Because of what I have experienced under more than one principal, I believe that I would lean primarily toward the Moral authority as a leadership style. I feel that as an administrator I can truly be the “salesman” for what I believe – and I should be able to since it is children and their success first. If I can’t sell this, then maybe I would need to look more closely at who is on my staff. What teacher worth his/her salt wouldn’t buy this? I want to involve staff in the decision-making process, because who knows more about their needs and their students than them? I feel that having a staff responding to shared beliefs and ideas and feeling their own worth and value would create a stronger sense of community which would benefit everyone involved. Movita Utt
I agree with Movita that we as individuals pursuing to become educational leaders or administrators ought to have a more values and student centered approach. When you are a leader you want everyone to be on the same page with you. You expect your staff as well as students to adhere to your values, beliefs, and ideas. We as educators all should have one goal in mind and that is that all children will be successful. In using a Moral Authority style of leadership, I believe that communication is vital to provide reliability and motivation to your staff so that in turn will trinkle down to students. In my experiences, I have worked with an extremely small staff and the interpersonal relationships that we have add to the effectiveness that we as instructors provide in the classroom. We all seem to be on the same page and thus promotes a strong community environment that not only the teachers and students become successful, but the parents and the surrounding community feel at ease and are very supportive of the school. In the school I work at now we are a little bigger, but yet the teammwork that is displayed and the continual sharing of ideas portrays consistency and effectiveness across the board. I am a strong believer in having a committed dedicated staff who cares about what they are doing and how they do it. Israel Easter
As a teacher I would want my principal to lead using the moral authority therfore that would be my goal as a principal. I would strive to use moral authority primarily to create a professional learning community where teachers and administrators have the best interests of the school in mind. Although it can be difficult to find people who are intrinsically motivated, if I begin leading with this authority, hopefully everyone would move in that direction. Leading with moral authority will lead the school in the right direction, towards a sense community and feelings of belonging. -- Jennifer Campbell
Well, I would sure AIM to practice moral authority as it is the authority that really allows a school to become community and grow. However, aware of the reality, I think I would probably move through developmental stages, and might initially exhibit characteristics of bureaucratic and personal. I think moral authority is the hallmakr we shoot for.
I agree with Kim in that moral authority is what we as adminsttors stive for. But I see myself going through the stages as well working my way to moral. Not knowing your staff and becoming a principal for the first time, I beleive that bureaucratic and personal authority must come first. There has to be a level of trust built up before people can trust that appropiate practice is going on. Staff need to know the rules and regulations of the one in charge before they can follow them. Also, staff has to trust the one in charge before they will act morally as well.
I think the source of authority depends on the situation. I think bureaucratic has it's place in some situations and with some people, as does personal and moral. I think we should all strive for a moral source, but what happens when you have a disgruntled teacher who's been there for 40 years and refuses to retire? Moral may not be the best approach so bureaucratic or personal should be revisited as legitimate approaches.
I agree with Jill. Although I'm sure many of us would like to look at ourselves as administrators and say, I did the moral thing, I believe that it depends on the situation. Morals are a personal thing, not cross-cultural. What I feel to be moral may not be to someone else, especially someone who is not of my generation or had my experiences. So there is a time for morality, but I feel being able to understand the situation and respond with the source of authority that seems appropriate is the best approach to any situation.
