American Indian women have been consistently involved in leadership throughout indigenous history. Their leadership provides a strong, nurturing influence passed down from generation to generation. In the U.S. society, this type of leadership style is recognized among contemporary authors of leadership manuals as relational and is attributed to…

Being interested in how being led and leading others was working in practice, the author undertook an evaluation of different leadership styles (including his) and their effectiveness in the context of the school. The author detailed the management structure of the school, recorded and analysed the different leadership styles in the light of…

The Four Styles narrative of Leadership is written in three sections: (1) Overview of Leadership Styles; (2) Analysis of Leadership Styles; and (3) Applications of Leadership Styles. While the primary foundation for its development was generated from more than 30 years of research and studying leadership styles in education, the secondary…

Principals in today's schools face a wide range of requests and demands from a variety of sources that are often conflicting. There are government mandates, rules and regulations such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). There are state rules and regulations for program review, curriculum…

Purpose-driven leadership is a constructive leadership model that challenges an organization to: define its purpose, maintain integrity, encourage character, prevent burnout and sustain vitality. The model incorporates "best practice language" and the tools needed to foster a meaningful discourse. As school leaders strive to define, defend, and…

Victor Vroom provides a revealing and insightful account of a lifetime search for integrating his dual identities as researcher and teacher. He takes us through his early transitions from teaching in the psychology department at the University of Pennsylvania through his ten-year career at Carnegie to his current role at Yale School of Management.…

Administrative managers who have the trust of their employees, who listen to their employees openly, and who share power with their employees are better equipped to confront and overcome obstacles. This paper discusses models for structural management that include participatory reforms. It identifies four common models of administration--rational,…

Emerging technologies and unstable financial issues are placing increasing demands on college administrators to provide visionary leadership. While numerous management frameworks have emerged in the past two decades, from Total Quality Management to transformational leadership, leaders should consider the concept of leadership wisdom in guiding…

This paper presents findings of a study that investigated the reasons why more women are not in the superintendency when there are many women who are qualified and interested. Using a feminist poststructural approach, the first phase of the research consisted of a pilot case study of four women aspiring to the superintendency. The second phase…

Recently, serious questions have been raised about the efficacy of the traditional leadership model, which relies on rigid hierarchical structure, competition, and control. This paper presents findings of a study that investigated the leadership practices of rural and urban female superintendents in the United States. The study was two-fold: (1) a…

This book was written to serve the needs of persons who are interested in learning about leading, or who work within organizations and communities and wish to strengthen shared leadership. Each of the chapters of the book begins with a personal story or reflection designed to give meaning to the discussion that follows. Questions for reflection…

This working paper examines the meaning of leadership within the context of early childhood education, including the nuances of meaning clinging to the concept from other contexts. The paper begins with a discussion of the denotation of leadership as indicated in the "American Heritage Dictionary": (1) the position or office of a leader; (2)…

"Feedback to Managers" is a two-volume report. Volume 1 presents a simple but comprehensive process for evaluating instruments designed to compare self-views to the views of others on multiple domains of managerial behavior. Sixteen steps in evaluating a multiple-perspective feedback questionnaire intended for management development are…

The symbolic rather than the behavioral aspects of leadership are key factors. Research that indicates leaders make little difference to organizational effectiveness has paid too much attention to instrumental and behavioral aspects of leadership and not enough to symbolic and cultural aspects. Schools are not naturally rigid, as is thought, but…

Research in leadership relevant to school administrators is reviewed and summarized here. The author maintains that most previous authors identified two primary leader functions, concerns, types, or dimensions. These authors include Wortman, who, following in the footsteps of Zaleznick, saw a dichotomy between leaders and managers; Burns, who…