LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERS : AN INTEGRATED MODEL

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT FOR EDUCATIONAL LEADERS :

AN INTEGRATED MODEL

By

Suzana Abd Latif

Sazali Yusoff

Institut Aminuddin Baki

Ministry of Education Malaysia

The rapid expansion of globalization during the past decades has inevitably led to the dissemination of new knowledge and information within the educational sphere across countries and continents. As knowledge workers in today’s competitive global market, educational leaders need to think through the organization’s mission, set its aims, lead and manage the resources for the achievement the organization has to contribute. They need to be able to deal with increasingly challenging national and global issues which inevitably point to the monumental obligation of acquiring crucial competencies to keep abreast of or even ahead from the current competitive global environment. The constant, accelerating, unpredictable change in today’s global competitive environment demands better leadership to be employed in order to provide right courses of direction and action through uncertain and challenging times. As we believe that leadership process is dynamic, the ‘force’ underlying any leadership process, indisputably, is the leader. It is our belief that educational leaders are indeed the centripetal and centrifugal forces responsible for the enhancement of their leadership repertoire. It is with this awareness that we attempt to transform the conscious of many into perceiving leadership process as involving dynamic entities who affect and are affected by their environmental determinants. Thus, this paper attempts to offer a more potent approach through the conceptualization of an integrated model of leadership. We posit that in order for the educational leaders to develop their leadership competency, they need to be aware of their position as defined and determined within the multiple socio-organizational structures as well as their role-relations with the others and their functions in the organization. In addition, within this systemic framework we also attempt to highlight the integration of leadership capacity and leadership capability as fundamentals of leadership competency, of which every educational leader needs to be aware of and work on. 

Keywords :  Leadership, development, competency, capacity, capability

This paper was presented at 1st International Conference on Exploring Leadership and Learning Theories in Asia (ELLTA). Penang, Malaysia on 15 -17 February 2011