Developing Management Skills - Essay Example

INTRODUCTION Leadership generally means all the efforts taken to achieve the desired results. There are of management claiming that leadership and management are different1 .Leadership is something which people do under certain circumstances but management is about establishing stability in an organization. But this distinction does not hold good anymore. Leadership and management have become one and the same. Leaders have be good managers and managers have to be effective leaders. When we watch a flock of geese across the sky, the flock mostly takes the shape of a broad 'V'. The bird at the tip of the V is the leader. The bird which leads the flock has to decide the speed and the direction the flock has to fly. But the wonderful point that have to be noted here is that, the bird leading the flock is not the same throughout the journey. When a bird finishes a distance leading the flock, it will return to the tail end of the flock and the next bird in the V will take the lead. This is not just an observation but mankind can draw important lessons from this. The concept of leadership is about the effective way in which desired results are achieved. As noted by Quinn1, "Understanding that leadership is a temporary, dynamic state brings us to a radical redefinition of how we think about, enact, and develop leadership. We come to discover that most of the time, most people, including CEOs, presidents and prime ministers are not leaders. We discover that anyone can be a leader. Most of the time, none of us are leaders". We are all aware that we are living in a highly dynamic environment. Like the famous quotation says, "if something works, it is obsolete". Hence, what works good is not an end to a search but a beginning for a new search. When we are talking about building global competency we have to be aware that we are talking about change indirectly. Managing change can be a very challenging task for individuals and in organizations as well. Human beings always have a tendency towards stability. When there is a threat to the stability, people tend to avoid the change and try to cling to the ways familiar to them. But in the new economy, it may be individuals or corporate, the ability to change and adapt decides the survival and sustenance. The golden rule of nature is once again reminded, "survival of the fittest". To survive in today' complex environment, we have to try to adopt the strategies that will involve the team members also in the change process. No achievement is done by individuals, but achievement is by individuals in effective teams. Hence, how far we are able to influence the behavior of the team players to achieve the goals is the key for success. Distributed leadership is one such concept which is very effective in achieving the desired objectives which is widely used by increasing number of individuals. This essay highlights the effects that distributed leadership can have on the positive outcomes of learners. WHAT IS DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP There are various definitions for distributed leadership. According to Harris3(2007), distributed leadership means that the leadership activities are widely shared within and between organizations (Harris, 2007). There are so many styles of leadership such as the autocratic, democratic and free reign leader. But the concept of distributed leadership is leadership itself. Leadership as such means designing and carrying out activates to achieve the desired results. Hence, to achieve the results when we are working in a team, the person who wants to guide should design the activities which is interesting and engaging for everybody so that all the team members identify themselves with the cause. Best leaders are those people who can make the objectives of the team and individual objectives coincide. Hence, the activities to achieve the desired results should involve everybody from the beginning. This is successful leadership which coincides with the meaning of distributed leadership. So, we can say that distributed leadership is about leadership itself. Distributed leadership is about leadership practice and how leadership influences organizational and instructional improvement (Spillane, 2006)4. This concept of leadership focuses on the leadership practices and not on the person. So gone are the days where leadership is about the heroic acts of one person. But it is the empowerment of everybody in the team that creates the difference. Distributed leadership requires sharing of the power and authority by the team members and everybody in the tem acts as a leader within his or her scope of activity. For the success of the concept of distributed leadership, organizations have to be flat, more lateral in its power distribution (Hargreaves, 2007)5. Organizations have to redesign their structure and alignment of people so that there is scope for everybody in the team to act as leaders in their own accord. In this era of information technology, when the leadership is distributed it creates powerful teams which are more effective in achieving the end results. Hence, more and more organizations are talking about distributed leadership, particularly the educational institutions. The new interest in this concept is because of the realization that to survive in global competition, an educational institution needs participative team members, such as the academic staff, support staff and students. The days of the an school being lead by the head and the other members of the school as followers has gone. Conventionally, academic staff were holding the role of instructional leaders. the activities related to providing the educational inputs were held by the academic staff and the role of the supporting staff was to help the academic