Toward a Theory of School Administration: The Centrality of Leadership

Abstract

Three conditions distinguish the work of school administrators from that of their colleagues in nonschool contexts: the uniquely moral character of schools; a highly educated, autonomous, and permanent workforce; and regular and unpredictable threats to organizational stability. The resultant demand environment requires school administrators to rely more extensively on leadership than routine administration to influence teachers and to negotiate the complex interplay among the five situational imperatives of school administration: moral, instructional, political, managerial, and social! interpersonal role demands.