Test: Education & Leadership (School Leadership) - Software Development MCQ

Leadership: It refers to the process of encouraging and influencing people to direct their efforts towards the achievement of some particular goals. It transforms individuals' potential into reality.

Key Points

Qualities of a successful team leader - 

• A leader gives credit, appreciates, and acknowledges hard work.
• They are active listeners, and also expect their audience to be active listeners.
• They show commitment to gaining the trust of their team members.
• A team leader has a clear vision and expresses confidence through effective decision-making.
• They invest in the team’s future and have a clear career progression plan.
• Team leaders always act with integrity and act objectively.
• They always motivate others and make their team members feel passionate and enthusiastic.
• They are not afraid of failure, which is an inevitable part of success.
• The team leader is the one who makes hard decisions, but at the same time, they empower people.
• Great leaders set up an example and inspire their team members to reach a common goal.

Hence, a successful team leader expects his team members to be active listeners.

Motivation encourages a learner to work in a specific direction to achieve a particular goal. It helps in channelizing the focus of the student to achieve the target.

• There are many methods of motivating learners which can either be categorized into extrinsic or intrinsic types of motivation.
• Extrinsic motivation refers to the performance of an activity in order to attain an outcome and comes from outside of the individual. 
• Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that is driven by an interest in the task itself and exists within the individual. 

Key Points

• A teacher as a leader can encourage her students to remain intrinsically motivated for learning by supporting them in setting individual mastery goals for themselves and as per their interests.
• Setting individual goals give primacy to children's understanding, experiences, and needs and will provide ample opportunities to the children to foster their own strategy of learning.
• Intrinsic motivation is the drive to achieve something in life that satisfies one’s needs and when children work at their own pace to achieve their individual goals they develop their fullest potential.

Hence, a teacher as a leader can encourage her students to remain intrinsically motivated for learning by supporting them in setting individual mastery goals for themselves and as per their interests.

Hint

• Giving rewards is related to extrinsic motivation.
• Inducing anxiety and fear and giving competitive tests could lead to low self-esteem and anxiety in low achievers.

Leadership refers to the process of encouraging and influencing people to direct their efforts towards the achievement of some particular goals. It transforms individuals' potential into reality.

Key PointsLeadership style: It refers to an approach adopted by leaders to provide direction, to implement plans and to influence their followers/members effectively. There are different kinds of leadership styles in fashion.

• Coaching leadership style:
  • A coaching leader is someone who can quickly recognize the team members’ strengths, weaknesses and motivations to help each individual improve.
  • This type of leader often assists team members in setting smart goals and then provides regular feedback with challenging projects to promote growth. They’re skilled in setting clear expectations and creating a positive, motivating environment.
• Visionary leadership style:
  • Visionary leaders have a powerful ability to drive progress and usher in periods of change by inspiring employees and earning trust for new ideas.
  • A visionary leader is also able to establish a strong organizational bond. They strive to foster confidence among direct reports and colleagues alike.
• Servant leadership style:
  • Servant leaders live by a people-first mindset and believe that when team members feel personally and professionally fulfilled, they’re more effective and more likely to regularly produce great work. Because of their emphasis on employee satisfaction and collaboration, they tend to achieve higher levels of respect.
• Autocratic leadership style:
  • Also called the “authoritarian style of leadership,” this type of leader is someone who is focused primarily on results and efficiency. They often make decisions alone or with a small, trusted group and expect employees to do exactly what they’re asked. It can be helpful to think of these types of leaders as military commanders.​

Hence, a leader as a coach quickly recognizes his team members’ strengths, weaknesses and motivations to help each individual to improve.

Leadership may be defined as a process of influencing group activities towards certain goals.

It is the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives".

Key Points The transformational acts of leadership include -

• Motivating, Influencing, guiding, and directing the behaviors of others. 
• Ability to strengthen the interests of the whole group and not just of an individual.
• Involving people fully in a great project.
• Defining objectives, goals, and outcomes.
• Guiding and directing other people and providing purpose and direction to their efforts.

Hence we conclude that Neither I nor II is a transformational act of leadership.

Additional Information 

There are a number of theories that provide explanations regarding various aspects of the leadership phenomenon-

• Trait Theory - It determines the traits of a leader as physically strong and well-built, intelligent, honest, and mentally mature.
• Behavioral Theories: These are based on the belief that leaders can be identified by reference to their behavior in relation to their followers.
• Situational Theories: In the situational theories of leadership the success of leadership depends upon the situation in which the leader operates.

