Management and Leadership

Chapter 1 – Introduction

Introduction

Leadership can be typically defined as the ability of an individual to lead a team of people in order to achieve the common objectives of an organisation. This generic definition of leadership can be taken in several contexts; however, the objective will remain more or less same in each case. For instance, in case of business organisations, the role of the leadership would be to provide a direction to the individual in order to achieve the corporate objectives of the organisation. In addition to this, leadership also plays a critical role in maintaining the motivation level of the people to assure a high level of productivity and efficiency. *** Argued that one of the core roles of leadership is to engage the team from diverse sections and working in different contexts. The effectiveness in this regard is critically dependent on the selection of the leadership styles. The leadership styles are basically the strategy or methods adopted by a leader in order to communicate, motivate, appraise and coach the people. The selection of the leadership style is dependent on several factors; however, the factors internal to the organisation are considered critical. This highlights that the competency, social, cultural and religious norms plays a critical role in selection of the leadership style. In other words, the nature and psychological factors related to the team will have a major role in selection as well as the effectiveness of the leadership style. For instance, a participatory leadership style is recommended when a team has a high level of competency and their inputs can be used in the process of decision-making for the organisation. In addition to this, this particular style is also effective in attaining a higher ownership level of the individuals. This is basically because of the fact that an individual involved in the decision-making is likely to own the subsequent actions effectively. On the other hand, an authoritative leadership style has several disadvantages but this also have its own advantages in certain situations. For instance, in case a team has little expertise or novice in any particular operation, the leader will have to take authoritative decisions in order to keep the operations aligned. In addition, it will also help in coaching of the team.

As demonstrated earlier, the leadership styles and abilities vary depending upon the social, cultural and religious norms. In addition, the existing research in this regard highlights different patterns of leadership in men and women. For instance, the women in developing countries would have different leadership abilities as compared to the women in developing nations. Similarly, these patterns may also vary depending upon the socio-cultural norms in the particular areas. Also, different sector may also raise the need of different leadership style. In this regard, the objective of this research is to explore the patterns of leadership abilities among the women in Pakistan. The research will specifically focus Lahore and will consider women across primary schools to conclude on the research objectives.

Background of the study

Pakistan, officially known as Islamic Republic of Pakistan is the fifth largest country of the world in terms of its population. The country has a rich culture and social norms. In terms of its economy, Pakistan mainly relies on agriculture; however, recent global trends have also promoted industrialisation as well as the information technology (IT) industry. Women constitute to more than 48 percent of Pakistan’s population. According to the World Development Report, only 28 percent of the women participate towards the total workforce of Pakistan. This percentage is quite lower as compared to other developing countries such as Vietnam, where percentage of working women is 77 percent. In addition to this, the percentage of women at leadership position is also lower in the male dominant society of Pakistan. Among the working women, more than 58 percent work in the educational sector being the largest occupation for the women in Pakistan. Nonetheless, in order to progress in the particular field, specifically at a leadership position, women had to face several challenges and barriers that has very little evidence in the existing literature. The research study under consideration will aim to fill this gap in the existing literature as an effort to highlight the particular issues.

Research aims and rationale

As demonstrated earlier, women in educational field are in a majority in Pakistan as is the case in many parts of the world.  Whilst many writers have attempted to identify and categorise some of the barriers to the progress of women’s careers in educational leadership, little discussion has occurred in Pakistan how women experience leadership and how they become or do not become leaders.  

This research will be a narrative investigation of women and educational leadership in primary schools. The study will include women’s experiences of leadership, their views on how the school chooses leaders, the qualities sought when appointing a leader, how teachers become leaders or approach positions of leadership, and the extent to which schools support their ambitions to become leaders or take leadership roles.  In addition to filling the gap in the existing literature, this paper will also tend to raise the related issues of women leadership in Pakistan.

Research questions

Particular research questions for the study under consideration are as follows:

1. How women leaders in primary schools of Lahore, Pakistan progress their way?
2. What is the experience of women leaders in primary schools of Lahore, Pakistan?
3. What are the particular barriers that hinders the development and progression of women leaders in primary schools of Lahore, Pakistan.
4. How women teachers support their ambitions to become leaders or take a leadership tole in primary schools of Lahore, Pakistan.

Structure of the paper

For the purpose of presentation, the paper has been divided into six chapters. The first chapter has presented an introduction of the research topic and directions of the study. In the second chapter, a literature review will be presented with particular gaps in the existing literature. This will be followed by a brief description of methodology that has been chosen for this research. In the next chapter, the findings and data analysis will be presented based on the data collected through the particular research instrument. Subsequently, discussion on the findings will be presented to answer the specific research questions. Based on this, the study will be concluded in the last chapter.