Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemA study of transformational and transactional leadership among leaders at the Rajabhat University, Thailand( 2007)The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the leadership styles and organizational culture in The Rajabhat University in Thailand as viewed from the leaders' and non-leaders' perspectives. The study examined leadership behavior based on the notions of transformational and transactional leadership. A survey research methodology was used to gather data from six departments in The Rajabhat University. A total of 96 leaders and 99 non-leaders responded to the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), and 95 leaders and 101 non-leaders responded to the Organizational Description Questionnaire (ODQ). Leaders perceived their leadership styles to be transformational. Conversely, the non-leaders perceived the leadership styles of their leaders as highly transactional. These results were confirmed by the results of the organizational culture surveys both leaders and non-leaders agreed that the organizational culture were moderately transformational and highly transactional, with non-leaders viewing organizational culture as more transactional than that viewed by the leaders. Transformational leadership culture has been associated with improved organizational outcomes These findings suggest that organizations like The Rajabhat University may need to develop a more transformational leadership culture.
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ItemLeadership and success in educational reform in Thailand( 2004)This thesis presents the results of a study to examine the relationship between leadership and success in educational reform in Rajabhat Institutes in Thailand. A strong emphasis was placed on the effects of leadership, reflecting both 'eastern' and 'western' perspectives and successful educational reform. The study employed a mixed method design in which both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysed to answer a research question: 'How do presidents influence the achievement of successful educational reform in Rajabhat Institutes in Thailand?' The two types of data were collected independently. Quantitative data were gathered by questionnaire administered to 492 staff (308 females; 184 males) from three Rajabhat Institutes located in Bangkok, Thailand, who were nominated for their success in educational reform. Qualitative data derived from semi-structured interviews with the three presidents and a small selection of staff who were nominated by the presidents. Observations and analysis of secondary data were also employed. Some interesting findings emerged from the quantitative data analysis. As far as direct effects are concerned, results showed that a service-oriented leadership style, reflecting a "western" perspective had a strong direct effect on educational reform in Thailand. Dhamma-oriented leadership style reflecting an "eastern" approach had a negative direct effect on educational reform. However, dhamma-oriented leadership had a positive but indirect effect mediated by servant leadership. The findings from interviews were consistent with results derived from quantitative data. The study revealed that the combination of the two leadership approaches (dhamma-oriented and servant leadership) were used by the presidents of the three Rajabhat Institutes as instruments for successful educational reform. The findings have implications for practice in making educational reform a reality in similar settings in Thailand. First, leaders should focus on ensuring meaning in the work and be responsive to the needs of subordinates. They should be visionary and serve the well-being of others through their goals and work to accomplish the agreed-upon vision. Second, productive institutions require trust so that cooperation may emerge. In the Thai context, trust has been created by the moral behaviour of leaders. This moral behaviour can add value through mutual understanding, creating a process for the achievement of educational reform in Thailand. It is concluded that both approaches to leadership were important factors in achieving success in educational reform in Thailand.
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ItemStrategic leadership domains for Rajabhat University autonomy( 2003)This study sought to investigate essential elements for Rajabhat Institutes' transformation to higher educational autonomy as indicated by the literature survey. The first set of elements is the different areas of autonomy that Rajabhat Institutes should work toward, and the second is the strategic leadership domains that will facilitate the transformation process. Twenty respondents were formed as a subject group for the interview. The analysis was performed and the results were adapted and employed as per the content of the subsequent questionnaire. Next, the questionnaire was administered to one hundred and sixty Rajabhat personnel purposively selected from administrators and lecturers. The questionnaire using a 5- point Likert response and a ranking format determined the autonomy areas, strategic leadership domains and the level of significance of the strategic leadership domains on the autonomy areas. Statistical analysis of the questionnaire revealed that there were six autonomy areas that Rajabhats should focus their attention on for their successful transformation: academic affairs, administration and governance, personnel management, finance and budget, organisational development and quality assurance respectively. The strategic leadership domain prioritisation were proposed: vision and mission, teamwork, participation, resources, motivation, empowerment, communication and monitoring and assessment. In addition, the study also investigated the level of significance of strategic leadership domains on each autonomy area. The findings indicated that for effective transformation, different areas of autonomy might be facilitated by different strategic leadership domains. A robust model showing desirable transformation process, appropriate autonomy areas and their elements and specific strategic domain priorities has evolved from the questionnaire data. At a macro-level, the model indicates the necessary steps, the top priority autonomy areas and appropriate strategic leadership domains for certain areas. At a micro-level, the model shows the substantial elements of an autonomy area, appropriate strategic leadership domains, and the relevant internal contextual factors of Rajabhat Institutes. The results from both the interview and the questionnaire contributed significantly to the insight into what university autonomy should cover and how to effectively transform a higher education institution. As institutional transformation, either partial or institutional-wide, is considered a change process, the strategic leadership domains in this study concur with the management literature on change theories. Thus, the results from this study could be considered valid to other examples of organisational transformation.
