Lärare vill bli stöttade och sedda Tjugo lärares tankar om skolledarskap Sharon Elhanati Berlin   Studien tar avspark i den komplexa vardagsverklighet skolledare och lärare verkar i och avser att belysa vilka aspekter av skolledarskapet som ges betydelse när lärare beskriver sina förutsättningar för att uppleva meningsfullhet i arbetet.  Det empiriska underlaget utgörs av skriftliga berättelser samt intervjuer. Totalt medverkade 20 lärare. Studien är upplagd som en tematisk analys med en kvalitativ ansats. Analysen av lärarnas berättelser resulterade i ett antal skolledarskapsaspekter med betydelse för lärarna. Dessa aspekter kodades i fem teman som gavs betydelse: (1) att känna stöd, (2) att känna sig sedd, (3) att känna förtroende, (4) betydelsen av struktur samt (5) kompetens hos ledaren. Att känna stöd gavs betydelse av flest lärare, vilket kan antas bero på att skolledarstöd i synnerhet blir viktigt när läraruppdraget försvåras av den osäkerhet som genomgripande förändringar i skolan genererar. Studien bidrar med kunskap om vad som är viktigt för lärare i relation till sina ledare. Studien synliggör vidare ett behov av att sätta skolledarskapet på agendan ifråga om vad som egentligen ligger i uppdraget och aktualiserar en diskussion om på vilket sätt skolledaren kan skapa förutsättningar för att stötta lärarna på bästa tänkbara sätt. / Teachers want to be supported and acknowledged The thoughts of twenty teachers about school leadership      Sharon Elhanati Berlin   The study finds its beginning in the complexity of the everyday reality school leaders and teachers work in, and aims to illustrate which aspects of leadership are given significance when teachers describe their prerequisites to experience meaningfulness in their work. The empiric basis consists of written stories and interviews. In total, 20 teachers participated. The study is arranged as a thematic analysis with a qualitative research approach. The analysis of the stories resulted in clarifying a number of leadership aspects which hold significance for the teachers. These aspects were sorted into five main themes: (1) to feel/have support, (2) to feel acknowledged, (3) to feel trusted, (4) significance of structure and (5) leadership competence. To feel/have support was given significance by most teachers. The reason for this is assumed to be the high importance of leadership when the teaching assignment is made difficult/unclear due to insecurity generated by overall change in the school. This study offers new insights to what is important to teachers in relation to their school leaders. The study reveals a need to put school leadership on the agenda regarding what lies within the assignment and brings to date the query of how school leaders can create prerequisites to give the best possible support to the teachers.       Keywords: teachers, aspects of leadership, school leaders, meaningfulness, support

Abstract Author: Kristina Tercero. Title: “Same condition for both men and women?”- Leaders from a gender perspective. Supervisor: Tina Mattsson.   The purpose of this essay was with a gender perspective examine how women and men  in leader positions in a organization who dominated by women experience their position at work and their leadership by clarify how the leaders in the geriatric care look at their function and position. Central questions were: How do men and women who work as leaders in the geriatric care experience their opportunity to practice their leadership? How does men and women experience to work as leaders in an organization who is dominated by women? How does the leader experience their gender in relation to their position at work? The essay has a qualitative design and semi structured interviews were maid with six leaders in the geriatric care, three women and three men. To analyse the work material Hirdmans gender system theory and Westberg - Wohlgemuth theory about sex marking were used. The main results indicate that gender does matter for the leaders in their work and in their leadership. The geriatric care is seen as a work for women which the men notice in their work as leaders. Men experienced that they more than woman were expected to make decisions and to do reprimands. Women's experiences were that it was hard to get acceptance in decision making. Women were on the other hand expected to be comprehended and to be able to listening more to the stuff.  The different expectations men and women felt can be understood in relation to chieftainship being connected to masculinity and therefore the chieftainship will be sex marked which Westberg – Wohlgemuth prove.

