Introduction
Leadership issues in academic institutions include those issues that affect the performance of the institution. These issues include poor leadership skills emanating from archaic procedures of operations which lead to redundancy of the management.
This is mainly affected by the status quo that does not want to change its leadership styles and strategies in line with the ever changing world. It is important for leaders to embrace change since change is rest. Change has the ability to overturn the poor performance of a school and make it rebound to its previous moments of glory.
In a high school setting, teachers must be able to adapt to positive changes that will enable the school rise to higher heights. For this reason, leadership is pretty important because the teachers and the subordinate staff actually emulate the leadership styles of the institution.
The most important aspect of change in such an organization when it is faced with students’ performance problems is the change of culture. The change of culture must be initiated by the leadership of the institution because by beginning from the top, there are better chances of success than when the change begins from the subordinate staff.
This paper discusses how the performance of a high school can be rejuvenated through the change of leadership styles, culture, ICT improvement and communication in the academic institutions.
Case study
Barnfield South Academy, UK, is a good example in this situation. The school used curriculum changes as a driving force of cultural change. The school has in the past been experiencing poor enrollment due to poor academic performance of students.
Bad curriculum was later blamed for the poor performance of students. The other things that the school was grappling with were the issues of bullying and poor communication. As a matter of fact, bullying is one of the factors that made many parents shun the school for fear of emotional torture perpetrated against their children.
There was also poor communication network between teachers and the parents of the students. The ICT infrastructure was also out of date. The head teacher of the school must spearhead the reforms by engaging the staff and students.
The students worked hard with big expectations of disappointments. However, the situation must be changed into a culture whereby the students work hard expecting great success. This makes the students more excited in the success resulting from their efforts.
Problem solving
Leadership in the education sector has been faced by many challenges. These challenges stem from several factors that include the culture of leadership and the leadership styles in academic institutions. It has been said that when you do the same thing repeatedly, you will never get different results.
When an organization is faced with similar challenges repeatedly, one of the solutions is to check the leadership and management for any flaws. The most probable thing that would be needed in any academic institution could be the change in leadership styles.
This does not necessarily mean that the leader of the institution should be replaced. It actually means that the leadership of the organization needs to embrace new leadership and management strategies.
New leadership strategies actually go hand in hand with a change of culture in the organization. For there to be a positive change for leadership strategy, there must be a change of culture that will enhance the overall change.
The approaches to teaching, leading and connecting with educators are quite diverse. However, this paper tries to discuss some ways in which leadership styles can be changed in any academic institution.
It must be noted that the issue must attract careful preparation in key areas. At the end of the paper, the audience will be able to appreciate the role of style changes in improving leadership.
One of the ways in which a leadership style can be changed is by creating new structures. New structures include improvement in communication. Communication is important because it is through communication that problems are solved (Marazanoa et al. 2006).
Parent teacher communication is important because according to recent research, students whose parents communicate often with teachers perform better in school than those whose parents don’t talk to their teachers. Parents should also participate in school activities.
This is because during this process of participation, parents can find an easy access to teachers thereby discussing issues relevant to students’ performance. Teachers should also encourage parents to call them and accept class room visits by parents.
The school administration should also allow parents to volunteer in such activities as lectures on topical issues, or library aid (University of Illinois Extension 2011). Good communication between the students and teachers is important because it enables good relations that will enhance good performance and higher enrolments.
Another problem that must be solved is the ICT issues. Technology must be put in schools and all the teachers and the students’ fraternity must participate in ICT programs in order to stay abreast with the contemporary modern society.
It is also important for the leadership of the schools to do plenty of knowledge building. Knowledge building will provide further insight into effective ICT use in high schools. By doing this, the students will find out that the schoolwork gives them the chance to participate in robust activities that are interesting.
It is also important to note that good technology and good communication in the schools will enable the students communicate their problems effectively (Saar, n.d).
In these situations, the culture of bullying must be tackled effectively. The problem of school bullying has been known to affect the performance of many schools and their subsequent enrolment (Marazanoa et al. 2006).
Many parents often shun schools that are known to perpetrate bullying in order to protect their children from such gruesome activities. Bullying can wound the emotions of young children; the subsequent results of bullying, can significantly affect the child’s performance.
