Visionary leadership has emerged as a significant characteristic of high performing school administrators. Vision provides a sense of direction for the school and facilitates accomplishment. Administrators must move from authoritarian and managerial modes of operation to proactive leadership, and maintain a focus on the vision through turmoil and…

Describes four social styles (amiable, analytical, driver, and expressive) and strengths and weaknesses associated with each. Suggests that administrative team building can be enhanced by considering individual styles. Discusses the importance of style flex, or interacting within others' comfort zones without compromising one's own style. A social…

The dominant theoretical frameworks (structural, human resources, political, or cultural) espoused by elementary school principals are studied; and the platforms are compared with data previously collected on leadership behaviors and time usage. Data for 5 principals and 151 teachers in 5 elementary schools in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) on the…

Presents basic assumptions and a brief overview of conventional monocratic administrative theories, then contrasts it with the alternative collegial style. Demonstrates the need for training in the alternative style by reviewing studies showing improved teaching environment and student learning as a result of this approach. (JAC)

A hands-on study for executives, researchers, and students who want to better understand how organizational culture can support or impede decision making strategies in a complex changing collegiate environment is provided. Leadership strategies and institutional problems are described. Seven different collegiate cultures are explored via case…

We are better prepared today to deal with the problems in library administration, because we not only have the basic work of management theorists, but also staffs who are better educated and more interested in participation. During the last 25 years, there have been two strands in library administration. The older, human relations approach allowed…

The authors discuss the trend emerging from organizational research which shows in part that administrators are more effective as they are perceived to be considerate of their subordinates. Based on field observations and on the contention that (in an era of increasing collective behavior on the part of teachers) hostility might take the form of…

School structures need not be rigid, controlling, and coercive; in fact, they can be just the opposite. Enabling school structures are centralized and formalized in ways that promote problem solving, collaboration, flexibility, change, and professional judgment. The current research demonstrates the importance of "both" collegial…

Faced with budget cuts, demands for accountability by state legislatures and higher education councils, and a history of autocratic governance, the faculty morale at Paducah Community College, in Kentucky, reached its lowest point in 1990. A new president arrived, however, who had recently completed research on governance styles in higher…

Beginning with a review of traditional perspectives on educational leadership, the link between effective principals and school effectiveness, and the bases of social power, this document goes on to report on a 1986-87 study conducted to determine how the types of power used by principals relate to school effectiveness. Subjects were…

With changing social and economic realities, certain cultural differences in the management of Hispanic workers must be accepted and accommodated in the American workplace, where the scientific approach to management is the general rule. The scientific view of management is hardly accepted by Latin Americans whose management philosophy is more…

The Bridgespan Group, NewSchools Venture Fund, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have been working individually and collectively with a wide range of school development organizations to increase the number of high-performing centers of learning. Through this work, we have sought answers to persistent questions of how to replicate the…

In a major research analysis, Richard F. Elmore explores the problems with the structure and leadership of public education, while explaining the dangers of public funding for private schools. He urges educators to study the schools whose leaders and best practice are succeeding in meeting high standards. The report features successful efforts in…

This book brings together in one source, basic participative management theory, a broad range of research on the subject, and a number of methods and techniques to assist the practitioner in implementing participative management. Three sections included are (1) Concepts and Theory, (2) Research Studies, and (3) Practice and Implementation. Focus…