This record of study is an examination of the personal costs negotiated by three African American women central office educational leaders. The focus is to identify the personal costs that these women experience as they work as leaders in three different urban educational settings. The purpose of this study is to give voice to these women and to promote the utilization of their knowledge and skills by identifying the costs, consequences of the costs and the ways these women cope, as well as to provide research for the small number of African American female central office leaders. This qualitative study included some of my experiences related to personal costs as well, since I share race and gender characteristics with the women participants and was an integral part of this research study. In addition I used feminist and Black feminist epistemology to guide my work. To access the data, I interviewed each woman twice in a location of her choice. The interviews were audio-taped and then transcribed. The transcriptions were read and re-read and the data unitized. The data were coded by the action or type of experience. Data were compiled into categories and then within each category subcategories were noted. The categories were derived from a combination of codes emerging from the data as well as core themes of Black feminist epistemology. The women in my study were well educated; two of them had doctoral degrees. They noted cost associated with their work as professionals as well as costs associated with their families and home life. Some identified costs were reduced time with families, health issues, few mentors, the scrutiny and burden of being the only African American female on their level in their organizations and salary inequities. To manage the costs the women utilized hired assistance, utilized the support of family and friends, were prayerful and maintained a commitment which centered on the vocation of children‟s education. Recommendations for solutions include a collective sponsorship to address the costs. In addition, it is in the best interest of everyone in schools to have more women like these leaders.

Abstract The theories of leadership seldom explain the difference of male leaders and female leaders. Instead of the assumption that the leaders¡¦ leading traits and leading styles of two sexes are the same, most studies work from the ¡§man¡¨ point of view. Traditionally, the principles and theories of leadership in most cases come from the researches written by male leaders. Many female leaders¡¦ leadership styles are ignored or forgotten. (Sally Helgsen, 1995) General thoughts indicated that there are some differences between male and female, but these differences are seldom used to explain leadership. The master stream of leadership theories still infers female¡¦s leadership by male traits. This research considers that once woman accept the inequality is unfair, then they can create the possibility in working field. As the saying of Peter Senge goes ¡§Remove the unwanted doesn¡¦t mean you can get what you want¡¨. This research wants to draw a picture of real female leaders by finding ¡§What You Want¡¨, focusing on female leaders¡¦ successful leadership traits and leadership styles, then to discuss how they overcome ¡§the Unwanted¡¨. This research adopted case study and in-depth interview methods. After interviewing six female leaders, this research has conclusions listed below: 1. Female leader¡¦s traits: Female leaders not only lead people to achieve the goal of organizations, but also want to make them improve themselves. The female leaders emphasize ex-birth learning even more than pro-birth gift. It is an everlasting improving process. The female leaders who have strong motivation know they should try hard to hold on every chance, but the others must wait the inspiration by environment or other people. 2. Female leaders¡¦ leadership style: Female leaders adapt Y theory to make the attributed assumption of employees, but they would transfer to X theory because of changes of environment and so on. They mainly use democratic leadership style and supply with authoritative and laissez faire styles. They try to achieve the balance of employee-oriented and work-oriented. This research discovered that female leaders usually adapt the neutral characteristics or integrate the characteristics of two sexes in leading process. 3. Female leaders and sex issue: This research shows the notion of female leaders that leaders contain those of two sexes, but they should not be separated into two nouns: male leaders and female leaders. This research discovered that all female leaders never benefit from being a female. The dilemmas they face are: challenging the stereotype and the conflict of family and job roles. The ways they treat to male and female employees have no significant differences, and they respect their differences. When it comes to promotion, they never think about the issue of sex. 4. The working philosophy of female leaders: The most important three factors of their job philosophies are interests, mission and self-actualization. Surprisingly, the working hours of female leaders in case study are all very long. Five out of six leaders work for twelve to fifteen hours or even more a day.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2008. / Title from title screen (site viewed Sept. 18, 2008). PDF text: ix, 185 p. : ill. ; 1 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3304202. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

The new trend of Crowdfunding is worldwide changing the market for start-ups, as well as small- and medium-sized enterprises to finance their business, as well as increasing the opportunities and possibilities for realizing ideas. Thus, this thesis aims to enlighten the concept of Crowdfunding and its effects. Especially, the interrelation of the concepts of Crowdfunding, Entrepreneurship and Leadership is of utmost importance in this research. As a result of this relation a new era of leaders, differentiating themselves from other leaders by their specific skills and behaviours, gained through the act of Crowdfunding, is initiated. Those skills and behaviours are included in their leading of others in newly crowdfunded ventures.In order to analyse this further, qualitative research and empirical data was used, including interviews with experts as well as crowdfunded entrepreneurs. Furthermore, academic literature as well as insights gained from an online Crowdfunding community built the basis for elaborating this concept further.Concluding the following results were achieved. 1.) Crowdfunding can be perceived as a process, being based in the interaction between the entrepreneur and the crowd and is influenced by particular forces. 2.) Entrepreneurs, funding their idea via Crowdfunding, develop specific skills and behaviours impacting their development as leaders. Hence, also their act of leading in newly crowdfunded ventures. These results indicate that a new era of leaders, showing distinctive leadership skills and behaviours, has begun.

