformational leaders generate independence in their followers, and train them to think logically and analytically. Bass (1979) stated that this empowering procedure creates superior needs and high motivation with improved vision and sense of morality. Popper & Mayseless (2000) extended this concept by stating that these transformational leaders increase confidence, self dependence, and effective self management skills in the people they lead. These efforts resulted in high creativity and risk management. Scholars have consistently discussed the four dimensions as the fundamental characteristics of transformational leadership. In more detail, as Griffin (2003) described, the dimension of ‘ideal influence’ means transformational leaders placing a high emphasis on others’ benefits. Such leaders have strong moral values, a great sense of responsibility, confidence, and the tendency to self sacrifice their own ability in order to influence others’ behaviours. Griffin also explained the second characteristic ‘inspirational motivation’ as the visionary qualities in these leaders. This may include creating a future perspective and motivating followers to accept challenges, guiding the followers’ ideas and emotions. The other vital characteristic of ‘individualised consideration’ deals with the development of followers and peers to gain independence in decisions and actions. The leader focuses on cumulative goals and considers individual preferences and identity. His main target is followers’ growth and their satisfaction (Rafferly & Griffin, 2004). The fourth attribute as explained by Griffin (2004); ‘intellectual motivation’, means the leader establishes conceptualisation and comprehension in followers so that they think of old issues in modern contexts. In this way a leader can motivate and recreate the significant attitudes of innovation in practice (Popper & Mayseless, 2000). Jargon of past research pertinent to the subject: In education management, many researchers contributed to this topic. Albert (2003) tested transformational approach in work environments, and described that satisfaction is highly dependent on individual considerations. Similarly Mercy (2004) studied the same relationship in educational institutions; she discovered that the management leadership in these institutions is a combination of transformational and transactional approaches. Nicolino (2003) showed in a research study on the application of transformational style in educational institutions that effectiveness is a consequence of the transformational approach to great extent, and these institutions have gained efficiency after adopting characteristics of transformational leadership. A combination of transactional and transformational styles of leadership has increased job effectiveness and employee satisfaction in educational institutions (Webb 2003). Webb (2003) also presented the challenges like empowerment, morality, working efficiency, and cooperation in educational institutions. Transformational leadership provides the necessary framework to enhance creative and innovative culture in these institutions. Instead of focusing on the traditional styles of directing, control, and coordinating, the leadership in educational institutions builds an organisation’s capacity through transformational leadership practices. While an understanding has clearly been reached as to the characteristics of transformational leadership, its actual practices and processes may be less easily conceptualised. Leithwood & Jantzi (2000) observe that despite four decades of work in the field, academic literature on transformational leadership shows less coherence on real processes than theory. However, ways of actioning and achieving transformational leadership standards have been identified. Idealised influence can manifest in the choice of a strong, charismatic leader. Inspirational motivation may materialise through motivational speeches and conversations. Intellectual stimulation may be achieved by asking followers for new proposals, and individualised consideration through expressed words of thanks and praise, mentoring, and a reasonable workload. It is specific acts such as these that demonstrate aspects of transformational leadership are in place. Historical conclusions: The results of the application of transformational leadership can be unprecedented (Bass 1985). In Tanzania, a research on the impacts of transformational leadership on Tanzanian primary and secondary education (Nguni, 2005) has shown that transformational leadership has stronger positive effects on teachers’ job satisfaction, value commitment and organisational citizenship than transactional leadership, but less positive effects on commitment to stay. Transformational leadership of school principals in New South Wales State of Australia has also been found to positively influence some selected teacher outcomes and school learning environment constructs (Barnett, 2003). However, in the Middle East region, there exist a few researches on the outcomes of these practices. Most of the research materials accessed are related to the western education system; there is a need of developing case studies of Asia so that the theories can be tested in Asian contexts also. In Saudi Arabia, no proper investigation is available to check the impacts of transformational leadership in the educational sector. Specific areas of the educational sector that can be studied include leadership development in women, teacher satisfaction and retention, employee productivity, as well as effective communication and networking. Type of research: The proposed research will be of descriptive and correlative in nature. It is an empirical research based on primary data collection from the heads of institution and its statistical analysis by using regression and correlation analysis. The major concern of the study is to explore the impacts and application of the four characteristics of transformational leadership. These characteristics will be correlated with the consequences of leadership like effectiveness and motivation in the institutions working under the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia. The performance of the ministry is associated with the success of institutions’ reforms and the performance of students in these institutions. The organizational culture and the satisfaction level of employees are also included in the research contexts. The proposed study will examine the leadership practices by the head of institutions working