Keywords

42.1 Introduction

In today’s world, perception and management are gaining importance due to the rapidly developing information and communication technologies. Thoughts, expectations, hopes, short needs, desires and fears activate people’s lives and determine the direction of their activities. It must be remembered that the way of conduct of individuals manages more emotions than logic and reason can. Perceptions have a very important place in all forms of relationships. This is because people perceive and evaluate every living thing and inanimate objects around them through their senses. Our perceptions and evaluations about people in the neighbourhood can be different from those of other people who are related to the same people because of the way they affect us and because they have variables that are quite different from other areas or parts of the world.

Leadership, on the other hand, is essentially a matter of management science. Leaders are individuals who are active in adopting attitudes, creating new values and differentiating between anticipations. However, leaders can identify new goals and trends and change their thinking about needs and possibilities (Erçetin 2007). Perceptions play the most fundamental role in the emergence of leaders and followers (the most important elements of leadership) in the process of leadership.

The perceptual leadership approach is addressed by Erçetin and Düzer (2008) within the framework of the hypothesis that a leader cannot be spoken of without followers. Situations that may occur in the structure of leadership were accordingly examined by introducing a multidimensional model.

42.2 Multidimensional Perceptual Leadership Model (Muldimperlead)

According to Erçetin and Düzer (2008), there is a strong relationship between personal characteristics of leaders and perceptions of their followers. However, this relationship should be analysed by considering different variables such as task and time. At the same time, leadership cannot be explained only by the leader’s personal characteristics. This is because leadership is much more than personal traits.

The world dynamics that are constantly evolving and changing have influenced and transformed the aspects of the leader and views of the led. Today, as communication and information flow is accelerating more and more, modern approaches are emerging in leadership. Modern approaches have been explained basing on the interaction between leaders and followers. These approaches are transformative leadership and charismatic leadership. In addition, glocal leadership, quantum leadership and plasma leadership are among the modern approaches taking centre stage.

The multidimensional perceptual leadership model presented by Erçetin and Düzer (2008) was analysed according to the following points:

  • Basic assumptions on which the model is based

  • The four major situations of leadership in dimensional form

  • Variables that affect the perception of certain forms

  • Variables that affect perception in general

42.3 Basic Assumptions of the Model

This model is based on five assumptions. These are:

  • Everyone is a potential leader.

  • The foundation of leadership is perception.

  • The status of leadership determines the perception of the leader and followers. So, perception can be analysed at two different levels. These are individual level and group level.

  • Evaluation of leadership can be made at a specific point in time.

  • Leadership status as a result of perceptions of leaders and their surroundings does not show us whether an individual is an effective and successful leader or not.

42.3.1 Everyone is a Potential Leader

The most important issue that confuses leaders about leadership is the dilemma of being a leader. For many years, our general opinion in society has been that leadership is an innate feature. When viewed from this frame, if people have leadership qualities owing to creation, they are judged as to whether they can be leaders or not. However, the approach proposed by Erçetin and Düzer (2008) adopted the premise that “Everyone is a potential leader”. For this reason, it is unlikely that you will know who, when and where to present or determine leadership potential within an individual. Different situations, conditions and positions that people experience may lead them to leadership. In a clearer sense, the process of differentiation in terms of location, status and conditions is a process that affects leadership. For this reason, leadership is not constant but specific for a specific time period. The reason for this difference is perceptions about leadership.

42.3.2 The Basics of Leadership Create Perceptions

Leadership is a dynamic perception between leaders and followers. Certain factors influence the presence of leadership and leadership style. Our perceptions about a person cause us to get impressions about that particular person. This has led to development of a configurable model of impression development. According to the model, the basic features are used at first when making the impression, and these basic features have important effects on the final impression. In addition to this, the basic features influence the meaning of other features and perceptions about other people.

42.3.3 The Sense of Leadership is Determined by the Leader and Followers

Leaders are perceived by their followers through their senses. Leaders are also subjects who perceive their leadership settings. The perceptions of the leaders themselves are at least close to the perceptions of their followers. In light of this assumption, the model states that there are two levels of perception. These are the individual and the other is group perception.