Motivation encourages a learner to work in a specific direction to achieve a particular goal. It helps in channelizing the focus of the student to achieve the target.

Key Points

There are many methods of motivating the learners which can either be categorized into extrinsic or intrinsic types of motivation.

• Extrinsic motivation refers to the performance of an activity in order to attain an outcome and comes from outside of the individual. 
  • Example: Motivation by parents, teachers, society, peer groups, etc.
• Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that is driven by an interest in the task itself and exists within the individual. 
  • Example: Motivation by self, motivation by curiosity, etc.
• ​So Option (1) is the correct answer.

Important Points

Characteristics of Intrinsic motivation are:

• Intrinsic motivation is an inner drive that propels a person to pursue an activity, not for external rewards.
• An intrinsically motivated activity will always be rewarded due to the direct relationship between the activity and the goal.
• An intrinsically motivated person will work on a solution to a problem because the challenge of finding a solution provides a sense of pleasure.
• Set challenges, interests, and Purpose are some methods to increase intrinsic motivation.

Leadership may be defined as a process of influencing group activities towards the achievement of certain goals.

Key Points

• Leadership is to create and achieve a vision about influencing, motivating, and giving motivation to individuals.
• Leadership is a continuous process whereby the leader influences, guides and directs the behaviors of subordinates.
• The leader can influence the behavior of his subordinates at work due to the quality of his behavior as a leader.
• The purpose of leadership is to get the willing cooperation of the workgroup in the achievement of specified goals.
• The success of a leader depends on the acceptance of his leadership by the subordinates.
• Leadership requires that while group goals are pursued, individual goals are also achieved.

Hence, we can conclude that leadership is to create and achieve a vision about influencing, motivating, and giving motivation to individuals.

Leadership: It refers to the process of encouraging and influencing people to direct their efforts towards the achievement of some particular goals. It transforms individuals' potential into reality.

• Leadership style: It refers to an approach adopted by leaders to provide direction, to implement plans and to influence their followers/members effectively. There are different kinds of leadership styles in fashion.

Key Points

From the above-mentioned information it could be interpreted that it is 'laissez faire' leadership style as it is a leadership style in which:

• leaders allow their members to make decisions.
• leaders don't interfere but help members when needed.
• leaders create a positive and autonomous environment.
• leaders emphasize to develop the full potential of members.

Hence, it could be concluded that 'laissez faire' leadership style is true in the context of the question.

Additional Information

The main function of SMC is to prepare School Development Plan (SDP) as per the RTE Act guidelines/ norms under Section 22 to monitor the utilization of government grants and funds along with the whole school environment.

Key Points

• The main aim of preparing the School Development Plan is to identify and review the strength and weaknesses of the school.
• Each school development plan is prepared to keep in view the targets for the next 2 years based on a consultative process.
• As per the rules, SMC is responsible to prepare a school development Plan that comprises sub-plans of 3 years.
• The School Development Plan is prepared at least three months before the end of the financial year.

Hence we can say that the SMC  is responsible to prepare a school development Plan that comprises sub-plans of 3 years.

Additional Information The School development plan includes -

• Estimation of class-wise enrolment for each year.
• As per the estimated enrolment of students, the required number of additional teachers (subject and grade wise) including part-time teachers.
• Estimation of additional infrastructure and equipment.
• Additional financial requirements.
• Required additional support and training for teachers and students.

The activity of leading a group of people in an organization or the ability to do this is called leadership. Leadership is essential for any group or organization.

• Leadership entails establishing a vision and sharing it with the employees or group so that they are willing to follow the leader and achieve the vision and goals of the organization.
• Leadership cannot be taught theoretically. It is learned practically and enhanced with experience and proper coaching.
• A leader without any vision and innovation would never be able to properly motivate and lead the employees to reach their maximum potential. The organization would not be able to grow and achieve greater heights.

Key Points

Leadership training at institutional level:

• Leadership training at institutional level is a set of related activities, which sets specific goals of educational development for a certain period of time that is limited.
• Leadership training at institutional level is determined to deal with the future of the educational system of a country in relation to the past and present trends. Thus, it either provides or becomes the basis for future decisions and actions on issues related to education.
• Leadership training at institutional level is of extreme importance as it forms the basis of all projects related to the development of education, i.e., the quantitative and qualitative improvement in education.
• With the help of proper training, leadership traits can be inculcated among students. This will help in improving the quality of their leadership, which will have a direct bearing on their learning and achievement.
• Leadership training at institutional level takes into account the past and present realities of the country’s education and training programs. It is commonly preceded by a survey of the educational situation and needs.

