LEADERSHIP ORIENTATION SELF-ASSESSMENT RESULTS

Reframing Organization

Roshanda Richardson

East Texas Baptist University School of Education

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There are four different conceptions of organizations and of the task of organizational

leadership. The four frames of leadership are structural, human, political, and symbolic leaders.

According to Uhlig, 2017, organization's leadership structure determines how workflow,

accountability, and authority work together. Hierarchical leadership employs a top-down,

pyramid-shaped structure with a narrow center of power that trickles down to widening bases of

subordinate levels. Nonhierarchical leadership flattens the pyramid to form a structure with

decentralized authority and fewer levels.

One example of structural leadership is working together. To be an effective leader, one must

be willing to work with others. For example, each staff on our third-grade team has a task to

complete. No one person completes all the tasks that are needed for preparing our classrooms

daily. One is responsible for reading preparation, another teacher prepares math materials, and

the other teacher prepares science and social studies materials. Organizational structure defines

how task are divided, grouped, and coordinated in organizations (McLaughlin 2003). As an

educator, cooperative learning among peers can be one of the best methods to utilize, meaning

we learn from each other. Another example of structural leadership is communicating with peers.

Communication plays a huge role in structural leadership. To lead, one must have impeccable

communication skills. If one our colleagues are absent, we communicate via email, text, and

phone calls.

Human Resource Leaders should never stop learning. Deepening your knowledge of the

expanding field of human resources will help you to better manage, support, and lead your

Human Resource team. Again, they must communicate effectively. For example, our third-grade

team meet at least three times a week to communicate about student improvement, benchmark

testing, and how to improve student achievement. One must also practice values based on ethical
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behavior. Human Resource Leaders should think strategically, meaning connecting a variety of

Human Resource functions with an in-depth knowledge of their organizations core business

issues and aspirations.

According to research, the top five qualities of an effective political leaders are honesty,

compassion, integrity, confidence, and flexibility. Honesty develops character and builds

credibility and trust, which are the foundation to evoke confidence and respect form those around

you, and in the case of political leaders, teammates and constituents (www.belief.com). For

example, my colleague volunteered me to lead a Reading PLC. This wouldnt have taken place if

we didnt have trust, respect, and confident in one another.

Good political leaders use compassion to see the needs of those he or she leads and to

determine the course of action that would be of greatest benefit to all those involved

(www.belief.com). Everyone has a compassion for something they love to do. For example, I

have a compassion for teaching reading. The principal asked me which subject did I have a

passion for, and of course, I said reading. I will be teaching reading and social studies this

upcoming school year.

Political leaders must also possess integrity. Political leaders who possess integrity can be

trusted because he or she never veers from inner values, even when it might benefit them to do

so (www.belief.com). For example, I must do whats best for our students, not myself or

colleagues. Another example is, if one of my favorite staff is missing a day of school every week.

I must act because the students are missing instructional time, which can create a gap in grade

level.

One must also possess confident as a political leader. A political leader is about having faith or

belief that he or she will act in a right, proper, or effective way (www.belief.com). One example
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of having confident is feeling positive about the decisions you make daily. My colleagues had

confident that I can lead an effective reading PLC. One must have confident in every decision

they make, not just being in a leadership role, but decisions we make daily.

Flexibility play a huge role in everything we do, especially as one takes the role of a leader. A

political leader is about having faith or belief that he or she will act in a right, proper, or effective

way (www.belief.com). Flexibility for a political leader is about understanding the give and take

aspects of politics. For example, if you have a strategic plan for at least eighty-percent of

students to pass STAAR and only seventy percent pass, flex and utilize another plan. In a study

on flexibility, researchers at the University of Albany showed how the flexibility leadership

theory pointed to three virtues that increase performance: efficiency, adaptability, and human

capital (Burkus 2013).

Research shows that political and symbolic leaders are more effective when it comes to

leading. After being assessed on the four different conceptions of organization, I scored highest

as a symbolic leader, which is relying on charisma and a flare for drama to get others excited and

committed to organizational missions. I agree, because I do this while teaching reading to my

third graders. I do role play and add in drama to capture the students attention. This normally

gets them excited and eager for more. For example, I have a student who resist reading passages

during small group. I give him the choice of which character he would like to role play. I read

with excitement and expression to get him interested in role play and reading. Having that flare

for drama and charisma also works beyond the classroom. Having a symbolic leadership can

assist in others buying into your plan or organization.

