D6013 Educational Leadership: Leadership Perspectives

Introduction

Leadership is a complex term, and a research and exploration of leadership reveal its many elements. Leadership studies require distinct orientations and perspectives. The essay offers a comprehensive review of the origins of the leadership perspective and what fields has it been applied to. The leadership perspectives have been used in various research studies. The essay discusses the practical applications for the leadership perspectives.

The traditional leadership

The traditional leadership was linked to God, and the traditional leaders encouraged those belief systems. Despite the theory, the original leaders and human beings were vagabonds and had no fixed abode. There was no organization, and people lived a nomadic life and were scattered. In the original precolonial societies, some acquired leadership position because of their unique position, participation, and service in the society (Khunou, 2013). The communities acknowledged their efforts by accepting them as leaders. As asserted by Khunou (2013), a good example can be taken from the precolonial South African tribes where the traditional leaders were a symbol of strength and unity of their tribe. However, their military roles were important for the safety and survival of the tribe. Traditionally, the most valued leadership characteristics are masculine in nature. However, recent research shows that those masculine characteristics may not always build an effective leadership (Holden & Raffo, 2014).

What is leadership?

Because of social and ecological pressures, an individual need to move and work together. This is how leader–follower patterns emerge during coordinated group movements and activities. Leadership is almost inevitable, and any particular physical or behavioral trait raises the likelihood of one individual emerging faster as a leader. It is because of the trait difference that develops a leader–follower pattern in a large group (King, Johnson & Van Vugt, 2009). Self-efficacy is defined as the will to execute a particular behavior to produce desired outcomes. Individuals high in self-efficacy place more effort and try out challenging tasks. The role and importance of self-efficacy in organizational behavior are fast gaining attention in organizational behavior (Paglis, 2010).

Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) program explain self-leadership in other cultures (Alves et al., 2006). Self-efficacy is related to positive performance, adapting to new technology, making the adjustment. There is a link between self-efficacy and leadership in organizations.It is apparent that stronger leaders drive values and those values drive behaviors that can lead to enhanced performance in an organization (Frankel et al., 2006). It would be impossible to develop into a reliable organization without certain values and system established under administrative and clinical leaders in healthcare. According to prominent scholars on leadership, leadership matters but it is a broad and complex topic and carries different styles. It is one of the most examined phenomena in social science, and the universal activity is vital for an effective societal and organizational functioning (Antonakis, n.d.). There are many different theories and definitions of leadership. The influencing process takes place between a leader and followers and is explained by the characteristics and performances as well as perceptions of the leader and his supporters. Leadership is both a property as well as a process (Jago1982). Leadership as the set of qualities is a property and is a process as the organized group activities to accomplish team objectives. It has been found that the managerial incompetence is the reason behind the majority of the failures of businesses in corporate America. New approaches can help understand as to why human leadership succeeds or fails and which fundamental principles can help develop effective leadership practices (King, Johnson & Van Vugt, 2009). Coordination and cooperation can develop naturally among the team rather being imposed from above.

Different perspectives on leadership

New ways of thinking and meaning are emerging to explain effective leadership practices and processes (Bourgeois, 2017). Post-modernistic and social relativist influence claims that knowledge is relative to time for the perspective of educational leadership. Theoretical perspectives on leadership research focus on the universally appropriate leadership traits, their behavioral style and the situationally contingent leadership traits, and behaviors (Jago1982).The leadership culture is continuously evolving because of the dynamics of issues, responsibilities, and identities. Project-based work requires shared leadership forms and rejects the dominating heroic leadership. A well-functioning team of self-sacrificing individuals matters in technological and organizational issues (Lindgren et al., 2011).

The pattern of distributed leadership perspective is more useful under such a scenario than any other. The definition of leadership necessitates a distinction between processes of supervision and leadership processes. Leadership influences group members while supervision uses rewards and punishments to control group members (Jago1982). As asserted by King, Johnson & Van Vugt (2009), theoretical models, empirical observation, genetics and experimental psychology can be used to engineer the elements of good leadership.Transformational leadership has surfaced as the most acknowledged form of safe and efficient leadership. It is interesting to perceive that most of the traits of the transformational leadership are associated with females. Thus, it is evident that the stereotypically feminine traits can be used to build leadership effectiveness. A good example can be taken from the Fortune 500 companies with higher numbers of female officers enjoying higher returns on equity than others with a lower number of female officers (Holden & Raffo, 2014). Despite those findings, female leaders experience several obstacles and are viewed less favorably for leadership styles by their subordinates.A Lasallian Teacher requires a solid foundation and relationship development in her profession. Certain virtues and qualities point to their success in their professional and personal lives such as being firm, thoughtful, vigilant, decisiveness, careful and having the ability to express oneself clearly (Laughlin, & Moore, 2012).

