Leading Leaders
Relationship between Teachers’ Organizational Commitment and Principal's Leadership Style in Alternative Arab High Schools in Israel
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ismael Abu-Saad, Amer Haj
Alternative schools are selective in their nature and designed to provide "better" education than the public schools, with annual tuition for student attendance supplementing the public education funding. In order to fulfill their potential, however, alternative schools must also have effective leadership and high teacher commitment. This study examines the relationships between leadership styles (LS) and teachers’ organizational commitment (TOC) in alternative Arab high schools in northern Israel. The sample included 307 teachers. Data were collected using the Multi-Factor Leadership and Teachers’ Organizational Commitment questionnaires. Factor analysis was used to identify LS and TOC dimensions. Relationships between TOC and LS dimensions were tested using multiple regression models. Factor analysis identified two TOC dimensions (affective commitment and continuous commitment) and two LS dimensions (transformational leadership and transactional leadership). Teachers' affective commitment was significantly related to transformational leadership style (β=0.28, P<0.001), and negatively related to transactional leadership (β=-0.33, P<0.001). Teachers' continuous commitment was positively related to transactional leadership style (β=0.19, P<0.001). The findings suggest that a combination of transformational and transactional principal leadership may improve teachers’ commitment in alternative Arab schools in Israel.
General Justice Attitudes and Organizational Justice: An Empirical Study of Attitudes about Career Systems
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Stefan Litz, Hermann Lassleben
This paper will discuss the relationship between general justice attitudes and attitudes towards different configurations of organizational career systems. First of all, the paper will provide a discussion of different justice attitudes conceptualizations as well as a conceptualization of different organizational career systems. Since the empirical study is based on an international cross-cultural empirical sample drawn in Canada and Germany, the paper will proceed to outline the outcomes of a statistical analysis of this sample highlighting some significant similarities and differences.
Exploring Positive Leadership as a Catalyst for Flourishing in Schools
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Benjamin Kutsyuruba
Sustaining and fostering well-being has garnered attention in numerous organizational contexts with surprisingly minimal focus in educational settings. Our examination of flourishing in Canadian schools highlighted the need for deliberate focus on the role of school principals’ positive leadership and its effect on thriving and well-being of others in schools. This research utilized appreciative case studies where we engaged with seven principals in focus group conversations designed to examine what it means to them to flourish in their work. Data were gathered through these open-ended, appreciative, focus-group conversations and researcher observations in the participants’ schools. Collected data were analyzed using an iterative process of coding, categorizing, and abstracting data. Several findings emerged from the analysis: a) school principal are instrumental in creating conditions where teachers experience a sense of thriving; b) despite this important role, principals do not necessarily have the time and opportunity to focus on teacher wellbeing in impactful ways; and c) principals’ sense of wellbeing and flourishing were related to wellbeing of teachers and students, indicating a relational imperative of wellbeing in education. Results of our study: a) establish a positive perspective on research of leadership in school organizations; yielding new knowledge about organizational climates and cultures for flourishing in learning communities; b) provide new insights and applications of flourishing intelligences that have been developed in partnership with participants; c) provide an empirical framework for the development of new tools aimed at fostering, assessing and sustaining flourishing leadership in schools.