under ministry of education. The use of particular transformational strategies and their outcomes will be explored. Research design and methodology: Retrospective part of the research will be the one in which the extent of adoption of transformational leadership in the Saudi Ministry of Education to date will be explored. The prospective part of the study will estimate its impact on the Ministry in the future. A combination of positivist paradigm and quantitative methods will be chosen for this research in order to obtain the synergetic benefits of both approaches. The positivist approach favors the development and testing of hypotheses that are quantifiable and replicable, thus, limiting errors caused by researcher bias (Kim, 2003). The positivist paradigm is also able to assess and develop practical organizational interventions far better than the interpretive and critical science paradigms (Kim, 2003). Besides, quantitative methods unlike their qualitative counterparts are more explicit, make data processing easier and provide more avenues for statistical analysis (Babbie, 2005). Quantitative results are self explanatory and obvious. Interpretation bias is removed. Before embarking on quantitative research, it will be necessary to identify those political and social conditions under which transformational leadership might be taking place. Past examples from other countries have demonstrated that factors such as shifting demographics, technological change and heightened competition have called for vital changes in organization and consequently, leadership. An investigation of the ground conditions for transformational leadership will help establish the extent to which transformational leadership is in fact viable and apparent. This will provide a foundation on which further research can be deemed valid. The primary research is fundamentally quantitative in nature and a detailed questionnaire will be formulated to get the data from the respondents. The questionnaire will be designed by using Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) by Bass and Avolio. This questionnaire will be scaled on Likert scale and will be open ended, and will be used to take responses from institutions’ heads or their representatives. The styles of leadership in a particular institution will be based on the average scores of all respondents from it. The quantitative data collected from these questionnaires will be analyzed through regression and correlation analyses by using SPSS software. The descriptive statistics, multivariable regression, and Pearson Coefficient of correlation will be used. The secondary qualitative data is collected through secondary sources comprised of ministry records, and literature reviews from internet to probe the depth of the topic under study. The primary qualitative data will include short interviews from ministry officials and institution heads to probe into subjective aspects of the topic. The access to the respondents and their genuine responses collection will be a great challenge; personal and ministry sources will be utilized to gain effective results. The research will be limited to the origin, culture, and social aspects of the region under discussion, which could be generalized by conducting similar research in other countries. The implications of this research will affect the working of ministry officials, institutions’ administrators, and employees to a great extent. References: Avolio J., & Bass, B. (2004) Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Third Edition Manual and sampler set. USA Mind Garden. Inc. Babbie, E. (2005). The Basics of Social Research (3rd ed.). Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth. Barnett, A. M. (2003). The Impact of Transformational Leadership Style of the School Principal on School Learning Environments and Selected Teacher Outcomes: A Preliminary Report. Paper presented at NZARE AARE, Auckland, New Zealand, November 2003. Bass, M., & Avolio, B. (1994) Shatter the Glass ceiling: Women may make Better Manager’s, Human resource management, 33: 549-56. Bass, B. M., and Avolio, B. J. (1990). The Implication of Transactional and Transformational Leadership for Individual, Team and Organisational Development. Research in Organisational Change and Development, 4: 231-272. Bommer, W. (2004); Setting the stage for Effective Leadership Antecedents of transformational Leadership behavior. The Leadership Quarterly, 15: 195-210. Burns, M. (1979). Leadership. NY: Harper & Row. Dvir, & Shamir, B. (2003); Follower developmental Characteristics as Predicting Transformational Leadership: A Longitudinal Filed Study. The Leadership Quarterly, 14: 327-344. Griffin, D. (2003). Transformational Leadership. Retrieved from http://www.desgriffin.com/. Gunter M. (2001). Leaders and Leadership in education. London: Sage Publications. John, S. (2004). Leadership in organizations current Issues and key Trends. London: Sage Publications. Kim, S. (n.d.). Research Paradigms in Organizational Learning and Performance: Competing Modes of Inquiry. Information Technology, Learning and Performance Journal, 21 (1): 9-18. Leithwood, K. & Jantzi, D. (2000). The effects of transformational leadership on organizational conditions and student engagement with school. Journal of Educational Administration, 38 (2). Mercy, D. (2004); An Exploration of faculty and academic Leader’s perception of Leadership styles in Malawian higher education Institution. A Dissertation for degree of doctoral of philosophy Illinois state University. Print. Nguni, S. C. (2005). Transformational Leadership in Tanzanian Education. PhD Thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam. Druk: Drukkerij Quickprint BV, Nijmegen. Print. Nicolino, A. (2003). Faculty and chair perspectives on leadership and its impacts on Departmental Outcomes thesis master of Arts McGill University. Print. Nigel, B. & Lesley, A. (2003). Rethinking Educational Leadership. London: Sage Publication. Popper, M. (2000). Transformational Leadership and Attachment, The Leadership Quarterly, 11 (2): 267-289. Rafferly, A. & Griffin, A. (2004); Dimensions of Transformation Leadership, conceptual and empirical extensions. The Leadership Quarterly, 15: 329-354. Webb, K. (2003). Presidents’ Leadership Behaviors Associate with followers, Job Satisfaction Motivation toward Extra Effort and Presidential Effectiveness at Evangelical Colleges and Universities. University of North Texas PhD Dissertations Retrieved from: http://www.proquest.com/. Read More