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Appendix A

Your Leadership Orientations Self-Assessment Results

The Leadership Orientations assessment is keyed to four different conceptions of

organizations and of the task of organizational leadership. Lee Bolman and Terry
Deal in Reframing Organizations present these orientations as four frames -- a
distinct way of thinking about leadership and organizations.

The Four Frames

STRUCTURAL LEADERS: emphasize rationality, analysis, logic, facts, and data.

They are likely to believe strongly in the importance of clear structure and well-
developed management systems. A good leader in the structural leader's
view is someone who thinks clearly, makes the right decisions, has good analytic
skills, and can design structures and systems that get the job done.

HUMAN RESOURCE LEADERS: emphasize the importance of people. They

endorse the view that the central task of management is to develop a good fit
between people and organizations. They believe in the importance of coaching,
participation, motivation, teamwork, and good interpersonal relations. A good
leader in the view of a human resource leader is a facilitator and participative
manager who supports and empowers others.

POLITICAL LEADERS: believe that managers and leaders live in a world of

conflict and scarce resources. The central task of management is to mobilize
the resources needed to advocate and fight for the units or the organizations
goals and objectives. Political leaders emphasize the importance of building a
power base: allies, networks, coalitions. A good leader to a political leader
means an advocate and negotiator who understands politics and is comfortable
with conflict.

SYMBOLIC LEADERS: believe that the essential task of management is to provide

vision and inspiration. They rely on personal charisma and a flair for drama to
get people excited and committed to the organizational missions. A good leader
in their view is a prophet and visionary, who uses symbols, tells stories, and
frames experience in ways that give people hope and meaning.

Your Scores

Your raw scores for each of the four frames, on a scale from 6 to 24, are:
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Structural: 11
Human Resources: 16
Political: 16
Symbolic: 17

Your Percentile Scores

Your raw scores alone do not provide a full picture of your leadership
orientations in relation to other leaders'. Most leaders rate themselves
considerably higher on the human resources and structural frames than the
political and symbolic frames. Paradoxically, Bolman and Deal have found that
the political and symbolic frames, which may puzzle or even repel many, are
more critical for effective leadership. To get a more accurate picture of your
frames orientation, determine your percentile rankings using the table below,
which is based on a sample of more than 700 managers in business, education,
and government. Locate each of your four scores in the appropriate frame
column and then look at the Percentile column to see the percentile range for
that frame score.

Percentile Structural HR Score Political Score Symbolic

Score Score

90-100th 22-24 24 16-24 21-24

80-89th 20, 21 22, 23 14, 15 18-20

70-79th 18, 19 21 13 17

60-69th 17 20 12 16

50-59th 15,16 19 11 14, 15

40-49th 14 18 10 13
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30-39th 13 17 9 12

20-29th 11,12 15, 16 8 11

10-19th 9, 10 13, 14 7 9, 10

1-9th 6-8 6-12 6 6-8

What Your Scores Mean

Look at your highest score, focusing particularly on your percentile scores -- this
is likely your primary leadership orientation, the way you instinctively think
about and approach leadership. If you have some high scores (above the 75th
percentile for example) and some low scores (below the 25th percentile), your
results suggest that you have distinct preferences for some frames over others.
On the other hand, if your scores are similar (all your scores are close to the
50th percentile), you have a more balanced orientation that doesn't lean
strongly toward any one of the four approaches.

Next Steps

All four frames are critical for leading organizations successfully, but few leaders
are adept with working in all four frames. Our hope is to encourage you to move
beyond your impulses and use all four frames as personal possibilities and
leadership identities. Reframing Organizations offers insights and practical
suggestions to help you understand and use the possibilities of all four frames to
increase your effectiveness as a leader.

Appendix B

Rubric with completed self-evaluation and total points

Points Self- Instruction

Categories
Possible Evaluation Evaluation
APA formatting / Grammar / Punctuation /
50 45
Usage / Spelling
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Reflections Relatable to Frames 25 17

Personal Examples Provided 25 21

Depth of Development 25 19

Insights / Implications for future practice 25 18

Total Points 150 120

Average of the two scores:

References

Agbin, Kenneth C., The Impact of Organizational Structure and Leadership Styles on
Innovation. Journals of Business and Management; (Volume 6, Issue 6, Feb. 2013) pp 56-63.

McLaughlin, John, (2003) Organizational Structure: Definition and Influence on Organizational

Behavior.
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Uhlig, Daria K., Hierarchical Leadership vs. Nonhierarchical Leadership. Hearst Newspaper,
LLC.

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