According to bush 2006 , educational management is a field of study and practice concerned with the operation of educational organizations. He has also claimed several times that educational management needs to be essentially concerned with the purpose or goals of education since they give the fundamental sense of direction needed for effective management of educational organizations bush 2006. Bush 2006 concluded that a singular all inclusive theory of educational management does not simply exist as educational institutions are so diverse, starting from small elementary schools of the countryside to huge universities and colleges. Furthermore, even similar schools and colleges have to deal with completely different problems, which necessitate diverse approaches and solutions bush 2006. The concept of management often intersects with two parallel terminologies, namely leadership and administration. The difference is mainly regional according to bush 2006.the term management is commonly used in europe, and africa, where as administration is favored in the united states, canada, and australia. On the other hand the term leadership is much more contemporary and it is of great interest in most developed countries bush 2006.

Our writers can help get your essay back on track, take a look at our services to learn more about how we can help. Essay writing service essay marking service place an order however other authors have differentiated these three concepts by claiming that they have opposing definitions. Cuban 1988 has provided a distinction between leadership and management namely leadership is influencing others actions in achieving desirable ends and managing is maintaining efficiently and effectively current organizational arrangements. He also added that both managing and leading are equally important and he confer no special value to either as they are both needed in different situations and at different times in order for schools to function effectively and meet their goals bush 2006. Bolman amp deal 1997 also talk about their importance in these terms: leading and managing are distinct, but both are important. The challenge of modern organisations requires the objective perspective of the manager as well as the flashes of vision and commitment wise leadership provides bush 2006.

Furthermore dimmock 19 has claimed that school leaders experience tensions between competing elements of leadership, management and administration. According to him leadership is the higher order tasks designed to improve staff, student and school performance, where as management is the routine maintenance of present operations and administration is the overarching term , which incorporates both leadership and management bush 2006. Leadership has been defined by chemers 1997 as a process of social influence in which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task chemers 1997. From this definition we can understand that leadership involves a social influence process in which one individual exerts intentional influence over others to structure activities and relationships in a group or organization.

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Bass and stogdill 1990 added that leadership is the process of ''inï¬‚uencing'' others to attain common aims. They claimed leadership is not simply a function of what a school principal, or indeed any other individual or group of leaders, knows and does. Rather, it is the activities engaged in by leaders, in interaction with others in particular contexts around specific tasks. Education researchers agreed that effective leadership is a key element to achieve school improvement.

According to harris 2002 ''research findings from diverse countries and different school contexts have revealed the powerful impact of leadership in securing school development and change''. A further important aspect while practicing leadership is the level of power and control which schools and other educational institutions assert/maintain on their in house management and operations bush 2003. However, effective leadership styles in education can be as varied as the large number of schools. Accordingly, fiddler 1997 pinpoints two main characteristics of leadership: a sense of purpose and confidence is engendered in followers and followers are influenced towards goal achievement.

He continued explaining that there are various factors determining the appropriate leadership approach that need to be adopted at any particular point in time, namely. 'the context and its pre history the nature of the followers the particular issues involved in addition to the predispositions of the leader' fiddler 1997. Accordingly different leadership styles may need to be adopted to deal with specific circumstances.

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Leithwood, day, sammons, harris and hopkins 2006 , as cited by crum, sherman and myran 2010 , have summarized four core practices for successful school leadership as follows: 3 redesigning the organization. It all started with the great man theory which implies that leaders are born and are not made hoy and miskel 2004. The idea that leadership is inherited further resulted in the trait approach of leadership. In 1927, bowden carried out a significant study which associated leadership with personality. Hoy and miskel 2004 cited the explanation of bass 1990 concerning this leadership style: leaders were generally regarded as superior individuals who, because of fortunate inheritance or social circumstance, possessed qualities and abilities that differentiated them from people in general. After a thorough research, stogdill 1948 concluded that leadership is not gained solely by some inherited traits or characteristics since different situations have great influence on the impact of traits. Who wrote this essay request removal example essays hunt and larson 1977 came up with the behavioral model of leadership which implies that leadership can be taught and learned by way of teaching and observing leadership behaviors northhouse 2010.

Behavioural theories are centered on the belief that great leaders are made, not born. The focus of this theory is the actions of the leaders, and it is not the qualities or states of the leaders hoy and miskel 2004. Spillan, harvelson and diamond 2004 , hemphill and coons 1950 , kunz and hoy 1976 and mouton and blake 1984 among others investigated on the concept of leadership as a series of behaviors. Their studies resulted in defining various taxonomies of behaviors, including 'monitoring', 'consulting', and 'delegating' as hemphill and coons 1950 and hallinger and hausman 1993 pointed out. Others like lewin, white and lippitt 1939 have identified other styles of behavior, such as autocratic, democratic, and laissez faire. Mouton and blake named their findings on behavioral styles as employee oriented and directive where as likert called his as task oriented and relationship oriented and he has discussed about the relationship between these behaviors spillan et al 2004.