Mental models of the school principals on "leadership"

Abstract

Mental models are representations of the outside world in individuals' minds. These models represent how we perceive concepts. People's understandings and perceptions of leadership can be defined through the mental models they have developed. The aim of this study is to determine the mental models of the school principals on leadership. In order to collect data, a data collection tool developed by the researchers was used. The study group was asked four open-ended questions and also asked for drawing a picture of a leader and the followers. The study group of the research was 61 school principals who work in the cities of Bursa, Samsun, Trabzon and Istanbul and attend the graduate program in Educational Administration and Supervision department. As a result of the research, the study group expressed the leadership concept mostly "directing", "managing"and "affecting". Behavioral characteristics of the leader associated with the highest rated feature is "innovative", personality traits associated with the highest rated feature is "honesty", the skills associated with the highest rated skills is "communication skills"and physical properties associated with the highest rated feature is the "charismatic". The drawings related to the leader revealed that the principals perceive the leaders mostly male and the one who is positioned in front of his followers to lead them. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.