Leadership Perspectives and Roles at Central Junior School - Case Study Example

Leadership perspectives and roles at Central Junior School Introduction There are many different leadership styles in the modern business world and almost every one of them has a particular reason or reasons for its existence. It must be noted at the beginning that in an exhaustive analysis like the present one, a rigorously norm-predicated comparison/contrast study would be more feasible than a prescriptive analysis. Central Junior School (CJS) where this writer works as a teacher on the staff has invariably been an ideal setting for a more democratic transformational leadership style though marked functional variations between different leadership theories – e.g. transformational, transactional, trait, functional, situational or contingency and behavioral or style theories – don’t exist to justify that one of them would be ideal for the school’s setting. Different leadership styles – e.g. autocratic, democratic, charismatic, bureaucratic, laissez-faire, transactional, transformational, people oriented, task oriented and servant leadership – have their own persuasive and dissuasive elements that recommend them to a certain organizational setting or environment (Goethals & Burns, 2004). CJS with its 300 odd teaching faculty is exceptionally oriented towards meeting organizational goals and therefore the current leadership style tends to identify with a majority of transformational leadership traits. However by extension it’s more democratic and people oriented though such identity tags are not determined by obvious relations between the management and the staff. Instructional leadership style is a newer phenomenon associated with school environments and there is a sizeable body of research on the subject right now (Bass & Fullan, 2006). However it doesn’t focus on the collective traits of the leader; rather it focuses on the pedagogical aspects of leadership in exclusive school environments. 2. Literature review 2.1. Leadership theories Trait theories of leadership focused on the innate psychological traits of people and basically they sought to identify positive and creative traits such as liberal mindedness and independence in leaders as essential characteristics to lead their subordinates to achieve organizational goals. McCall and Lombardo (1978) were some of the first writers among those to establish a confluence of ideas on organizational success/failures and trait theories. They concentrated on emotional stability, good interpersonal relations, admission of mistakes and intellectual capacity. Subsequently researchers began to place greater emphasis on behavioral tendencies of leaders (Thomas, 2002). These theories seek to identify leadership skill with education and training. In other words according to them leadership qualities are not inherited at birth but acquired in later years through education. These theories are more or less focused on the need for the leader to lead his followers towards organizational goals by concentrating on behavioral tendencies such as positive encouragement and achievement. Next contingency theories of leadership are concerned with the choice of environment. A particular environment might be more suitable to produce certain outcomes than others. Thus these outcomes are determined by the qualitative variables such as the leadership style, approach to labor relations and understanding of the situation (Northouse, Editor, 2006). Situational theories of leadership focus on the choice of the best situation such as in exceptionally well suited circumstances for the achievement of organizational goals. The situational leadership would identify the kind of environment for result oriented decision making and seek to adopt an appropriate strategy accordingly (Blanchard, 1997). Next relationship or transformational leadership theories focus on the positive links between the leader and his followers (Bass & Riggio, 2006). Transformational leaders are able to inspire and motivate their subordinates in a manner that the latter would have all the freedom to achieve organizational goals performing on a team spirit. Since transformational leaders act in conformance with high ethical standards subordinates would have the potential to contribute towards organizational goals. Participative theories of leadership concentrate on the leader’s need to identify and acknowledge the level and quality of contribution by each member of the team. Thus there is a greater element of democratic participation by members of the group in the overall decision making process (Bush, 2003). However there is also an element of control exercised by the leader by retaining the ultimate power in his hands to decide on the member’s capacity to contribute or not. Then there are the management or transactional theories of leadership which highlight the need for supervision of subordinates’ activities, prime importance given to the organization and team performance. These theories are basically determined by rewards for achievement and punishments for failures (Bush and Coleman, 2000). For many people entrepreneurial success depends on this approach because businesses either succeed or fail depending on employees’ ability to generate profits or not. Finally instructional leadership is associated with the principal’s functions including the delegated functions. Pedagogical environments require democratic but transformational leaders to achieve organizational goals (Blase, 2003). While there is a substantial amount of delegation in the school, there is much less by way of defining goals except to focus attention on performance related metrics such as the pass rate at an examination. 