scholarly journals Leadership Potential of Professional Teacher Associations in Russia: Formation of Middle Leaders

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 70-82
Author(s):  
Anatoly V. Merenkov ◽  
Natalya L. Antonova ◽  
Natalia G. Popova
Keyword(s):  
Distributed Leadership ◽  
School System ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Russian School ◽  
Leadership Potential ◽  
Professional Teacher ◽  
Subject Areas ◽  
Middle Leaders ◽  
Teacher Associations

This research study is aimed at investigating distributed leadership practices in the Russian school system, of which professional teacher associations (PTA) constitute a distinct feature. In particular, we set out to investigate the PTA leadership potential, as well as the role and specific personal characteristics of middle leaders in the Russian school education system. These associations are formed by the school administration on the basis of subject areas, bringing together teachers of maths, history, etc. Teachers join PTAs on a voluntarily basis. The key function of such organisations consists in the implementation of innovative educational approaches and techniques. In order to analyse their leadership potential, we carried out a sociological survey among the employees of high-profile secondary schools (gymnasiums and lyceums) situated in the major Russian city of Ekaterinburg. The research methodology comprised structured interviews with 110 respondents, along with in-depth interviews with 2 school directors, 4 school deputy directors and 6 heads of professional teacher associations. Our results show that the fundamentals and principles of distributed leadership are actively implemented in Ekaterinburg schools. The school administrations encourage the creation of professional teacher associations grouped around subject areas, delegating to these structural units the functions of improving the quality of teaching the respective subjects and disseminating educational innovations, at the same time as fulfilling the requirements of the state and regional education authorities. Such associations are headed by middle leaders, who are nominated by their colleagues and whose candidacy is approved by school seniors, taking into account their professional achievements, experience of leading pedagogical innovations and the presence of the right personal qualities necessary for productive collaborative work. These people perform the role of mediators, operating at the interface between various levels within the school. Although viewed as a school’s personnel reserve for the positions of principals and head teachers, our respondents consider themselves to be ‘more teachers’ or ‘innovators in education’ than administrators. The development of the leadership qualities of such professionals in the Russian school system is shown to be hindered by a ‘glass ceiling’ – a certain limit in their career growth. This discouraging factor results in some middle school leaders searching for professional self-realization opportunities outside the school system, in the spheres of business, science or culture that are believed to provide more opportunities for self-advancement.

scholarly journals The transition to general management in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Mallaby ◽  
Gavin Price ◽  
Karl Hofmeyr
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
General Manager ◽  
General Management ◽  
General Managers ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Effective Development ◽  
The Right

Orientation: Understanding the nature and challenges of making the transition from a functional role to a general management role in South African organisations.Research purpose: The objective of this study was to gain insight into the obstacles that affect the transition from functional to general management and identify steps that may be taken to overcome these challenges.Motivation for the study: One of the most difficult crossroads for a manager is making the shift from being a functional specialist to becoming a general manager. New competencies and behaviours are required, as well as a more strategic mind set. If the transition is not made successfully, the manager and the organisation suffer.Research design, approach and method: A qualitative design was used consisting of in-depth, semi-structured interviews, with 19 senior business leaders who had successfully made the transition. The interviews were used to gather insights into the challenges they faced during their transitions, and how these were overcome.Main findings: To make the transition successfully, functional managers need to gain relevant experience to prepare them for the broader scope of a general management role. They need to develop appropriate skills, attitudes and personal characteristics. Mentoring is an effective development process. Newly appointed general managers need to learn to let go of control while maintaining ownership, build relationships and strike the right balance between strategic thinking and execution. There are unique aspects of being a general manager in South Africa, such as dealing with Black Economic Empowerment and challenges of race and identity, given the country’s history.Practical and managerial implications: Specific interventions are suggested which are directed at both aspiring general managers and organisations seeking to assist middle managers to make the transition to general managers.Contribution: This study contributes to knowledge concerning the skills and attributes required by potential general managers, and the practical steps to be taken by South African organisations to facilitate the development of general managers. 

Women on top: the career development journey of Filipina business executives in the Philippines

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Cirineo Osi ◽  
Mendiola Teng-Calleja
Keyword(s):  
Career Development ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Women Executives ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Executives ◽  
Male Dominated

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the experiences of Filipina women business executives occupying top-most leadership roles in male-dominated industries in the Philippines.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative research utilized the institutional theory and a phenomenological approach with semi-structured interviews for data collection. The seven women executives were purposively selected and interviewed in-depth. Participants were renowned leaders in six male-dominated industries in the country.FindingsThree phases – growing up years, career advancement and raising a family and becoming and being the chief executive officer (CEO) tracked the career development journey of the Filipina women business leaders that participated in the study. Cultural, organizational and familial factors emerged as contextual dimensions at each phase that the women business executives needed to navigate in their journey to the top. Six sub-themes reflect challenges in their career progression – women as in-charge of households, expectations as mothers, limited representation in the boardroom, discrimination as women leaders, women not seen as leaders and husband's ego. Four other sub-themes served as enablers – equal opportunity culture, career pathing and diversity, male mentors/role models and enlightened husbands. The CEO's personal characteristics surfaced as a critical factor – spirituality, being competitive but not ambitious, speaks her mind, can-do attitude, accountability, openness to learn and continually re-invents self.Research limitations/implicationsThe participants only included top-most Filipina women business leaders. Implications to women executives' career development in organizations are discussed.Originality/valueThis current study contributes a proposed conceptual model in the understanding of the career development journey of Filipina women executives in the Philippines where recent findings found greater recognition of their work in the corporate setting as compared to more developed Asian countries.

