Good Leadership and Management for the Success of Schools and Colleges

Introduction

The importance of good leadership and management for the successful operation of schools and colleges has over time been accepted of late. However, the development towards self-management in many parts of the world has led to an improved positive reception of the importance of managerial know-how for educational leaders. More recently there has been growing appreciation of the distinctions between leadership and management and the understanding that school principals and senior staff need to be good leaders as well as effective managers.

Consequently, the leadership element embraces notions of vision, values, and transformational management. In addition to this, managing competently is an important requisite but in some countries, leadership is recognized to be even more significant. This paper will focus on the educational leadership position in society and tertiary institutions. Therefore leaders, who are extraordinary move people, rouse excitement, and increase or strengthen the best in individuals. No matter what leaders will set up orderly or logically to do, whether it’s creating plans or summoning teams to carry out an action, their success will depend on how they do it. Even if they get everything else correct, and fail in this first undertaking of motivating emotions in the right direction, nothing that they had planned will work.

The educational method is intended to build up the knowledge, skills, and abilities in the accountability-based governance setting. The most important the outcome of an educational program is for participants to be able to share and communicate their new leadership skills in helping every organization in developing its accommodative ability.

Schools can be tied to traditions in which they operate; thus, they can easily be swayed by their past origins. However, strong intellectual challenges or adversity continuing education program that is integrated into all departments and service lines through the organization can present the mechanism for continuous learning and performance improvement.

The general ideas of the school structure and behavior that compare to an earlier developed era are still employed in schools. It is necessary for educational leaders to know these historical bases and also organizational structures that are more closely linked with the cultural demands and expectations of a post-industrial society. Educational leaders today should know that the schools they are leading are marked by constant change or efficient organizations action (Schein, 1985).

The roles of leadership are usually described as including planning and setting goals; overseeing and controlling operations; regulating and assessment of organizational and interpersonal abilities. Good leaders also identify important themes, or a vision for the organization, that others can identify with and rally around. They (leaders) are able to balance the responsibility of their own decision-making with the participation of others in decision-making at all levels in an organization.

Several current books on the literature on school leadership stresses other functions, roles, and characteristics of effective leaders, many of which are a result of current changes in the political and social environment of education in general. Consequently, some of the more important changes which are affecting our schools and school leaders are the increased diversity in students and families and the current changes in the economy (Thomas & Peter, 1993). When leaders are able to understand a school structure they are able to scrutinize the essential structural components of a school district when it comes to their roles, specializations, and interrelations. Moreover, they are able to coordinate the goals purpose, and functions of school organizations with the larger cultural and societal goals, norms, and values.

Problem statement

One of most problems in educational structure is not the entry of the student only but whether the student will achieve their goals. However, examining and stressing on key and important roles of effective educational leadership provides a basis for understanding the basics of running a smooth and effective administrative system and how to nurture and solve student behavior problems. Consequently, a global leader should be generally approved.

Meaning of educational management

Educational management is a field of study and practice that has to do with the running of an educational organization. There are diverse and different interpretations of educational management. Bolam (1999, p.194) defines educational management as ‘the administrator for carrying out an agreed plan of action’. He sets apart management from educational leadership which has ‘at its most vital the task of forming a plan of action and, where fitting, organizational changes’. Bolam further stated that ‘management is a set of activities directed towards being able to accomplish a task and capable of producing the intended result using organizations available source of aid or support in order to achieve what the organization wants to achieve’ (Bolam, 1999).

Management studies are involved with ‘what occurs inside the educational institutions, and also in connection with their surroundings. For example, the communities in which they are set and the administrative bodies to which they are formally responsible. In other words, managers in schools and colleges must encourage the participation of both internal and external participants in leading their institutions. The functions and goals intended for the management of schools and colleges are common when trying to understand different fundamentals of the subject. Some of the aspects of goal setting are;

1. The value of the initial anticipated outcome.
2. Whether the goals are those of the organization or an individual.
3. How the institution’s goals are made.

Description of educational leadership

There is no one meaning given to leadership and Yukl (2002, pp.4-5) argues that ‘the understanding of leadership can be modified by individual bias. Dimensions of leadership may be described as a basis for developing a working definition. The property of leadership refers to common traits or characteristics shared by effective leaders. Characterized leadership as a way of thinking, a sense of spirit founded in overlapping environments-our own, that of the profession, and of the educational process itself. Yukl further defined leadership as an interactive relationship between leaders and followers. Its cultural, gender, class, or ethnic components aside, leadership is best characterized by influence and identification.