This study focused on competencies considered important in the selection of principals from the perspectives of effective principals on the Texas–Mexico border. The competencies of effective K-12 principals included in the study were initially advanced by Marzano et al. (2005). Specifically, an attempt was made to determine which competencies are considered important, how these were assessed during the selection of effective principals, and whether differences in importance existed by school level (elementary, middle, and high school). Using purposeful sampling, the principals were selected from a list of high-performing schools from data provided by the Center of Research, Evaluation and Advancement of Teacher Education. A total of 100 principals participated in the study. Data were collected using an electronic survey and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Additionally, emerging data were analyzed using the narratives provided by the respondents in reference to other competencies and other ways the competencies were assessed during the selection process. Findings indicated that whereas all the identified competencies were endorsed to be considered in the selection of an effective school leader, 2 were the most important: communication and visibility. Next highest in importance were focus; involvement in curriculum, instruction, and assessment; and culture. Additional findings indicated 8 emerging competencies, with the premier being data-driven decision making. Findings also indicated that most of the competencies were assessed by means of two types of interviews: interview with the committee or interview with the superintendent or designee. On the other hand, some of the respondents reported the competencies were not assessed, but a few were assessed using other methods, such as checking references, a Gallup survey, and experience in the district. Some were simply appointed to the position. Findings also indicated that the endorsement of the identified competencies differed by school level to some extent. Communication was endorsed as most important by elementary and middle school principals, whereas the high school principals endorsed visibility as the most important competency to consider when hiring a principal. Finally, implications for the selection of effective principals are offered. Moreover, suggestions for further inquiry that might illuminate other aspects of the hiring process are presented. / text

This study intends to investigate assimilation in Swedish ice hockey. The overall aim is to achieve a deeper understanding of how ice hockey associations are working to recruit young individuals with a different ethnic background. The specific aim is to find out the opinion of the association leaders in the subject. Furthermore, the study aim to explain the obstacles and opportunities association leaders sees with assimilation in ice hockey. To answer the purpose of the study and the issue, the study was conducted by semi-structured interviews with eight leaders in eight different associations. All but one respondent are active in associations within the county Västerbotten. Half of the associations where medium to large, in terms of members, the other half is small associations with less then 300 members. The results of the study showed that the respondents want a greater effort when it comes to assimilation within ice hockey, not only for ice hockey, for sports in general. A few of the sport associations had worked or works with assimilation. Furthermore leaders felt that communication was an obstacle for the associations to bring the interest of newly arrived citizens. They also mention the fact that ice hockey is an expensive sport as an obstacle. The results also show that the respondents believe there were a need to be greater cooperation between associations and the Swedish ice hockey federation.

Šitas darbas yra apie socialinių institucijų vadovų veiklos efektyvumą. Jo tikslas atskleisti vadovų veiklos efektyvumo prielaidas. / This work teels about social institutions’ leaders’ activity efficiency. Its aim is to reveal leaders’ activity efficiency preconditions.

There is limited research examining the experiences of nurse leaders in the sustainability of change. The current literature found that nurse leaders have focused on the role of creating/leading a change in practice, and the strategies and solutions necessary for the creation of the given change (Buonocore, 2004; Morjikian, Kimball, & Joynt, 2007). Scattered amongst the literature are insights and empirical research that looks into why there is not sustainability in a change/innovation. The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study was to develop an understanding of nurse leaders’ roles, experiences, successes, and failures in the sustainability of change. Roger’s (2003) Diffusion of Innovation Theory provided the conceptual framework for the study. The experiences of eight nurse leaders, from a variety of roles representing positions of formal and informal power, were explored. The findings of this study revealed nurse leaders’ perceptions of strategies required to maintain changes in nursing practice; and provides valuable insight into the roles, experiences, and perspectives of nurse leaders in the sustainability of change.