As a leader you should have everyone operating on the same page. I would want my staff to have the same moral and values as what my as a principal would be. I would want my school to be like the school that I work in now. We have a great internal and external community that promotes the success for all children. We are supported by the parents and the non-parents in our community. This is a plus for our school and for our community. I feel that everyone may not feel the same way about a situation as you do but if you have high values everyone will respect that and they will follow you as a leader and do what is morally right for you children. Jamie Cain
I feel as an administrator I would strive for moral authority. As a teacher, this is how I would want to be treated, therefore I feel as an administrator it would provide me with the best results. Although using bits and pieces of all 3 sources of authority might come into practice based on the given situations, I will strive to use moral authority as my guiding point. Samantha Reed
I feel as an administrator I would strive to use moral authority. I would want people to care about what they are doing and they would feel obligated to do the very best they can. Like some of the statements above I would have to agree that certain situations would cause you to be more of an authority based on more of a personal authority. My question is what if you are put in a school where the moral authority simply cannot be used? Central office might want things a certain way also. Many times we are selected for a job because of things that need to be fixed or changed. There might be a need for more of a strict by the book person. I know that over time you can develop your culture and create a more caring community. I would hope that the situation I would be working in (if given the chance) would be a school like I work at now. I do think that these theories are great, but sometimes it gets a little messy while you are in a school. So a combination of authorities would be needed for different cases that may arise. Jason Morris
I beleive as an administrator my choice of authority would also be moral authority. I agree with Jason, we are selected for what we provide for that school, but we must also keep in mind that each thing we do we should always keep in mind the best interest of the students. We need to have a ision that can adjust to the ever changing educational system. we need to be creative in the way we present ideas to our staff to get them on board with the morals and values that we are trying to accomplish through our leadership. I feel that Jason is also correct by saying "a combination of authorities would be needed...".
I believe that as an administrator, my choice of authority would be moral authority. I would lead with the understanding that we are a learning community and must be held together by shared values. I think it is important to feel a shared commitment and again feel that we are all just a piece of the puzzle of success.
I believe that my choice as as an administrator would also be moral authority. I think it is very important for parents, teachers, and administrators to all work together. I also think it is important for administrators to value the opinions of others both inside and outside the building and it should not matter if they agree or not. If the internal and external communities can work together, than I think we would have the best outcome for our children. Amy Woodard
My choice as an administrator wold be the Personal Authority. I believe that interpersonal skills are very important within any job. To have a successfull school teachers and their supervisors want and expect goals to be met. Every teacher wants something out of their students. During this time, everyone wants and HAS to pass the SOL test and that is the bottom line. If the student passes the test all is well!! Teachers are rewarded for their students passing the SOL test. Teachers needs are met if their students pass the SOL test.
As an administrator I would strive towards teh moral authority. With that said, I feel at times one would need to be bureaucratic and personal along the way. I could almost see this is how a person can morph from one authority to the next. I can find strenghts and weaknesses in each. However in a school that is a true community, the moral authority could be the most productive in my opinion.
Moral authority. It seems to be important to value one another, ones beliefs and feelings. I agree with Shane in that moral authority could be the most productive. Jacob Leonard
Like everyone else, I would like to lead with moral authority. Nevertheless, also like everyone else I realize this is an ideal and the situation does not always lend itself to moral authority. The closest bond is with shared values. However, there must first be a building and "getting to know" period where rules and regulations are set in place. Once a trust is built the relationship will lend itself to moral authority.
As a beginning administrator, I would probably start visibly using personal authority during the get to know you phase. You have to learn who people are and what motivates them. Do they prefer instrinsic or extrinsic rewards? Ideally, you can get everyone to agree to and buy into a shared vision and then moral authority would take over. That is the kind of leader I would like to be, that would be my goal. Angie Cornett
As a new administrator I would have to choose Human resource leadership. I would like to be able to get my staff to be apart of the vision. It is easier to support and follow something you believe and have a sense of ownership in. If we all truly believe in the success for all students and want a positive school culture than we will make every effort to achieve it. I would like to be a leader of leaders.
My choice for leadership authority is moral authority. Motivation that comes from emotion and beliefs will be long lasting and carry a significant impact. This type of leadership seems to be vision centered and will increase an administrators ability to lead by cultural force. That being said, I think my most natural style of leadership is personal authority and I could see myself struggling to balance the two and and find a way to lean towards moral authority. Thanks,Marlin
I would like to think that I would strive for moral authority. Involving all stakeholders in developing a vision and having a staff that fully supports the vision and works for the school and community would be ideal. Christy Sparks
My style of leadership would absolutely be the binding leadership. This is the type of leadership that I have seen demonstrated in all three of my administrators and what I believe has made my school a success in so many ways. When a staff collectively feels compelled to act on the same values and beliefs, then the school can only continue to improve. People work hard under this kind of leadership because they feel obligated since everyone expects them to live up to their expectations of a great school. Shelly Goad
I would ideally select moral authority as the main source for authority. I realize this may be hard to acheive if everyone in the internal and external communities have different levels of committment to the school and community. I feel if all staff put the student as the top priority this should be acheiveable. I hope this is acheivable for all of our students and teachers. Misty Zyvoloski
I would choose personal authority. I believe that students work better when they know there's something at the end of the tunnel for them such as passing tests and the grade they're in. I think we all like to know that there are good things that come to those who do the right thing and as a teacher, I believe this as well. As an administrator, I hope my faculty will feel comfortable with working towards their goals and knowing that doing a good job has rewards as well. I would hope that the school would also work to get the job done. Sometimes rewards can be taken too far, but a kind word or compliment could also go a long way.
