Framing the meaning of management and leadership
Too often, the concepts of leader and manager are used to make uninformed and unfair comparisons that inevitably result in assigning lower value to those involved in management as if they are equipped with an inferior or limited set of skills, hence importance.
Although, as per Bolam’s statement (Bush, 2020), educational leadership and management are “categorically different “, they are both essential functions in school organizations as they inevitably share areas of interaction, and require a precise alignment of values, goals, strategies, and policies.
Educational management involves ensuring a school’s smooth and effective operation. This role encompasses overseeing the institution’s systems, resources, and processes to create a conducive learning environment (Bush, 2020). In other words, management is an executive function with no values of its own; hence, its mission statement can be identified in the mere pursuit of efficiency (Newman & Clarke, 1994, p. 29).
On the other hand, due to its articulated nature, leadership may suggest a different meaning to different people, and how it is defined has an extensive impact on working organizations (Grint, 2010). School leadership involves followers, such as the staff, the students, and the extended community. It requires planning that facilitates an ongoing innovative process, providing practical and effective solutions to problems, and, mostly, it must reflect specific knowledge (Grint, 2010). Lastly, school leadership should be ethical (Western, 2019), as it involves a social influence: the students’ learning and the stakeholders’ well-being (Beatriz Pont, s.d.).
In the final analysis, based on their interconnection, educational management and leadership concepts need to be appropriately framed to better understand their model placement and, consequently, their related upsides and downsides.
Educational management and leadership: coexistence, benefits and limits
Overall, many are management and leadership models, as various terminologies have been assigned despite content similarities. However, concerning the educational scenario, six are the most relevant educational management models in education: formal, collegial, political, subjective, ambiguity, and cultural, all empirically assessed against four main criteria (Bush, 2020):
- the definition of goals
- the organizational structure
- the relationship between the school and its wider community
- and the leadership strategy.
To complete the scenario, Bush and Glover then identified ten educational leadership models and compared them to the correspondent management, as shown in the table Education Management and Leadership Models.
Conclusions
Empirical studies throughout the years indicate that successful and effective school leadership cannot happen in isolation (Christopher Day, 2014); therefore, regardless of the educational context, school heads must understand the need for “radical interdependence” among all players in the learning community, including managers (TED, 2019). Furthermore, as “managers demonstrate leadership and likewise leaders usually have managerial skills”, Bennis (Western, 2019), the cheap, overrated diatribe between the leader and the manager’s value should take on a juster and more informed perspective.
References
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Christopher Day, P. S., 2014. Successful school leadership, Berkshire: Education Development Trust.
Connolly, M., James, C., & Fertig, M. (2019). The difference between educational management and educational leadership and the importance of educational responsibility. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 47(4), 504-519. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143217745880
Grint, K., 2010. Leadership: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Newman, J. and Clarke, J. (1994). Going about our business? The managerialism of public services, in Clarke, J., Cochrane, A. and McLaughlin, E. (Eds.). Managing School Policy, London, Sage.
TED, 2019. A guide to collaborative leadership. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/lorna_davis_a_guide_to_collaborative_leadership
[Accessed 9 June 2020].
Western, S., 2019. Leadership: A Critical Text. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
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