The Role of Distributed Leadership in Quality

Educational Organizations Preliminary Oral Defense for

Michelle Engel-Silva

Cohort 15

Definition of Distributed Leadership

Systems- Focuses on understanding the how an why of leadership by concentration on leadership practice rather than leaders, leadership roles or leadership functions (Spillane, 2004)

Situational Context-Leadership is viewed as, “ constituted by leader, followers, and the situation surrounding leaders’ practice-artifacts, tools, language and organizational structure” (Spillane, Halverson and Diamond 2000).

Definition of Quality Educational Organizations

Organizations that utilize the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Criteria and have won the California Baldrige Award known as the California Awards of Performance Excellence (CAPE)

HISTORY

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s there was a surge of interest in distributed leadership

Educational leadership started being viewed as an organizational activity rather than belonging to a single individual (Davis, 2006).

Higher accountability standards of NCLB have demanded schools perform and many believe that accountability can be achieved through distributed leadership rather than through “heroic leadership.

History Cont.

The newest leadership reform pushes beyond the debates of individual student achievement, teacher’s pedagogical approaches and curriculum analysis, and focuses on the bigger picture of leadership. (National College of School Leadership)

Need for the Study

Distributed leadership helps meet high demands of school leaders (accountability, technology, performance evaluations, recruit staff, drive decisions with data, supervise angry parents, build professional cultures, public leadership, etc.)

Distributed leadership identifies hidden organizational leaders

(curriculum specialists, classified staff, office staff, parents, community members, public education organizations, etc.)

Distributed leadership contributes to classroom achievement

Distributed leadership affects overall school reform

Necessary to identify strengths and weaknesses so the approach can be used more successfully.

The approach is relatively new and ambiguous and needs further development. Connection between distributed leadership and Baldrige Criteria and

continuous quality improvement.

Purpose of the Study

Enhance research on “Other” school leaders Identify the characteristics that are perceived to

exist in high quality educational organizations (Extent of distribution, team element)

Identify success and challenges of the approach as it is being utilized

Identify how the distributed leadership approach is used in Baldrige-winning organizations

Literature Review

Multiple and Hidden LeadersTeam Approach Capacity Building Variety of Expertise Situational Frame Patterns of Distributed Leadership Approach Effects on School Outcomes Challenges of Approach

Multiple and Hidden Leaders

Distributed leadership based on multiple social actors opens boundaries of leadership (Spillane and colleagues, 2001, 2004, 2008)

Additive Approach- spreading out leadership (Gronn 2002, 2003).

Multiple and Hidden Leaders (14 Studies focusing on this concept)

15 Self-Managed indicated teams performed more successfully when using distributed leadership (Barry, 1991)

Surveys of 1,061 school employees identified the “bifurcated nature of organizational leadership in schools” and identified non- traditional leaders (faculty members, parent, and secretary) Pounder, Ogawa & Adams (1995)

Study of eight schools with Social Problem Solving programs indicated multiple leaders and their roles (Heller & Firestone, 1995)

Multiple and Hidden Leaders(Recent Studies)

Study of eight schools in Ontario and interviews with 67 staff members concluded found mixed pattern of leading and found distribution depended on complexity of task (Leithwood, Macall, Strauss, Sacks, Memon & Yashikina, 2007)

Study of 52 US principals revealed “the work of managing and leading the school is distributed over multiple actors; some occupying formally designated leadership positions, others without such formal designation” (Spillane, Camburn, & Pareja, 2007).

Multiple and Hidden LeadersExpanded to External School Players

Shannon and Byslma (2004) and Mitra (2005) expand role of leaders to school committees, Board members, parents and teachers

Focus on non-traditional leaders is still lacking

Team Approach

Concertive Action- “The energy that arises from individuals pooling and sharing their initiative, ideas and expertise so that the result it greater than the sum of their individual actions (Gronn, 2002)

Camburn et al. (2003) studied 503 schools and Leithwood et al. (2007), did an in-depth study of eight schools and Scribner and associates (2007) focused on teacher teams. All determined- successful leadership has a team element and focused on different types of teams

Enhancing Human Capacity and Variety of Expertise

Distributed leadership approach enhances internal capacity (Brooks, Scribner & Eferakorho ,n.d.)

Distributed leadership approach expands expertise (Gold, Evans, Early and Collarbone, 2003)

Enhanced capacity from distributed leadership approach leads to positive school reform (Skrla, Scheurich & Johnson, 2000)

Enhanced capacity builds future leaders (Davis, 2006) Distributed leadership and expanded knowledge, create

broad base of strong instructional leadership (Robinson, 2008)

Each member of the organization has unique leadership abilities that will be needed by the group at different times (Harris, 2008)

Situated Activity and Tasks

“The distributed leadership framework encourages leadership practice to emerge in and through interactions of leaders, followers and situation” (Spillane, 2001, p. 27)

Datnow and Stringfield (2000) studied at-risk group in 16 schools through 300 case studies and found that leadership is a process based on context

Tasks, tools and artifacts are elements of the leadership system that define the practice and can be, and should be distributed

(vision and mission implementation, data, textbooks, peer evaluations, etc.