scholarly journals The interplay between SME owner-managers and the brand-as-a-person

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edgar Centeno ◽  
Jesus Cambra-Fierro ◽  
Rosario Vazquez-Carrasco ◽  
Susan J. Hart ◽  
Keith Dinnie
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Rational Approach ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Strategy Formulation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Strategies ◽  
Grounded Theory Approach

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the largely unexplored conceptualisation of the brand-as-a-person metaphor in small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by examining its potential relation with the SME owner-manager, the pathways to its creation and development and the intuitive nature of this relationship.Design/methodology/approachA grounded theory approach was used, and data were collected through a set of 36 semi-structured interviews with 30 SME owner-managers in various sectors in Mexico.FindingsThe results indicate that SME owner-managers intuitively humanise their brands. The study revealed four pathways to develop the brand-as-a-person metaphor in the SME context: through personality traits, tastes and preferences, abilities and knowledge and values, all suggesting that SMEs’ brand-as-a-person metaphors are largely an extension of their owner-managers.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper presents a theoretical framework that illustrates the four pathways to the creation and development of brand-as-a-person that are derived from the brand’s relationship with the SME owner-manager. The results of cross-industry semi-structured interviews are limited to a single culture context.Practical implicationsSME owner-managers should first undertake an introspective personal assessment of their intuitive and conscious decision-making, as SME owner-managers often make decisions in an intuitive way. The results suggest that they should act in a more conscious, responsible and rational way when formulating their brand strategies.Originality/valueThis is the first study to clarify the profound influence of SME owner-managers’ personal characteristics, including personality traits, tastes and preferences, abilities and knowledge and values, on the brand-as-a-person metaphor. This study also confirms the intuitive learning strategy formulation of SME owner-managers’ branding practices and SMEs’ need for a more rational approach to branding.

Homeschooling/Unschooling in Gifted Education

2018 ◽  
pp. 172-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Goodowens ◽  
Jessica Cannaday
Keyword(s):  
Public School ◽  
School System ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Gifted Students ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Public School System ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
The Public ◽  
Gifted Programming ◽  
Teacher Education Faculty

This chapter discusses the lived experiences of one parent of a profoundly gifted student. Parental perceptions of gifted programming in the public school system, parental reasons for leaving the public school system, and the alternative schooling designs of homeschooling and unschooling are discussed. Further discussed is the parental perception of the general lack of knowledge teacher educators possess in regards to highly, exceptionally, and profoundly gifted students. Parent recognition and discussion of the incompatibility between the traditional schooling system and their child's personal characteristics is a main theme. Parental design of new educational experiences to meet the unique needs of their individual child is shared. Insights into the alternative education practices of homeschooling and unschooling for highly and profoundly gifted students, as well as one parent's perspective of the current school system, are shared with teacher education faculty preparing new teachers to work with gifted students.

scholarly journals Middle leading and influence in two Australian schools

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 1063-1079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kylie Lipscombe ◽  
Sharon Tindall-Ford ◽  
Peter Grootenboer
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Educational Development ◽  
Executive Leadership ◽  
Development Project ◽  
School Level ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Support Teacher ◽  
Middle Leaders

Increasingly, educational systems are appreciating the importance of middle leaders leading educational improvement in schools. Schools depend on middle leaders to lead site-based educational development in areas including curriculum development, teacher professional learning and student learning improvement. Middle leaders are in a unique but complex position where they influence both executive leadership and teachers within the school organisation. Adopting case study methodology to investigate the practices and influence of middle leaders leading a school-based educational development project, three semi-structured interviews and artefacts from two middle leaders were collected over eight months. The theory of practice architectures afforded an examination of data to explain the conditions and arrangements enabling and constraining the middle leaders’ practices of influence. The findings showed middle leaders’ influence was dependent on executive leadership support, time, formal role descriptions and trusting relationship. Furthermore, the results reveal middle leaders can influence educational development at the school level through advocating for, collaborating with, and empowering colleagues to support teacher ownership of site-based projects. Of interest, this study showed influence can be reciprocal, between middle leaders and colleagues, and between middle leaders and executive leadership.

