Leadership styles in Lebanese secondary schools: a case study of two private and two public schools

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the new roles of principals—as managers, instructors and change or reform agents—as perceived and practiced by leaders in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and the United States of America (USA), and as perceived and practiced by their counterparts in Lebanon. This study documented how principals performed their new roles by matching their self- perceived and perceived leadership management styles with their behaviors while working together with subject coordinators and teachers to implement the school vision in Lebanese secondary public and private schools. Therefore, the study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate the roles of principals perceived as leaders, in Lebanese secondary schools (public and privare0 through the study of the principal’s use of the four leadership framework of Bolman and Deal (2006) – the four leadership styles and their corresponding behaviors—as self-perceived and the principal’s use of the four- leadership framework as perceived by subject coordinators and teachers. The results revealed that the principals perceived their main leadership management style as, firstly, human resources and, secondly, structural in the public and private Lebanese secondary sectors. There was no significant difference between the results in the public school sector and the private school sector. This research may direct future studies on school principals’ management styles and behaviors in their quest to reach the school vision. Recommendations were given.