I would hope that I could successfully utilize the Moral Authority. By allowing teachers to be a part of the Vision and be intrinsically motivated you are building community. You are also leading leaders rather than pushing followers. These factors lead to successful schools. Rusty
Moral Authority sounds great, but... what a job to get everyone to buy into the idea of being a professional learning community. You would definitely have to get to know the values and beliefs of your staff. What about those that have been there too long and it's just a paycheck to them. Personal authority might become an option until you could get them out of the door. Then you have the teachers who are just going to do what they want, no matter what you say. Motivating them to change would be a difficult job, that might lead to Bureacratic Authority. Although, primarily, with the mojority of the staff I would hope to use the Moral Authority. Melissa Gillie
The best authority would probably be a hybrid of all three combined. In certain situations one authority make work better than others. My goal is to master all three so that I can help my school and students in every way possible. Everything works on paper but the practical issue is making it work in real-life application. All three sound great but like mentioned earlier, every situation calls for different measures and approaches.
Because of what I have experienced under more than one principal, I believe that I would lean primarily toward the Moral authority as a leadership style. I feel that as an administrator I can truly be the “salesman” for what I believe – and I should be able to since it is children and their success first. If I can’t sell this, then maybe I would need to look more closely at who is on my staff. What teacher worth his/her salt wouldn’t buy this? I want to involve staff in the decision-making process, because who knows more about their needs and their students than them? I feel that having a staff responding to shared beliefs and ideas and feeling their own worth and value would create a stronger sense of community which would benefit everyone involved. Movita Utt
ReplyDeleteI agree with Movita that we as individuals pursuing to become educational leaders or administrators ought to have a more values and student centered approach. When you are a leader you want everyone to be on the same page with you. You expect your staff as well as students to adhere to your values, beliefs, and ideas. We as educators all should have one goal in mind and that is that all children will be successful. In using a Moral Authority style of leadership, I believe that communication is vital to provide reliability and motivation to your staff so that in turn will trinkle down to students. In my experiences, I have worked with an extremely small staff and the interpersonal relationships that we have add to the effectiveness that we as instructors provide in the classroom. We all seem to be on the same page and thus promotes a strong community environment that not only the teachers and students become successful, but the parents and the surrounding community feel at ease and are very supportive of the school. In the school I work at now we are a little bigger, but yet the teammwork that is displayed and the continual sharing of ideas portrays consistency and effectiveness across the board. I am a strong believer in having a committed dedicated staff who cares about what they are doing and how they do it.
ReplyDeleteIsrael Easter
As a teacher I would want my principal to lead using the moral authority therfore that would be my goal as a principal. I would strive to use moral authority primarily to create a professional learning community where teachers and administrators have the best interests of the school in mind. Although it can be difficult to find people who are intrinsically motivated, if I begin leading with this authority, hopefully everyone would move in that direction. Leading with moral authority will lead the school in the right direction, towards a sense community and feelings of belonging.
ReplyDelete-- Jennifer Campbell
Well, I would sure AIM to practice moral authority as it is the authority that really allows a school to become community and grow. However, aware of the reality, I think I would probably move through developmental stages, and might initially exhibit characteristics of bureaucratic and personal. I think moral authority is the hallmakr we shoot for.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kim in that moral authority is what we as adminsttors stive for. But I see myself going through the stages as well working my way to moral. Not knowing your staff and becoming a principal for the first time, I beleive that bureaucratic and personal authority must come first. There has to be a level of trust built up before people can trust that appropiate practice is going on. Staff need to know the rules and regulations of the one in charge before they can follow them. Also, staff has to trust the one in charge before they will act morally as well.