It is imperative for the leadership of the school to face the bullies head on. Since bullies are also suffering from psychological issues, the leadership must also employ the services of counselors who would come in handy to help in the situation (Kari Sable Burns 2006).
By tackling this problem, the schools will improve their performance and subsequently increase the number of subscription.
A leader must have the capacity to recognize positive growth at least more often. This is usually done by the actions of the leader which ensures that they recognize the efforts of the people who have contributed to a positive change in the academic institution.
By doing this the leader will encourage people to work harder in order to get more recognition. This element of working hard for recognition is quite contagious because within a matter of time, it will spread to other colleagues who would also begin working hard for recognition.
Effective leadership skills will therefore create a more powerful structure of recognition. A leader must try to explore new approaches to change the entire organization. This will necessitate those colleagues who are of the same idea to gravitate their efforts towards the implementation of these ideas.
It is also comforting to understand that as more and more people focus their efforts towards these changes, the status quo will gradually follow suit and hence the process of change will soon affect the entire organization and hence cause an extreme turn around to the institution (MR. Keenan 2010).
Collaboration of schools is also important because it increases the chances of regeneration. Collaborative leadership in secondary schools of Surrey and Midlands is a good example of this.
There is an increase in standards as a result of implementation of radical innovations in their curriculum. The results of collaboration of schools have led to the rebound of underachieving schools. In this scenario, it can be established that networks are more efficient than advertising the schools.
This is because those people who come to schools usually do so through informal contacts. These situations occur when the top leadership of the school is involved in the network program.
The role of effective leadership
Responsible leadership and management are quite essential in any academic institution. It is important to note that effective leadership should be emphasized in schools broadly and in depth in terms of their ethics and social and environmental responsibility (Doh & Stumpf 2005).
Effective global academic institution leaders must therefore be responsible for the social and environmental welfare of the diverse cultures represented by different individuals in the institution.
Leadership in schools must take into account the various cultures present in the students body and the staff of the institution. Currently, there are many high schools that operate in multicultural environments.
It is therefore imperative for leaders of such institutions to approach their leadership styles in line with a multicultural environment.
A multicultural environment is of paramount importance because the diversity of cultures, languages and experiences can be shared among the students and staff of the institution thereby enhancing healthy competition that improves the performance of the schools (Doh & Stumpf 2005).
Such situations can work extremely well even in homogenous schools because the schools can also have subsidiary programs which may increase the proportion of international students and incorporate exchange programs.
The entire leadership of a business organization should be well versed with multicultural environment. This will make them develop a global mind-set whereby they will possess the ability to develop new perspectives and to hold multiple and competing perspectives.
Cultural interests and sensitivity, self awareness, and global mind-set act as solid foundations of healthy competition in high schools. This is a set of competence that leaders ought to develop in order to accommodate diverse cultures and remain competitive in the local and international market.
The development of these competencies can be initiated through foundation courses that focus on cross cultural management issues and skills (Doh & Stumpf 2005). In addition to the above, leaders need to be exposed to a variety of experiential assignments, that address not only cross cultural sensitivity but also self awareness.
For instance, some business schools like Wharton School require some of their students to participate in out-of-class experiences such as treks in the Himalayas or Patagonia. The reason behind this is to develop decision making skills under stressful conditions.
It also serves to expose the students to different countries and cultures at the same time (Doh & Stumpf 2005). Other universities are known to offer in-class simulations to practice leadership skills, and also assign leadership autobiography to develop self awareness.
This practice can be emulated by high schools in order to make the students remain competitive especially when they are enrolled into such tertiary institutions.
Stages of enactment of the changes
The enactment of change needs to be done in stages. Just like in any other enactment, there is the need to develop a stage of change model. This model acts like a guideline throughout the entire process of change that is being undertaken by any organization.
Developing a model of change actually goes hand in hand with the stages of change model that was developed by James Prochaska and the likes. Although the originators of this model were doing it on a different aspect, the model can still be used in other aspects as along as the main idea is the one being propagated (Richardson n.d).
