Introduction The purpose of this study was to determine if certain leadership behaviors have a significant impact on staff morale in a Mid-western school district. This chapter describes in detail the purpose, research design, population, data collection instruments, instruments for data analysis, delimitations of the study, methods and procedures used to conduct the study. Specific care was used to identify the validity and reliability of instruments used in data collection, as well as, the generalizability of the study. Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify whether leadership behaviors in a mid-western school district impact staff morale. In this study, staff morale will be defined as “the professional interest and enthusiasm that a person displays toward the achievement of individual and group goals in a given job situation” (Bentley & Rempel, 1980, p. 2). This study hopes to provide an organization with fodder to create learning environments that increase leadership capacity and establish a culture of collaborative problem solving. “Implications include (a) conceptualizing leadership in terms of interaction, (b) needing to help teachers become aware of conversational dynamics that lead to or subvert effective collaboration, and (c) needing to help principals become more aware of their role in helping to establish clarity of purpose and appropriate levels of autonomy, so that teams may engage in work that leads to effective and innovative problem-finding and problem-solving activities” (Scribner, Sawyer, Watson, & Myers, 2007, p.67). Research Questions RQ1: Is there a correlation between Principal Leadership practices and staff morale? RQ2: Which of the five leadership practices correlates most str... ... middle of paper ... ... careful attention will be given to the presentation of data results, analysis of data, and relevant findings. Works Cited Babbie, E. (1990). Survey research methods (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Bentley, R. R., & Rempel, A. M. (1972). Purdue Teacher Opinionaire. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue Research Foundation. Bentley, R. R., & Rempel, A. M. (1980). Manual for the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire. Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2003). The Leadership Practices Inventory: Observer (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Scribner, J.P., Sawyer, R.K., Watson, S.T., & Myers, V.L. (2007). Teacher teams and distributed leadership: A study of group discourse and collaboration. Educational Administration Quarterly, 43(1), 67-100.
Kumle, J., Kelly N. (August 2006), leadership vs. management, Supervision 67(8), 11, Retrieved January 9, 2007, from ProQuest database.
Leadership training programs allow for teachers to use their professional experience as an educator and combine it with the academic and hands on experience of being a leader by providing a comprehensive program. Leadership “…is learnable by providing real world leadership training” (Ramsey, 2006, p.xx). The training program prepares educators to be leaders and equips them with the tools necessary to be an effective leader. There is a need for an “,,,infusion ...
In any discussion of leadership, thoughts immediately begin to turn to examples of leadership gone wrong. These may include leaders who bully, threaten, or allow their mood to affect the environment of the agency (Reed, 2004, p. 67). The reason we focus upon these examples is the destructive impact they have upon the agency as a whole, as well as the individual officers unfortunate enough to serve under that type of leader. Leaders such as these foster an environment of backbiting and belittling as a method of control, resulting in an untenable environment for those officers who choose not to engage in such behavior and, as often as not, promotion of those that do. This kind of management gives way to:
Evaluate the appropriateness and thoroughness of the data analysis procedures, and clarity of the results presentation. Do not become overly concerned about technical statistical aspects of the analysis.
There are many types of leadership styles and ways in which leaders can influence the people around them and they all have their strengths and opportunities, however it is the behaviors that we encourage in our followers that will ultimately determine their success or failure. By articulating a vision to our team that helps them understand how their role in Social Media, and how these actions contribute to the overall success of the organization. Yuki (2012) stated, “The essences of leadership in organizations is influencing and facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives. Leaders can improve the performance of a team or organization by influencing the processes that determine performance” (p. 66). We will look at specific real life experience in the creation of a web based Customer/Technical Support Team; analyze the leadership behaviors that were used to implement the goals, the metrics used to measure their progress, and make recommendations as to how those behaviors could have been improved. We will look at some of the effects of the negative behavior and how it affected the team. What could have been done to improve the overall effectiveness of the team and what, if any affect that may have had on the team or organization as a whole.
Instructor 1 assignment incorporated cooperation and collaboration as well as fostered a team environment so that all team members could reach their highest potential. As a team we were directed to establish goals, classify goals, define behavioral goals, evaluate objectives demonstrated through situations, measure assessment, collect performance data, and compare data with goals. This activity alone signifies that this instructor leadership model corroborates Grogan (2013), definition of leadership as he suggest that leaders are take charge individuals who solve problems along the way as they move towards achieving the vision. Other collaboration assignments included providing platforms in Blackboard, Morehead State University learning management
North, W. K. (2011). Leadership styles impact staff retention, morale. Clinical Trials Administrator, 9(8), 89-90. Retrieved from EBSCO host
Leadership, no doubt, is one the key aspects of creating a culture and climate that extracts the best performance from employees. It is a significant contributor to long term sustained employee engagement and satisfaction. It is a key building block to creating a high performing organization. When a trained and successful leader from one culture attempts to use these same skill sets and experience, which made them successful, on employees of different cultures or cultural backgrounds and fails; is he now a bad leader? If the leader does not take into account the diversity at hand and understand the differences in perception then he will not be able to successfully influence his employees. Leadership is defined as “a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal” (Kruse, 2013). Who is it that defines good leadership? Is it the leader’s supervisor or is it the manager training course instructor or is it the employees/peers/ supervisors collectively who determine good leadership? Leaders must understand that they must earn the respect of the group in order for them to allow him to influence them. Leaders who do not accept or understand that this is, among other traits, the perception of leadership that counts, will fail or at the very least not be able to extract the full potential of the group, or perhaps create a toxic work environment. As stated in the book Classical Readings in Organizational Behavior, “power will be defined as any force that results in behavior that would not have occurred if the force had not been present” (Ott, Parkes, & Simpson, 2008, p. 355). Leaders within an organization have certain powers that enable them to manage their organization effectivel...
This paper will describe two studies, one quantitative and the other a mixed method, which dealt with aspects of educational leadership. The studies chosen for review were conducted by Bush, et al. (2005), a study that reported participant results in a Leadership Academy, and another by Somech (2005) in which the results of an investigational study of leadership styles, participative and directive, with regard to their impact upon managing school effectiveness. To offer a deeper understanding of the respective studies, a discussion follows that details the design rationa...
Leaders are instrumental to the success or failure of an organization as they have significant influence on the individuals which determines the outcome. A leader’s vision and leadership style relate to the employees and subsequently employees relate to their work. From this connection, the leadership style and behaviours and individual uses may have an influence on important subordinate outcomes, such as performance, satisfaction, and perception of that leader’s effectiveness (Bass, 1997; Bass & Avolio, 1993).
Northouse, P. (2010). Leadership: Theory and practice (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
There are many examples of poor leadership behavior in today’s workplace. Inadequate leadership can be detrimental not only to a team within an organization, but also to the entire organization itself. I believe it is vital for upper management to ensure that their leaders are properly trained and aware of how to handle certain situations and employees. When a leader’s weaknesses are overlooked, large problems occur.
Lussier, R.N. & Achua, C.F. (2010). Leadership: Theory, application, skill development (5th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western.
Not all leaders exhibit negative leadership behavior. However, a bad leader is one who does not have the necessary skills to lead a group or a team. They can have a bad attitude, poor communication skills, and/or bad judgment. Their actions make their group or team feel disorganized, demoralized, and make them feel that their efforts are unrecognized. Eventually, their subordinates will perform poorly and become under achievers in their work or personal lives.
York-Barr, J. & K. Duke (2004) what do we know about teacher leadership? Findings from two decades of scholarship. Review of educational research 74(3), 255-316.