Educational Leadership: Examining the Influence of Transactional and Transformational Leadership Theory in Educational Leadership Discourse
Abstract
This conceptual analysis of higher educational leadership explores the influence of transactional and transformational leadership theories on 21st century leadership discourse. Applying an in-depth understanding of transactional and transformational leadership theories amassed through the work of Burns (1978), Capra (2002), McGregor (1993), Mitchell and Sackney (2009), Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski, and Flowers (2005), and Wheatly (2007), this research identifies transactional leadership systemic concepts of standardization, control, and efficiency, and transformational leadership systemic concepts of collaboration, shared meaning, and change as indicators of leadership theory that lend significance within higher educational leadership literature. Utilizing a framework consisting of these systemic concepts, this research identifies essential insights within the espousal of transactional and transformational leadership theory in higher education leadership discourse.Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
The nature experiences of wilderness recreation leaders : throwing a stoneThrough this descriptive exploratory study, the ways that wilderness recreation leaders experience nature are illuminated, deconstructing the assumed environmental benefits of and practices used in outdoor recreation (Haluza-Delay, 2001). This study also offers a foundation for advancing an environmental ethic among wilderness recreation leaders, participants, and organizations. With the continued degradation of and threats to natural environments, and the rising popularity of outdoor recreation participation, the outdoor recreation professional can be a leader in promoting human reconnections to the Earth (Henderson, 1999). Leaders of outdoor recreation experiences play an important role in encouraging these revived relationships to natural settings and can contribute to the necessary environmental consciousness shift needed within Western society (Hanna, 1995; Jordan, 1996). The purpose of this research was to describe the lived-experience in nature of wilderness recreation leaders. Specifically, a phenomenological method of inquiry was used to describe the meaning of nature, the connections and relationships to nature, and the behaviours and emotions experienced in nature by a group of wilderness canoe trip leaders employed by a residential summer camp. In addition to the implications of this research, achieving this outcome provides a rich descriptive understanding of wilderness leaders' experiences—a basis from which to extend future research endeavours and programmatic practices that promote effective environmental outcomes of outdoor recreation participation. Each of the five study participants was employed in the summer of 2003 by an Ontario residential summer camp organization that sponsors extended wilderness river canoe trips for youth. Two in-depth and semi-structured interviews were performed with each participant, asking them to reflect on the canoe trip that they led for the summer camp organization during 2003. Phenomenological data was analyzed according to Colaizzi's (1978) thematic analysis process. Consistent with van Manen's (1997) emphasis on phenomenological writing, the final result presents the essence of the nature experiences of wilderness recreation leaders in the format of a narrative description. This narrative piece is the culmination of this research effort. Throughout the journey, however, various foundations within the outdoor recreation field, such as minimum impact principles, environmentally responsible behaviours, anthropocentric and ecocentric worldviews, and effective leadership are deconstructed and discussed.
-
Institutional Dimensions of Professional Knowledge: Implications for School Administrators’ Constructions of Equitable Leadership Knowledge in Kenya and CanadaThis international comparative study employed a constructivist grounded theory approach to explore the influence of institutional factors on school administrators’ constructions of equitable leadership knowledge and practice in Kenya and Canada. Six principals and vice principals from Kisumu County, Kenya and 5 from Ontario, Canada participated in the study. An institutional theory lens is used to compare and illuminate the processes school administrators used to link institutional imperatives to equitable leadership knowledge and practice. First, the results indicate that equitable leadership is an emerging concept in Kenya among school principals. Second, the results confirm that equitable leadership knowledge and practice is nested within regulative, normative, and cognitive pillars that underlie educational institutions in Kenya and Canada. Third, results show that equitable leadership knowledge arose out of interactions between institutional actors and from institutional processes for sensemaking and for organizing knowledge in both countries. Fourth, a three-stage process theory—mimetic, normalizing, and transference stages—emerged from the data to connect equitable leadership knowledge to institutional obligations.
-
Informal Teacher Leaders: Secondary School Teachers’ Perceptions of How They Collaboratively Construct and Implement Classroom Assessment Policy and PracticeSecondary school teachers enact informal teacher leadership to move their instructional and assessment practices forward by leveraging existing structures and navigating micropolitical contexts. Leadership cannot be oversimplified as the work of an individual because of the complex and interwoven nature of schools and the current political climate of educational settings. Informal teacher leaders (ITLs) co-create roles based on needs that focus on supporting learning for students, for colleagues, and for themselves. This study used a constructivist lens and inquiry methodology to explore perceptions of informal secondary school teacher leaders as they collaboratively construct and implement classroom assessment policy and practice. The study highlights the perceived purpose and nature of informal teacher leadership; organizational factors and conditions that ITLs face when working collaboratively to improve assessment practices; and strategies that these teachers leverage to navigate changes in assessment practice and policy. (Note: a provincial review of assessment was conducted during completion of this dissertation.) This qualitative study explored informal teacher leadership and assessment practice and policy through semi-structured interviews, focus groups, document analysis, and memoing. The research encompassed 28 participants, 11 of whom are ITLs in a suburban school district in Ontario. Findings reveal how ITLs structure their roles to be responsive, reciprocal, reflective, and results oriented. Recommendations are provided to inform educators and policy developers at the provincial, district, and school level for both supporting informal teacher leadership and developing assessment literacy.
