In the nowadays world, full of innovations and of competition, the leadership plays a significant role. There are numerous definitions of leadership and approaches towards that notion. Chemers (1997) considers it as a “process ofsocial influencein which one person can enlist the aid and supportof others in the accomplishment of a commontask”. Another scientist – Alan Keith defines the leadership and an effective tool of some extraordinary event practical implementation achieving, while motivating people to make their contributions into the process of the general goal achievement. That is why it is possible to consider the leadership as the art of motivating people in the name of the common goal. Thereby, the above stated definition outlines the leadership as the source of inspiration for preparation for the common goal achievement. The main fundamental of an effective leadership is the set of ideas, which cannot be implemented into the life until other people are integrated by these ideas and engaged into them.
It is possible to say that the leader is the director and inspiration of the actions. The main feature of an effective leader in the educational establishments is the combination of personal and leadership skills. This combination is able to make other people to follow the idea, which integrates them with the leader.
Leadership is a widely applied notion and in sphere of education. Effective leadership is considered to be the key success factor in management of the educational establishment. In such case, managers are the leaders and the management structure of the education al establishment is also related as the leadership of the particular institution. The process of leadership implies several directions: effective managing of the available resources, communication, motivation, controlling and correction of the deviations from the initial strategy, which may occur in the process of the practical implementation of the stated goal. There are numerous disputes concerning the origin of leadership skills – whether they are born or made. According to the approach of Susan Ward, “Leadership is a winning combination of personal traits and the ability to think and act as a leader, a person who directs the activities of others for the good of all. Anyone can be a leader…”
It is obvious that all leaders differ and evaluation of the most effective leadership type may be done after practical work and as result of scientific research. J.P. Andrews and Richard H.G. Field (1998) reground the conception of leadership and outline its following models: directive, motivational, visionary, boundary spanning and design. Also, there is one more classification of leadership, which includes its following traits: participative, directive, entrepreneurial and charismatic leader. There are different styles of leadership, which are inherent to the educational establishments in particular – autocratic (authoritarian) style; participative or (democratic) style; laissez-faire (free rein) style; narcissistic leadership and toxic leadership.
Each of the above listed styles and approaches have got its pros and cons and unusually, the style of each leader is a combination, which includes the some features and principles, borrowed from different styles. That is why, the core values of an effective leader are the following: authority, collaboration, competency, creativity, fairness, justice, power, recognition, self-respect, and wisdom.
The main advantages of charismatic leadership in for the educational establishments are outlined in James Poon Teng Fatt (2000) article and Takala Tuomo (2006) finds the positive relationship between charismatic/transformational leadership and the performance of the organization and has developed the advices for effective leadership development. Takala Tuomo (1997) considers charismatic leader as a success factor in effective communication.
Surinder S. Kahai, John J. Sosik and Bruce J. Avolio (2004) consider participative leadership as the best tool for group problem evaluation, decision making and its common execution in order to achieve the success in educational institution. Gretchen Spreitzer (2000) develops the links between for relationships between participative organizational leadership, employee empowerment, and sustainable peace. Ethical context of participative management was researched by Boleslaw Rok (2009) — the author stresses on importance of human factor in achievement of the educative goals.
2.2 The core qualities of the leader in the educational establishment
While taking in account the qualities of the leader in the educational establishment, it is important to outline the following information. First of all, leader should be an authority for the subordinates or adherents, because they should be sure that their leader has got those features and knowledge, which would allow one to manage the stated goal or implement the integrating idea into the practice.
Collaboration is the next value for the leader, because it is possible to be a leader only in the case of collaboration with other people – representatives of some social group. The collaboration in this case implies the discussion of some questions with others participants of the team or group, implementing some changes into the current strategy or correcting some deviations after discussion them with other participants of the process.
Competence in the area of the leaders’ professional activity is one of the most significant values for the leader, because the deep knowledge both in theoretical and practical background of the particular area is an obligatory requirement for the person, managing the big project, implementing some ideas to the mass or responsible for coordination, development and practical implementation of some innovation into the life.
Creative approach towards professional activity is the key success factor for the nowadays leader in the world of competition and rapid development of new technologies and approaches towards leadership. Fairness and justice are those values which provide the leader with the credit of trust from the employees and from the followers.
Finally, the leader should be powerful and responsible for his decisions and actions because people, who collaborate with the leader, act in accordance with the rules and regulation, which are set and supported by the leader. Self respect and wisdom are those professional qualities of leader, which show other members of the team the pattern of behavior, professionalism and human relations in the team.
While considering the leadership assumptions, it is important take in account numerous examples of positive and negative leadership and their outcomes. As an example of the positive leadership in the educational establishment, it is possible to consider the situation when all the employees are motivated due to their personal values and when the individual approach towards every employee is developed- for example one person is motivated with the career development and further perspectives and other is motivated with competitive the salary rate.
The negative leadership implies such approach when people- employees or followers do not get the support from their leader and their work constantly falls under the critics. More than that, the leader should be an example of corporative behavior and style for the subordinates and if this requirement is not met by the leader, one cannot be considered as an effective and wise leader. In other words, all the requirements to other members of the group should not be violated by the leader.
According to the practice, in many developed and developing countries, the leaders get exceed privileges, incomes and rights than it is stated in the constitution. That is why people, who see such violation of the basic law of the country by its government, do not trust such government and as a result, such government is substituted by other group of people- new leaders. That, in turn, leads to changing of the political values and course and causes the disorders in the social life and lowers its quality.
While considering my personal beliefs in the leadership, it is important to stress that the leadership is to be based on confidence, professionalism and on ability of motivating the group of people for carrying out some activities. The leaders’ behavior should be based both on ones’ professional experience and also it should take in account the particular circumstances. The core values of the leader are to be the fairness and wisdom. The main task of the leader is to make positive deals for the group of people and improve their life quality by implementing of the leaders’ assistance into the general goal achievement.
In the cases of causing harm for the members of the group, the person, who declared him or her as leader cannot be considered as the professional leader even if one has succeed and got some income from such unfair activity. There are no ideal leaders because in majority of cases power spoils human beings. That is why the most acceptable pattern of the leader in the educational establishment implies high rate of professionalism and competency, fairness and individual approach towards each employee or the member of the group motivation process. Decisions, made by the leader should meet the requirements of the group and the background of the decision should take in account opinions of all the group members or at least should not contradict the basic values of the group/team.
That is why the leadership is a responsible and complicated task, which is directed for the general aim achievement. More than that, leadership is a social phenomena and it is based on the psychological approach towards human behavior, needs and values. Being an effective leader implies understanding of the group needs and targets, it is an integrative role and it is directed for effective assistance and managing of the general target achievement.