What is transformational leadership? In educational leadership, transformational and instructional leaderships are the two approaches followed in the latter half of the last century. In effective school research, the most prevalent approach employed was instructional leadership until the end of 80s (Hallinger & Murphy, 1986). Burns (1978), founder of transformational leadership theory, stated that transformational leadership leads followers to their self improvement, to a higher level of liberty, morality, equality, and spirituality.

According to Burns (1979), the two types of leadership, transformational and transactional, are opposite in application. Bass (1994) developed transactional theory which deals with capability of the leader to control the environment through his vision, as he directs followers to achieve desired results. On the other hand, the transformational leader motivates followers to achieve their common goals (Burns 1979). Transformational leadership demonstrates an emotional and affectionate relationship between leader and followers, as the leader enhances their ambitiousness and courage (Denchatog & Muijen, 1997).

The leader realises the need for change, creates the strategy, transfers the vision to his followers, and then creates a commitment to achieve the desired goal. Characteristics of transformational leadership: Antonakis et al. (2003) categorise four main dimensions, widely agreed by the majority of authors in the field to be the factors that constitute transformational leadership. These are idealised influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualised consideration.

These factors (The Four Common I’s) have much in common with Leithwood’s Six: building vision and goals, providing intellectual stimulation, offering individualised support, symbolising professional practices and values, demonstrating high performance expectations and developing structures to foster participation in decisions (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2000). Shamir (2003) also resonates with Antonakis, Leithwood et al. in recognising the importance of three words; empowering, morality, and motivation, in transformational leadership theory.

Contrary to other leadership theories, transformational leaders generate independence in their followers, and train them to think logically and analytically. Bass (1979) stated that this empowering procedure creates superior needs and high motivation with improved vision and sense of morality. Popper & Mayseless (2000) extended this concept by stating that these transformational leaders increase confidence, self dependence, and effective self management skills in the people they lead. These efforts resulted in high creativity and risk management.

Scholars have consistently discussed the four dimensions as the fundamental characteristics of transformational leadership. In more detail, as Griffin (2003) described, the dimension of ‘ideal influence’ means transformational leaders placing a high emphasis on others’ benefits. Such leaders have strong moral values, a great sense of responsibility, confidence, and the tendency to self sacrifice their own ability in order to influence others’ behaviours. Griffin also explained the second characteristic ‘inspirational motivation’ as the visionary qualities in these leaders.

This may include creating a future perspective and motivating followers to accept challenges, guiding the followers’ ideas and emotions. The other vital characteristic of ‘individualised consideration’ deals with the development of followers and peers to gain independence in decisions and actions. The leader focuses on cumulative goals and considers individual preferences and identity. His main target is followers’ growth and their satisfaction (Rafferly & Griffin, 2004). The fourth attribute as explained by Griffin (2004); ‘intellectual motivation’, means the leader establishes conceptualisation and comprehension in followers so that they think of old issues in modern contexts.

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