Transition Committee Brief

Transition Committee Brief (Literature Review on Transformational Leadership)

The purpose of this paper is to present findings on educational change and effective

techniques for leading and managing change. A set of characteristics of successful

transformative leaders will be provided and based on those, recommendations for our CEO

selection will conclude this paper. A literature review approach was utilized to assess the

opportunities and challenges of educational change, as well as some guidance on how to

select a dynamic leader to lead us toward effective transformation. The need for educational

change and its challenges will be discussed. The purpose of this project is to do a literature

review on educational transformation and effective techniques for leading and managing

change, as well as to present your case to organizational decision makers with supporting

material to help in the search for a new CEO. This research on transformational change will

help in the selection of the organization's future leader.

Introduction

The Board of Directors is looking for a highly qualified executive who can guide the

firm through a restructuring strategy based on current research. A Transition Committee has

been formed to assess the organization's needs and begin the search for a creative leader to

lead it through this revolutionary change. These findings are obtained from past studies on

the above two topics, how they intertwine, and how they can be applied to our organization’s

search of a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Synthesized Review

Educational Change: Purpose, Opportunities, and Challenges

First, let’s explore educational change. According to Wong (2007), the ultimate

objective of educational change is to help educational institutions accomplish their goals

more effectively. They can do so by reconstituting their current structures and practices with
Transition Committee Brief
3
newer and more enhanced ones. Reconstitution mainly deals with school improvement,

which includes student learning, learning conditions, and learning processes (Hargreaves et

all, 1998). A successful educational change, therefore, goes through a three-step process

identified by Wong (2007). First of all, the need to change must be established, along with an

evaluation of the school’s current capacity and human resources to better prepare for change

initiatives. Second of all, the actual implementation takes place with changes in multiple

dimensions including (but not limited to) management, teaching and learning activities,

instructors’ and learners’ values and beliefs, and the overall educational culture. Finally, the

last step identifies the strengths and limitations of change initiatives to further improve the

process for future activities.

Fullan (2001) also argues that aside from the above factors listed by Hargreaves,

successful change implementation needs a successful change in practice. In particular, Fullan

emphasized that there were three dimensions of educational change: the introduction of

revised materials, the use of new teaching approaches, and the alternation of people’s beliefs.

The level of difficulty increases from the first to the last dimension, with the most

challenging one to employ being the changing of beliefs, such as the theories underlying

particular policies.

In terms of challenges of change, the first one identified by past studies is teachers’

resistance to change. Over the past years, teachers have been overwhelmed with innovations.

Humans tend to prefer the familiar and therefore, are afraid of drastic changes (Gustavson,

1955). It is natural to predict that most teachers will respond to changes with resistance. The

issue with resistance here does not come from ethics but overload. Teachers who are

swamped by a big amount of changes over a short period of time will find it exhaustive and

difficult to keep up. As a result, their willingness to change diminishes eventually. Many

have argued that while change is much appreciated, it constrains their autonomy and
Transition Committee Brief
4
creativity (Datnow, 2020). According to Fink and Stoll (2005), the pressures and limits

placed and imposed on teachers’ involvement in making changes are the main causes of

resistance.

Another challenge to change identified by Hayward (2010) is how change can be

sustained on a broader scale. She introduced two models of promulgation: transmission,

which is based on a belief that change happens through information dissemination; and

transformation, which is more collaborative. Education is highly contextual and putting it in a

highly uncertain future makes it difficult to predict what we can do to scale up educational

change (Burner, 2018). In the next section, I will explore the advantages of transformational

leadership and how it connects to effective educational change.

Transformational Leadership and Educational Change

Transformational leadership focuses on the distribution of goals and supports to

stimulate change, also known as a bottom-up approach (Hallinger, 2003). Instead of

managing the existing relationships, transformational leadership pursues a shared vision that,

with the involvement of the entire organization’s members, helps shape the future of that

organization. Transformational leaders, therefore, aim to develop the capacity of their team

rather than directly influence others’ actions. For example, a leader who creates new

perspectives to achieve sustainable growth and wealth for the organization and society with

the commitment and passion of his staff is one that uses the transformational approach

(Koreian & Shahbazi, 2016). His followers, as a result, are less likely to depend on top-down

specific directions, making room for self-motivation and creativity. Transformational leaders

aim to convert individual interests into collective interests that explain the organization’s

shared goals. To do that, they have to look for potential motives in their followers. Those led
Transition Committee Brief
5
by a transformational leader tend to invent and innovate in their work and this is how changes

are made.

