The aim of this research is to identify and scrutinise current aspects of leadership in small primary schools in order to generate a new context-appropriate model of headship. The research is an in-depth study of leading the small primary school from the perspective of headteachers. There is a dearth of literature concerning leadership that is specific to small primary schools, so this research has accordingly significantly enhanced that body of knowledge. It is also timely as the newly-appointed Government is reviewing the resourcing and management of schools in England. This study has drawn on the descriptive and interpretive aspects of a case study of all the small primary schools in one Local Authority. The resulting response sample was twenty-six headteachers. The study has identified possible changes to enhance educational policy at three levels: school, Local Authority and Central Government. The research is characteristic of the realist tradition, generating rich, qualitative data which have been gathered through the use of interviews, questionnaires, Ofsted reports and ‘naturally occurring’ material. The research identified that the leadership structure in small primary schools is of a flatter and more interlocking nature rather than having a hierarchy of leaders. The headteachers used a combination of leadership styles in order to share the leadership with other members of staff. Headteachers had a multi-faceted role which included a range of both leadership and management activities, and also retained a teaching role. These features of small school headships made them ‘first among equals’ (Ironside and Seifert, 1995) rather than elevated CEOs. A new model of Leadership in Small Primary Schools has been developed which arises from the identified needs of these headteachers with regards to the perceived deficits in training, support and expected school performance and targets. This is relevant not only to all headteachers of small primary schools but also, in particular, to policymakers and educationalists in England at a point when there is an increasing loss of headteachers to retirement and an extreme shortage of applicants for these vacant posts.

Leadership as a concept has been an area of significance for several decades. While the contribution of research to leadership concept in the industry has been substantial the same cannot be claimed with regard to the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). There is a paucity of research studies in the context of HEIs, particularly in regard to business schools. Deans of business schools were hardly the subject of research in the leadership literature till recently. But with collapsing business empires in the last decade (for instance Lehman Brothers), business school deanship came under scrutiny as the leaders in those business empires that collapsed were graduates of renowned business schools. The review of the literature with respect to challenges affecting HEI and business school leadership threw up many challenges. The challenges investigated were leadership styles, leadership practice, leadership effectiveness, decision quality, follower commitment, follower satisfaction, management style, organisational setting and orgaisational culture. Each challenge was assumed as a factor affecting deans of business schools as leaders. The review of the literature provided the theoretical basis for determining the nature of each factor. Leadership style was defined as the independent variable influencing leadership practice. Five leadership styles namely transactional, transformational, laissez-faire, democratic and autocratic leadership styles were made as independent variables to determine leadership practice. Leadership practice was identified as the independent variable influencing leadership effectiveness although the relationship between leadership practice and leadership effectiveness was supposed to be influenced by mediating factors namely decision quality of deans of business school, follower satisfaction and follower commitment. Academic and administrative staff were considered as the followers. Management style and organisational setting were considered as moderating variables of leadership practice of deans of business schools. Oraganisational structure was used to represent organisational setting as the variable. Organisational culture was used as the control variable. The theoretical framework was drawn to represent the linkage between the factors. The model developed was supported by already established theories that were tested for reliability and validity. The leadership style and leadership effectiveness models were developed which was the focus of this research. Leadership style-leadership practice linkage provided the theoretical framework to determine the style practised by the deans. Leadership practiceleadership effectiveness linkage mediated by decision quality, follower commitment and follower satisfaction provided the theoretical framework to determine the leadership effectiveness. Survey questionnaire was the method used to collect data. The questionnaire was sent to 600 academic and administrative staff members of business schools from eight different countries. The results showed that the transactional leadership style was the leadership style practised by the deans of the business schools. Other findings were as follows. That transactional leadership indirectly but positively influenced the leadership effectiveness of deans through decision quality and follower satisfaction. The mediation of the transactional leadership practice-leadership effectiveness linkage by decision quality and follower satisfaction was significant and in the positive direction. Management style and organisational structure were found to act as moderating variables of transactional leadership practice of deans positively. Transformational, laissez-faire, democratic and autocratic leadership styles were found to have significant and positive correlation with transactional leadership style implying that these four styles could moderate the transactional leadership style-leadership practice linkage. The study offers insights into how deans of business schools might develop their leadership attributes either by enhancing their transactional leadership style or changing their style or combining different styles to suit the situation.

