The article “The effective principal: 5 pivotal practices that shape instructional leadership” by P. Mendels (2012) deals with improving the principal’s role in the administrative settings. The main emphasis of the article is that the effective principle should rather be successful in collaborative work and unleashing the potential of the colleagues (Mendels, 2012). Transformational leadership, thus, should be the focal point. In this regard, the author dismisses the importance of the traditional administrative tasks and qualities of the manager. Emphasizing motivation and excessive collaboration can be ambiguous in some cases, and academic performance can be increased by other means. Overall, the article became a good example of possible improving practices of a principal but should be viewed in the light of different settings and case studies.
The article “Effective leadership makes schools truly inclusive” by McLeskey & Waldron (2015) points out that the real success in building inclusive and beneficial lies in effective leadership rather than in any other domain. The authors use several case studies where proactive, transformational leadership led to outstanding student performance (McLeskey & Waldron, 2015). In the article, however, the factor of legislation and funding is downplayed. It is hard to inspire and encourage colleagues and students when the school possibilities are limited.
Transformational leadership emphasizes charismatic abilities. Beyond sharing and rewarding, transformational leaders inspire and encourage their people (Putra et al., 2020). Transactional leadership builds on an exchange in which subordinates are rewarded for achieving specified goals (Putra et al., 2020). Transactional leadership is, therefore, more realistic. As a result, transformational leadership is more likely to affect attitudes by inspiring innovation adoption via the creation of excitement and trust. In contrast, transactional leadership will encourage innovation adoption through reinforcement and reward.
References
Mendels, P. (2012). The effective principal: 5 pivotal practices that shape instructional leadership. The Learning Professional, 33(1), 54.
McLeskey, J., & Waldron, N. L. (2015). Effective leadership makes schools truly inclusive. Phi Delta Kappan, 96(5), 68-73.
Putra, A. S., Waruwu, H., Akbari, M., Novitasari, D., & Purwanto, A. (2020). Leadership in the Innovation Era: Transactional or Transformational Style?. International Journal of Social and Management Studies, 1(1), 89-94.