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Sustaining Leadership Team Effectiveness in Education Agencies to Improve Student Achievement

Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019.

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Other Authors: Eloff, Irma F.
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2020
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Eloff, Irma F.
author_browse Eloff, Irma F.
author_facet Eloff, Irma F.
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2020 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019.
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:39:20.633Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2020
publishDateRange 2020
publishDateSort 2020
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
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source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/76713 Sustaining Leadership Team Effectiveness in Education Agencies to Improve Student Achievement Eloff, Irma F. mcgeeandco@aol.com Mc Gee Hewitt, Ruth Ann UCTD Leadership Teams Leadership Team Effectiveness Senior Leadership Teams Team Culture Education theses SDG-04 Education theses SDG-08 Education theses SDG-16 Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. As education evolves, leadership processes change. The concept of a single senior leader, with siloed divisions often providing direction, is transforming into a team-based culture. While there is substantive research on school-site leadership, research is limited on how the central organization impacts the system. It identified individual leadership characteristics but had not adequately addressed impact of a senior leadership team. This study addresses the concept of senior leadership teams with divisions and executives working collaboratively. It identifies characteristics of effective leadership teams to explore how they can be successfully created and sustained; and it investigates the senior leader’s role in, and what factors and methods can be replicated to sustain, team effectiveness. Four organizations participated: one school district, one government agency and two for-profit organizations. Twenty-five senior leaders and team members completed a DiSC and Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team assessment; a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis; and a hiring values survey. All were interviewed individually and as a group, and the structured and semi-structured instruments were chosen to explore group characteristics in such a way that the data would point to replicable information. Study elements, coupled with my expertise in team development and leadership, allowed me to critically consider data and identify three emerging themes. While aspects of these themes have been previously identified, they have not been linked as a pathway to creating and sustaining effective teams as a route to organizational excellence leading to student achievement. First, there is a strong relation between the factors of team culture, membership, and expectations and engagement as a foundation of an effective team. Second, crucial team management and engagement methods were identified as key to long-term sustainability. Third, the senior leader’s impact is significant to team success based on team leadership style and methodology. A paradigm emerged changing traditional leadership hierarchy to a new dynamic of leading from the center. The research indicates that deliberately designing teams may have greater potential for success and long-term effectiveness. Further research is encouraged to address issues relating to virtual teams and identify successful strategies in team building and implementation. mi2026 Humanities Education PhD Unrestricted SDG-04: Quality education SDG-08: Decent work and economic growth SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions 2020-11-04T15:09:40Z 2020-11-04T15:09:40Z 2020/04/22 2019 Thesis Mc Gee Hewitt, RA 2019, Sustaining Leadership Team Effectiveness in Education Agencies to Improve Student Achievement, PhD Thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/76713> A2020 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/76713 en © 2020 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Leadership Teams
Leadership Team Effectiveness
Senior Leadership Teams
Team Culture
Education theses SDG-04
Education theses SDG-08
Education theses SDG-16
Sustaining Leadership Team Effectiveness in Education Agencies to Improve Student Achievement
title Sustaining Leadership Team Effectiveness in Education Agencies to Improve Student Achievement
title_full Sustaining Leadership Team Effectiveness in Education Agencies to Improve Student Achievement
title_fullStr Sustaining Leadership Team Effectiveness in Education Agencies to Improve Student Achievement
title_full_unstemmed Sustaining Leadership Team Effectiveness in Education Agencies to Improve Student Achievement
title_short Sustaining Leadership Team Effectiveness in Education Agencies to Improve Student Achievement
title_sort sustaining leadership team effectiveness in education agencies to improve student achievement
topic UCTD
Leadership Teams
Leadership Team Effectiveness
Senior Leadership Teams
Team Culture
Education theses SDG-04
Education theses SDG-08
Education theses SDG-16
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/76713