Leadership styles and teacher involvement in the decision making process

The purpose of this study was to identify leadership strategies employed by school principals that encourage teachers in collaborative decision making. This study provides an overview of literature on administrative styles and collaborative decision making among staff and recognizing that the expertise of teachers promotes shared governance and decision making as teacher input becomes valuable in creating a collegial environment. By completing an interview protocol with principals, several conclusions regarding principal leadership styles, teacher empowerment, and collaborative decision making surfaced as a result of the study. The findings in this study showed a significant correlation between leadership styles implemented by principals and teacher involvement in collaborative decision making. This study presents descriptive findings about collaborative decision making from the perspective of principals who encourage teacher participation in the decision making process regarding school wide issues. This research also noted that all principals studied used several strategies to involve teachers, in varying degrees, to implement shared governance structures and processes to enhance teacher empowerment. The research and results of this study supports the notion of the leadership style of a school administrator having a direct impact on the degree of teacher participation in decision making