Q#1 Why Schools Need Leadership? in Your Opinion How Effective Leadership Can Improve Schools Performance? Ans: 1

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 7

Q#1 Why schools need leadership?

In your opinion how effective leadership can improve schools


performance?
Ans: 1
Leadership is the ability of an individual or a group of individuals to influence and guide followers or other
members of an organization. Effective school leaders apply their educational expertise and management skills in
order to focus their efforts, and those of their teaching staff, on improving the quality of student learning outcomes.
Part of this involves keeping up-to-date on the latest teaching technologies and trends. It also requires excellent
interpersonal skills – as leaders work with students, staff, parents and external communities to gain constant
feedback and find opportunities to innovate. School leaders need to have a solid grasp of operational best practices
and an aptitude for enabling continuous development. Effective school leaders apply their educational expertise and
management skills in order to focus their efforts, and those of their teaching staff, on improving the quality of
student learning outcomes. Part of this involves keeping up-to-date on the latest teaching technologies and trends. It
also requires excellent interpersonal skills – as leaders work with students, staff, parents and external communities
to gain constant feedback and find opportunities to innovate. School leaders need to have a solid grasp of operational
best practices and an aptitude for enabling continuous development. While it can be tempting to make a decision
your staff might want, Joseph says to center your decision-making process around student needs. “I’ve found that if
you keep students at the core of your decision-making and are consistent, most staffers will accept unpopular
decisions, especially if you communicate your reasoning. Leadership is a critical aspect of all social endeavors. In
schools, talented leadership is essential to student achievement. School leadership impacts all facets of
education: teacher motivation, shaping the conditions and the environment in which teaching and learning occurs,
and interaction with the broader community. A large scale six-year study reported by Louis et al (2010) covering
180 schools in 43 school districts in the US found that there is no single case of a school improving its student
achievement record in the absence of skilled school leadership.
In many school systems, effective school leadership is far from the norm. It is often simply assumed that school
leaders, irrespective of capacity, will discharge responsibilities and initiatives assigned to them. Moreover, programs
to prepare and or support school leaders are either lacking or ineffective.
Good leadership in schools helps to foster both a positive and motivating culture for staff and a high-quality
experience for learners. Leaders at all levels in schools can contribute to this by developing the top skills needed by
school leaders.
Leading through teaching and learning
For a school leader to be successful in their role, they need to lead the way in driving teaching and learning
outcomes, first and foremost. This involves setting expectations about the school’s learning practices and ensuring
the organization’s values and behaviors underpin a focus on improving student success.
Developing self, and others
Good school leadership should have a strong focus on continued professional development. This starts with leaders
growing their own skills and knowledge through a commitment to professional development and personal health and
wellbeing.
Promoting positive change in school environments
With the education space evolving rapidly, it’s essential for leaders in schools to be open to innovation and change
and to drive new initiatives in the school environment. The change should remain consistent with the school’s values
and goals, while genuinely working towards the improvement of student outcomes
Driving school management
Leaders in schools use a range of data management methods and technologies to manage school staff and resources
efficiently. They work with team members to ensure efficient operations, while also liaising with school boards,
governing bodies and parent cohorts.
Engaging and working with the community
A key focus that school leaders need to have is engaging with their wider community. Schools are often comprised
of a mixture of students from different cultural, linguistic, and spiritual backgrounds. Effective leaders must interact
with and celebrate the diversity of the community, ensuring everyone is made to feel included.
A good school leader understands the needs of their school
Since the 1980s, decentralization efforts have shifted decision-making powers to the lower levels of education
systems in many countries. This transition is based on the premise that school leaders are familiar with the specific
needs of their school, and are therefore better placed to make and execute decisions about how they are run.
School leaders show the way through troubling times
When schools are facing adverse circumstances, strong leadership is critical for resilience, adaptation, and recovery.
Natural disasters, conflicts, and health crises like the coronavirus pandemic severely disrupt education and force
educators to adapt to challenging circumstances
Establish clear goals.
In setting objectives, make sure to communicate with your staff so that they understand their roles in accomplishing
those shared goals.
Effective leadership can improve schools performance
Creating and Sustaining a Competitive School
District educational leaders should set goals for school leaders, to make their school Competitive with other
institutions. Such goals motivate principals, teachers, and students to improve learning environment for better
results.
Empowering Others to Make Significant Decisions
This goal is achieved by empowering stakeholders. Making informed decisions with Involvement of all stakeholders
is a part of this goal. Achieving this goal will improve
monitoring and accountability of schools.
