School culture and leadership of professional learning communities

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore supportive and shared leadership structures at schools as a function of school culture policies and procedures. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative study was conducted at three secondary schools in the Midwestern USA. Administrators and teachers were interviewed, professional learning communities observed and artifacts collected to explore school culture policies, procedures and leadership in the implementation of professional learning community practice. Findings – This study concludes that school leaders must provide supportive and shared leadership structures for teachers in order to ensure a positive school culture and effective professional learning communities that impact school improvement. Leaders in schools must work directly with teachers to create policies and procedures that provide teachers the leadership structure to directly impact school improvement through professional learning community collaborative efforts. Originality/value – This study builds on the school culture and professional learning communities literature by exploring existent policies and practices in schools as unique cases. Much of the literature calls for specific case studies to identify issues in the implementation of effective practice. This study is important to the community as specific cases that may inform educational leaders on mechanisms that may be leveraged to ensure successful implementation of policies and procedures outline in school culture and professional learning community literature.

Effect of transformational and transactional leadership styles of school principals on organizational culture<p>Okul müdürlerinin dönüşümcü ve işlemci liderlik stillerinin örgüt kültürüne etkisi

“…Özellikle yönetim, liderlik ve kültür konularını temel alan çalışmalar da yapılmıştır (Barnett & diğ., 1999;Berry, 1997;Bass & Avolio, 1993, Block, 2003Bennis & Goldsmith, 1997;Beachum & Dentith, 2004;Buch & Rivers, 2001;Carpenter, 2015;Cameron, 2012;Clement, 1994;Deal & Peterson, 1990;Erdem ve Dikici, 2009;Hallinger & Leithwood, 1996;Flores, 2004;Karadağ, 2009;Koşar ve Çalık, 2011;Kythreotis & diğ., 2010;Lima, 2006;Smith & Piele, 2006;Schein, 1996Schein, , 2004Şahin, 2011a, 2011b, 2011cÖzcan, Karataş, Çağlar ve Polat, 2014;Zembat, Özdemir, Sezer, Beceren ve Biber, 2011).…”

“…Dönüşümcü liderlikte, yenilik ve gelişmeleri takip etmek, yönetim süreçlerini başarıyla götürmekle birlikte (Kark, Shamir & Chen, 2003;Leithwood & Jantzi, 2006), kurumların başarılarındaki asıl önemli nokta olan çalışanlara değer ve önem vererek, onların kişisel ve kurumsal olarak gelişmeleri için çaba sarf etmek vardır (Cameron, 2012;Carpenter, 2015;Leithwood, 1992). İşte bu özellik, çalışanların kendilerini geliştirmeleri, kurumlarıyla özdeşleşmeleri, takım ruhuyla hareket ederek kurumları için fedakarlık yapabilmelerinde çok önemli bir etkiye sahiptir (Berry, 1997;Buch & Rivers, 2001).…”

“…A positive and powerful organizational culture strengthens the trust and commitment of all employees including teachers to their institution in educational institution, ensures making efforts beyond expectations (Cropanzano, Rupp & Byrne, 2003;Ellett & Teddlie, 2003;Koblas, 1983), and allows for the development of an open, healthy and constructive communication system among all individuals in the organization (Hepburn, 1983;Vansickle, 1983). From this point of view, the concept of organizational culture has recently been the most important subjects to which importance is given and on which many researches are carried out (Aidla & Vadi, 2007;Awbrey, 2005;Carpenter, 2015;Day, Sammons & Gu, 2008;Flores, 2004). It is stated that a strong organizational culture will especially make contribution to school on the following four issues (Deal & Peterson, 1990;Stolp & Smith, 1995) : 1) establishment of a common identity regarding individuals' dedication to their school and objectives, 2) development of a common behavioral style in the face of any event or condition, 3) acting with a team spirit in unity and togetherness through the shared values, beliefs and norms, 4) formation of a natural control mechanism within the frame of the shared mission and goals, and the formation of a disciplined working environment.…”

Effect of organizational culture on organizational citizenship behaviors<p>Örgüt kültürünün örgütsel vatandaşlık davranışlarına etkisi

“…Eğitim kurumlarında güçlü bir örgüt kültürünün olması her zaman beklenen ve istenen bir durumdur. Okulların hedeflerine ulaşabilmesi (Dimmock ve Walker, 1997;Ellett ve Teddlie, 2003;Hallinger ve Leithwood, 1996); öğrencilerin bireysel ihtiyaçlarının ve farklılıklarının dikkate alınarak istendik yönde gelişmelerinin temin edilebilmesi (Chen, Wang ve Neo, 2015;Gaziel, 1997;Rickwood, 2013;Salfi ve Saeed, 2007); öğrencilerin çevresiyle uyumlu ve sağlıklı ilişkiler geliştirebilmesi (Gruenert, 2000(Gruenert, , 2005Markham, 2015;Stolp ve Smith, 1995); bilgi, beceri, kişilik ve ahlaki erdemler açısından gerekli yetkinliklere ulaşarak, kendini gerçekleştirebilmiş, başarılı ve mutlu öğrencilerin yetiştirilebilmesi için olumlu ve güçlü örgüt kültürüne sahip olmaları kritik öneme sahiptir (Carpenter, 2015;Deal ve Peterson, 1990;Edmonds, 1979;Hanushek, 1997;Kythreotis ve diğ., 2010;Macneil ve diğ., 2009;O'Hanlon, 1983;Shaw ve Reyes, 1992;Silins, Zarins ve Mulford, 2002).…”

“…Artık sahip olduğu imkân ve kabiliyetler, işgücü ve üretim kapasiteleri bakımından verimli ve başarılı olamayan örgütlerin ayakta kalabilmesi ve varlıklarını devam ettirebilmesi neredeyse imkânsız hale gelmiştir (Bennis & Goldsmith, 1997;Byrne & Hochwarter, 2007). Bu durum tüm örgütlerde olduğu gibi, eğitim örgütleri için de geçerlidir (Carpenter, 2015;Dimmock & Walker, 1997).…”