Analysis of Leadership Styles on School Administration in Public Secondary Schools in Delta Cental Senatorial Districts, Delta State, Nigerial

This paper, analyses Leadership Styles on School Administration in Public Secondary Schools in Delta Central Senatorial Districts. The study consented to use the descriptive survey research design, with two research questions and one hypothesis. The population size for the study was all the teachers from 179 public secondary school in Delta Central Senatorial District. Selecting five male teachers and five female teachers at random from each school, the sample size used for the study was 1,790 public secondary school teachers. Fifty copies of the questionnaire were administered to teachers in public secondary schools in Delta North Senatorial District outside the study area, and the data obtained were analysed with Cronbach alpha yielding a coefficient of 0.86. Frequency and mean were also used. The Pearson Correlation was further used to test for the statistical significance between variables at a 0.05 significance level. The study showed that to an average extent, the level of school administration in public secondary schools in Delta State is effective, and that that as leadership style increases, the effectiveness of school administration decreases and vers-a-visa, therefore exemplifying that with the introduction of more autocratic leadership style the effectiveness of school administration tends to dwindle, but however there exists a significant relationship between leadership styles and school administration in public secondary school in Delta State. The researcher recommends care should however be taken on the measure or mix of the leadership style used by school administrators.


Introduction
Throughout the pages of history, society has always and will continue to witness its affairs being piloted by certain entities considered to be unique and of notable character, or considered worthy of the calling. This trend has continued to shaped the lifestyle of mankind since the dawn of the early ages.
Society as we know it, exist solely through a structure defined and organized by members more concerned with its stability, organization and effective functionality. Such members oversee its affairs, formulate policies, draft laws, and binding principles with the sole purpose of maintaining the togetherness and the coexisting of such society. It is against this back drop that the concept of a leader and leadership theories emerge. A leader therefore is a personality that defines guidance, channelling resources to achieve a preconceived or a desired objective. Wong (2007) explained that a leader is an individual "who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a goal". Adding that a mnemonic for this definition would be 3P's-Person, People and Purpose (portraying the person, influencing people, to achieve a purpose), further buttressing that, a leader by its meaning is one who goes first and leads by example, so that others are motivated to follow. This therefore being the basic requirement, a leader, must be a person deeply devoted to the cause or goal that he or the group is determined to achieve even if he/she is followed by no one. Răducan and Răducan (2014) pointed out that the leader has to be seen as an assembly of attributes of the role the person has in a group, and at group's level, as an interaction process. Gary (2008) Organizational behavior, Economică, Bucureşti (Ed., p. 37), without denying the importance of individual characteristics in getting a prestigious position, believes that other two factors are determining the leading characteristics: "in reality, the leader exists according to the need of a group of people, and according to the nature of the situation where this group is trying to act". The existence of a leader comes not from personal qualities but from the characteristics of the group in question and the real situation he is part of. Adlam (2003, p. 204) highlighted that leadership is a rather complex concept. This has become exceptionally accurate as a result of several theories being adopted to provide meaning to the phrase. However, leadership, according to Fayemi (2008, p. 3) is "the ability to take an initiative, to motivate, to influence, to direct and control the thoughts, the opinions and the actions of the follows in any given society towards the achievement of purposeful desired ends". The conventional standpoint of the perceived concept of leadership is to induce conformity, reverence and cooperation of its followers. Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn (2000, p. 287) portrays this attribute of leadership as a case of interpersonal influence that get individuals, or groups of people to do what the leader wants to be done. Therefore, by implication, the leader's primarily focus is on what he/she wants to achieve from people therefore, followers' input becomes irrelevant and rebuffed with regards to what it is to be done. Reporting Sashkin and Sashkin's (2003, p. 39) and Holly and Miskel's (2001, p. 393) definitions of leadership appear to be a more recent perspective. They define leadership as the art of transforming people and organisation with the aspiration of improving the organisation. Leaders in this perspective delineate duties, elaborate why the subordinates or members of the group have what is takes in terms of skills and resources to execute the task. Such leaders create personal relationship between themselves and their subordinates within the group; thereby aligning, motivating and inspiring them to increase productivity amongst the group. This premise therefore is based upon the reformation the leader introduces that produces "positive change in the organisation, groups, interpersonal relationships and the environment" (Oyetunji, 2009).