Providing Instructional Guidance
Principals set goals for improvement of teaching and learning. Setting of professional Standards for teachers helps
school leaders’ in teachers’ appraisal and professional Development. Principals’ instructional leadership skills will
help in achieving this goal.
Developing and Implementing Strategic and School-Improvement Plans
School improvement plan is a comprehensive and documented strategy. It is a cyclic process, implemented for
improvement of every department of a school. It requires Competencies and expiries in field
Q#2 Discuss the influence of educational leadership in economic perspective in
details
Ans#2
The relationship between education and employment has been the subject of substantial Research over the last
decade for the improvement of the basic need of the individual. This context, the purpose of education was
identified by West-Burnham, (2003) as:
• To enhance the personal, social, cultural, ethical and spiritual development of every
Individual;
• To prepare people to play an active part in their communities as citizens in a
Democracy;
• To develop the potential to be employable and to play a full economic role in
Society;
• To maximize life chances through academic success;
• To create a society founded in acceptance and tolerance.
While, Organization of Economic Co-ordination and Development (OECD)-
Institutional Management in Higher Education suggested that;
• to design of carrier oriented tertiary level programs to maximize educational impact on the society. In realizing the
importance of economics in educational development process, the National curriculum experts emphasize to create
opportunities for students to pursue Progressively higher levels of study. They recommend that the teacher prepares
them for Subject–related occupations and engages them in student centered activities appropriate to their interests
and abilities. For example; the national science curriculum 2006 has framed these associated objectives to develop
our future generation.
• Prepare students to critically address social, economic, ethical and environmental
Issues related to science and technology.
• Develop varying aptitudes, interests and the knowledge of a wide variety of careers
related to science, technology and environment. These objectives enforce the development of individuals with
valuing quality of relevant education and link with the concept of “Knowledge Economy,” (means to use knowledge
of human capital to generate tangible and intangible values). Its scope is vast in creating relevant opportunities to the
competent task force as well as broadens their perspective upon the possibilities of their respective field. In the
current scenario, where the literacy rate is 54.4%, that is, at 153rd ranked out of 176countries, 40th in 57 Islamic
countries and 4th in SARRC. The 100% target achievement at primary level still showed inadequacy, according to
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) joint declaration on Education and the Dakar Framework for Action-April
2000(Education Censes 2013-14; Economic Survey of Pakistan 2014-15). The previous government policies and
plans highlighted the gaps in the political commitment and policy implementation. The Educational Leaders are the
implementing agent in thiconcern and they are responsible to undertake policy framework and design the strategies
which use education for socioeconomic development, economic growth and holistic development of the nation.
After implementation of the 18th Constitutional Amendment 2010, education became the responsibility of the
provincial/district governments. National Education Policy (NEP)2009 reveals that the policy making shall remain a
national function with participation From the federal government and the provincial/district governments in a
national forum: the Inter-Provincial Education Ministers’ (IPEM) shall oversee the implementation ofNEP 2009 and
review its progress periodically, (Economic Survey of Pakistan 2014-15).By this, it was proposed to establish the
“National curriculum Commission,” in order to maintain a uniform standard of education all over the country, (the
first IPEMConference, 11th February, 2014).These situational challenges are continuously in focus and working on
Vision2025 to provide substantial expansion in access to education as well as making significant improvements in
quality of education. The 11th Five Year Development Plan (2013-18is also supporting this vision and emphasizes
on Technical and Vocational education by giving targets of increasing 50 percent of all secondary enrolment by
2025. The leaders understand the requirements and advocate that global advancement in educational and
Technical field is only possible by re-engineering the curricula as well as using the concept of outsourcing and
prioritizing the plan to collaborate businesses. Education is a social instrument for leaders through which they guide
people, visualize their destiny and shape future of the nation. They are the founder of socioeconomic development
and have a skill to boost the literate and skilled citizen to play a pivotal role in the development/prosperity of the
country..
Q#3What is difference between cognitive resource theory and strategic contingency theory, explain it .
Ans#3
Cognitive Resource Theory (CRT)
The theory is based on industrial and organizational psychology developed by FredFiedler and Joe Garcia in 1987
as a reconceptualization of the Fiedler contingency model. The theory focuses on the influence of the leader's
intelligence and experience in account of his or her personality, degree of situational stress and group-leader
relations. The theory is originating from studies into military leadership style, but now use in sports and training
purposes to assess the performance and contribution of individual in assigned tasks.
