School principals’ leadership frame as a factor to improve leadership effectiveness: The case of primary schools in Ambo City Administration

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the preferred leadership frame of Ambo City Administration primary school principals as perceived by principals themselves and teachers. The study also examined the relationship between principals’ demographic characteristics, the use of leadership frames, and the extent of principals’ effectiveness as a manager and as a leader. The study applied a descriptive research design and an entirely quantitative approach. The study involved 20 primary schools. In these schools, there were 60 primary school principals and 182 teachers who were included in the study by comprehensive and proportionate simple random sampling techniques respectively. Bolman and Deal’s (1997) Leadership Orientations Survey Questionnaire was the data collection tool. The results revealed that the school principals preferred leadership frame was the structural frame.  This implies that Ambo City Administration primary school principals had a limited view of organization leadership as they emphasized on only the architecture of an organization. Furthermore, even though teachers only gave them grades of effective managers, most principals believed they were effective as both leaders and managers. Sex, leadership experience, and teaching experience were found to be factors for variations in the use of the leadership frame of principals. The researcher suggests that the principals need to view their leadership frame through all available leadership lenses in order to comprehend the complicated school environment and fulfill the various demands placed on them by the circumstances and in turn become effective.