TITLE: Natural communication with the horse and the possibilities of human - horse interaction AUTHOR: Bc. Lenka Volfová DEPARTMENT: Department of Biology and Enviromnental Studies (Katedra biologie a enviromnentálních studií) SUPERVISOR: PhDr. Kateřina Jančaříková, Ph.D. ABSTRACT: This thesis explores interspecies communication and, specifically, natural communication between the man and the horse. Through comparative research based on a programme developed by Ing. Josef Liška (Liška Solutions) for the assessment of the participant's personality, employing several exercises with a horse from the ground, the thesis aims at introducing ways in which horses can be used for the purposes of personal growth. For the purposes of this thesis, volunteers from three groups were assessed under this programme using the method of direct observation: teachers, business executives and people who work with animals. The assessment was carried out by marking down points and comments. On the basis of the results obtained, the above three groups were subsequently compared among one another. The research shows that teachers excelled in six out of seven observed personal competencies while, compared to business executives, there is still space for improvement in terms of their energy. The results shown in relation to the...

Bien que les femmes aient toujours fait partie des composantes de la main-d’oeuvre d’une entreprise et y jouent toujours un rôle prépondérant, il faut dire que, dans les postes décisionnels, elles ont été considérablement sous-représentées. La barrière entre cadres intermédiaires et cadres supérieurs, baptisée le « plafond de verre », est aujourd’hui, presque aussi infranchissable qu’il y a 20 ans, quand une multitude de femmes diplômées sont entrées dans le monde des affaires. L’objet de cette recherche vise à identifier pourquoi le taux des femmes présentes dans les instances de haute direction des banques libanaises reste-t-il si minime. La présente étude va consister à analyser la corrélation entre les aspirations professionnelles des femmes, leur ambition d’accéder aux plus hauts échelons de l’entreprise et le phénomène du plafond de verre. Par ailleurs, cette étude va approfondir l’examen des styles de leadership adoptés par les femmes et mesurer l’impact du style adopté sur la progression réalisée dans la carrière choisie. Nous prendrons l’exemple du Moyen-Orient et particulièrement du Liban où le secteur bancaire est soucieux de réduire les inégalités professionnelles. Cependant les différenciations entre hommes et femmes persistent. De multiples facteurs, certains explicites, telle la formation ou la mobilité, d’autres plus implicites, comme les horaires de travail ou la maternité, semblent se combiner et se renforcer mutuellement pour expliquer des évolutions de carrière moins favorables chez les femmes. Un questionnaire à choix fermé a été diffusé sur un site Web sécurisé à des femmes cadres dans 6 banques opérant au Liban afin de déterminer la relation entre les variables dépendantes et indépendantes relevées. Les hypothèses ont été validées déterminants ainsi divers facteurs qui affectent l’existence du plafond de verre. / Women have always been an inherent part of the workforce. They have been playing a fundamental role throughout history; however, they have been considerably underrepresented in top management positions. The existent barrier between middle and top management positions entitled “Glass Ceiling” remains almost as impassable as it has been 20 years ago, even though the number of educated women who have entered the labor market has substantially increased. The purpose of this research is to identify why the number of women in the top management positions of the Lebanese banks remains minim. As such, the primary object lies in analyzing the correlation between the aspiration and ambition of women to access the highest levels in the organization’s hierarchy and the glass ceiling phenomena. Moreover, this study focuses on the leadership styles adopted by these women; it aims at measuring the impact of the adopted style on the hierarchical advancement in the chosen career. In Lebanon, the banking sector is eager to reduce professional discrepancies; however, these gaps remain existent between men and women. Several factors, some of which are explicit – such as training & development and mobility, others implicit such as the working schedules and the maternity leaves, interact and interrelate to explain the less favorable career paths that women face. A close-ended questionnaire has been communicated throughout a secured website to middle management women in 6 banks operating in Lebanon in order to determine the relationship between the identified dependant and independent variables. The hypothesis statements were accepted as true; stipulating that several factors affect the perpetuity of the glass ceiling.