Leadership Styles
The style of leadership adopted is considered by some researchers (for example, Maicibi, 2006, p. 126) to be particularly important for achieving organisational goals and evoking performance among subordinates. Despite the widespread acknowledgment of the importance and value of leadership, when studying the leadership literature (Mandiya, Machera, & Karodia, 2014), Cheng and Mullins (2002), explined that leadership styles are related with leaders' personal characteristics or traits and appropriate combination of personal characteristics (which) leads to effective leadership that in turn influences the performance of an institution. The impact of traits differs according to situation/environment and therefore the leaders effectively evaluate their leadership styles in order to improve performance of institutions by managing institutions differently depending with the situation (Holly & Miskel, 2012).
Leadership style is therefore defined "as the pattern of behaviours that leaders display during their work with and through others" (Hersey, 2006, p. 130). A leadership style assumed by a leader or a manager in an organisation can also be influenced by the nature and quality of employees in the workplace. Leaders employ different styles according to the nature and quality of their subordinates.
Rearticulating Mandiya, Machera, and Karodia (2014), a leadership style adopted by an administrator of high skill or knowledgeable professionals would differ from the leader ship style adopted by an administrator of average or low skill professionals. Griffin et al. (2006, p. 61) observed, that the style of the leader may vary, as may the content of the leader's vision and the context in which it takes root. This is consistent with the position and arguments of Yukl (2008, p. 722), paraphrasing that leaders must be prepared to modify their leadership behaviour, this includes their competitive policy, and the formal structures they operate upon, in order to circumvent the challenges that besets them in an increasingly turbulent and uncertain environment.
According to Zehira et al. (2011), leadership styles can be classified into two major groups: the mechanistic based leadership approach and the humanistic based leadership style; rearticulating that the dynamic changes which takes place within and outside the organization, has further positively stimulated leaders to modify their leadership ideologies from the more orthodox mechanistic technique to a more humanistic driven leadership technique in order to achieve predetermined goals and organizational objectives (Brown, 2003;Rad & Yarmohammadian, 2006;Ismail, Zainuddin, & Ibrahim, leaders incline to adopt the mechanistic based leadership technique in handling subordinates, and supervising them within the organization. This leadership style is widely practiced in organizations that operate in a stable market environment, focusing on internal organizational environments and (giving) less emphasis to high commitment human resource practices (Coulter & Robbins, 2008;Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, Hollenbeck, Barry, & Wright, 2007;Ismail, Zainuddin, & Ibrahim, 2010).
Shedding more light, rearticulating Zehira et al. (2011), the humanistic based leadership perspective emphasizes factors depicting the quality of the relationship with followers such assympathy and concern, mutual-trust, open suggestion policies, stimulating interaction between leader and follower, consultative and democratically aligned with subordinates (Amabile, Schatzel, Moneta, & Kramer, 2004;Avolio, Zhu, Koh, & Bhatia, 2004). Adding that this leadership style is generally operational in organizations that thrive in a dynamic market environment, concentrating on external competitiveness and emphasizing more on higher performance of human resource practices (Berson & Avolio, 2004;Coulter & Robbins, 2008;Mondy, 2009;Ismail, Zainuddin, & Ibrahim, 2010).
Other leadership styles according to Mandiya, Machera, and Karodia (2014) includes, Participative Leadership Style; also known as democratic leadership (where) all members of a team are involved in identifying essential goals (and) are given the task to develop procedures or strategies to achieve the established goals. From this vintage point, participative leadership is best described as a leadership model that depends to a large extent on the leader assuming the role of a facilitator than basically issuing orders or making assignments. These views are consistent with the positions or arguments of Beatty and Quinn (2007, p. 3), who argue that leaders must ensure that people have clear, shared priorities. They must work to develop a climate that generates common understanding. By giving workers a voice in decisions, participative leaders build organisational flexibility and responsibility and help generate fresh ideas (Goleman, 2000, p. 16). Elucidating that, the Authoritative Leadership Style, is perceived as an expert in the company, able to clearly identify the goals that will lead the organisation to success. Elucidating further, that the authoritarian leadership style is also referred to as directive leadership style or coercive leadership style by some scholars. Liu et al. (2003, p. 152) pointed out, that the authoritative leadership tries to establish followers as compliant subordinates by relying on such behaviours as command and direction, assigned goals, and punishments. Followers have little direction over the job and are rarely allowed to participate in decision-making. Authoritative leadership inhibits an organisation's flexibility and dampens employees' motivation (Goleman, 2000, p. 18). However, it is important to indicate that authoritative leadership is useful in some leadership scenarios that demand the use of authority. On the other hand, Mandiya, Machera, and Karodia (2014) added that Supportive Leadership Style (which is also referred to as the coaching style by certain scholars), focuses more on personal development than on immediate work-related tasks. It works well when employees are already aware of their weaknesses and want to improve, but not when they are resistant to changing their ways (Saowalux & Peng, 2007, p. 45). The supportive style of leadership has therefore, a rational approach and presupposes that the top level manager of the company has a vision and all it takes to realise it but, at the long run, developing a strategy is equally as important as a means of rationalising management decision and guide its of actions via the services of the employee.
This leadership style is based on the premise that "in order to influence people in an organisation successfully, leaders must design their message to appeal to the heads and hearts of those they are trying to influence as well as to those individuals' desires for personal and professional growth and for the success of the organisation as a whole" (Grayson, 2002, p. 13). Adding further, that the "Laissez Faire Leadership Style also known as the 'hands off' style, is one in which the manager provides little or no direction and gives employees as much freedom as possible" (Stanfield, 2009). This leadership style portrays and tilts towards empowering the employee to act instinctively and make decisions on behalf of the organisation resolving any complex issues that may or may not arise as they go along their leadership functions.