departments. But when we are discussing about adopting distributed leadership, we have to remember that the role of the teachers and that of the supporting staff have to be redefined by adopting a coordinated approach to integrate the activities of the teacher with the vision of the school. When the objectives of the teachers are matched with the objectives of the school then the resultant effect will definitely impact the students. But often distributed leadership is mistaken to be just delegation of authority and adding up the responsibilities. Distributed leadership has to be deeper than this. Every member of the school is the leader of the team within her vicinity. The basic function of any school is to provide quality education for the students and to provide opportunities for the students and the members of the staff to explore new opportunities which helps them to develop into wholesome individuals. How far the traditional leadsrship is is helping this process sis the question that has to be answered. The traditional leadership concentrates the power to decide the vision and mission of the school to the top level management, often the principal. But under the distributed leadership the other members of the school are empowered to decide on their course of action to achieve the common objective. In the next paragraphs in the essay the advantages and limitations of adopting such as approach are discussed. ADVANTAGES OF DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP There are a number of benefits when this approach is adopted. First for the school, it is highly advantageous because the school now has more members aware of the purpose and the task of achieving it. Hence, the vision and the goals of the school are to be achieved more effectively. The long term plans of the school such as the vision and mission and the relatively short term plans such as the goals and objectives set for the respective academic years will be formulated by the respective academic staff. Right from the initial stages the of planning until execution of the plans the academic staff have the relative authority . Hence, the activities carried out by them will be more in line with the achievement. Also another advantage for the school is that when the leadership of the school is distributed along its organization structure, there is very little wastage of resources. The planning and estimation of the activities required to achieve the objectives are determined by the respective staff hence, there are less chances for making wrong estimates in the planning stage. From the perspective of the teachers, it is highly beneficial because the planning, execution and all other aspects of managing the team is dispersed across the school, so the academic staff and the support staff will be more motivated on the job. The ultimate success of a leader is when the leader can manage to merge the objectives of the team and individual objectives. But this is not easy to achieve when the group is divided as the leader and the followers. But in case of distributed leadership, the merging of the individual and team objective can be made possible. Under distributed leadership there are no followers, but only the activities of leadership that flows across the organization. This results in high morale in the organization. Again, it should be remembered that distributed leadership is not about just delegation of authority to design and deliver the course contents. But it is about empowering the staff to formulate the plans and execute the activities to ensure the goals of the school are achieved. The teacher, who normally plays the role of an instructor, will have to play the roles of counselor, auditor, facilitator, motivator and coordinator in a school when the distributed leadership is adopted. When the staff become leaders the goals of the school is broken down into operational goals at each level in the school. The scope of activities for the teachers increase and so does the accountability. The teachers will be responsible for planning, organizing, coordinating and defining roles of the other terms members. The major benefits from distributed leadership are for the students. As mentioned earlier, the practice of distributed leadership definitely benefits the students. First, in the form of educational inputs that is more focused on the learning outcome. When leadership is central, not distributed, then the academic staff and the support staff are given plans and mission they have to strive to achieve. This will definitely cause gaps between what the school wants to achieve and what the staff want to do. The staff play a very crucial role in the delivery of educational inputs. Hence, under the distributed leadership approach, the inputs can be designed in such a way that it is more focused and caters to the exact expectations of the students. Also, when the staff take up the role of leaders then the course design is also flexible. The course content is enriched and updated with the updated inputs and the teaching methodology will also be effective for the students. This ultimately will help in achieving the primary goal of a school to give quality education. Distributed leadership empowers the students also. The leadership that is distributed in the school also spreads to the students. The students can have specific roles to play in developing their skills. The students can participate in the decision making with respect to major areas such as designing the educational input, extracurricular activities and enriching the course contents. The students when they are involved in the design of activities are more involved in the process of education and hence, they are more focused. The primary purpose of the educational institution is achieved more effectively. Next, when the