Thus, a change model will begin from precontemplation. At this stage, people have not started thinking about change. They still defend the status quo and the conventional organizational culture even if it is a bad norm. Hence, they resist any temptation to the idea of change within their mindsets.
Colleagues in the work place actually do not focus on quitting. They would rather desist from discussing their bad habits. The second stage is the contemplation stage whereby people begin to be more aware of the repercussions of their habits. In this stage, leaders and colleagues begin to think of the pros and cons of modifying their cultures.
The third stage is the preparation stage whereby the leader will begin to prepare to commit their efforts to a particular line of action that aims at changing the organization for the better.
At this stage, the leader should be determined to devote their effort to research and analyze various situations that will help them achieve the goal of change. The fourth stage involves the action and will power of the leader. In this stage, the leader believes in the power of change in an organization.
Thus, the leader invokes their ability to change the behavior of the people. This is the beginning of the practical steps the leader undertakes in accomplishing a particular task (Bush & Coleman 2004).
The leader is therefore actively involved in beginning to change the norms and culture of the academic institution to the benefit of the organization. The amount of time in this stage is pretty small because it does not need a lot of investment of resources in terms of logistics.
This suggests that the leader depends on their will power to change the entire organization. The leader will make all the efforts in averting behavioral norms and rededicate the commitments of their colleagues in developing a culture that enhances autonomy (Marazanoa et al. 2006).
It is important to note that autonomy is a vital element in enhancing a sense of responsibility in the teachers. Responsibility on the other hand will subsequently lead to innovations and embracing various ideas that aim at changing the organization (Kern 2008).
The fifth stage is the stage of maintenance. This is the stage in which after everything has been satisfactorily changed, the leader resists the attempts of returning the organization into the past culture of doing things. Thus, the leader concentrates their effort in trying to maintain the new status quo.
After all has been said and done, the leader must be careful not to experience a relapse. It is at this stage that discouragement is prevalent among the colleagues and the leader. This challenge often comes before the goal has been permanently achieved.
The final stage of achieving the goal of change is the stage of transcendence. Thus, maintenance must be maintained long enough in order to achieve emotional stability in a leader.
Emotional stability is important because it helps the person realize the potential negative effects of returning to the past bad culture. If the leader achieves this emotional stability, the colleagues will follow suit and this will totally change the company’s culture and trigger new developments with new results.
Results
The effects of the changes in leadership styles, cultural changes, and improved problem solving skills, collaborating with other schools, dealing with the problem of bullying, improved communication and increased investment in technology can increase the enrolment of students in the school.
This is because more and more parents will find it more secure to entrust the school with their children’s’ emotions. As a result, parents and children will advertise the school to other people. This will increase the subscription of students to the school and further increase the income of the school.
Conclusion
Teachers must be able to adapt to positive changes that will enable the school rise to higher heights. For this reason, leadership is pretty important because the teachers and the subordinate staff actually emulate the leadership styles of the institution.
Cultural interests and sensitivity, self awareness, and global mind-set act as solid foundations of healthy competition in high schools. This is a set of competence that leaders ought to develop in order to accommodate diverse cultures and remain competitive in the local and international market.
Developing a model of change actually goes hand in hand with the stages of change model that was developed by James Prochaska and the likes. Although the originators of this model were doing it on a different aspect, the model can still be used in other aspects as along as the main idea is the one being propagated.
Reference List
Bush, T. & Coleman, M. (2004). Leadership and Strategic Management in Education. Paul Chapman Publishing, London.
Doh, J. & Stumpf, S. (2005). Handbook on Responsible Leadership and Governance in Global Business. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, Cheltenham, UK.
Marazanoa et al. (2006). School Leadership That Works: From Research to Results. Hawker Brownlow Education, Moorabbin.
Kari Sable Burns. (2006). Bullying and Harassment. Web.
Kern, M. (2008). Stages of Change Model. Web.
Mr. Keenan. (2010). Five Ways To Change Your Education Leadership Style This Year – School. Web.
Saar, C. (n.d). ICT in High Schools. Galileo Education Network. Web.
Richardson, L. (n.d). Helping Teachers Participate Completely in School Leadership. Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven.
University of Illinois Extension (2011). Parent Teacher Communication. Web.