Leadership Theories
In 2008 Yukl, proposed a theory of strategic leadership, positing that it should explain how top executives influence the organisational processes that determine a firm's financial performance and long-term survival (Boal & Hooijberg, 2000;Finkelstein & Hambrick, 1996). Explaning that the theories should take into consideration the influence of top level executives on the achievement of strategic objectives, competitive strategy adopted, the formal structure imposed, the management systems and programs, the corporate culture; and the members' skills and motivation. Stating that the theory should also include relevant aspects of the situation that influence the actions and decisions of top executives (Osborn et al., 2002), adding that the theory should also consider how multiple leaders in an organisation share power and interact with each other to influence performance (Gronn, 2002;Pearce & Conger, 2003), adding that the theory should help to bridge the gulf between the leadership and management literatures.
Thus rearticulating the "Flexible Leadership Theory" (FLT) which was introduced, necessitated by the lack of a more comprehensive theory of strategic leadership that embraces significant ideas from several distinct literatures. The flexible leadership model basses it ideology primarily around the premise of the organisation on four different stages or variables sets, which includes organisational effectiveness; performance determinants; situational variables, and leadership decisions and actions.
Adding that the effectiveness of an organisation is the extent to which the organisation is able to thrive, achieve its objective, thereby retaining income, resources, and asset value; (which are) key indicators for business firms include long-term profit growth, return on investment, and stock returns. Adding further, that the effectiveness of an organisation depends on three primary performance determinants and they include efficiency and process reliability; human capital; and adaptation to the external environment. The performance determinants (hinged upon the discretion of the leader's decision making processes) are influenced by the decisions and actions of a firm's leaders. The comparative importance of the performance determinants, and how difficult it is to influence them, are affected by www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/wjer aspects of the situation such as the type of organisation or industry, turbulence in the external environment (resource availability, intensity of competition, economic, political, or technological change), and constraints on executive action (involving oversight by owners or government agencies, or stemming from legal restrictions)" (Yukl, 2008).
Aligning these theories with behaviours, and how leadership is executed in organizations, Men (2010) explained that current leadership theories indicate that leadership behaviors can be categorised into two main styles: transformational leadership and transactional leadership (Bass & Avolio, 1997Avolio, , 2000.
Adding that Transformational leadership is the most studied leadership style across disciplines; (portraying charisma in leadership), the Transformational leaders are charismatic. They inspire followers appealing to their ideology and moral values by creating and representing an inspiring vision of the future (Bass & Avolio, 1997). This variety of leadership styles involves the construction of an emotional attachment between the leader and follower or subordinate. Elucidating further, that Transformational leaders take a real interest in the well-being of their employees. Jin (2010)  confidence, and encourages their individual development. In concurrence, Aldoory and Toth (2004) pointed out that, transformational leadership includes the elements of participative decision making and sharing of power.