Empathy Regulation among Israeli School Principals: Expression and Suppression of Major Emotions in Educational Leadership

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Izhar Oplatka
Keyword(s):  
Educational Leadership ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Three Components

The present study aimed to trace the ways by which Israeli principals manage their emotions at work and posed two questions: (1) How do principals tend to express empathy toward others in the school? and (2) How do principals regulate their empathy at work? Based on semi-structured interviews with 10 Israeli school principals, it was found that they are allowed, even encouraged, to display, under specific circumstances, three components of empathy: cognitive, affective (e.g., compassion), and behavioral (e.g., caring), while consciously inhibiting the expression of anger and fear publically. In addition, the principals use four strategies to regulate the components of empathy and its related emotions. Cultural, professional, and personal characteristics seem to explain empathy display and regulation among the Israeli principals.

scholarly journals MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENT AND QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG ASSISTED LIVING RESIDENTS WITH DEMENTIA: EMERGENT FINDINGS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S943-S944
Author(s):  
Joy Ciofi ◽  
Candace L Kemp ◽  
Alexis A Bender ◽  
Elisabeth O Burgess ◽  
Jennifer C Morgan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Assisted Living ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Care Partners ◽  
Meaningful Engagement ◽  
Physical Abilities ◽  
Community Staff

Abstract This poster provides an overview of the aims, methods, and emergent findings from an ongoing five-year NIA-funded project (R01AG062310) examining meaningful engagement and quality of life among assisted living (AL) residents with dementia. The overall goal of this project is to determine how opportunities for meaningful engagement can best be recognized, created, and maintained for individuals with different dementia types and varying levels of functional ability. Guided by grounded theory, this qualitative study will involve 12 diverse AL communities in and around Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Presently, our interdisciplinary team is collecting data in four communities using ethnographic observations, semi-structured interviews, and resident record review. We are studying daily life in each community, following 30 resident participants, and actively recruiting and interviewing their formal and informal care partners. Based on ongoing analysis, we offer key emergent findings. First, meaningful engagement is highly individualized and dynamic. Differing personal interests, along with wide variations in cognitive and physical abilities, can present challenges for AL community staff and other care partners when trying to recognize what constitutes meaningful engagement for residents. Second, multiple complex factors interplay to shape the experience of meaningful engagement among persons living with dementia, such as personal characteristics, care partner background and training, AL community design and philosophy, and state/corporate regulations. Finally, flexibility and ‘meeting the resident where they are at’ appear to be critical to identifying and fostering meaningful engagement for persons living with dementia. We discuss the implications of these preliminary findings for translation, dissemination, and future research.

Giving birth to a supervisory identity built upon pedagogical perspectives on teaching: The case of a novice physical education cooperating teacher

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Amaral-da-Cunha ◽  
Amândio Graça ◽  
Paula Batista ◽  
Ann MacPhail
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Professional Identity ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Initial Teacher Education ◽  
Cooperating Teacher ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Teaching Perspectives ◽  
School Placement ◽  
One Year

Teaching perspectives in initial teacher education are useful analytical tools for exploring the development of professional identity and the supervisory practices of cooperating teachers working with preservice teachers on school placement. A case study design was employed with an experienced physical education teacher newly appointed as a cooperating teacher to a cohort of three physical education preservice teachers to examine how his professional identity was challenged by the demands of the new role as a mentor. Data were collected throughout a one-year school placement and included three semi-structured interviews and the cooperating teacher’s weekly journal entries. Analysis was informed by grounded theory coding procedures. Open codes were collapsed into three metaphorical axial themes: (a) the chameleon, (b) a tailor-made cooperating teacher, and (c) the liaison of relations. To perform his new role as a cooperating teacher and surpass the emergent supervisory challenges in developing a pedagogical relationship with his first cohort of preservice teachers, the cooperating teacher called upon his educational perspectives on teaching physical education built on constructive, collaborative and inquiry premises, but ended up practising teaching perspectives echoing an apprenticeship model due to the preservice teachers’ personal characteristics.

scholarly journals Factors Affecting Employees’ Work Passion in the Thai Insurance Industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 168
Author(s):  
Boonthipa Jiantreerangkool ◽  
Wasita Boonsathorn ◽  
Gary N. McLean
Keyword(s):  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Opportunity To Learn ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Financial Industry ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Executive Managers ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Work Passion

The objectives of this study were to: 1) identify the perceived definition of staff work passion, and 2) explore perceived factors affecting staff work passion, both in the Thai insurance industry. The study was qualitative, using semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions. Participants were 36 key informants from life and non-life insurance companies in Thailand, including executive managers, middle managers, and staff, selected to maximize variation in responses. The definitions of staff work passion in the Thai insurance industry were comprised of five categories: happiness, pride, goal setting, personal efficacy, and job fit. Seven factors affecting work passion were highlighted: 1) the power of teamwork, 2) great support from leader, 3) work value, 4) challenge and variety of work, 5) supportive company policies, 6) gaining knowledge and opportunity to learn, and 7) providing good service to customers. These findings were incorporated into an employee work passion model adapted from Blanchard’s model. The model showed personal characteristics of individual as meanings of work passion; organization and job characteristics; and organizational role behaviours as factors affecting work passion. The model might apply to similar businesses within the financial industry, e.g., insurance brokerage companies, financial institutions, and stock and securities firms.

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