Participative

1. Participative Leadership Model

“Participative leadership ... assumes that the decision-making processes of the

group ought to be the central focus of the group” (Leithwood et al., 1999:12).

This model is underpinned by three assumptions:

• participation will increase school effectiveness;

• participation is justified by democratic principles; and

• in the context of site-based management, leadership is potentially

available to any legitimate stakeholder (Leithwood et al., 1999:12).

At the school level, Sergiovanni (1984) points out that participative leadership will succeed in ‘bonding’ staff together and in easing the pressures on school principals: ‘the burdens of leadership will be less if leadership functions and roles are shared...’ Copland (2001) talked in the same vain by claiming that participative leadership has the potential to ease the burden on principals and avoid the expectation that the formal leader will be a ‘superhead’:

‘Leadership is embedded in various organizational contexts within school communities, not centrally vested in a person or an office…exciting work is under way that explores specific ways in which schools might distribute leadership more broadly…(There is) a need to identify and support aspects of leadership beyond the role of the principal’.

Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton developed the leader participation model which related leadership behavior and participation in decision making. Developed in the early 1970s, the model argued that leader behavior must adjust to reflect the task structure-whether it was routine, nonroutine or anywhere in between. Vroom and Yetton’s model provides a sequential set of rules that the leaders should follow in determining the form and amount of participation in decision making, as determined by the different types of situations.

The leader participation model has changed as studies continue to provide additional insights and understanding of effective leadership style. A current...