0.3 Preparing and training superintendents for the mission of  (Page 3/23)

Importantly, is there sufficient inter-role conflict to render the superintendency a plural role forcingincumbents to choose between often conflicting role expectations and responsibilities? If effective managers and effective leaderspossess different personalities, can one superintendent be effectively trained for a role requiring a bi-polar personality?This is certainly another way to view the common description of leaders as being either relations or task oriented in selectedpractices and situations (Hersey&Blanchard, 1988). This may also account for the reluctance of many superintendents to adopt achange agent role requiring“visionary”leadership and risks.

There appears to be an absence of literature examining the“managerial”and“leadership”attributes of superintendents in terms of emotional involvement, empathy, andsocial discourse. Leaders are typically characterized as being extroverted and intensely emotionally involved with followers andcolleagues in a realm of ideas. Managers on the other hand relate to others according to roles and sequences of events indecision-making and task completion (Zaleznik, 1977). Which of the two best fits or describes current superintendents?

Callahan Revisited

Callahan’s identification and description of four distinctive roles of the superintendent, scholarly educationalleader, business executive, educational statesman in democratic society, and applied social scientist, suggest a plural role withbuilt-in conflict (Callahan, 1962). Cuban (1976) and others correctly point out that superintendents must manifest behaviorelements of these four roles at different times and places in their practice. This is correct as the superintendent is a highlysituational position dictated by boards and unique sets of local circumstances. Lutz and Merz (1992) and others suggest three“general roles”for superintendents as, change agent, developer, or maintainer of the status quo. These roles are situational basedrequiring distinct sets of leadership and management skills. Do these skill sets require psychosocial attitudes? It is likely thistrio of roles significantly affects a board’s decision when selecting a new superintendent.

A board satisfied with the performance of the district may carefully select a superintendent with excellentmanagement skills charged to keep the district at its present level of operation. Or a board may choose a management skilledsuperintendent to carefully manage a district with very few resources and little possibility of implementing reforminitiatives. This status quo superintendent role is very prevalent.

Another board may have already passed through an era of repeated failed reform initiatives led by a changeoriented visionary leader and feel the time is ripe for a new superintendent to pick up the pieces and develop and manage theminto a whole program. The developer role may be the superintendent many large urban districts need at this time.

The hard charging visionary change-agent leader is resplendent in today’s reform literature. This is particularly true in the urban districts where change agentsuperintendents stay fewer than 3 years and initiate three new reform initiatives each year of their brief tenure (Hess, 1999).Contrary to conventional wisdom relatively few boards are actively seeking this usually short term leader. Only 8 % of superintendentsparticipating in the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) Ten Year Study in 2000 said their boards hired them to be“reform leaders”(Glass, Bjork,&Brunner, 2004).