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ItemSustaining large-scale school improvement( 2009)This research studied the efforts of leaders who were charged with sustaining outcomes associated with a large-scale school improvement initiative. Specifically, it examined what leaders were trying to sustain, how they were going about it, and what support and assistance they expected from other leaders in the process. The study followed a mixed-method research design. Quantitative data were collected from the Sustaining School Improvement Survey from 82 lead teachers and 123 principals. Qualitative data was collected from three group interviews with 17 lead teachers, three group interviews with 19 principals, and eight one-on-one interviews with 5 senior district administrators. The study concluded that sustainability remains a confusing and ambiguous construct for educational leaders and that, when they have a choice, leaders prefer to sustain the advances related to the development of professional collaborative teams rather than pedagogical strategies. The study also concluded that the strategies and tactics that leaders adopt to promote sustainability are idiosyncratic, reactive, and modifiable based on their past experience and personal preference. Finally, leaders expect conceptual guidance from superiors, moral support from peers, and good followership from subordinates.
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ItemPrincipal and teacher perceptions of the leadership role of principals in Hong Kong Protestant Christian secondary schools following the change of sovereignty to China( 2004)This research investigated the phenomenon of principal leadership in Hong Kong Protestant Christian secondary schools following the change of sovereignty to China on 1st July, 1997. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology, 9 principals and 16 teachers were interviewed about their perceptions of principal leadership. They were from within a network of secondary schools administered by the Sponsoring Body (SB)-a council of churches of one Protestant Christian denomination. Transcripts were analysed with techniques drawn from that of phenomenology, hermeneutics and case study, and verified with documents collected from the interviewees. The perceived leadership role of principals was found to be complex and multi-dimensional, with 18 leadership themes described and 14 themes where change was noted in the leadership role due to the change of sovereignty. Comparing the themes of the principals and the teachers, the degree of similarity was judged to be high, indicating that the principals generally enacted their leadership role as they described. Based on the research findings and comparison with the leadership literature, a Christian principal leadership model was constructed, that consists of four leadership conceptions which correspondingly inform four broad leadership roles: (1) Christian leadership-administering Christian education-the principal led prayer, spoke in assemblies and supported religious programs. (2) Instructional leadership-teaching and learning-indirectly practised by the principal who delegated the Deputy Principals and the subject or department heads to share the supervisory role. (3) Transformational leadership-transforming the school community the principals showed the characteristics of transformational leaders. (4) School-based Management-SBM and development-official implementation in 2000 required relevant leadership, highlighting the characteristics of increased accountability and heavy workload. These roles were further connected to the leadership functions derived from the 18 themes. This model emphasizes the principal leadership role being enacted on the basis of Christian principles, committing education to God, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
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ItemA study of the market orientation and marketing management in Rajabhat institutes in Thailand( 2005)The purpose of this study was to investigate the market orientation and marketing management of the administrators of four Rajabhat Institutes in Thailand, and also the style of leadership they employed in order to bring about effective change, arising from the establishment of a new Education Act, in their institutes. A case study method was used in order to determine how administrators of Rajabhat Institutes employ market-centred leadership to make effective change in marketing and how, in practice, administrators of Rajabhat Institutes implement their marketing concepts. A modified version of Drysdale's (2001) model of market-centred leadership was employed. This involved a consideration of two dimensions: market orientation and marketing management. The case studies revealed that, in the implementation of marketing concepts, the administrators demonstrated varying levels of responding to, and valuing, the importance of market-centred leadership which, in turn, invoked a various degrees of attitude change on the part of administrators. The extent of attitude to change on the part of institutes and administrators within each institute was graded as either high, medium or low. Variation between institutions indicated one Rajabhat Institute was high, two Rajabhat Institutes were medium and one Rajabhat Institute was low. For the administrators within these institutes: all Presidents were rated high; senior administrators varied between high (one), medium (two) and low (one). This suggests that a high level of responding and valuing of market-centred leadership is required if major educational reform is to be successfully implemented.