42.3.3.1 Individual Perception

Individual perception refers to the perception of the leader about his leadership. Perceptions about the leader’s own leadership may differ from those of his followers about his leadership. Leaders may not be aware of their followers’ perceptions of themselves, and there may be conflicts between their own perceptions and their followers’ perceptions (Sen 2006).

42.3.3.2 Group Perception

Group perception is a social perception that reflects the level of acceptance of followers’ leaders. The leadership qualities developed in previous studies are all factors that affect individual and group perceptions. These factors are:

  • Physical properties (age, height, weight, physical appearance)

  • Intelligence (reasoning, decision-making, effective communication)

  • Personality (independence, self-confidence, assertiveness)

  • Social background (education, social status)

  • Work-related qualities (success, need for responsibility, interest in others, interest in results, need for security)

  • Social qualities (orientation towards co-operation, honesty, need for power)

42.3.4 Assessing Your Leadership Can Be Done at a Specific Point in Time

It is often thought that leadership is a natural process. With this thought in mind, we seek to reach an effective judgement about the leaders. However, leadership should be assessed under the influence of a variety of factors. For this reason, it is not possible to evaluate this process objectively, because of the complexity of the factors and their interrelationships. As a matter of fact, the evaluation is limited to the evaluator, and each evaluator obtains different results. It is much easier to assess the leadership for a given point in time. This is because the factors that influence leadership and leadership itself will remain constant at that point. Thus, a more objective assessment is possible, and this objective assessment can provide more efficient results.

42.3.5 Leadership Status as a Result of the Perceptions of the People Around Leaders Cannot Tell Us Whether One is an Effective and Successful Leader

The perceptual leadership model is not interested in whether a leader is successful or not. However, it deals with the individual and group perceptions required to be successful and effective and how these perceptions will be influenced positively.

The multidimensional perceptual leadership model assumes that leadership has four states as follows (Fig. 42.1):

Fig. 42.1
figure 1

Multidimensional perceptual leadership model (Erçetin and Düzer 2008)

Full size image

Implicit leadership

This refers to a style of leadership that is not commonly mentioned. The people in this group are usually passengers, they have no confidence, and they are trapped. They do not see themselves as leaders or they do not want to be leaders. They mostly prefer to be followers. Others do not see them as leaders because of the signals they send to their environment. But that does not mean that these people cannot be leaders. If necessary, they can become leaders when circumstances arise. Under certain circumstances they can adopt another leadership style.

Potential leadership

The people in this group are actors and their confidence is high. These people have all the qualities necessary to be leaders and are ready to take responsibility. However, they may experience some problems with their followers in terms of communication and interaction.

Reluctant leadership

Such leaders may have interactive problems with their followers. There can be two situations here. In the first case, the person does not want to be a leader but acts as a leader as a result of environmental pressure. In the latter case, they act as leaders because of their managerial positions. Such a situation can reduce the perception of one’s own leadership status. Or on the contrary, followers may not be able to meet the expectations of the appointed leader.

Ideal leadership

This is the desired and necessary leadership. Both leaders and followers ensure and apply appropriate communication and interaction conditions. An important feature of this situation is that individual perception and group perception are consistent (Erçetin and Düzer 2008).

In the case of the four leadership forms mentioned in the model, Erçetin et al. (2013) extended on the tenets of the model by adding two new leadership situations or types as “covert” and “dull” leadership. The covert leadership reflects a situation in which the leader does not perceive himself or herself as a leader for a variety of reasons, but after a certain period of time, an ideal leadership setting develops in which both the leader and the followers identify themselves accordingly. In this leadership situation, when there is a change in perceptions, there is potential to change from “covert” leadership to “reluctant” leadership and finally to “ideal” leadership situations. Dull leadership refers to a situation in which, after a certain period of time in an ideal leadership setting, the leader perceives himself as an effective leader and the followers too perceive him or her as an effective leader for a variety of reasons.

The perceptions of the leader and those of his followers are the major sign posts to describe any one of the six leadership situations identified in the model or any other leadership situations that can be developed thereafter. However, it may not be possible to measure and describe the speed, intensity and direction of the various factors that affect the perceptions of leaders and followers. Indeed, minor differences in the initial perception may lead to major changes in the person or society.

