Session Information
26 SES 07 B, Educational Leadership in Crisis: Perspectives and Directions
Paper Session
Contribution
General description and research questions
The decision making in a crisis situation is affected directly by the personality characteristics of the principal who will seize the opportunity appropriately in order to learn through it (Kouzes & Posner, 2007; Bolman & Deal, 2008; Saiti, Saitis & Gounaropoulos, 2008). The present study aims to showcase those personality traits of the principals, in Greek primary schools, which contribute during the process of decision making in a crisis situation at a school unit. The research questions are the following:
1) What personality traits do primary school principals in Greece believe they have for crisis management decision-making process?
2) How does principal’s gender affect personality traits in the crisis management decision-making process?
Theoretical framework
The principal’s personality is directly related to the decision making and, consequently, to the school management. Those individuals who are aware of the traits of their personality are in a position to optimize them effectively during the process of decision making (Oplatka, 2004).
According to Seeger (2006) and Bundy, Pfarrer, Short and Coombs (2017), a crisis generates new conditions which differ from the standard context of decision making, considering that they are characterized by high levels of uncertainty, limited response time, lack of information, stress, and pressure.
Regardless of the uncertainty, the tension and the intricacy that are induced by a crisis, the principal should take both immediate and accurate decisions (Bolman & Deal, 2008). Thus, both decisiveness, which is defined as the principal’s ability to think and act based on the available tools and practices (Cooper, 2007), and the experience, namely, the comparison of the current crisis situation to an older one, owning to acquiring knowledge of the past which is applicable to a current condition (Murawski, 2011), play a significant role in the process of decision making in a crisis situation. Equally important are the adaptability, the composure, the dedication to the goals that have been set, as well as the communication and cooperative skills (Bolman & Deal, 2008; Kouzes & Posner, 2007; Cooper, 2007).
In addition, research has shown (Sergent & Stajkovic, 2020; Hoobler, Masterson, NKomo & Michel, 2018; Ryan, Haslam, Morgenroth, Rink, Stoker & Peters, 2016) that the gender of the principal determines the characteristics of their personality, when they are called to deal with a crisis. At the same time, the total way of handling a crisis is affected.
Method
For the collection of data, quantitative and qualitative methods have been applied. More specifically, the 5-point Likert scale questionnaire constitutes the basic tool of the study, which is a part of a larger instrument created and applied initially in Murawski research (2011) for the measurement of the principal’s characteristics of their personality in a crisis situation. The questionnaire consisted of 7 mandatory queries, adapted to the 5-point Likert scale, translated in Greek and shared electronically to one thousand participants. Stratified sampling was used in order to select these participants from all over Greece. Furthermore, semi-structured interviews were conducted, using the Webex application for online meetings. During the individual interviews a fictitious scenario was utilised which described a crisis situation in the school environment and it was based on the technique of the Royal Dutch Shell/Global Business Network (GBN). Although scenario planning is a highly imaginative and interactive exercise, the process is a systematic and iterative one. According to GBN technique the process of scenario planning includes five phases, orientation of the issue, exploring driving forces, synthesizing a scenario framework, action and monitoring (Bishop, Hines & Collins, 2007). The scenario consisted of 9 simple questions, focused on principals’ traits of personality during a crisis situation. A pilot study was implemented for both questionnaire and interview. In the quantitative study, 374 principals of primary schools, from all over Greece, participated voluntarily. Ten of those principals also took part voluntarily in the qualitative study.
Expected Outcomes
The principals that participated in the quantitative study recognised that, during the decision making in a crisis situation, they possess at a great extent, characteristics such as cooperative abilities, adaptability, communication skills, dedication to the goals and determination. Equally, they possess equanimity and experience to a great degree. The results that arise from the qualitative study have shown that all 10 principals who participated recognised that in cases in which a decision had to be made to deal with a crisis, they have the necessary equanimity and cooperative abilities. Additionally, almost everyone mentioned that they have the essential orderliness, more than half mentioned that they are prepared for a crisis and almost half of the participants mentioned that they have the needed readiness. A smaller percentage of them referred to characteristics like dedication to the goals, empathy, determination, communication skills, responsibility and insightfulness. The aforementioned characteristics are associated and affected directly by the gender of the principal. Women principals were more determined and willing to help others, instead of men. Also, they had communicative and cooperative abilities. These traits are activated and defined by principals’ perceptions and experiences (Kouzes & Posner, 2007; Bolman & Deal, 2008). In addition, they are affected by the gender factor, a fact that differentiates the way in which both women and men principals make decisions in order to deal with a crisis (Sergent & Stajkovic, 2020; Hoobler, et al., 2018; Ryan, et al., 2016). These results can be optimized by writers who create manuals of crisis management, not only for the educational environment but generally for different organisations. Also, these manuals could be included for the training of the executive directors as well as in hands-on workshops that address to principals for the showcase and the enhancement of those characteristics of their personality.
References
Bishop, P., Hines, A., & Collins, T. (2007). The current state of scenario development: an overview of techniques. Foresight, 9(1), 5-25. Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2008). Reframing organization: Artistry, choice and leadership (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass. Bundy, J., Pfarrer, D. M., Short, E.C., & Coombs W.T. (2017). Crises and Crisis Management: Integration, Interpretation, and Research Development. Journal of Management, 43(6), 1661-1692. Cooper, T. (2007). Decision making in a crisis. Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations, 7(2), 5-28. Hoobler, J. M., Masterson, C. R., Nkomo, S. M., & Michel, E. J. (2018). The business case for women leaders: Meta-analysis, research critique, and path forward. Journal of Management, 44(6), 2473–2499. Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2007). The leadership challenge (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Murawski, L. M. (2011). Leadership Traits, Tools, and Practices: Decision Making in a Crisis. (Doctoral Dissertation). Lincoln Memorial University, LMU Digital Commons. Oplatka, I. (2004). The characteristics of the school organization and the constraints on market ideology in education: an institutional view. Journal of Educational Policy, 19(2), 143-161. Ryan, M. K., Haslam, S. A., Morgenroth, T., Rink, F., Stoker, J., & Peters, K. (2016). Getting on top of the glass cliff: Reviewing a decade of evidence, explanations, and impact. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(3), 446–455. Saiti, A., Saitis, Ch., & Gounaropoulos, G. (2008). Attitudes and perceptions of teachers on crisis management in Primary Education schools. 6th Panhellenic Conference, "Greek Pedagogy and Educational Research", Pedagogical Society of Greece (pp. 344 - 354). Athens: Trilianos A. & Karaminas I. Seeger, M. (2006). Best practices in risk and crisis communication: An expert panel process. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 34(3), 232-244. Sergent, K., & Stajkovic, A. D. (2020). Women’s Leadership is Associated with Fewer Death During the Covid 19 Crisis: Quantitative and Qualitative Analyses of United Stated Governors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105(8), 771–783.
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