So Each school strives hard to train its students in the art of leadership so that students could improve their learning and achievement.

Additional Information 
Leadership competencies include: 

• Leadership Abilities
• Visioning
• Team Building
• Win-Win Conflict Resolution
• Accurate Quick Situation Assessment

The teacher is a very important component of the teaching-learning process. The teacher has to play different roles in order to facilitate the learning process and to provide direct and real-life experiences.

• Mainly, the teacher has to lead the students and guides them for a better learning experience through the various teaching-learning activities.

Key Points

The following qualities are a pre-requisite for a teacher to play the role of a leader in the teaching-learning process: 

• The teacher should follow the style of "laissez-faire" leadership in which the leader provides direction, to implement plans, and to influence their followers or "children".
• The teacher should allow his students to make decisions and he should correct or guide them if they are going in the wrong direction.
• He must have a motivating spirit as he has to motivate the students to try out the things beyond their comfort zone so that they can explore and learn new skills.
• He must present ideal ideas and perspectives so that students can learn from them and follow them in a similar type of situation or circumstances.
• He must support the modern perspective as well because a good leader should not only appreciate the old traditional perspectives of thinking but also support the modern perspectives to maintain the balance between his decisions.

​ Important Points

• The interpersonal skills of a leader should be given more importance like his way of representing ideas and motivating others as compared to the social skills i.e., how he represents his cultural and social values and his attractive personality.

Therefore, the first option, i.e., ideal ideas and motivating spirit becomes more relevant as compared to the other three. 

Leadership: Leadership style is the pattern of behavior that a leader exhibits, in influencing his/her subordinates towards the goals of an organization.

Key Points

• Leadership style changes from group to group and also from situation to situation.
• It is the voluntarily accepted dominance of the particular person by the group.
• When a group lacks a sense of direction or purpose, a directive style can be adopted by a leader, and when groups are clear of the organizational goals and objectives and perform well, non-directive styles can be adopted by a leader. 
• Leadership is getting things done through people. Leadership is required because someone has to point the way and that the same person has to ensure that everyone concerned gets there.
• The most familiar saying about leadership is that ‘leaders are born not made’. Like all clichés, there is some truth in it, although, it cannot be taken literally. There are many successful leaders who demonstrated their abilities at an early age and have never looked back since.

Hence, we can conclude that leadership is a form of the voluntarily accepted dominance of the particular person by the group.

• Leadership differs greatly in personal style and these differences really matter. Consider the behavior of two different types of teachers.
• In one class a teacher truly "ran the show". He/she took firm control of all the class activities and left no doubt about who was in charge.
• He/she made all decisions and never asked for students' input. He/she even posted a long list of rules in front of the room, telling learners to do or not to do in a wide range of situations.
• Another teacher offered a sharp contrast to this approach. He/she seemed to enjoy sharing his/her authority with students and let the class vote on many decisions. And while he/she too had rules, they were much more flexible and were never posted in a formal list.

Traits of good Leadership in the classroom:

Key Points

Personal Qualities of a Leader

• Being Honest & Consistent: Honest and consistent in behaviour; more concerned with the good of the organization than personal ambition
• Acting with Integrity: Open to criticism and disagreement, consults and involves others in decision-making; regards values as integral to the organization
• Being Decisive, Risk-taking: Decisive when required; prepared to take difficult decisions, and risks when appropriate
• Inspiring Others: Charismatic, exceptional communicator; inspires others to join them
• Resolving Complex Problems: Capacity to deal with a wide range of complex issues; creative in problem-solving

Additional Information

Leithwood identified three fundamental goals pursued by transformational leaders in school:

Helping staff develop and maintain a collaborative, professional school culture

• Collaborative goal setting
• Delegating power
• Promoting school's norms and beliefs
• Strengthening productive school culture

Fostering teacher development

• Developing a shared vision for the school
• Partnership in school improvement goals and priorities

Helping teachers to solve problems more effectively

• Holding high-performance expectations
• Providing individualised support
• Supplying intellectual stimulation

Leadership is defined as the ability to influence followers to achieve common goals through shared purposes.

• Moral leadership is leadership that is based on respect for ethical beliefs of other members of a group. A Leader who posses high moral values, respect the dignity and rights of others.
• Organizational leadership is an important first step toward identifying and enacting purpose and ethical values that are central to internal alignment, external market effectiveness, and responsibility toward stakeholders.

So A Leader should have high moral values.

Particularly, leadership requires:

• Character: Enthusiasm, integrity, self-renewal
• Analysis: Fortitude, perceiving judgment,
• Accomplishment: Performance, boldness, team building
• Interaction: Collaborating, inspiring, serving others

Important Point 

General qualities of leader.

