Abstract: The purpose of our case study was to examine the leadership of educational leaders in a Mexican non-public school setting through the lens of one leadership theory, the synergistic leadership theory (SLT).
The context of our qualitative case study was a non-public school, grades PK-12, in a small Mexican community. A purposeful and convenience sample of two educational leaders, five instructional coordinators, 16 teachers, six students, six community members, and 15 parents participated in semi-structured individual interviews and focus group interviews. Field observations were conducted on site. Data were analyzed through Miles and Huberman's framework of coding categories and identifying themes and trends for development of explanatory power.
We determined that the SLT was an appropriate lens for examining the leadership experiences of these Mexican educators. Findings demonstrated that there the four factors of the SLT (i.e., values, attitudes, and beliefs; leadership behaviors; external forces; and organizational structure) were aligned in the case of the Mexican educational leaders. We propose that this alignment among the four factors enabled the leaders to accomplish their goals and advance the organization. Additionally, we found that the Mexican leaders highly valued solidarity, sharing, citizenship, teaching by setting the example, commitment, love, care, sacrifice, and hard work. Leaders were found to exhibit servant leadership, desirable interpersonal leadership behaviors, and democratic, participative, situational, and transformational leadership behaviors. Also, leaders were able to cope with negative impacts of external forces and to alter their behaviors in order to work with those external forces. Finally, goals were clearly defined and the mission was well communicated. Members of the organization were empowered, and there was a high trust level among the faculty, staff, community, students, and leaders.
AVAILABLE AT: http://cnx.org/content/m33669/latest/
A través del lente de una teoría sinergética de liderazgo educativo. Resumen AVAILABLE EN ESPANOL A: http://cnx.org/content/m33855/latest/
Keywords: leadership theory, Synergistic Leadership, educational administration
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