Moreover, educational leaders have a challenge of educating a growing and diverse student population; they should be responsive to the needs of students and their families and implement teaching and learning strategies that will prove effective for both students and parents.

Leadership as an influence

A central element in many definitions of leadership is that there is a process of influence. Most descriptions of leadership reveal the hypothesis that it entails a social authority procedure whereby intentional leadership is used by an individual (or group) over the other to organize the actions and relationships in an organization’s workforce. (Yukl, 2002, p.3) Yukl’s use of ‘person’ or ‘group’ serves to emphasize that leadership may be exercised by teams as well as individuals. Yukl’s definition shows that the influence process is purposeful in that it is intended to lead to specific outcomes: ‘leadership then refers to people who bend the motivations and actions of others to achieving certain goals; it implies taking initiatives and risks’ see this influence as an organizational quality flowing through the differing internal network of organizations.

Leadership as value

Leadership may be understood as ‘influence’ but this notion is not biased in that it does not explain or recommend what goals or actions should be sought through this process. However, certain optional concepts of leadership focus on the need for leadership to be based on strong personal and professional values. ‘The main task of any leader is to bring people together around important issues. It is also noted that leadership starts with the personality of leaders, expressed in terms of his state of mind that is emotional, self-awareness, and his sense of right and wrong.

Leadership and vision

Vision is becoming more considered as an important part of good leadership and to draw on work expressing clear of ideas having general application about leadership, four of which relate directly to vision;

1. Outstanding leaders have a vision for their organizations.
2. Vision must be communicated in a way that secures commitment among members of the organization.
3. Communication of vision requires communication of meaning.
4. Attention should be given to institutionalizing vision if leadership is to be successful.

Structural Constructs of Organizations Organizational Components

Another approach to having the idea for organizational structure is to represent accurately or precisely the fundamental components of an organization. Henry Mintzberg (1979) identified three basic elements of the educational sector or any organization. These are (a) the operating core, (b) the administrative component, and (c) support staff.

1. The operating core: The operating core is comprised of those people who carry out the basic tasks of the organization.
2. The administrative component: The administrative component contains three parts; the strategic apex, the middle line, and the techno-structure. The strategic apex represents or expresses the top administrators who make sure that the organization operates in a systematic or consistent manner with its mission. In relation to this, the technostructure is composed of administrators whose most important responsibilities are planning and training.
3. Support staffs: Support staffs are specialists who provide support services for the organization but operate outside the organization’s operating progress (or rate of progress) in work being done.

The table below illustrates the Structural Constructs of educational or organization organizational Components.

Leadership, culture and globalization

Leadership is a culturally and contextually enclosed process that means it cannot be disentangled with its larger environment – at levels ranging from organizational, to the local community through to greater society. The cultural authority on leadership is marked by several dimensions or aspects, repeatedly complicated to distinguish, delicate and simple to ignore, – though underplayed by several people and ignored by others.

The aim is to highlight the importance of the concept of societal culture to developing theory, policy, and practice in educational leadership within an increasingly globalizing educational context. Recognizing the link between leadership in relation to cultural and contextual motivation can contribute to improvement in its practice. For example, given the multi-ethnic nature of schools around the world, leaders nowadays shoulder responsibility for shaping their organizations in ways that value and integrate heterogeneous groups into successful learning communities for all. The successful leadership of such communities calls for very specific knowledge and skills attuned to ethnicity and multiculturalism.

Culture is evidently a hard and complex theory to describe. For example, it is different from, but very closely linked to society. Whereas society is simply the system of interrelationships connecting individuals, culture is the bond that joins people together through a common understanding of an accepted way of life that is distinguishable from other groups. A number of key concepts related to the notion of culture can now be examined in more detail.

Multi-ethnic and multicultural

This term multi-ethnic is used to describe a school whose student/staff profile is made up of more than one race. The word multicultural school shows a school that is accomplishing some measure of intended purpose in creating a learning environment that conforms to the ultimate standard of multiculturalism. This may include a school community structure that accommodates culturally diverse students, a curriculum that adequately addresses issues of cultural diversity, and learning outcomes that indicate success for students of different cultures.