Patterns of Distributed Leadership

Emerging Pattern- Near the beginning of the journey towards distributed leadership.

Developing Pattern- Journey toward distributed leadership becoming more embedded in culture of organization.

Embedded Pattern- Distributed leadership had become part of the automatic ways schools do things (Ritchie and Woods, 2007).

Effects of Distributed Leadership on Student Outcomes Student Achievement

Positive Direct LinkUrquhart (2002) contended distributed leadership has positive effect

on at-risk students Leithwood (2004) said leadership is second to classroom instruction

on effects on studentCarter and MacDonald (2006) claimed that when leadership is

dispersed it has a positive relationship with student achievement Questionable Link

National College for School Leadership project (2001) reported a weak, implied link between distributed leadership and school improvement

Hartley (2007) argued no evidence of direct casual link between distributed leadership and student achievement

Effects of Distributed Leadership on School Outcomes

Distributed leadership is effective in helping organizations set organizational goals, creating a learning environment and creating successful overall reform efforts.

Distributed Leadership Challenges

Balancing Control and Autonomy (Polite, 2003;Storey, 2004;

Wallace, 2001) Resistance of the Approach (MacBeath, 2005; Wright, 2008; Zudema &

Kleiner, 2004)

Teamwork and Collaboration Issues (Barry, 1991; Mehra, Smith,

Dixon& Robertson, 2006) Sole-Leadership Perspective (Goldstein, 2004; Leithwood et al., 1997)

Confusion of Multiple Roles (Leithwood et al., 2006; Leithwood & Jantzi, 1998; Timperely, 2005)

Hidden Leaders’ Attitudes (Harris, 2002; Mangin, 2005; Supotivz, 2002)

Perceived Distributed Leadership vs. Real Distributed Leadership (Maxcy & Nguyen, 2006; Muijs, 2007; Wright, 2008)

Culture of Schools (Harris, 2008; Maxcy & Nguyen, 2006)

Why my study is unique

Focuses on non-traditional leaders Focuses on quality improvement efforts

and the distributed leadership approachFocuses on Baldrige-winning

organizations

METHODOLOGY-Framework

Normative Framework- Focuses on how leadership is distributed in schools and by whom, by looking at the type, nature and impact of different patterns of leadership interactions (Firestone & Martinez, 2007)

METHODOLOGY- Research Questions What is the Role of Distributed Leadership in quality educational

organizations? 1) What characteristics of

distributed leadership are perceived to be present in high quality educational organizations?

A) Does organization encourage input from all school members? How?

B) Does the educational entity work with outside community partners?

C) How does the entity focus on organizational learning?

D) Is the leadership approach based on organizational connectivity?

E) How are decisions made? Are multiple people involved and is the context considered?

F) What tools are used to make leadership decision? Who utilizes these tools?

2) Are teams utilized in the organization to accomplish tasks?

A) What type of teams exist in your organization?

B) Are teams given true authority to make changes?

C) Are team players chosen by areas of expertise or are team players chosen based on promoting top leaders’ ideas?

D) Are teams in the organization productive?

E) How do we extend leadership distribution to the wider community?

3) What are some advantages and challenges of using the approach?

A) Does the distributed leadership role in general have an affect on the success of Quality Improvement efforts such as the Baldrige Criteria?

B) What outcomes have you seen as a result of this type of leadership approach?

C) What challenges have you had in utilizing the approach?

D) Does the school culture inhibit the development of distributed leadership?

E) What difference is distributed leadership making?

4) At what level of distributed leadership is the organization?

emerging, developing or embeddedA) Are there true hidden leaders in

the organization or top leaders only? Who are the perceived leaders in the organization?

B) Does the nature of the leadership role vary qualitatively at different levels in the management hierarchy?

C) Is distributed leadership a concept that is well-known to all?

D) How is distributed leadership practice developed and enhanced?

METHODOLOGY-Participants/Population

Employees working in Baldrige-winning schools in California

Two elementary schools, one high schools and three charter schools

Thirty-six employees (six in each school) One formal leader and five non-formal

leaders in each school will be interviewed

METHODOLOGY-Instrumentation

Open-Ended Interviews Observations Document Analysis

METHODOLOGY-Data Collection

Initial Contact with schoolsTape-recorded interviews with field notes

during interview and transcription following Notes taken on formal and informal

meetings Analysis of school documents

METHODOLOGY-Data Analysis

Data set scanned to identify similar themesNotes coded using N6 Qualitative research

softwareOrganization of data into thematic codes to

permit cross-case comparisonAnalytical categories assigned to data segments Creation of tables and matrices to display

findings in a meaningful way

METHODOLOGY- Validity and Reliability

Triangulation-Multiple sources of data and multiple sites used

Participant verification of accuracy on interview transcripts

Concrete Universals (Erickson, 1986)-Comparison of researched schools to those in the literature.

Rich, thick description (Merriam, 1998)

METHODOLOGY- Limitations

Potential Interviewer Bias Investigator’s effect Small scope of study Romanticized notions of leadership

(Meindl, 1987) Ambiguity of the term