ReplyDeleteZack Dotson Carroll Co-hort
I think the source of authority depends on the situation. I think bureaucratic has it's place in some situations and with some people, as does personal and moral. I think we should all strive for a moral source, but what happens when you have a disgruntled teacher who's been there for 40 years and refuses to retire? Moral may not be the best approach so bureaucratic or personal should be revisited as legitimate approaches.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jill. Although I'm sure many of us would like to look at ourselves as administrators and say, I did the moral thing, I believe that it depends on the situation. Morals are a personal thing, not cross-cultural. What I feel to be moral may not be to someone else, especially someone who is not of my generation or had my experiences. So there is a time for morality, but I feel being able to understand the situation and respond with the source of authority that seems appropriate is the best approach to any situation.
ReplyDeleteAs a leader you should have everyone operating on the same page. I would want my staff to have the same moral and values as what my as a principal would be. I would want my school to be like the school that I work in now. We have a great internal and external community that promotes the success for all children. We are supported by the parents and the non-parents in our community. This is a plus for our school and for our community. I feel that everyone may not feel the same way about a situation as you do but if you have high values everyone will respect that and they will follow you as a leader and do what is morally right for you children. Jamie Cain
ReplyDeleteI feel as an administrator I would strive for moral authority. As a teacher, this is how I would want to be treated, therefore I feel as an administrator it would provide me with the best results. Although using bits and pieces of all 3 sources of authority might come into practice based on the given situations, I will strive to use moral authority as my guiding point.
ReplyDeleteSamantha Reed
I feel as an administrator I would strive to use moral authority. I would want people to care about what they are doing and they would feel obligated to do the very best they can. Like some of the statements above I would have to agree that certain situations would cause you to be more of an authority based on more of a personal authority. My question is what if you are put in a school where the moral authority simply cannot be used? Central office might want things a certain way also. Many times we are selected for a job because of things that need to be fixed or changed. There might be a need for more of a strict by the book person. I know that over time you can develop your culture and create a more caring community. I would hope that the situation I would be working in (if given the chance) would be a school like I work at now. I do think that these theories are great, but sometimes it gets a little messy while you are in a school. So a combination of authorities would be needed for different cases that may arise.
ReplyDeleteJason Morris
I beleive as an administrator my choice of authority would also be moral authority. I agree with Jason, we are selected for what we provide for that school, but we must also keep in mind that each thing we do we should always keep in mind the best interest of the students. We need to have a ision that can adjust to the ever changing educational system. we need to be creative in the way we present ideas to our staff to get them on board with the morals and values that we are trying to accomplish through our leadership. I feel that Jason is also correct by saying "a combination of authorities would be needed...".
ReplyDeleteI believe that as an administrator, my choice of authority would be moral authority. I would lead with the understanding that we are a learning community and must be held together by shared values. I think it is important to feel a shared commitment and again feel that we are all just a piece of the puzzle of success.
ReplyDeleteI believe that my choice as as an administrator would also be moral authority. I think it is very important for parents, teachers, and administrators to all work together. I also think it is important for administrators to value the opinions of others both inside and outside the building and it should not matter if they agree or not. If the internal and external communities can work together, than I think we would have the best outcome for our children.
ReplyDeleteAmy Woodard
My choice as an administrator wold be the Personal Authority. I believe that interpersonal skills are very important within any job. To have a successfull school teachers and their supervisors want and expect goals to be met. Every teacher wants something out of their students. During this time, everyone wants and HAS to pass the SOL test and that is the bottom line. If the student passes the test all is well!! Teachers are rewarded for their students passing the SOL test. Teachers needs are met if their students pass the SOL test.