2.2. Leadership styles Autocratic leaders have very little regard for delegation of authority, power and responsibly to their subordinates. In a pedagogical environment like that of a school such delegation is very essential because one cannot be “a jack of all trades and master of none”. Autocratic leaders tend to act in ways that encourage little participation in the decision making process by subordinates. On the other hand, democratic leaders tend to act in conformity with delegation of authority power and responsibility. In a school environment this type of leadership produces better results. Assistant teachers ought to have powers to act in the best interest of the organization and it must be accompanied by responsibility. Charismatic leadership style is often associated with politics rather than with management. However charismatic leaders tend to enthuse and act in confidence to achieve organizational goals (Conger & Kanungo, 1998). They lead their followers with the grace of personal charm and appeal. However their interaction with subordinates is determined by a prevaricating behavioral tendency in which eloquence stands out. Bureaucratic leadership style as the name implies is connected with the bureaucratic approach of the leader. The leader would prefer a top-to-bottom vertical organizational structure with each person having his position intact. In other words a hierarchy of positions with well defined powers and functions cannot be avoided (Adeniyi, 2007). Laissez-faire leadership style occurs when the leader lets his subordinate staff perform their functions without interference. Many organizations where teaching is the main service delivered or function performed adopt this style in order to motivate staff. However it’s more appropriate to situations where leaders happen to be on equal footing with subordinates such as consultancies. 3. Statement The need for a broader analysis is now clear enough because there are as many leadership styles as there are types of organization. However the school setting and its resultant implications would take up the greater part of this analysis though. A contingency theoretical and conceptual model on leadership suited to the school environment would be examined in adequate detail. The background to the leadership analysis is replete with many aspects of theoretical significance. Leadership styles in a pedagogical environment acquire a prime dimension, i.e. the style itself is of deterministic importance to the organizational outcomes in that the school principal as the leader in this instance would not be prevented from performing a dual role both as the principal and the chief manager (English & Anderson, 2004). At CJS the process of interaction between the staff and the principal is basically the only criterion that gives any indication of the leadership style in action. While there is enough delegation of power, authority and responsibility to the staff members to warrant a democratic characterization, there are other somewhat disturbing trends too (Hoyle & Wallace, 2005). The school’s management though is separate from the teaching staff acts in close relation with the principal so that it gives the impression that the management acts through the principal to achieve organizational goals at the expense of the staff’s liberties and wishes. 4. Analysis Leadership theories and leadership styles are usually separated by analysts in order to build up conceptual theoretical frameworks for broader perspective-centric analysis and such approaches have their merits in identifying peculiar characteristics of each theory and style. The subsequent delineation of the theoretical constructs to identify and address practical problems faced in authentic organizational contexts is essential to understand the diverse and complex leadership environments and their applied outcomes. Despite a plethora of research into various aspects of leadership theories and styles there is still a lack of literature on leadership in exclusively demagogical settings like schools. A reasonable effort must also be made to build up a contingency theoretical and conceptual model of leadership in pedagogical environments like schools to successfully delineate both the organizational outcomes and learning outcomes thereof thus effectively focusing on the relevance of strategic environmental compulsions. These strategically important environmental compulsions include not only the ethical paradigms but also the institutional norms that seek to define limits for the leader’s behavior and the staff at large. Thus it’s not the theoretical postulates outlined above that have an exclusive impact on the leader’s behavioral tendencies but to a certain extent even the organizational setting influence his behavior. It’s here that instructional leadership theory and its sub-variant style determine the extent to which the teaching staff would enjoy delegation of power, authority and responsibility in the exclusive pedagogical setting. While the principal at CJS has been ever willing to delegate some of these adjuncts to the members of the teaching staff, a tendency on the part of the management to obviate the negative effects of competition by adopting a very strict approach has produced a virtual conflict situation. Strictures issued to the staff apart, there is a whole set of other issues that basically revolve around the leadership related adequacies or rather inadequacies to tackle at the institutional level (Morrison, 2002). While the staff at CJS significantly contributes to the organizational outcomes there is very little by way of motivation related measures being adopted. Performance related pay has been in practice for a long time at the school though its success has been affected by interference. Curriculum related constraints have hindered performance and this aspect has received very little attention at CJS. However the principal has adopted some far reaching measures to motivate staff by reaching out to them in a democratic way. A substantial amount of information feedback from the members of the staff to the principal takes place at weekly staff meetings while an equally substantial amount of delegation has taken place too. The authoritative nature of the management is contrasted by the democratic transformational elements of the principal’s role and at times the conflict scenario is pushed into the back stage through a considerable degree of freedom given to the staff members to identify and achieve goals (Kippenberger, 2002). Ethical standards setting efforts on the part of the principal has also been a positive feature in motivating the staff. Like any other relationship or transformational leader the principal has identified a set of achievable goals and defined the limits for each activity. For instance his own concern for the welfare of the staff has been centered on creating a convenient functional environment in the