The significant influence of self-efficacy is seen to extend into the leadership area. Leadership self-efficacy or LSE leaders are shown to deliver superior results. However, there is a limit to enhancing LSE among managers as going beyond certain extreme levels can lead to deleterious results. For example, an overly confident and zealous leader can set unattainable goals for employees and take unreasonable risks with the resources of the organization (Paglis, 2010). There is a feminization of global leadership because of the rising number of women leaders in various organizations (Alves et al., 2006). Western models of leadership are no longer applicable in the East and the developing countries because of different perspective towards loyalty and interpersonal relations. The concept of self-leadership developed out of the notion of influencing oneself and self-management. It is different from concepts such as self-regulation and self-management. Self-leadership works towards strategies focused on behavior, natural rewards and constructive thoughts, according to Alves et al. (2006). A cross-cultural analysis of self-leadership requires an extension of its current components and demands changes and adaptation. A distributed perspective of leadership involves multiple individuals in certain management positions and designated leadership roles. For example, school is a good example as it involves coordinated roles of principals, teachers and curriculum specialists who work together in leading and managing schools (Spillane, & Healey, 2010). The relationship between individuals in different leadership and management positions is greater than the number of individuals who carry out those leadership functions.

Practical application of leadership perspectives

R&D project leadership is a serious matter in contemporary organizations. An active R&D project leadership can help develop new products and services in the market. The project leader needs to ponder over advanced technological problems with enhanced, project planning and monitoring (Lindgren et al., 2011). The highly reliable industries and organizations are known to encourage and develop “mindfulness” in their workers. In the healthcare industry, the mindfulness and higher reliability hold utmost importance because of concerns about patient safety. The healthcare organization needs a fair and just culture, and a systematic and reinforced training under an intelligently engaged leadership. Good teamwork and effective communication are essential for a safe and reliable care (Frankel et al., 2006).

Economic growth is a responsibility of the city leaders and paramount importance to them. The city leaders employ certain strategies to pursue economic growth in order to get the maximum out of limited city budgets. Recent times have seen them address wider community concerns within the context of economic development (Vanderleeuw et al., 2011). City leadership represents different sectors such as private, public and nonprofit in various institutions depending upon locality. A systematic Urban Studies Research suggests that the city leader professionalism applies to every city (Vanderleeuw et al., 2011). The variations in the leadership position, city leader professionalism, and socioeconomic status can potentially influence economic development perspective.

The knowledge of leadership is incomplete without understanding what they do and how they do it. For example, to understand how school leadership works, one must make an in-depth study of how the school leaders and administrators handle their tasks on a daily basis. The leadership is a school is best understood as a distributed practice (James, Halverson & Diamond, 2001) and as stretched over multiple leaders.

The leaders of today

The human societies of today rely heavily on political, religious, military and economic leaders to function effectively (King, Johnson & Van Vugt, 2009).The leaders of today have to function in a complex and interconnected business environment on a global level. They need to carry a guiding vision and a sense of purpose to help build a cohesive organizational structure. Environmental disasters and accounting scandals have marred the legitimacy and trust of the business environment. Companies are expected to be responsible for their environmental, economic and societal impacts worldwide (Maak & Pless, 2006). A firm and strong leadership at the top can ensure long-term business success. The globalization trend demands individuals that can work within different cultures. A question rises if the self-leadership within a native culture will be able to perform successfully in other cultural contexts, or it would need to change and adapt (Alves et al., 2006). The modern human leadership still relates to age, sex, and height when none of those attributes matter and are just an evolutionary hangover (King, Johnson & Van Vugt, 2009). Leaders and managers would do well if mentoring is included in the leadership model for the 21st century (Laughlin, & Moore, 2012). Dedicated mentoring can help build effective leaders before, during and after hiring. The Lasallian “Conduct” model suggests a proven foundation to the mentoring process and develop a leader who is also a good teacher and know the individual strengths and weaknesses of his team.

The future orientation dimension regarding self-leadership should consider culture dimensions such as masculinity versus femininity and individualism versus collectivism, as they are interconnected as stated by Alves et al. (2006). Modernism follows a scientific approach to explain the leadership practices and based on this perspective, leadership is fundamentally analyzed from an authoritarian function to look like a communal practice where everyone behaves like a self-regulating individual. Postmodern approaches are revolutionary as compared to traditional attitudes to leadership and administrative functions (Bourgeois, 2017). It depends as to how effective is the postmodernist position on educational leadership. The traditional static posture of leadership needed to get dynamic and activated in the practice of learning and teaching. The roles and responsibilities of leaders are becoming multi-faceted and more complex in an interdependent and turbulent world. The traditional leadership concepts move beyond the traditional roles in a stakeholder society, as they need to handle, mobile and lead teams across business cultures in various countries. The safety and well-being of employees are one of their ultimate responsibilities as stated by Maak & Pless (2006).

Reflection

The practices followed by teachers and their emotions can have a significant impact on teaching and learning in school. The working conditions of the schools and the school leadership can directly affect the emotions of the teachers (Leithwood, 2007). A supportive principal leadership and instructional resources within the classroom can influence the thought process and feelings. I firmly believe in the distributed leadership perspective based on my experiences as a teacher. I found myself performing differently under different principals or the working conditions. Leadership in schools being distributive in nature needs to well-structured and coordinated. There can be dissonance between the various layers of leadership in school administration. The school administrators and teacher leaders need to develop the right skills and attitudes for a successful delivery of roles and responsibilities.

References 

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