| Summary: | <p> In the field of education, effective transformational leadership traits apply more to non-military educational institutions (Kindergarten through 12th Grade schools, colleges, and universities) than to military settings. Within military academic environments, the topic of the implementation of exemplary leadership practices by civilian educators and its potential influence on school change has been understudied. The military and civilian perspectives on what constitutes effective leadership have often been at odds and civilian academic leaders and their followers (faculty) tend to differ in their perceptions of effective leadership. In this particular study, the researcher investigated and explained the perceptual impact of five leadership practices, established by James Kouzes and Barry Posner (1995, 2007), at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) on the Central Coast of California in the United States. The participants were a sample of civilian educators (leaders and constituents) representing six distinctive foreign language basic course schools within DLIFLC. The mixed methods design used in the study included a survey instrument, the Leadership Practices Inventory, or LPI, and a one-on-one interview or a written questionnaire containing the same interview questions. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were run on the quantitative survey data and they yielded particular statistically significant results (where p <.05). Likewise, several distinctive themes emerged from the subsequent qualitative and mixed methods analyses. Findings suggest that civilian educators should be able to implement organizational changes within a strict military educational setting if they openly collaborated with one another and with their military counterparts to promote desired leadership practices that generate and sustain effective educational change.</p>
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