Aspiring to leadership--identifying teacher-leaders

Abstract

Educational institutions need effective leaders at many levels. This paper explores the applicability of the Porter/Mazlow need-priority and Herzberg maintenance-motivation models to the challenge of identifying individuals who aspire to leadership. The review includes literature from teaching, engineering, medicine, astronomy, business, and the military. Autonomy need and achievement motivation consistently distinguished leaders from non-leaders in several studies. Affiliation and esteem needs also characterized leaders in two studies. These empirical data support the use of these theoretical models, which are intuitively appealing and have potential for practical applications. One such application could be the identification and recruitment of education "champions" who would be teacher-leaders at dispersed sites. Through self-reflection faculty members could become aware of their needs and motivations and may realize their leadership aspirations and accept the teacher-leader role. For an education "champions" program to be successful, the department leadership would need to attend to the organizational culture and provide release time for the teacher-leaders. A blueprint for the development of teacher-leaders is outlined.