Strategic Contingencies Theory
It presents the intra-organizational power and hypothesizes that organizations have
Systems of interdependent subunits and have a power distribution with its sources in the
division of labor, (Hick son, Hidings, Lee, Scheck, & Penning’s, June 1971). The
theory focuses on leadership personality and skills that need to solve the problems. It
Explains that if a person does not have charisma, but is able to solve problem, then he or
she can be an effective leader. Here, the leader has a central role and the ability to view
The situation and its problems. Simply, the theory helps to objectify leadership
Techniques, as opposed to relying on personalities.
In scientific and formal academic problem situations, the theory would have shown more
force and effect, because, the persons are rational agents in this situation to identify and
orient the problem and able to address it directly.
Difference;
The Contingency Model developed by Fiedler was criticized for its lack of flexibility and also over the accuracy
Fiedler then went on to develop the Cognitive Resource Theory (CRT) which takes into account the personality of
the leader, degree of situational stress, and group-leader relations.
The assumption behind this theory is that stress impacts the ability to make decisions. It is the enemy of rationality
and a leader cannot think in a logical and analytical manner if she/he is under a high level of stress. According to
this proposition, the importance of a leader’s intelligence and experience to effectiveness differs under low and high-
stress situations.Fiedler and Garcia state that a leader’s intellectual ability correlates positively with performance
under low stress but negatively under high stress. And conversely, a leader’s experience correlates negatively with
performance under low stress but positively under high stress. The cognitive resource theory was developed by Fred
Fiedler and Joe Garcia in 1987.
This theory focuses on intelligence, experience, and how they influence how you react to stress. Certain cognitive
factors, such as intelligence and experience, can affect leadership ability. The leaders who perform the best are those
that use their cognitive abilities to determine the most efficient way to lead their groups.
the leader's technical knowledge or expertise contributed to group performance only if the leader was both trained
and directive; group members' task-relevant knowledge contributed to group performance only if the leader was
nondirective. The Strategic contingency theory, a leader becomes a central part of an organization due to his/her
unique skills to solve issues or problems which others are unable to solve. Too much dependency lies on a leader so
he/she is not easily replaceable. Strategic Contingencies Theory focuses on tasks that need to be done in the form of
problems to be solved, thus de-emphasizing personality. If a person does not have charisma but is able to solve
problem, then s/he can be an effective leader’s situation where persons are rational agents, such as in scientific and
formal academic settings, the Strategic Contingencies Theory would have more force and effect. That is, it identifies
what is common to the group -- the orientation towards problem solving -- and addresses it directly. The theory is
simple and uses only the variables affecting power in contingency control by an organizational subunit. In the
Strategic Contingency model, Hick son discussed the effect of some outside variables on the power of organizations.
He concluded that both relationships factor of departments and differences of individuals affect organizational
power. Power decisions can be influenced by departmental relationships and also individual differences plays vital
roles too as individuals are different in their skills, capabilities.
Q#4 Compare contras Transactional and Transformational leadership in detail .
Ans #4
Transactional Leadership
Leaders who determine what subordinates need to achieve objectives, classify those Requirements, and help
subordinates become confident they can reach their objectives Stoner. A transactional leader is someone who values
order and structure”. Transactional leadership focuses on results, strongly believe in order structure and SOPs
Measure successes as the organizational goals believe in success and reward of the system and penalties and check
and balance. Transactional leaders have typical power and Position in an organization.
These type of leader usually involved in setting the target, making the rules and busy in Communicating with their
employees about targets.
Weber (1947) made a study and divided leadership styles into three categories:
• Traditional
• Charismatic
• Rational-legal, or bureaucratic.
In the 1980s and 90s, researchers including Bernard M. Bass, Jane Howell and Bruce
Avoid defined the dimensions of transactional leadership:
• Contingent reward, the process of setting expectations and rewarding workers for
Meeting them
• Passive management by exception, where a manager does not interfere with
Workflow unless an issue arises
• Active management by exception, in which managers anticipate problems, monitor
Progress and issue corrective measures
Characteristics of Transactional Leaders
Some of the characteristics of transactional leaders are;
• it is usually the characteristic of front- line managers, supervisors and
Foreman.
• Very left-brained
• tend to be inflexible
• opposed to change
• focused on short-term goals
• favor structured policies and procedures
• focus on following rules and doing things correctly
Advantages and Disadvantages of Transactional Leadership
Advantages:
• Rewards those who are motivated by self-interest to follow instructions
• Provides an unambiguous structure for large organizations, systems requiring
repetitive tasks and infinitely reproducible environments
• Achieves short-term goals quickly
• Rewards and penalties are clearly defined for workers
Disadvantages:
• Creativity is limited since the goals and objectives are already set
• Does not reward and encourage personal initiative
Transactional leadership might be preferred in different situations. It is generally suited in Big organization where
normal running of operations are required rather than any creativity. One of its best uses is in multinational
corporations where not all of the Workers speak the same language. Once the structure and the requirements are
learned, it is easy for workers to complete tasks successfully. This works because transactional
Leadership is simple to learn and does not require extensive training. The transactional
Approach is easy to understand and apply across much of an organization.