As a result of the detailed examination of the model, there is no obstacle in accepting the premise that each individual is a potential leader. We can, thus, say that evaluating people in a society or organization as more important or less important does not give the right results. A person who is perceived as insignificant can take decisions and implement actions that can lead to serious consequences which are not targeted and covered by shifting to the ideal leadership position due to sudden as well as less important perceptual changes in the perceptions of himself and the society.

Group and individual leadership perception is shown in the figure below (Fig. 42.2).

Fig. 42.2
figure 2

Group and individual leadership perception

Full size image

42.4 Perception and Perception Management

Perception is related to views about one another in the minds of individuals as a result of interaction between individuals. Perception is about the personality of an individual or organization. The impressions people make are good at influencing and directing the other’s behaviour. From an individual perspective, perception is very important. Individuals are expected to be successful in organizations, be able to adapt, have a happy and fulfilling job, and therefore be productive. (Demir 2003, 2)

Perception management is an effort to control the impressions or perceptions of others. Different ways are used by the perceiver to influence the one being perceived, that is, the target. As a result, behavioural matching between perception and the perceiver reveals situations such as self-support, adherence to situational norms, appreciation of others and/or coherence.

It is possible to be successful in perception management by embracing all people regardless of differences and making everybody a service principle without exception. There are also organizational benefits of managing individual differences. Competition and productivity, job satisfaction, increased creativity, the formation of organizational synergies, the development of organizational adaptability and the maintenance of occupational continuity are some of these.

The perceptive leader is a leader who recognizes the moral values of those who work with them, with respect to their differences. The management of differences can be defined as the process of managing the social system and the environment together with the organizational climate and culture. It involves recognizing, accepting, respecting, being open and evaluating all kinds of differences between people. The aim is to create a positive working environment for all occupations (Riccucci 1997).

42.5 Multidimensional Perceptual Leadership in Educational Administration

Educational management is a process geared towards achieving the goals and visions of educational organizations in order to successfully meet the needs and aspirations of society as well as furthering development thereof. As understood, in educational administration there is a need for a plan which is compatible with realizing the process of achieving organizational goals. However, the current leading definitions vary from past to present, and despite the emergence of new models, there is no clear definition supporting education management in a full exegesis. Existing definitions are not sufficient enough and need to be reshaped according to new conditions and circumstances, which leads to the creation of new definitions. The “multidimensional perceptual leadership” model, in which Erçetin offers one of the new definitions, is a critical entry point in leadership literature. Erçetin (2008) states that leadership is a cultural process and that it makes sense through the cultural environment. This is why educated leaders must have traits transcending place, space, time and interaction. This differentiation stems from differences in the perceptions of people and groups. This is because the same people can give different reactions to the same aspect at different times. Until then, experiences they have lived and changes in their minds as well as events influence their perceptions and reactions in their minds. These perception schemes are influenced by their cultural background.

A school is an open system which allows managers, teachers, students and social groups to come together for effective interaction. The perceptions of leadership in school management vary from one generation to another depending on the manager, the teacher and the student. School administrators are perceived by both students and teachers as potential leaders and find themselves in the position of being a subject of individual perception. Therefore, we can say that the definition of leadership in educational administration is inextricably interwoven with a kind of perceptions. School administrators need to use individual perception and group perceptions positively to be successful and effective leaders. In this case, educational management should work on how positively the individual and group perceptions can affect and constitute a perceptive leadership behaviour that promotes effectiveness of the school organization. According to the perceptual leadership model, leadership is a process of change in which the change in leadership must take shape in educational management leadership. Educational leaders are also potential leaders, so they can have different types of leadership. Erçetin (2008) contends that change is caused by changes in individual perception and group perception. Therefore, there is also individual perception and group perception in school organizations.

