Leadership in Educational Administration is of extreme importance to the excellence of the school systems. Gabarro (1987), provides a conceptual framework in stage format for the case study of a middle school principal succession. This stage framework attempts to synthesize the impacts of leadership, change, and culture of the organization across time. Stages used to examine this case study include: 1) taking hold, 2) immersion, 3)reshaping, 4) consolidation, and 5) refinement. Success most frequently occurred when new managers: a) assess the organizations and diagnose its problems, b) build a management team focused on a set of shared expectations, and c) bring about timely changes that address organizational problems. This principal succession validates Gabarro's stages, looking towards the impact of leadership behaviors. It portrays them, however, in a cyclical nature, one that allows for overlap into previous stages for reinterpretation. This case study provides a vehicle for examining ways in which a new leader may increase his/her effectiveness in the schools and illustrates the impact that a single leader with a vision can, through stages, have upon the future of a school.
Methodology
Case Study
References