Educational Leadership: A Case Study

Bolman & Deal suggest that leaders display leadership behaviors in one of four types of frameworks: Structural, Human Resources, Political and Symbolic (Bolman & Deal, 2008). Unlike the other four frames, the Political frame sees an organization as a jungles, arenas or contests in which individuals and groups compete to achieve their interests in a world of conflicting viewpoints, scarce resources and struggles for power (Bolman & Deal, 2008). Like it or not all businesses and organizations are ran by people in power. Power is best defined as “the potential ability to influence behavior, to change the course of events, to overcome resistance, and to get people to do things they would not otherwise do” (Pfeffer, 1992, p.30). According to the

According to Peter G. Northouse, Personal power comes from the followers and include reverent and expert power. Followers give it to the leaders because followers believe leader have something of value. Treating power as a share resources is important because it deemphasizes the idea that the leader are power wielders. (Northouse pg.16). Leaders (managers) and followers (staff employees) must work together and have trust between one another, however the manager must set boundaries between friendship and the office relationship. Setting these boundaries not only protect the individuals but also the company from legal liability. Managers as leaders shouldn’t be view as having more power rather they should possess the ability to motivate the staff to achieve high quality job satisfaction.

Second, Starratt (2004) suggests that the moral challenge presented to all educational leaders is embodied in the two sides of moral responsibility: avoid the bad, but perhaps more importantly, do the good. Indeed, educational leaders are granted the power and authority to do either or both, yet I do not believe they fully recognize the impact of the power and authority that they are permitted to wield. Throughout my career,

Several months ago, a student with three years of experience in ASUU—Jack Bender—created the SLC party while running for Student Body president. His campaign, hinging mainly upon reducing the fiscal allocations to various departments, promised to reduce student fees and increase transparency. Since the inauguration ceremony on April 27th, there have been indeed been notable changes under his leadership, with the aid of several new leaders.

The handling of power is also paramount in an organization. Boleman and Deal offer meaningful insight in this aspect. They observe the following,

Power and leadership play a big role in accomplishing the objectives of a team. A person having these two attributes can direct a group of people towards achieving their common goal. These two components of authority are also essential to each other in order for the leader to be successful. Power is a person’s ability to influence others and leadership is a person’s talent to guide a group of people to achieve their common goal. A person that has power

Whether you are a school principal, superintendent or area superintendent, there is a great deal of issues that you face as an educational leader. Some issues may be poverty, the lack of qualified teachers or teacher morale, finances, lack of organizational structure, parental and community involvement, technology, or simply time. I was provided with the gratifying opportunity of interviewing a prior Principal of mine, Dr. Angela Murphy-Osborne (Dr. O). In this interview, Dr. O shared her top three issues that she faced as an educational leader today. Selecting only the top three issues was a major challenge for her! As a result, she provided her top three, while also voicing other concerns. After in-depth consideration, Dr. O decided that the top three issues she faces on daily basis as an educational leader were testing, lack of time, and budget. She explained to me that each of these issues is significant because they not only impact her directly, but they also play a major role to the success of the school!

The study of leadership in higher education brings with it a multitude of concepts, theories, and topics to learn, and as a novice researcher, it is important to explore as many of these concepts as possible during your degree program in order to gain a better understanding of the magnitude the study of leadership in higher education covers. Throughout a doctoral program on leadership in higher education, candidates will encounter hundreds of scholarly articles and empirical studies that fall in the purview of postsecondary leadership. When reviewing these articles, it is important to analyze and synthesize each piece of research to determine the methodologies used by scholar-practitioners and identify best practices in educational

After reading chapter 1 of School Leadership that Works, it is evident that leadership is considered to be vital to the successful functioning of many schools. A few aspects of schooling that have been linked to leadership are clear mission and goals, overall climate, attitude of teachers, classroom practices of teachers, organization of curriculum and instructions, and students' opportunity to learn. “Students in effective schools as opposed to ineffective schools have a 44 percent difference in their expected passing rate on a test that has a typical passing rate of 50 percent.” (Marzano 3) Because leadership is perceived to be important to the successful performance of schools, no wonder that an effective principal is thought as a necessary

Leadership styles may differ, managers and leaders may possess all or one of the sources of power to influence his or her followers. However, power of any kind should be used to motivate, uplift, encourage, and develop more leaders; not destroy

While there is no denying that principals play the primary role of setting the directions of a school and conveying this vision to staff, students and stakeholders (OLF 2.2.1), teacher-leaders also contribute to activities that serve to ensure that the school community is working towards a common goal and that the vision for the school becomes a reality. While the principal and school improvement plan may state the goals for the school, it is the teachers within that school that actively contribute to the fulfilment of the goals.

In order to measure the personal profile for educational leadership, Self Inventory is used. About 73 statements are collected and are used to demonstrate an individual’s performances according to the standards set by CSDE standards for School Leaders. ( Connecticut State Board of Education in the name of the Secretary of the State of Connecticut). This summary report is related to a survey that was conducted by me in which the result analysis was performed by the use of Connecticut Educational Leadership profile. The next step that I am going to take after gaining knowledge from this survey, in addition to my personal views about the significance of Educational Leadership.

People in leadership positions may be held responsible for outcomes over which they have little control.” This goes hand-in-hand with the most important satisfaction of a leader, having prestige and power. Due to the responsibility that leaders have to their superiors and more importantly, their subordinates, a lack of authority can make the efforts of a leader futile. Authority, power, and prestige, are the most essential components of a leader’s position. Therefore, a lack of authority would naturally render a leader useless and frustrated. Given the importance of power for a leader, I picked this topic because I believe that when the subject of leadership is being discussed, it is vital to bring up a leader’s key

The penultimate course I took for the completion of the Educational Leadership program, Leadership Theory allowed me to explore the principles of personality and how it would relate to leadership situations. The key artifact for this subject had me reflect on my attitudes after completing the following surveys: the Principal's Leadership Style Survey, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, the Teacher's Occupational Preference Inventory, the Principal's Influence Questionnaire, the Change Approach Inventory, and the Principal's Interpersonal Confidence Index. In this section, I will reflect on the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Questionnaire and on the Principal’s Leadership Style Survey. I will share my reflections on what the results may

There are links between power and leadership and the management of power and decision-making across and inter-organizational (like hospitals) or network-based systems (like insurance companies.) The most important consequence of linking the power and leadership literatures is the need for future research to focus on power not only within but also between organizational levels as well as between