school. While the staff members’ contribution to the overall success of the school is acknowledged by assigning more responsible tasks to members, the principal has set some good examples in his behavior in general as well. Social responsibility receives priority here on the ground that both duties and obligations tend to interact with each other in a manner to influence organizational goals and outcomes (Shapiro & Gross, 2007). Irrespective of these goals and outcomes ethical or moral standards have received such great attention from the principal that very little is done without reference to prior standards. The environmental constraints such as tight schedules of syllabus covering and examination targets have affected the level of enthusiasm among the members of the staff though. Syllabus related problems often crop up against the backdrop of overlapping time schedules and streamlined examinations. The principal as the leader of a team bears the brunt of responsibility for timely intervention and smooth preparation of students for final examinations. Thus he has effectively put in place a system of work related schedules that take the pressure off staff members to a greater extent (Strike, 2006). Work is distributed among members according to their qualifications and ability. Despite this type of proper arrangement unforeseen lapses occur on a regular basis. It’s the nature of the pedagogical environment to be affected by a variety of shortcomings such as uncompleted syllabuses, absenteeism and chronic system failures (Tomlinson, 2004). The last feature includes such instances as communication lapses and above average expectations. In other words benchmarking above the achievable targets doesn’t help organizations to adopt sound leadership approaches. Though the principal has been realistic enough in his benchmarking, the management has set it much higher thus nullifying the whole effort of the staff to deliver better results at examinations. The principal has over the years been determined to reduce the amount of friction between the staff and the principal under different circumstances. His attention has been drawn to a recent undesirable development taking place at the primary level. While sectional or divisional heads of the school are senior teachers with enough experience, there are some shortcomings related to the manner in which promotions are given. Teachers are promoted higher ranks on the basis of qualifications and seniority. While the former criterion is well known the latter criterion is sometimes murky. Senior teachers have often been promoted to the next salary scale on the basis of their service periods. However very often they tend to demand an accompanying scale of pay on the basis of seniority even in the absence of corresponding assignment of duty. This has brought about a conflict situation between the management and the staff. The principal has adopted a neutral stance over the matter. In this respect it has been pointed out that by applying transactional leadership theory the conflict could be solved if priority is given strictly to performance. Thus good performance would be rewarded while bad performance would be penalized irrespective of seniority. The argument sounds as if it were based on situational leadership theory. Despite these negative developments the leadership role played by the principal as distinct from the management has acquired a characteristic significance. In the first place his leadership role is an admixture of a fairly great cross segment of roles that adequately identifies and addresses the needs of the staff members. If any inadequacy exists it’s purely the result of the management’s uncompromising stand on certain important issues. The principal again distinct from the management has effectively intervened to assuage the staff of a totally comprehensive plan to address the problems of them in a more meaningful manner. These outcomes altogether have created a very pleasant environment for the smooth functioning of the staff (Whitty, Power & Halpin, 1998). Finally it must be noted that the instructional leadership qualities have invariably been identified with the principal’s leadership role at CJS. Therefore there is much to be desired about the outcomes and their relevance to any other theoretical postulate as a primary and immediate source. In other words it must be mentioned that instructional leadership material is essentially present in the principal to the extent he seeks to influence the staff with a mixture of monetary perks and delegation of authority event they are present in transformational theory of leadership too. Conclusion Different leadership theories have been put forward under different circumstances of the internal organizational environment. At CJS too the principal in particular and the management in general have adopted a particular set of leadership characteristics or norms including some variants and elements of the transformational leadership and instructional leadership. Particularly the relationship between the staff and the principal at CJS has been positively influenced by these leadership traits. The principal of CJS has come out to help his staff in various ways including giving rewards and motivating them by promoting senior staff members. These activities are directly related to the transformational leadership and therefore there is a degree of co-opting behavior for the staff given by the principal in the decision making process. This participatory element in the decision making process of the pedagogical environment adequately identifies and addresses some of the most important and pressing requirements of the staff in order for them to perform well. Finally there is also an element of instructional leadership at CJS though its extent canto be determined exclusively because other leadership characteristics play an equally important part in the whole process. The principal of CJS as distinct from the management has been a democratic leader with a good measure of transformational and instructional leadership qualities as well. REFERENCES 1. Adeniyi, M. (2007). Effective Leadership Management: An Integration of Styles, Skills & Character for Todays CEOs. Bloomington: AuthorHouse . 2. Bass, B. M. & Riggio, R. E. (2006). 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