Ideology of School Administration
The word "administration" takes its roots from the native Latin word "minister", which refers to "service rendered for the welfare or benefit of others", with an orthodoxy implication of taking charge of or carry out a task. It is described by The American Association of School Administration as the totality of "the processes through which appropriate human and material resources are made available and made effective for accomplishing the purpose of an enterprise". School administration therefore entails the duties assigned to an individual or group of individuals to take charge of an academic institution and render service for the benefit of the immediate environment which includes students, teachers and the general public in this regard. Established by a number of processes which in itself are termed administrative, the school exist solely via the process of organising and controlling both internal and external factors or variables which includes, number of students accepted into the school, number of student-teacher ratio, staff salary, appropriate curriculum, time allotted for teaching and learning activities amongst others.
Abdulrahman-Yusuf (2017), buttressed that school administration can simply be explained in a straight forward statement as looking after the complete affairs related to school; describing it as the managerial skill necessary for its smooth functioning and execution. The concept of school administration from the Glossary of Education (2012), portray it as "the task of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling human or material resources within a school, college, or university. This definition relies upon the fact that the school as an educational institution has its own administrative unit saddled with the task of planning, directing, organising and controlling. This unit of administrators based in the school system comprise of the principal as the head of school administration, the vice principal (deputizing on behalf of the principal when absent), the Head of Departments, form masters and subject teachers, as it is in the case of secondary level of education". Abdulrahman-Yusuf (2017) added that School administrators are responsible for developing and preserving the educational experience of teachers and students. Their duties also includes but not limited to, selecting suitable curriculum materials and models, managing school finances, and collaborating with the existing community.
In specific terms, school administration is a premise of both educational pedagogy and modern concepts of management science, portraying its conceptualization as both a means to an end and an end in itself, translating educational policies into instructional models, materials and curriculum, while maintaining its exigencies and efficiency, effectively upholding the etiquette of professionalism the discipline deserves.
While administration aims at overseeing people, directing their activities via a systematic or a methodological approach, the school in this premise refers to the construct where administration occurs, involving both internal factors; students, teachers, curriculum and infrastructure; and external factors; parents, environment, patrons, philanthropic organisations and the government. Spillane and Kenney (2012) explained that school administrators are not passive receptors of their environments. Rather, they enact their environments; that is, they "construct, rearrange, single out, and demolish many objective features of their surroundings (Weick, 1979, p. 164)". School leaders (or school administrators) as mid-level managers (Harris, 2002;Hatch, 2001;Leithwood et al., 2004;Louis et al., 2010;Spillane et al., 2002) occupy a somewhat unique situation: their work focuses in at least two directions in the organisational administrative hierarchy.
On the one hand, school leaders (or school administrators) are dependent on their institutional environment for the legitimacy of their organisation (or institution)-local school council, school district, state, parents, and local community. On the other hand, they are also dependent on classroom teachers and students for the organisational integrity of their buildings. Without the cooperation of teachers and students, the coherence, integration, and self-consistency of their school is likely to fall apart. Elucidating further that organisational integrity and organisational legitimacy are interdependent: in a changing institutional environment, legitimacy is increasingly tied to student achievement as measured by standardized tests aligned, more or less, with district and state standards. Adding that, in dealing with pluralistic institutional environments requires institutional work that falls, broadly, into two main categories (Kraatz, 2009). First, there is organisational legitimacy as school leaders strive to gain the support of diverse stakeholders by demonstrating to those stakeholders of their school's "cultural fitness" and in pluralistic organisations such school leaders (or administrators) have to convince diverse stakeholders that the organisation is legitimate-a "real" school (or institution-as expected by stakeholders).