In this case, the leader within the realm of educational administration should be one of the people who can create individual perception in school organization, which is trustworthy, equilibrium in every issue, forming an environment of respect, good example to the environment and most importantly adopting his or her own leadership. According to Andrews et al. (n.d.), there are features that must be present for “leadership” to take shape. In this context, it is emphasized that leaders are needed in order for education to be effectively carried out in schools and that educational leadership must also have certain characteristics. In short, an educational leader provides the opportunity for realizing the aims of the school by organizing the education and training resources and environments, establishing an ideal communication climate in the school, guiding the teachers, taking necessary precautions for the education and teaching to be supervised and interrupted in order to improve them. However, existing definitions do not suffice, because the most important element which is the human being is always ignored. As reactions change according to time and place, leadership also has to change the style. In this case, leaders at every level of the national education units, such as the class teacher, the principal and the assistant, must start by recognizing the group so that they can transfer motivation and necessary knowledge to achieve their goals and objectives.

As Akyüz (2002) states, it is not enough for school leaders to be one-way leaders in the Turkish society today. For this reason, the schools and the Ministry of National Education units, which we can define as an organization, should choose managers who have this leadership ability to harness the perceptions of each employee and the leaders of their units considering their perceptual leadership characteristics. However, in some of the researches conducted on existing leaders, it was established that there is need to train managers/leaders for our schools, improve on the situation in the schools, analyse the characteristics of teachers and students and use different types of leadership.

Erçetin and Düzer (2008) stated that four different leadership situations may occur depending on the position, place, time and conditions that relate to leadership and perception, both in terms of the individual and the masses. When the two types of leadership proposed by Erçetin et al. (2013) are included, studies have been conducted on six leadership styles, including implicit, potential, reluctant, ideal, covert and dull leadership based on the perceptions of the leader and his group. Leaders in educational administration should consist of persons who accept individual perception, especially within school organizations, depending on where, when and where they are located. For this reason, the perceptual leadership model should hold an important place in school organization structure. Schools are institutions with social status, and the manager has an interaction with his/her teachers and students. Teachers and students adopt the leadership styles of the school administrators in a group of perceptions and should perceive these leaders as model leaders who decide on their trustworthy as well as reasoning skills.

The experiment that professor Zimbardo made in the 1970s emphasized the importance of group perception. In Zimbardo’s trial, he divided a group of students into prisoners and guards and closed the prison for 2 weeks. During this time, the brutal force guards were obliged to finish the experiment on the sixth day. This study shows that group sense, given authorities and the attitudes of those influencing the group (leaders), determines the views and structure of our leadership.

In short, all the studies and works that have been done show that group perceptions have always been examined, and the concepts and interpretations of leadership are shaped according to these perceptions. Findings and interpretations are based on the group’s perceptions. Leadership status reveals whether leaders and their perceptions are resultant, successful or influential leaders when examined over a specific time frame. However, if we ask the question of which types of perceptual leadership can be understood in the realm of education, we can explain this with the following examples.

If we look at the student dimension, teachers (leaders) leave students with negative traces in the educational experience by preventing them from being accepted in the group, when they are students with problems in their classes, they try to understand the problem and endeavour to solve the problem. Such behaviour is tricky for students who are implicit because they will have a low level of leadership perceptions about themselves and their followers (friends). In addition, when the student identified in the sample becomes a teacher (leader), he or she tries to analyse and solve problems, respects differences and will renew his/her self-confidence with change, by reducing communication problems and taking a potential leader position.

If we look at the dimension of the teacher, let’s think about a departmental meeting in middle school. After 10 years of successful managerial life, we assume there is a mathematics teacher, a quiet geography teacher, an active music teacher and an authoritarian principal assistant. The task is to distribute responsibility, and the geography teacher is asked to organize a meal. The geography teacher does not want to do it at first, but the majority in the group tells him that he will do it and will succeed, and he is given the task. The teacher who is given this job performs the duty by experiencing difficulties in adjusting to the time and the place and ends up realizing reluctant leadership. The mathematics teacher is given the task of “crime intervention team” because he had saved the life of a student who was about to commit suicide, but this time he refuses the task because of lack of self-confidence for various reasons. This is an example of reluctant and dull leadership. However, at the second board meeting, it would be an example of ideal leadership if it is agreed upon to give the task to other authorities and it is accepted.