approach of distributed leadership is adopted, the disciplinary problems will be less. The undesirable behavior of the students is checked down automatically. The problems such as absenteeism, drugs, lack of interest in studies, violent behavior all can be ruled down. When students design their own study plan and activities, the sense of belonging and responsibility is high. Hence, the chances that the students will follow their goals and achieve desired learning outcome will increase. Another major advantage of this approach for the students is that when they are given an opportunity to lead at a very young age, they become responsible early. The students become more clear about what they want to achieve in future. To have ambitions in life and to design ways to achieve it requires clear thought process. Many do not have this gift naturally. Many students in their adolescent age get diverted and involve in undesirable activities because they are not clear with what they want in life. This distributed leadership can help the students to get a feel of the challenges they will face when they have to achieve an objective. For example, formation of a student committee is a form of distributed leadership. This student committee can be responsible for helping in the improvement of the academic performance of the class. Hence, the activities that will be required to achieve this will, first to identify the areas where the class students are lagging behind, determining the reasons for the low performance and suggesting solutions. To carry out these tasks, it requires enormous amount of planning and coordination which is a very good opportunity for the students to learn. The role of the educational institution is to create learning opportunities and distributed leadership can create more opportunities for learning other than the learning through instructions byt the teachers. PRECAUTIONS TO BE TAKEN Though the concept is very good for the various members of a school, it has certain pitfalls. First, the vision of the school has to be understood by everybody in the school who are participating in the leadership. The vision of the school should be formulated by everybody and the scope of operations needed to achieve the goals should be transparent to everybody. Next, the additional activities that are required like planning, organizing, coordination and other related activities which are part and parcel of leadership can also cause a lack of concentration on the core expectation from the students, i.e., good academic performance. Students at a very early age when they working towards the achievement of the shared goals can get distracted with the involvement in leadership. Another danger that can arise is that stretching the conetp of distributed leadership too much so that it stops working. The scope of this concept should be planned according to the internal environment, culture and the ability fo the members of the team. the members of the team should be made ready before they leadership is distributed. The academic staff, the support staff and the students should be prepared well so that they are eager to lead and are equipped with the necessary skills. Orientation should be given about the concept, the change that is necessary, the ways to achieve shared leadership all has to be discussed before putting the concept into practice. If the concept is being put to practice abruptly, it creates confusion and conflicts. Another concern can be the ability of the members of the organization to lead. Lack of experience and exposure may cause some mistakes when decisions are made and it takes time to learn from mistakes. Hence, initially the road may be very rocky. CONCLUSION Distributed leadership has a number of benefits for the students and for other members of the educational institution. We are living in a information technology era where the concept of distance has become invalid. Educational institutions are now considering partnerships and coordination with like institutions across the world to enrich the knowledge. Hence we require more responsive leadership approaches. Distributed leadership can be very useful to accommodate to change and the development of the educational institution. A survey of relevant literature about this concept shows that little evidence is now available about the effectiveness of the concept. A well performing student will perform wherever he is and whatever is the environment. On the other hand, the low performing students have to get more attention so that everybody develops together. If this approach is going to empower all the members of the school and if it gives positive results for the development of the low performers, then it is a huge leap for the school. This concept is unique in the idea that the followers are taken into the realms of leadership. When this approach is adopted with the necessary adjustments made for the unique environment of the school it can be advantageous for the students in the teaching learning process. References 1. Whetton, D. A and Cameron, K. S (2005) Developing management skills, New Jersey, Prentice Hall 2. Quinn, R. E (2004) Building the bridge as you walk on it, San Francisco: Jossey - Bass 3. Harris, A. (2007) 'Distributed leadership: conceptual confusion and empirical reticence', International Journal of Leadership in Education, 10(3): 1-11. 4. Spillane, J.P. (2006) Distributed leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 5. Hargreaves, D. (2007) System re-design - 1:The road to transformation. London: SSAT. 6. Leithwood, K, Louis, K. S, Anderson, S and Wahlstrom, K (2004)Review of research How leadership influences student learning, Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement publication, Minnesota available at www.learningfromleadership.umn.edu Read More