Administrative Roles and the Nigerian Context
Administrative role defines the nature and type or discipline in which the context of administration is to be performed. The role of administration is residential upon the basis of the environment where the school or institution is located. Omolaja (2009), explained that it is self evident that administration must take place in any social setting; be it as small as a family unit or as large as the universe. Portin et al. (2006)  Administrative roles and practices in Nigeria therefore are basically depicted by the cultural context, which has over the years been succinctly modelled to suit her own managerial predisposition based on this context portraying the function of the custom and traditions of the Nigerian people. Omolaja (2009) explained that because of the cultural background of the Nigerians; administrative practice in the country may be said to be at variance from the ideal practice especially when compared to the European model.

Statement of the Problem
Based on the premise that both concepts of leadership styles and administrative roles are executed within the confines of the school as an organizational institution and located within the immediate environment or society, Omolaja (2009) lamented that organizational politics has become the permanent culture of every modern organization or society; whether in Europe or in Africa, the impact of organizational politics is being felt significantly. However, in Nigeria undue attention is being paid to organizational politics and other subjective variables giving room for mediocrity against meritocracy.
This is affecting the corporate performance of the Nigerian Organizations both in the private sector and in the public sector; because of the federalism and its concomitant societal systems of federal character; quota and representative mechanism, people who would not normally qualify to be in positions are being put in positions of authority. Moja (2000) buttressed that "other problems (exists and they are as a) result of a complex combination of need for greater access to education on the part of the society and political pressure on politicians to satisfy their constituencies, in return for continued political support; (and) as a result, political decisions (are being) taken in a number of areas including staff and administration appointments", thereby, altering the natural course of events in Nigerian public schools and undermining the leadership style developed by seasoned and experienced school administrators. Bett et al. (2016) added that many previous studies on schools' management found that schools that achieve high success in academics are led by the headmaster (school administrators) who has the qualities of effective leadership. Oyetunji (2009)

1) What leadership styles do school administrators in public secondary schools in Delta State exhibit?
2) To what extent is the level of school administration in public secondary schools in Delta State effective?

Research Hypotheses
1) There is no significant relationship between leadership styles and school administration in public secondary school in Delta State.

Methodology
The study consented to the use of a descriptive survey research design, based on the fact that it involves observing, recording, describing, and classifying a natural phenomenon or observable fact; contrasted with hypothesis-driven research, which is focused on testing a particular hypothesis by means of experimentation (Casadevall & Fang, 2008

Research Question 1: What leadership styles do school administrators in public secondary schools in
Delta State exhibit? showing that all the variables measured returning a mean value above the predetermined 2.50 midpoint average used to determine the level of the variable, thereby indicating that the respondents agree that those areas were leadership styles school administrators exhibit, except for variables on item 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, and 15, where the mean levels were below the 2.50 midpoint average indicating that the respondents disagree in these areas that such leadership styles were not exhibited. However, the overall mean of 2.684, was obtained, which is also higher than the predetermined 2.50 midpoint value used to determine the average level of the group variable, therefore supporting the respondents claim that the above are leadership styles school administrators in public secondary schools in Delta State exhibit.