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ItemAn investigation of the role description of the information and communications technology leader in secondary schools( 2008)While growing numbers of schools have an Information and Communications Technology leader, the role is defined in a variety of different ways. As position descriptions vary from school to school, there is surprisingly little consensus on who an Information and Communications Technology leader should be or what the position should entail. Although the role of the Information and Communications Technology leader in schools has not been formally investigated as much as that of Principals, some commentators have begun to suggest that Information and Communications Technology leaders have a crucial role to play. In Victoria, Australia, Information and Communications Technology leaders in secondary schools have been given a variety of position titles. In some schools the position is treated as a senior role, while in others it is not terribly important. Financial remuneration and time allowance for the Information and Communications Technology leader role varies. In addition, no system-wide description of the role or expectation of an Information and Communications Technology leader .exists. Moreover, there are differences in practice as to what kinds of experience and qualifications are necessary to undertake this role. In describing the Information and Communications Technology leadership role, the goal of this research was to obtain perspectives from a variety of personnel in key leadership positions in schools as well as teacher perspectives to evaluate: the similarity and differences of perspectives compared to the literature. For this purpose, comparisons were conducted across the seven schools. In all, a total of 51 questionnaires were completed by the participants: Heads of Departments, Deputy Principals, Classroom Teachers, Head Librarian, Computer Technicians, Principals, Network Administrators and Curriculum Coordinators. In addition, six people were interviewed from the pool of participants in the questionnaires. From the study it was identified that to be an effective Information and Communications Technology leader, one needs to have experience and skills in four specific areas. The four specific areas are: � Resources/Equity � Pedagogy � Professional Development � External Factors These specific areas are strongly connected to key aspects of the questionnaire and provide important points of amplification in terms of developing a position description. Additionally, the study identified that the Information and Communications Technology leader needs to as have the following components in the role: � Knowledge and Skills - both in terms of having a sound educational background and knowledge of hardware and software. � Team Leadership - with regards to technical team and Information and Communications Technology vision team and all staff in terms of professional development. � Leadership - with particular respect to vision and strategic leadership � Seniority - especially with respect to belonging on senior teams within a school and being able to have direct communication with the Principal. From this study, an Information and Communications Technology leader's role was derived and a position description produced which may be applied to schools.
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ItemLeadership for academic program administration in Rajabhat Institutes by using Bolman and Deal's framing approach( 2005)The purpose of this research was to investigate the leadership of deans and heads of programs in implementing the policy of academic program administration in Rajabhat Institutes. In particular, the study focused on the leaders' approach within a theoretical framework designed by two authors: Bolman and Deal. They identify four major characteristics and expected functions of leaders within four frames: the structural, the human resource, the political, and the symbolic. The main functions for each frame were to make people accept the change, to practice the policy, to disseminate the practice, to follow up the practice and to revise the practice. A qualitative approach was used to investigate the leaders' approach in implementing the new policy. The four characteristics of leadership in each frame were used to design questions to interview the deans and the heads of programs in order to investigate how they perceived their leadership in implementing the new academic program administration. Further, members of faculties (lecturers) were interviewed, utilising another set of questions, in order to discover their perspectives of the leadership of their deans and heads of programs. A Raj abhat Institute in the central part of Thailand was selected as a case study institute. A sample of deans, heads of programs, and lecturers participated in the study. Four deans were purposively selected. Eight heads of programs and eight lecturers were selected by simple random sampling from the four faculties. All documents related to the academic program administration were used in the study in order to supplement and compare this information with the interview data. The analysis has been presented in descriptive forms with tables. Results of the study revealed that both deans and heads of programs implemented the policy of the academic program administration with almost all the expected functions through the four frames, except for one expected function in the political frame - assess the distribution of power and interest. For the activities under each function in each frame, deans and heads of programs performed the first two activities the most often - to make people accept the change and to practise the change. The last three activities - to disseminate the practice, to follow up the practice, and to revise the practice, seldom occurred. Findings can be drawn to generate three models designed by the researcher to enhance effectiveness and efficiency of the program academic administration. These are a model for an implementation of the APA, a model for a leadership preparation for deans and heads of programs, and a model for an implementation preparation. Further research could investigate: (a) how new leaders could be developed and prepared to work within the system; (b) how leaders could be empowered to implement change; (c) how the structure of APA compares to a departmental structure; and (d) how the institute could contribute to the assessment process and link this to quality assurance.