Leadership Research Summary:
- Transformational school leaders play an important role in promoting educational innovation and restructuring by creating a vision for the future, building a culture of collaboration, and empowering others to become leaders themselves. Through their leadership style, they inspire and motivate others to work towards a common goal, leading to positive change and growth within the educational system. The aim of this study is to measure the impact of transformational leadership on various types of commitment that school teachers have in Bengaluru, India.
- A survey was conducted using standardized instruments to measure the leadership style of principals and personal commitment of teachers. The data was collected from 1,173 school teachers through a questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS V23 statistical software. The study found that transformational leadership had a significant impact on the different types of commitment that teachers possess in school education. The three domains of commitment – commitment towards the institution, student development, and self-development – were positively influenced by transformational leadership.
- Transformational school leaders play an important role in promoting educational innovation and restructuring by creating a vision for the future, building a culture of collaboration, and empowering others to become leaders themselves. This study provides evidence that transformational leadership has a positive impact on different types of commitment among school teachers in Bengaluru, India. Leaders of school management are advised to take into account the three domains of commitment of their teachers to facilitate organizational learning through more integrative methods.
Leadership Research Implications and Findings:
- The results showed that majority of the demographic variables show significant differences among the variables of transformational leadership styles. The transformational leadership style of school principals creates differences irrespective of their board, type of management, age, experience, gender and marital status of the teacher. The recognition does not differ among the type of board and school management, which shows teachers in both public and private schools irrespective of their boards are recognized equally by their principals, respectively. In case of commitment of school teachers, the demographic variables show significant differences among the commitment variables such as self, student and institution development but the type of board does not show any significant differences. The commitment of school teachers remains unbiased irrespective of the board they work.
- The school management or principals who possess transformational leadership styles do significantly influence the commitment of teachers towards self-development, student development and institutional development, but the corrective sub-dimension of transformational leadership is found insignificant in terms of self and institutional development. Teachers in school education expect autonomy in their jobs, as they expect their bosses not to intervene in terms of correcting mistakes, addressing complaints and resolving conflicts in their interests and commitment towards institutional and self-development. But when it comes to student development, the interventions from their bosses are considered significant.
- Individualized attention is crucial for both productivity and teachers’ contentment with the principal (Bass and Avolio, 1994). In order to aid teachers in excelling at their tasks, the principal would support, encourage and empower them. Such a principal opens up fresh learning chances and raises the potential of their followers one step at a time (Bass et al., 2003). Transformational leaders encourage their followers to do more than the expected (Bass and Avolio, 1994; Guarana and Avolio, 2022). Principals of school can accomplish this in a number of ways: first, by educating teachers on the significance and value of task goals; second, by motivating them to put the organization’s needs ahead of their own; and third, by encouraging them to raise their high-level demands.
- According to Owen et al. (2004) and Özaralli (2003), principals with transformational leadership styles recognise and cultivate shared values, empower others and persuade teachers to create more work overall, not just better quality work. They also encourage teachers to use their creativity to solve problems (Limsila and Ogunlana, 2008). It must be remembered that transformational leadership emphasizes a leader’s capacity for transformation. It involves transforming people by boosting their enthusiasm, solidifying their commitment, and giving them the tools they need to accomplish corporate goals (Yukl, 2010). Principals put the institution first and motivate followers to work toward those aims. They persuade followers to prioritize the interests of the group over their own (Lussier and Achua, 2007). They are able to motivate others to take challenges at work at their desire and grab opportunities to accomplish goals at a greater level (Yukl, 2010; Guarana and Avolio, 2022).
- A leader with inspirational motivation is thought to have high expectations for their followers. Such principals with leadership styles encourage and inspire their teachers by articulating a clear vision, coordinating professional and personal objectives, and viewing challenges as teaching opportunities (Gill, 2006). By giving their work purpose and challenge, this kind of leader also lifts their followers’ spirits and inspires them to picture appealing future situations (Bass et al., 2003). They help teachers become more cooperative and motivate them to work harder than they would if they were only thinking about themselves (Northouse, 2022; Parveen et al., 2022). To boost organizational performance, leaders anticipate greater job commitment from staff members towards self and student development as well as the production of high-calibre work.
- From the study, it is understood that the guidance from the principals is found to be significant when it involves students’ stake, because by offering instructions on communicating corrective measures and suggestions in institutions, settings, oneself and others, transformational management strategies transform teachers and school systems to develop the welfare of the students. A leader who transforms lives motivates others to achieve unexpected or amazing results (Yasmin et al., 2019). Teachers do not expect or consider the same amount of guidance or measures from their principals when it comes to developing their own self and their school. This finding from our study stands consistent with Yasmin et al. (2019), saying that the transformational leadership style will have less or no impact on the performance of the teachers.
- The focus of school principals possessing transformational leadership style is on involving the workforce by recognizing and supporting their teachers. Rather than being a single, domineering person, the leader of the organization allows his subordinates to participate in decision-making by outlining the numerous academic obligations or coursework that must be completed and how it can be successfully completed with the combined consent and assistance of all employees. The teachers’ participation is the most effective approach to encourage them to take on the institution’s many tasks and to provide them with a variety of options and choices, not because the management is ineffective, but to recognize their contribution to the teachers by supporting them in both personal and professional levels. It is also proved from our study, supporting the arguments from Saleem et al. (2020) and Lee et al. (2018).
- Transformational recognition is a leader who recognizes others’ accomplishments and engages in developing others’ potential; mostly in a moral and ethical manner (Saputra, 2022). Employees may feel compelled to be loyal to their employers when they realize how much money those employers have invested in their professional development and training, according to Colquitt et al. (2010). Teachers feel bad about leaving the institutions because of this commitment. Similar to how teachers feel when their institutions participate in humanitarian endeavors, they become more dedicated to the advancement of their institutions. According to Fornes et al. (2008), congruency, fascinating work, clarity of purpose, equity and fairness, feedback and acknowledgment, empowerment, and autonomy are all preconditions for workplace commitment. Likewise, teachers who get recognized by the principals of the institution will be highly motivated, with aligned interest accordingly to the organization, which will have expressed commitment towards the development of their own self, students and the institution as well.