Transformational Leadership
Leaders who through their personal vision and energy inspire followers and have a major
Impact on their organization are called transformational leader. Stoner (2016).According to covey (2016) “the goal
of transformational leadership is to “transform “People and organization in literate sense- to change them in mind
and heart; enlarge Vision, insight and understanding; clarify purpose; make behavior; congruent with beliefs,
principles or values; and bring about changes that are permanent, self-perpetuating a Momentum building.
Concept of transformational leadership first introduced by the Burns (1978) in his book “Leadership” while studying
the political leadership. He says: “It is an ongoing process in which leaders and followers raise each other to Higher
levels of morality and motivation “Burns was influenced by Maslow theory of needs and thinks that
transformational
leadership fits into higher level of needs. Bernaed Bass (1985) defines transformational leadership in terms of how
the leaders affects the followers who are intended to trust, admire and respect the transformational
leader. Bass (1985) introduced three ways of transforming followers;
• increase their awareness of task importance and value.
• getting them to focus on team or organizational goals, rather than their own
Interests.
• activating their higher order needs
Yolk (1994) draws some tips for transformational leadership:
1. Develop a challenging and attractive vision together with employees.
2. Tie the vision to a strategy for its achievement.
3. Develop the vision, specify and translate into actions.
4. Express confidence, decisiveness and optimism about the vision and its
Implementation.
5. Realize the vision through small planed steps and small successes in the path of its
Full implementation.
Components of Transformational Leadership
According to bass four components of transformational leadership (4Is) are;
• idealized influence
• Inspirational motivation
• Intellectual simulation
• individualized consideration
Idealized Influence – The transformational leader serve as a role model for
Followers. Because followers trust and respect the leader, they have strong influence on the followers.
2. Inspirational Motivation: Transformational leaders have a clear vision that they are able to articulate to
followers. These leaders are also able to help follower experience the same passion and motivation to fulfill these
goals.
3. Intellectual Stimulation – Transformational leaders encourages creativity and Support followers to explore new
ways of doing things and new opportunities to
learn.
4. Individualized Consideration – Transformational leadership in order to foster Supportive relationships,
transformational leaders keep lines of communication open so that followers feel free to share ideas and so that
leaders can offer direct Recognition of the unique contributions of each follower
Difference between Transformational and Transactional Leadership:
According to burns (1978) transactional leadership occurs when one person takes the initiative in making contact
with others for the purpose of exchange of valued thing while transformational leadership occurs when one or more
persons engage with one another in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of
motivation and morality. Transactional leadership uses reward and punishment while transformational leadership
uses motivation and morality. Transactional leadership deals with day to day smooth running of operations, while a
Transformational leader goes beyond managing day-to-day operations and crafts strategies foaming his company,
department or work team to the next level of performance and success. Transactional leadership focus on structure
and procedures while transformational leadership focus on team-building, motivation and collaboration with
employees at different levels. According to Burns the difference between transformational and transactional
leadership is what leaders and followers offer to one another. If a team is working on a problem that requires deep
analytical thinking to identify subtle solutions, it will be better for it to be led by a transformational leader. Out of
transactional and transformational leadership styles, it is the latter that provides room for creative liberties.
Another difference between transactional and transformational leadership is that transactional leaders focus on goals
while transformational leaders focus on the vision. Transactional leaders work optimally when there is a clearly-
defined short-term goal or objective in sight. They set up deadlines, processes and monitor the employees so they
can finish on time. Here is another difference between transactional leadership and transformational leadership. A
transformational leader is more of a long-term thinker who is driven by upholding the overall vision of the
organization. Both transactional and transformational leadership techniques and styles work best when the work is
systematic and defined. However, there is a difference between transactional and transformational leadership when
it comes to working styles and ethics. While transactional leaders believe in punishments and rewards to motivate
employees, transformational leaders rely on charisma and enthusiasm.
Q#5 What do you understand by the term values as perceptual filter discuss in
detail.
Ans #5
The Impact of Values on Leaders
Personal values impact leaders in at least two ways: 1) as a perceptual filter that shapes
Decisions and behavior, and 2) as a driver of their methods of creating value.