• Vitality and endurance;
• Decisiveness;
• Persuasiveness, and
• Responsibility and intellectual capacity.
• Good health;
• A sense of mission;
• Intelligence;
• Integrity
• Judgment and;
• Loyalty

Leadership has been defined as “the process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in efforts towards the achievement of goals in a given situation”. The source of influence may be formal, or informal. Leaders can emerge from within a group as well as being formally appointed.

Characteristics of Leadership:

1. Followers:

• The success of leadership depends upon the number of followers. The larger the number of followers, the more successful will be the leader. Leadership cannot be thought of in the absence of followers.

2. A Personal Quality:

• Leadership is a personal quality of character and behavior, which enables him to influence his men to follow and the followers to follow his instructions and direction. 

3. A Common Goal:

• Leadership clusters around the achievement of common goals. There must be some common goals before the leader and his followers. All the activities must be planned to achieve these goals in a group.

4. Active Relations:

• The presence of active relations between a leader and his followers is essential for effective leadership. The leader must himself initiate the work as he wants it to be done by his followers.

5. Practical Approach:

• An effective leader is one who adopts a practical approach to the problems of the enterprise. He should not be rigid. He should change his behavior according to the need of time. He should follow the democratic method of leadership through a wide and flexible approach.

6. It is a Process:

• Leadership is a continuous process of directing, guiding, presenting examples, and influencing people to make their best efforts for the attainment of pre-determined objectives.

Hence, To get training in leadership, one should possess the quality of group planning. group welfare activities, coordinating the activities of group welfare, preparation of projects, and left them to others for implementation all are the part of planning.

Additional Information

• A leader should support definite objectives in the organization so that it becomes easier for the people to understand the goals of the organization.
• If the objectives are sound then it is possible for the leader to become sound.
• The leader must be certain that he has a sound and therefore an appealing purpose before he tries to win followers.
• In this exercise, the leader should try to interpret the experiences of his followers occasionally so that the finer points could be explained to them.
• It could be convincing since the experience would benefit the followers.

Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent.

• The basic qualities that a leader should possess, in influencing his people towards organizational goals, acts as a benchmark in accepting his leadership and conferring leadership upon a leader.

​Key Points 

Democratic style of leadership:

• This style of leadership is also known as participative style of leadership, which can be further categorized as consensus, consultative and democratic.
• The democratic leader should be aware of the strengths and capabilities of his team members and be reliable so that his team members can share their problems and queries with him very prominently. 
• He must show pride, commitment, and honesty towards his team members as they has to work together as a team and to be more successful and productive as a team, they must have honest, pride, and commitment towards each other.
• The realistic attitude i.e., optimization of a democratic leader along with the encouragement to be friends with each of his team members and the ability to sympathize them enables him to connect with his team members on a personal level that makes their bond strong which enhances their team work and collaboration.
• In this style, the subordinates are involved in decision making. A consultative leader, take the opinion of the employees, before making a decision and a consensus leader, make a decision only after consulting the group members.
• A decision is not made final, until all the members agree with the decisions. In the democratic style, the final authority of making decisions rests with the subordinates. 

Hint

•  The neutrality, narrowness, and rigidity are not among the characteristics of democratic leadership. So, it acts as an obstacle in democratic leadership.
• The narrowness, neutrality, and rigidity are mainly the characteristics of an autocratic leader where there is very little or say no participation of team members which eventually makes the role of a leader very dominative.

Therefore, it is concluded that the qualities like neutrality, narrowness, and rigidity acts as an obstacle in promoting the democratic style of leadership.

Leadership is the ability to persuade and motivate others to work in the desired way to achieve a goal. Thus, a person who is able to influence others and make them follow his instructions is called a leader. 

Key Points 
Leadership is the process, which influences people and inspires them to accomplish organizational objectives willingly. The primary purpose of leadership is to get the willing cooperation of the workgroup in pursuit of the goals. 

• It is most commonly associated with school principals who manage curriculums, budgeting, and scheduling and are responsible for the success of each student in their schools. 
• It involves the practice of planning, evaluation, coordination, and improvement of teaching and learning. 
•  To make learning in the desired manner, proper instructions and guidance are necessary.
•  The adoption of the model led to the participation of teachers in management decisions.
• The head teacher was popularly viewed as the source of educational expertise
• It is essential in the functioning of any organization and its importance and benefits are varied.
• It improves the performance of the learners.
• Leaders can motivate their followers to work and thereby increase their performance level. 

