The purpose of this investigation is to reveal those hidden factors, which influence how leadership is practised, as well as the roles male and female play in their professions. Furthermore this investigation aims to elude the expectations and demands that leaders experience and their origin. The investigation is based on six interviews of senior managers, two male and four female. A qualitative approach has been utilized to penetrate the subject and understanding of the identified phenomenon. The theories employed to analyse the finding are Lincoln, Gerth & Mills and Merton. To further highlight certain specific results parts of Ahrne, Beck & Beck-Gernsheim theories have also been empoyeed. This study has generated a new concept, “Dual Leadership”, with the aim of understanding the more diffuse concept of “Female Leadership”. Via investigating how and if the respondents interact between their rolls, an understanding of the Socialisationprocesse significance identified factors that indirectly influence the shaping of leadership. The primary conclusion is that via disregarding the epithet female leadership and instead introduces the concept of Dual Leadership, both leaders and organisations despite gender can benefit and generate a richer and more equal society where experiences and knowledge are adopted.

The purpose of this study is to explore the strategies principals use to promote inclusion in their urban elementary schools. Data was collected from sixteen urban elementary school principals—who were identified as skilled at promoting inclusion—in Ontario, Canada. The thesis argues that inclusion is vital to ensuring social justice and combating the culture of positivism in the current educational context. As well, this thesis presents numerous strategies to promote inclusion with staff members, students, and parents. I also identify critical themes: the importance of principals teaching others, particularly teachers, about inclusion; how the principals in this study learned about inclusion; teachers as barriers to the promotion of inclusion; and the negative impact on principals who promoted inclusion. I conclude with the connection of inclusion with the concept of the public intellectual.

The purpose of this study is to explore the strategies principals use to promote inclusion in their urban elementary schools. Data was collected from sixteen urban elementary school principals—who were identified as skilled at promoting inclusion—in Ontario, Canada. The thesis argues that inclusion is vital to ensuring social justice and combating the culture of positivism in the current educational context. As well, this thesis presents numerous strategies to promote inclusion with staff members, students, and parents. I also identify critical themes: the importance of principals teaching others, particularly teachers, about inclusion; how the principals in this study learned about inclusion; teachers as barriers to the promotion of inclusion; and the negative impact on principals who promoted inclusion. I conclude with the connection of inclusion with the concept of the public intellectual.

A case study of the perceptions of stakeholders regarding transformational leadership processes and structures implemented in a high poverty, high achieving school

While a great deal of theoretical work has been conducted describing group development, there is an underdeveloped area in the examination of the development of a group or team that is faced with constant transition. The purpose of this dissertation is twofold. First, this dissertation seeks to understand how cohesion is developed within a collegiate athletic team that has players come and go each season and, at times, within a season. Second, this dissertation explores how the coaching staff sustained and managed the cohesion within the team. To explore these issues, an ethnographic study was conducted with a Division 1- A, collegiate basketball team called Private U. Over 50 practices were attended and 20 formal interviews were completed. Results showed that cohesion occurred through social and task forms and in varying contexts. The coaching staff, and specifically the head coach, used self-handicapping to protect his players and thereby potentially keeping division from happening among team members. The lens of Symbolic Convergence Theory is utilized to discuss specific cohesion-forming moments during the season. Communication about cohesion transpired through interactions between the coaching staff and the players, and in fact, even between the coaching staff and prospective players who were being recruited to play for Private U. The coaching staff attempted to convey memorable messages and provided legal incentives to recruits because the importance of building cohesion begins with the players that the staff would get to come to Private U. Through on and off-court interactions, the coaching staff managed the cohesion on the team that had been created, but this was not always an easy task. Through the use of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory and Dialectical Theory, I examined how in-groups and out-groups were experienced by some of the players. The desires from Private U team members to compete with their teammates for playing time, but also to want the best result for the team created a dialectical tension for team members that is discussed through the Competition-Cooperation dialectic.

Researchers have indicated that innovations in schools often do not have the intended impact leaders hope to see when implementation occurs. Reasons cited for this failure include time allotted for the change to occur, failure to implement change based on research, and leadership qualities associated with responsible parties. This study focuses on qualities of leaders who were effective in implementing an innovation in a school district in a midsized Central Texas school district. Participants in the study were technology trainers, principals, and teachers. Two years of usage reports and teachers surveys were used to compare data. Interviews were conducted with trainers, teachers, and principals from high usage campuses. Since the study focused on happenings within a particular context, an action research model was used. This model was built upon principles of naturalistic research and targeted quantitative data. The results of the study indicate that the leaders on these campuses possessed certain leadership characteristics that could be attributed to successful implementation of the online curriculum management system. Successful leaders in this study held certain expectations for their faculty, monitored to see that the expectations were met, and were flexible enough to meet the needs of all of their teachers. These characteristics were consistent with the literature on effective leadership, leadership and professional development, leadership and technology, and leadership through the change process. Information from this study was used by the school district in which the study took place to guide them in making decisions about the current curriculum management system they now have in place.