As a result, perceptual leadership model should hold an important place in school organization structure. Schools are institutions with social status, and the manager has an interaction with his/her teachers and students. Teachers and students adopt the leadership style of school administrators in terms of a group of perceptions and perceive these leaders as model leaders who take decisions basing on their trustworthy and reasoning skills. Therefore, this situation is gaining attention from the viewpoint of the school management’s functioning, and it is effective for the school administrators to be ambitious managers who make their duties better by being effective with the groups and putting the group perception at the forefront when taking decisions in order to avoid entering into conflicts. Hence, the perceptual leadership model shows us that education management and school management have gained importance in terms of effective and clinical functioning.

42.6 Reflection of Covert and Dull Leadership Features in Education

By using Erçetin and Düzer’s (2008) multidimensional perceptual leadership model as an example, we have identified four leadership situations, implicit, potential, reluctant and ideal, based on the perceptions of the leader and his followers. It has been established as an assumption that the leader and followers change their leadership positions according to different variables. If we consider the schoolmaster as a leader in educational administration, the perceptions of teachers, students and school staff as the followers towards the leader change in response to various events taking place in the school system.

Erçetin and Düzer’s multidimensional perceptual leadership model, which was developed and presented in 2008, was extended by Erçetin, Açıkalın and Bülbül in 2013, and two new leadership positions were added to the model, namely, covert and dull leadership. The covert leadership implies the fact that ideal leadership reflects a situation in which the leader does not perceive himself or herself as a leader for a certain period of time, and this kind of perception is also reflected within the views of the followers in this case teachers and students. Nevertheless, with time, this situation changes, and an ideal leadership feeling and perception develop within the school system. As far as studies on school leadership are concerned, school leaders may not be perceived as leaders by teachers, students and school staff, who are indispensable elements of education, for a variety of reasons over time.

Therefore, the changes that may occur in the school administrators themselves may be translated into the perceptions of teachers and students, thereby causing changes in the way they look at school administrators. Changes in the perception situation can lead to big differences in teacher and student perceptions. In this case, school leaders can show more than one leadership quality as they are potential leaders. According to school events, school administrators sometimes make the transition to the ideal leadership position in the school organization where there is a slight change in the perceptions of teachers, students and school staff. A person who appears to be insignificant can make decisions that will lead to very important consequences, by shifting to the ideal leadership position due to perceptual changes in his and others’ perceptions that are instantly and precisely determined and unmeasured.

Thus, some school administrators with low leadership potential and ability in the eyes of teachers, students and school staff may, unexpectedly and in the unlikely event of a leadership vacuum situation in the school organization, take up the mantle and oversee an ideal leadership prowess if they were to be offered chance to exhibit their leadership behaviours and qualities. Therefore, it is observed that the school administrators display “covert” or “dull” leadership qualities according to the school organizations and environmental conditions they have experienced and the expressions they show with their decisions.

42.7 Conclusion

The most important employees of our education system are teachers and school administrators. Today, the leadership behaviours of school administrators have gained importance, and studies are being conducted on the leadership of educational administrators. According to Erçetin et al.(2013), it is seen that the school administrators exhibit reluctant leadership behaviours during the changing time periods. It is effective for school administrators to take control of management in the face of all kinds of events happening in the school, especially for effective communication with teachers, students and school staff, and to show different leadership qualities.

The school culture in which the school administrators are involved influences administrators in both positive and negative ways. It cannot be denied that school administrators with weak leadership ability for various reasons have low energy levels in their work and low involvement with the people around them. In such cases, it is observed that managers do not accept their own leadership and even perceive themselves as low-level leaders in the eyes of teachers and students. When such a leadership feature is shown, it is also possible that such school administrators can reach an ideal leadership position depending on the positive or negative situation in the school organization. The success of the school in any kind of competition with other schools as reflected in the awarding of prizes, the promotion of the school and the projects of the teachers and the students is premised on effective communication with the administrators. Whilst such communication has a positive impact on school administrators, it also leads to an ideal leadership within the school system.

As a result, whether school administrators are “dull”, “reluctant”, “covert” or “ideal”, their leadership behaviours affect educational management in two situations. This is not just positive and negative but also self- and group perception. The features and behaviours which school administrators exhibit cause different perceptions of leadership in the eyes of teachers and students, yet they also affect self-perception on the part of the school leader.