Theories Of Distributed Leadership

1424 Words6 Pages
A great number of leadership theories has been defined and analyzed over the last few decades. The way people define and see leaders and their roles has changed tremendously, from one leader at the top of the hierarchical pyramid to more informal leadership roles. Denis, Langey and Sergi (as cited in lecture 2, slide 5) created a new term “leadership in the plural” where leadership is not seen as “individual property but collective phenomenon shared among individuals”. These new theories, even sometimes hard to differentiate and define, have one thing in common and it is decentralization of control and utilizing members within the organization as resources. In this paper, I will analyse and describe similarities and differences of three different…show more content…
Furthermore, the author explains that the decisions who leads and who follows are determined by the task and not the hierarchy. Dr.Ausburn (2016) in his lecture Leadership Models and Theories defines distributed leadership: Distributed leadership is characterized by the dispersion of leadership roles through delegation, shared decision making, openness to subordinates’ influence, and provision of information. Each member’s contribution is confined to the tasks associated with the role assigned. It is more about practical management than enabling democratic participation (lecture 2, slide…show more content…
Elementary principal decided to resign and leave before the end of his contract. His decision had negative impact on the whole school community, especially teachers and parents. However, we had to continue teaching our students since they are the most important to teachers. It was not easy especially at times when we felt insecure about the directions that our school was taking. In the end, I realized that as long as teachers have the passion and motivation to empower each other and collaborate we do not need a leader to lead us. Our school is an example of distributed leadership with team leaders for each grade level and several different committees. At times many teachers have showed shared leadership especially at the times when we had no one to lead us. Like Kurtz said (2009), “in collaborative school settings, strong teacher leaders share at least three common categories of action: they reveal to other new ways of doing things, they aspire for the best in themselves and in their colleagues, and they help others to solve problems” (p.
Open Document