Thus, it is concluded that the adoption of the model led to the participation of teachers in management decisions and the head teacher was popularly viewed as the source of educational expertise are the instruction of leadership.

Lewis Madison Terman (1877 –1956) was an American psychologist and author. He was noted as a pioneer in educational psychology. Terman (1904) produced the first empirical study of leadership, examining the qualities that differentiated leaders from non-leaders in schoolchildren. He reported such attributes as verbal fluency, intelligence, low emotionality, daring, congeniality, goodness, and liveliness as characterizing youthful leaders.

Qualities of a leader:

• Least selfish: A Leader should be least selfish. He should think about the common goal of the group.
• Innovative:  A leader should be Innovative and entrepreneur.

Key Points

Personal Qualities of a Leader

• Being Honest & Consistent: Honest and consistent in behaviour; more concerned with the good of the organization than personal ambition
• Acting with Integrity: Open to criticism and disagreement, consults and involves others in decision-making; regards values as integral to the organization
• Being Decisive, Risk-taking: Decisive when required; prepared to take difficult decisions, and risks when appropriate
• Inspiring Others: Charismatic, exceptional communicator; inspires others to join them
• Resolving Complex Problems: Capacity to deal with a wide range of complex issues; creative in problem-solving

The leader is a group role that is associated with a high-status position and may be formally or informally recognized by group members. Leadership is a complex of beliefs, communication patterns, and behaviors that influence the functioning of a group and move a group toward the completion of its task. 

Important Points
Leadership can be denoted by dominance-following.

• A dominance strategy requires individuals to be more assertive, controlling, decisive, and self-assured in achieving their goals.
• Individuals pursuing this strategy often coerce or induce psychological fear among other group members to attain these goals and do not worry about the cost accrued to others while doing so. They are adept at forming political coalitions and are swift to make decisions that help them achieve their goals and maintain their positions in their groups.
• The dominant leader provides a far stronger assurance and affording a greater sense of agency than a prestigious counterpart in difficult times.

Hint

• Dominance-descendance:- This means the power which is given by the descendant of the person who has the power in the past. It refers to a situation where a person moves to a leadership position by reason of heredity (as when he is a descendant of a business family), or when he is elected or selected to a leadership position.
• Dominance repression:- This means the power which is acquired by the force or by hook and crook.
• Dominance-forced support:- The power which is taken by the force and putting force on others to maintain that power.

Hence, we can conclude that leadership can be denoted by dominance-following.

From prehistoric time experts has been trying to understand and explain leadership, however, differences in opinion and isolated ideas failed to demonstrated a comprehensive process of leadership that make an ordinary person leader or an ordinary leader an effective leader.

Key Points

The comprehensive leadership model tries to portray a complete leadership that integrates all the isolated opinions of experts that can be generalized in a different perspective.

Leadership is a comprehensive process which understood as the ability some people have to guide or command other people's actions. It is more than just that, though. A comprehensive leader is a dominating individual and supporting group of people.

• Leader knows himself quite well, both his weaknesses and strong points.
• Leader summons for personality, not by fear.
• Leader is supported by strong background knowledge.
• Leader makes use of strong common sense.
• Leader exchanges some ideas among the group and also direct them about their goals and help them to achieve them.
• Leader has a personal relationship with any and all of his followers.
• Leader knows how to make use of his people's strengths and weaknesses to achieve the goals they had in mind.
• Leader serves others in the achievement of the objectives, and not the other way round.

Leadership, a function of management refers to the act or art of motivating people in order to achieve a common goal. In a business context, it means directing subordinates, workers, or colleagues to meet the company's needs.

Key Points 

The managerial grid is a leadership style ideal developed by American management theoretician Robert R. Blake and theorist Jane Mouton in 1964

• Blake Mouton's Managerial Grid of Leadership is basically a behavioral leadership model where behavioral leadership theories are developed by scientifically reviewing the behaviors of leaders and their effects of them on the personnel and environment.
• From the view of ‘concern for people and ‘concern for production’ this managerial grid model indicates different types of leadership styles. With the effective and efficient implementation of this grid model, organizations’ managers can detect how they with respect to their concern for production and people.
• Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid Model was one of the most significant management models and it also provided the groundwork for even more complex contingency approaches to leadership.
• The importance of internal and external bounds, matter, and scenarios is ignored by the model.
• More aspects of leadership can be covered in the managerial grid.

Hence, we can conclude that the Managerial Grid theory of leadership explains the crucial relationship between productivity and concerns for employees.