ReplyDeleteCory Hawks
Carroll County Cohort
As an administrator I would strive towards teh moral authority. With that said, I feel at times one would need to be bureaucratic and personal along the way. I could almost see this is how a person can morph from one authority to the next. I can find strenghts and weaknesses in each. However in a school that is a true community, the moral authority could be the most productive in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteShane Reed CC
Moral authority. It seems to be important to value one another, ones beliefs and feelings. I agree with Shane in that moral authority could be the most productive.
ReplyDeleteJacob Leonard
Like everyone else, I would like to lead with moral authority. Nevertheless, also like everyone else I realize this is an ideal and the situation does not always lend itself to moral authority. The closest bond is with shared values. However, there must first be a building and "getting to know" period where rules and regulations are set in place. Once a trust is built the relationship will lend itself to moral authority.
ReplyDeleteAs a beginning administrator, I would probably start visibly using personal authority during the get to know you phase. You have to learn who people are and what motivates them. Do they prefer instrinsic or extrinsic rewards? Ideally, you can get everyone to agree to and buy into a shared vision and then moral authority would take over. That is the kind of leader I would like to be, that would be my goal.
ReplyDeleteAngie Cornett
As a new administrator I would have to choose Human resource leadership. I would like to be able to get my staff to be apart of the vision. It is easier to support and follow something you believe and have a sense of ownership in. If we all truly believe in the success for all students and want a positive school culture than we will make every effort to achieve it. I would like to be a leader of leaders.
ReplyDeleteMy choice for leadership authority is moral authority. Motivation that comes from emotion and beliefs will be long lasting and carry a significant impact. This type of leadership seems to be vision centered and will increase an administrators ability to lead by cultural force. That being said, I think my most natural style of leadership is personal authority and I could see myself struggling to balance the two and and find a way to lean towards moral authority. Thanks,Marlin
ReplyDeleteI would like to think that I would strive for moral authority. Involving all stakeholders in developing a vision and having a staff that fully supports the vision and works for the school and community would be ideal. Christy Sparks
ReplyDeleteMy style of leadership would absolutely be the binding leadership. This is the type of leadership that I have seen demonstrated in all three of my administrators and what I believe has made my school a success in so many ways. When a staff collectively feels compelled to act on the same values and beliefs, then the school can only continue to improve. People work hard under this kind of leadership because they feel obligated since everyone expects them to live up to their expectations of a great school.
ReplyDeleteShelly Goad
I would ideally select moral authority as the main source for authority. I realize this may be hard to acheive if everyone in the internal and external communities have different levels of committment to the school and community. I feel if all staff put the student as the top priority this should be acheiveable. I hope this is acheivable for all of our students and teachers. Misty Zyvoloski
ReplyDeleteI would choose personal authority. I believe that students work better when they know there's something at the end of the tunnel for them such as passing tests and the grade they're in. I think we all like to know that there are good things that come to those who do the right thing and as a teacher, I believe this as well. As an administrator, I hope my faculty will feel comfortable with working towards their goals and knowing that doing a good job has rewards as well. I would hope that the school would also work to get the job done. Sometimes rewards can be taken too far, but a kind word or compliment could also go a long way.
ReplyDeleteI would hope that I could successfully utilize the Moral Authority. By allowing teachers to be a part of the Vision and be intrinsically motivated you are building community. You are also leading leaders rather than pushing followers. These factors lead to successful schools.
ReplyDeleteRusty
Moral Authority sounds great, but... what a job to get everyone to buy into the idea of being a professional learning community. You would definitely have to get to know the values and beliefs of your staff. What about those that have been there too long and it's just a paycheck to them. Personal authority might become an option until you could get them out of the door. Then you have the teachers who are just going to do what they want, no matter what you say. Motivating them to change would be a difficult job, that might lead to Bureacratic Authority. Although, primarily, with the mojority of the staff I would hope to use the Moral Authority.
ReplyDeleteMelissa Gillie
The best authority would probably be a hybrid of all three combined. In certain situations one authority make work better than others. My goal is to master all three so that I can help my school and students in every way possible. Everything works on paper but the practical issue is making it work in real-life application. All three sound great but like mentioned earlier, every situation calls for different measures and approaches.
ReplyDelete