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the effect that a gender-specific classroom had on men’s and women’s self-perceived leadership abilities as compared to coeducational classrooms where the students were studying leadership together. The sample for the study comprised 81 junior and senior students enrolled in a survey leadership course (ALED 340) in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications during the Spring 2007 semester at Texas A&M University. The students were assigned to one of five leadership laboratory sections; three sections were traditional coeducational, one was all-male, and one was all-female. During the last week of the course, the students voluntarily participated in a Leadership Skills Inventory survey that asked them to rate their self-perceptions of their leadership skills. The instrument used the post-then design method that asked for their perceptions prior to beginning the course and their perceptions at the conclusion of the course. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 14.0. Results of the study showed statistically significantly higher self-perceptions of leadership skills abilities for those students who participated in the gender-specific laboratory sections. The all-male section’s self-perceptions were statistically significantly higher than both the males in the coeducational sections and the coeducational sections as a whole. The all-female section’s self-perceptions were statistically significantly higher than the coeducational sections as a whole. The study also revealed that leadership experience in organizations and activities in high school and college prior to enrolling in a college-level leadership course statistically significantly improves self-perceptions of leadership skills ability. Results of this study agree with many research studies that support single-sex schooling and education.

This study focused on cross-cultural leadership styles between the United States, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Italy to determine if any significant statistical differences in leadership style exist. It is a common belief that leadership styles vary according to cultural filters and expectations. Yet, this study failed to find support for this position. Perceived Leadership Scales and the Leadership Needs Assessment survey were adapted and modified to create a single online research instrument. The results, while tentative, found no significant differences between leadership styles in the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy. Utilizing online electronic surveys and internet related technologies the instruments were mailed to leaders of consulting firms engaged in poverty alleviation efforts in their homeland as well as in third world areas. Utilizing basic descriptive statistics the results were analyzed using SPSS. The conclusions from this study are drawn tentatively due to the small sample size and poor response rate as well as some methodological issues. Notwithstanding these concerns, however, the central conclusion of the study is that while it may be politically correct to assume there is a significant difference between leadership styles based on cultural norms and expectations filters, the data, at least in this limited study, does not support this assumption.

This qualitative study used naturalistic inquiry methodology to study the impact that teacher leadership has on school effectiveness. Two suburban high schools were chosen for this study. Both of these schools had been rated as exemplary in 2002 by the Texas Education Agency. Interviews, observations, and surveys were used to obtain data. Through these, seven categories emerged that were used to create a written description of teacher leadership on the campuses. Teacher leadership in the past, teacher leadership roles, teacher leadership enablers, teacher leadership restraints, products of teacher leadership, teacher leadership in the present, and the role of the principal emerged when the data were analyzed. The findings indicated that when teacher leadership played a role on these campuses there was an expectation by school administrators that teachers would be leaders. Principals on both campuses had a vision of student success. Communication between school administrators and teacher leaders was strong. Overall, the role of the principal had a powerful impact on teacher leadership and consequently school effectiveness. Teacher leadership being fostered and supported was in large part due to the efforts of the principal. Recommendations for practice suggest that a) district level personnel need to work from a definition of school leadership that includes teachers when they hire campus principals, b) principals must take intentional steps to actively encourage teacher leadership, c) principals must clearly understand the amount of effort collaborative leadership demands of them, d) principals should seek out evidence that teacher leadership is impacting the school, and e) principals should consider what resources need to be allocated to foster and sustain teacher leadership on campus.

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the effect that a gender-specific classroom had on men's and women's self-perceived leadership abilities as compared to coeducational classrooms where the students were studying leadership together. The sample for the study comprised 81 junior and senior students enrolled in a survey leadership course (ALED 340) in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications during the Spring 2007 semester at Texas A&M University. The students were assigned to one of five leadership laboratory sections; three sections were traditional coeducational, one was all-male, and one was all-female. During the last week of the course, the students voluntarily participated in a Leadership Skills Inventory survey that asked them to rate their self-perceptions of their leadership skills. The instrument used the post-then design method that asked for their perceptions prior to beginning the course and their perceptions at the conclusion of the course. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 14.0. Results of the study showed statistically significantly higher self-perceptions of leadership skills abilities for those students who participated in the gender-specific laboratory sections. The all-male section's self-perceptions were statistically significantly higher than both the males in the coeducational sections and the coeducational sections as a whole. The all-female section's self-perceptions were statistically significantly higher than the coeducational sections as a whole. The study also revealed that leadership experience in organizations and activities in high school and college prior to enrolling in a college-level leadership course statistically significantly improves self-perceptions of leadership skills ability. Results of this study agree with many research studies that support single-sex schooling and education.