Principalship

Principals are midlevel managers responsible for the efficient and effective functioning of the building and the occupants in it. They serve as a vital connecting link between central office/board of education and classrooms and between teachers and parents. As a result, principals face very busy, demanding, unpredictable, stressful workdays filled with conflict, confrontation, and compromise as groups and individuals compete for their attention. It is common knowledge that many principals feel overworked and underappreciated.

The acronym LEA (for leading educational authority) embodies the multidimensional responsibilities and tasks of the principalship. As the LEA in the building, successful principals create a dynamic synergy between themselves and the environment in which they operate. Their knowledge, skills, attributes, and values permeate the system through the decisions they make and their moral behavior/ leadership. Yet a theme of responsiveness to the environment also defines the principalship and has done so throughout the history of the role. That role requires principals to be sensitive to the emergent behavior of the organization and the culture around them, a collective phenomenon that for the individual is a counterintuitive response to the hierarchical demands of the role.

The position at whatever grade level is about decision making related to human and organizational development. Positioned between the superintendent/board and the faculty, the principal enforces school district policy, meets the professional and personal needs of the faculty and staff, leads for change, and remains committed to personal goals. A typical high school principal makes 150 decisions a day. And decision making is value laden. Such decision making is risky and demanding, for in the world of administration, each interaction demands a response, and that response is a decision through which a principal creates a school.

As a line-management position, the principal is held responsible for crafting an environment in which student learning is optimized. To do that, the principal must tap into the dynamics of student behavior and learning, teacher motivation and beliefs, adult learning theory, community and school board expectations/ demands, and his or her own personal motivation and ambition. Principals develop a high tolerance for ambiguity, for within highly complex organizations such as schools, success or failure rarely results from one decision but rather from a series of small decisions that when taken together tip the organization forward or backward. Different theories of leadership, such as the great man theory and transformational leadership versus transactional leadership, attempt to unravel the micro/macro politics of the principalship, but none have fully explained the complexities of the position or the individual who occupies it.

The job description focuses on five functional areas: instructional leadership, student services, curriculum, financial and facility management, and community relations plus any other duties as assigned. This tension between leadership and management duties remains contentious in practice and in preparation, since efficient managers require different skill sets than effective leaders. Toward this dichotomy, higher education programs that prepare principals (a) offer courses in finance, law, organizational theory, public relations, and instructional supervision, (b) explore concepts of power, conflict, systems thinking, and strategic planning, and (c) examine theories of organizations and of leadership in complex systems.

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