Abstract
M.Ed.
Good leadership is very crucial to the success of any organisation. Organisations usually rely
heavily on the abilities of their leaders to perform certain key functions to ensure the orderly
management and success of their organisations.
For any organisation to function effectively proper planning must first occur. Organisations
need to define clearly what their vision, mission and objectives are, they need to put in place
organisational structures and systems, they need to put in place infrastructural and human
resources and they also need to clearly define operational structures. All these functions
together with many others, are part of a leader's responsibility in any organisation.
When it comes to the actual operations a leader should make sure that proper monitoring
mechanisms are in place and the right climate for work has been created. To do all these tasks
effectively, leaders need to possess certain skills. Amongst these are, organisational skills,
communication skills, conflict management and resolution skills and interpersonal skills. According to Sergiovanni and Starratt (1988:40), schools are organisations, and what people
do within them is described as organisational behaviour. To organise, according to
Sergiovanni and Starratt (ibid.), is to arrange things into some kind of a coherent whole. They
argue that first there has to be a reason for organising. Different organisations are established
for different reasons. Some organisations are established for commercial reasons, some for
managing sporting programmes, some for managing social activities and so on.
Schools are established to educate through instruction or teaching. Every organisation has to
fulfill certain requirements. Organisations need to develop explicit management structures
and procedures that give a convincing account that the proper means-ends chains are in place
to accomplish purposes.