5.1.1 Values as Perceptual Filters
Hambrick and Mason’s (1984) Upper Echelon Theory and Finkelstein & Hambrick’s
(1996, p. 54) extension to it provide a theoretical model that illustrates that personal values act as a perceptual filter
for how leaders perceive the external environment and shape strategic choice, behavior, and ultimately
organizational performance. How leaders’ values impact performance Lichtenstein (2005) empirically
operationalized
the Values, Observable characteristics, Strategic choice & behavior, and Performance elements of the Upper
Echelon Theory. He found that executive values had a direct and significant impact on organizational performance,
whereas age, tenure, functional experience, and level of education did not. Personal values are a more fundament
leadership attribute than the age, tenure, functional experience, and level of education the process of how leaders
influence organizations. Executive selection based on age, experience, tenure, and education to the neglect of t heir
values ignores the invisible force that drives visible results.Higgs and Lichtenstein (2010) found no relationship
between psychological traits base on the leadership “Big 5” five-fact or model of personality (McCrae and Cost a
1997) and Personal values. This result highlights that “psychological characteristics” and “values “suffer from the
“jingle fallacy” (Kelley 1927): “psychological characteristics” and “values” sound similar so they are lumped
together. Values and personality trait s are complementary but separate and distinct attributes of leaders and must be
treated as such. Leadership is not solely about making people feel good, but includes profit and loss responsibility,
achieving operational and financial performance, and developing strategy The personal values and aspirations of
senior management have been identified by Porter(1980) as a key component of competitive strategy but have been
neglected by the fieldFinkelstein and Hambrick (1996, p. 48) recognized the research void that exists in the
examination of strategic leaders’ values and their relationship with strategy, noting “Even though values are
undoubtedly important factors in executive choice, they haven’t been the focus of much systemic study.”
Why has so little research been done in the area of values and its relationship to strategy despite values being
identified as critical to strategy formulation and implementation? Impart because there was no theory to understand
this until Hambrick and Mason’s Upper Echelon theory arrived f our years after Porter’s work. Also, the tools and
techniques to measure values didn’t exist until relatively recently. A lack of access to leaders allegedly not willing to
have their values examined is also cited as another reason. In short, the field has focused on the difficult elements of
strategy rather than the more challenging elements, and values are a more challenging element. Effective leaders
know they need focus on the difficult and the challenging element s of strategic leadership. The perceptual filters
that perform the deletion, distortion and generalization processes are organized in layers thus:-
Meta Programs - are the most unconscious of the perception filters and are content free i.e. they are not based on
any past experience or beliefs. Whether you see the glass as half empty or half full is an example of one of your
Meta programs.
Values - are the next most unconscious filter and are the first level at which the filters have content as they are based
upon our experiences to date. Values are those things we are prepared to fight for and also those things we try to live
up to. Values are those things we are prepared to invest resources in to either achieve or avoid. Values are how we
know right from wrong, good from bad, what's important and what isn't, and they are also how we decide about how
we feel about our actions and the actions of others.
Values are arranged in a hierarchy, usually with most important one at the top and the lesser ones below. Values are
also context dependent - your values about what's important to you in a relationship are probably very different from
you values about what's important to you in your career. Values can also be linked to and vary with changes in
emotional state.
Beliefs - on one level beliefs are convictions that certain things are true or real and are also generalizations about the
state of the world around us. Beliefs are presuppositions that we have about certain things and can create or deny
personal power for us i.e. we have a better chance of achieving an objective if we first truly believe we are capable
of doing so. If we believe that we will fail then the likelihood of that being our outcome increases. In modeling an
ability we admire in another individual and desire for ourselves, finding out what the enabling beliefs are that allow
that person to have that ability is vital.
Attitudes - are collections of values and beliefs around a particular subject. Often we are quite conscious of our
attitudes and often we share them with others i.e. 'Well that's the way I feel about.....'. Change made at the level of
attitude is far more difficult to achieve than change made at the level of values.
Memories - the collection of memories we build up during the course of our lives deeply affect both our perceptions
and our personality. Our memories are who we are. Some psychologists believe that as we get older our reactions to
present external events actually have very little to do with the present, and are in fact reactions to gestalts -
collections of past memories organized in a certain way around certain subjects. Gestalts are formed when a number
of individual experiences of the same type get squashed together to form one single generalized memory.
Decisions - the sixth filter, also related to memories are decisions which we made in our past. Decisions about who
we are and what we are capable of, especially negative or limiting decisions, can affect our entire lives. The
decisions we make may generate beliefs, values and attitudes or they may just affect our perceptions though time.

You might also like