Cross-cultural

This term is used to show contrast across two or more societal cultures. Following developments in international business management and in cross-cultural psychology, we believe that culture offers a fruitful basis for undertaking relative study. For example, the leadership of educational institutions in one country compared with that of another institution by adopting a cultural perspective of leadership in the societies.

Consequently, globalization is seen as a mental sequence of events driven, mainly, by a collection of political and economical influences’’. It touches all our lives, changing our social processes and institutions, even in the ways in which we relate to one another. It would seem that globalization, especially its secular and materialistic dimensions, is contributing to a more disengaged mode of existence for many people, especially in the developed world.

While acknowledging that ‘’leadership can be determined by culture’’, we need to establish whether there is leader conducts, qualities, and customary of way operation that is generally accepted and capable of producing intended results across cultures as adding to or subduing great leadership. The following findings identify six ‘’global leader behaviors that have been supported without a doubt through shared knowledge and values.

Charismatic/values-based leadership is one who thinks of the future, one who can impart divine influence on mind and soul, willing to give a lot for the organization, is honest, and firm, and can be able to achieve what they set out to do successfully. Principals with this approach might set tactical aims to develop student learning.

Team-oriented leadership comprises a leader who can accomplish by bringing a team together, is one who can bring teachers and students of different races and ethnic groups together, is

1. generous in providing help to others, and is capable of managing well. Principals with this style can be able to manage and bring teachers together to set goals or settle conflicts.
2. Participative leadership is not domineering and is more involved. Principals with this approach form groups of teachers and parents to resolve problems of student behavior and assign power to give orders or make decisions to an assistant principal or teacher leaders.
3. Humane-oriented this leader is not vain and but gentle and kind. Principals usually give credit for the school’s achievements to teachers; they also can stand in for a teacher who falls sick in the middle of a school day.
4. Autonomous leadership is a leader who stands alone. Principals in this manner might make decisions without consulting others and avoid interacting with teachers.
5. Self-protective leadership is the leader who only cares about himself and his needs, is mindful of his/her status, always causes problems instead of solving them. Principals with this style might blame teachers or students for school problems, fire assistant principals who are better than they are, and lie rather than accept their mistakes.

Conclusion

From these findings, we can safely say that people expect a leader who is team-oriented, and a leadership characterized by more collectivist cultures. The role of educational leadership has changed significantly over the past decade. A contemporary and popular term for important and effective school leadership is collaborative leadership, which is characterized by a more flexible, problem-solving style, built upon personal relationships.

School leadership may come from a variety of individuals functioning in a variety of roles and situations throughout the educational sector.

Educational leadership may be provided at each and every level of the educational sector and may also originate from a variety of positions and roles. Leadership may also be situated at the educational building level and often the building principal is called upon to take responsibilities and many important leadership functions (Owens, 1995).

However for leadership to produce more benefits, others such as assistant principals, supervisors, social workers, teachers, and parents may provide or contribute to the leadership which can prove to be valuable to a leader.

The way a school succeeds on an educational level depends on a leader who is dynamic, strong, or visionary. He/she should be able to see the big picture, take charge of the situation and get the job done. In order to put the student’s needs ahead of the department’s needs, educational leadership must seek the goodness of fit between educational leadership and its surroundings.

The revival of learning and culture in Education/Organizational Leadership is not likely to take place if leaders are not enthusiastic to significantly change the way they lead, design, and operate. The Education/Organizational Leadership must incessantly seek the goodness of fit between the Education/Organizational Leadership and its environment, as well as internal goodness of fit between the staff, managers, and practitioners. For this to come about, decentralized power, authority, autonomy, and accountability for what happens at the point of every service must be accounted for. Moreover, power, autonomy, authority, and accountability must be organized into a code or system in a workable participatory management structure. Care processes must be fixed or set securely or deeply with the best available valid and reliable evidence and put the student’s needs ahead of the department’s needs.

Reference List

Bolam, R. (1999). Educational administration, leadership and management: towards a research agenda. In Bush, T., Bell, L., Bolam, R., Glatter, R. and R. and Ribbins, P. (eds), Educational Management: Redefining Theory, Policy and Practice, London, Paul Chapman Publishing.

Mintzberg, H. (1979). The structuring of organizations. A synthesis of the research. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Owens, R. (1995). Organizational behaviour in education (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Schein, E. (1985). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Thomas, B. G. & Peter, R. (1993). Greenfield on educational administration: towards a humane science. New York. NY: Routledge.

Yukl. G.A. (2002). Leadership in Organizations, Fifth Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.