In an educational setting, this concept suggests that strong transformational leadership

by the school leader is highly essential in supporting the teachers’ commitment to change. As

mentioned in the earlier section, teachers’ resistance might be a barrier to change; therefore,

they should be encouraged to share leadership functions instead of only passively follow

change initiatives. The above points bring us to a set of characteristics often found in

transformational leaders (Hay, 20016), summarized in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Characteristics of a Transformational Leader

Generally, they can be put into four main categories: idealized influence, inspirational

motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration (Farnsworth et al, 2019).

The first category describes those who are viewed as role models through their big influence

over others. The second one deals with motivation – how they can inspire and encourage

others to reach the shared goals. The third one includes critical thinking and problem solving,

promoting creativity and innovation by challenging the normal beliefs of an organization.

followers. With individual consideration, leaders can encourage others to reach goals that are

important to their success and the organization’ success.

Regardless of the starting point, all organizations must change and learn how to do so

successfully to stay competitive (Sethuraman, 2020). The educational sector is no exception.

Change helps educational institutions and individuals achieve their goals more effectively,

keeping up with the evolving changes in the world. Nevertheless, to successfully change,

schools often come across several challenges, from the limited capacity to resistance of

human resources, to those in terms of scaling up. Constantly pushing change will not be

enough to overcome those challenges. In fact, we have to draw people into what interests

them and challenge them through leadership. Having a leader with a transformational mindset

is highly crucial for maintaining successful change. The most important characteristics of a

transformational leader are provided in the previous section. Among which, in regards to

finding a new CEO for our company, I highly recommend paying our most attention to the

following traits: strategic and visionary, value-driven, risk-taking and sharing, and

considerate of the personal needs of employees. Someone with a clear vision and set goals

that knows how to encourage others to do their best and also challenges them to be creative

and innovate, with good guidance along the way, is an effective leader who can bring us

toward transformative change.

References

Burner, T. (2018). Why is educational change so difficult and how can we make it
more effective? Forskning & Forandring: Research and Change, 1, 122-134
Datnow, A. (2020). The role of teachers in educational reform: A 20-year perspective.
Journal of Educational Change, 21, 431-441
Farnsworth, D., Clark, J. L., Hall, J.,Johnson, S., Wysocky, A., Kepner, K. (2002).
Transformational Leadership: The Transformation of Managers and Associates. Food and
Resource Economics. UF/IFAS Extension. DOI: 10.32473/edis-hr020-2002.
Transition Committee Brief
7
Fink, D., Stoll, L. (2005). Educational Change: Easier Said than Done.
Hargreaves A. (eds) Extending Educational Change. Springer, Dordrecht.
https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4453-4_2
Fullan, M. (2001), Leading in a Culture of Change. Jossey-Bass.
Gustavson, C. G. (1955). A preface to history. Toronto: McGraw-Hill.
Hallinger, P. (2003). Leading Educational Change: Reflections on the practice of
instructional and transformational leadership. Cambridge Journal of Education, 33(3),
329-352
Hargreaves, A., Lieberman, A., Fullan, M., & Hopkins, D. (1998). International
Handbook of Educational Change. Netherlands: Springer Netherlands.
Hay, I. (2006). Transformational leadership: characteristics and criticism. E-Journal
of Organizational Learning and Leadership, 5(2).
Hayward. (2010). Moving beyond the classroom. Developing Teacher Assessment,
85-99.
Korejan, M. M., Shahbazi, H. (2016). An Analysis of the Transformational
Leadership theory. Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences. DOI:
10.4314/jfas.v8i3s.192
Sethuraman, R. (2020). Seven Tips For Successfully Managing Change. Forbes.
Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/08/18/seven-tips-for-
successfully-managing-change/?sh=194b26687cf3
Wong, Y. L. W. (2007), Challenges and Strategies to Educational Change –
Introducing School-based Curriculum. New Horizons in Education, 55(2), 78-96