Distributed Leadership For Learning And Teaching

When examining various institutional examples of leadership, there are common threads imbedded in each of their definitions. To be a worldwide industry leader; to provide value to shareholders; and to create sustainable, environmentally friendly solutions are examples of business leaders’ statements. Although with the same overall intent, educational leadership statements tend to include best teaching practices, ambitious scholastic goals and inviting others to share in its vision development. Closely aligned with these ideals is the Army’s definition of leadership - “the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation, while operating to accomplish the mission and improve the organization.” (AR 600-100 Army Leadership). Leadership can be conceptualized using a continuum ranging from strategic and organizational attributes through management and

“Fundamental to distributed leadership is the belief that all teachers have the right and potential to participate in decisions that effect’s their

Leadership refers to the act of leading a considerable number of people within an establishment or the capacity to do this. Leadership has to do with coming up with a vision that is crystal clear and the ability to spreads that idea out in a manner that makes individuals, given the information, knowledge, and methods to understand, willing to follow. Subsequently, balancing and coordinating the conflicting interests of all stakeholders and members. It is typical for any good leader to step up in the event of a contingency, with the potential to imagine and act creatively in situations that prove to be difficult. Different from management, leadership can never be taught, in as much as it may be learned and bettered employing mentoring and coaching (Servant Leadership Based on Robert Greenleaf’s Writings, 2010).

Joseph Raelin (2016), a Northeastern University professor of management and organization development, recently published the article “Rethinking Leadership.” He said, “Leadership is really not about the leaders themselves. It’s about the collective practice among people who work together— accomplishing the choices we make together in our mutual work” (Raelin,

In leadership, leaders get his power from his group members. He proceeds in this position at the pleasure of members in his group collectively. The position of leadership exists in most settings regardless of group size. For instance, a leader of national or universal standing has vast influence over an expansive number of individuals while the influence of small group in a company is extremely constrained. Both are leaders in their own right and satisfy our definition of

There are many definitions of leadership. Chemers (1997) describes it as: "A process of social influence in which one person can enlist the support of others in the accomplishment of a common task or aim"

Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task”...

Authors, Lewis, Parkard, and Lewis, cited Northouse’s definition of leadership as a “process in which an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve common goals” (Lewis, Parkard, & Lewis, 2012).

Classical organisational theorist defined leadership in terms of achieving a group’s objectives R.C Davies (1942) referred to leadership as “the principle dynamic forces that motivates and coordinates the organisation in the accomplishment of its objectives.” Similarly, Urwick (1953) stated that the leader is “the personification of common purpose not only to all who work under taking, but to everyone outside it.” K. Davies (1962) defined leadership as “the human factor which binds a group together and motivates it towards goals.” Cattell (1951) took the extreme position that leadership is whatever or whoever contributes to the group’s performance. To measure each members Leadership, Cattell noted, removed him or her from the group, one at a time, and observe what happens to the group’s performance. Calder (1977) and Pfeffer (1977) “stated that leadership is mainly influence and is even attributed to participants after the fact.

Leadership can take many different forms, depending on the person and the situation in which it is needed. Collaborative leadership is a leadership style in which a leader brings together a large group of people, with a variety of backgrounds, to make a productive decision and act upon it. According to Chrislip and Larson (1994):

Leadership has evolved drastically over the past few centuries. Historically, many leaders use the vertical leadership approach when managing a large group of individuals. However, as organizations continue to grow and expand it becomes even more difficult for one person to be considered an expert in multiple areas of the organization. I believe this is why we have seen a shift from vertical leadership two more of a shared leadership style. Shared leadership has enabled leaders to create smaller groups of experts to tackle one portion of the project while also communicating with the other project groups. I think a great example of this is in the hospital where physicians perform multidisciplinary rounds on their patients in the ICU. A patient may come in with chest pain and being admitted to the cardiac ICU, however, several teams of physicians will have to work together to ensure the patient receives the best care

There has been vast amounts of research done on the topic of leadership, and yet despite this it continues to be ‘‘riddled with paradoxes, inconsistencies, and contradictions’’

Leadership has been studied extensively and many varying definitions exist. Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy (2015, p.4) review many of these definitions and consequently describe leadership as ‘the process of influencing an organised group towards its goals’. Leadership involves the interplay of a range of different factors, not least the leader themselves, the followers and the situation. For

According to Daft (2008, p.20) leadership typically reflects the larger society, and theories have evolved as norms, attitudes, and understandings in the larger world of change. Throughout the centuries leaders have adapted in response to these changes. Northouse (2007, p3) defines leadership as a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. A person’s ability to

Solo leadership refers to the control, influence and direction to the followers by one sole person who leads them towards achieving desired goals and objectives. Solo leaders are those leaders who donot share power with any other person and ensure that they receive all the credits and profits from effective productivity of their followers. They have no partners in decision making and power sharing. They set the vision and goals and also make strategies to achieve those goals. They are the sole directors of their followers and give strict directions and orders for achievement of any objective. They are autocratic by style as they are sole controllers and play unlimited roles without interfere