Leadership, emotions and school outcomes in Romania

• Main Author: Alba, Cornelia Anca
• Published: University of Warwick 2010
• Subjects: 370.15; BF Psychology : HM Sociology : LB Theory and practice of education
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.544563

Personal and collective emotions play an important role in our private and social lives. Educational research suggests that emotions are powerful motivational forces that can impact upon leadership practices as well as on teaching and learning at individual and classroom level. However, less is known about the role of emotional experiences and displays in relation to leadership practices and school outcomes at organisational level. In order to develop more substantial knowledge, this mixed method study aims to explore the relationship between leadership styles, emotions and school outcomes from an organisational perspective in several urban schools from Timisoara, Romania. A sample of 408 teaching and non-teaching staff from 18 schools took part in a survey and 14 participants from two selected case study schools took part in semi-structured interviews. A widely used model of leadership is proposed by Bass & Avolio (1994) who identify transformational, transactional and laissez-faire practices. In this study, the quantitative data analysis using the Multifactorial Leadership Questionnaire developed by Bass and Avolio (ibid) suggests that a hybrid leadership that combines transformational and transactional elements such as contingent reward, individual consideration and charismatic behaviours is positively associated with positive emotions such as joy, enthusiasm and hope and with better outcomes such as perceived school success. The survey findings identify more variation and subtlety of negative emotions compared to positive emotions and also examine the role of self-other rapport in experiencing and displaying emotion at work. Secondly, the qualitative data reveal various contextualized meanings of leadership, emotions and school success, provides an integrated perspective of findings and allows for comparison of the overall results with previously published literature. Furthermore, the thesis presents emergent theoretical models for the study of leadership, emotions and school development and performance. Finally, the implications of the overall findings for policy and practice are discussed by taking into consideration the Romanian cultural and educational context.