Research Question 2:
To what extent is the level of school administration in public secondary schools in Delta State effective? In Table 2 above are the variables listed on items 1-12 with regards to research question two, showing that all the variables measured returning a mean value above the predetermined 2.50 based on our mean rating model explained above and used to determine the extent at which the level of school administration was effective. It was however shown that respondents agreed that to an average extent, school administration was effective in all areas listed above except for variables on items 4 and 5, where the items scored below 2.50 and based on our mean rating model above, it is concluded that those areas of school administration listed were to a low extent effective. However, the Table also shows an overall mean of 2.750, which is also based on our mean rating model above and used to determine the extent at which the level of school administration was effective, it can therefore be concluded that extent at which the level of school administration in public secondary schools in Delta State is effective to an average extent.

Research Hypotheses
H 0 : ρ = 0 There is no significant relationship between leadership styles and school administration in public secondary school in Delta State.
H 1 : ρ ≠ 0 There is a significant relationship between leadership styles and school administration in public secondary school in Delta State.  However the minus sign (-) before the (r) value of 0.676 indicates that as leadership style increases, the effectiveness of school administration decreases and vers-a-visa, therefore exemplifying that with the introduction of more autocratic leadership the effectiveness of school administration tends to dwindle.
However, the correlation (r) of -0.676 undoubtedly indicates that our null hypotheses e rejected and the alternative hypotheses accepted, thereby indicating that there is a significant relationship between leadership styles and school administration in public secondary school in Delta State.

Discussion of Findings
Based on the research finding within the study, it is discovered that school administrators in Delta state likes to make decisions alone without the input of other teachers, and does not like anyone to challenging their authority or decisions, following the autocratic leadership style. In a similar study, by Mandiya et al. (2014), the results from the interviews shows that most of the respondents highly believed that their performance was assessed by their supervisors alone; and that performance measurement was conducted the authoritative way, where a few or no employees are consulted when the supervisors are conducting performance appraisals; and that during the interview sessions, most participants believed that authoritative leadership brought about performance the autocratic way, yet other forms of leadership would approach the employee from a more humanistic manner.
The study further showed that head teacher in Delta State likes to focus only on getting the job and actively define the work that is to be done and the roles required, and always puts structures in place, and plan, organize, and monitor the work of other teachers. Also following the task-oriented leadership style or strategy as (Gupta, 2006)  teachers which reflects in their work and do not stimulates and arouses strong emotions in other teachers to get work done following the Charismatic style. However, the head teachers in Delta State are very rigorous and do not take suggestions from other teachers and ensures that other teachers follow procedures precisely following the Bureaucratic leadership style.
Also School principals in Delta State always ensures that everything is done in an exact, specific way to ensure safety and/or accuracy, and that ideas move freely amongst other teachers in the school and problems are openly discussed following the Democratic leadership style but are not always open to suggestions and other possible ways of getting things done from other teachers, and finally they supervise other teachers yet reminding them to be intuitive in their work following the Laissez-Faire leadership style.
The study also showed that to an average extent, the level of school administration in public secondary schools in Delta State is effective, and that that as leadership style increases, the effectiveness of school administration decreases and vers-a-visa, therefore exemplifying that with the introduction of more autocratic leadership the effectiveness of school administration tends to dwindle, but however there is a significant relationship between leadership styles and school administration in public secondary school in Delta State.

Conclusion and Recommendation
It is evident therefore that there is a correlation between leadership style and school administration, but care should however be taken on the measure or mix of the leadership style used by school administrators due to the fact that the study has shown that as leadership style increases, the effectiveness of school administration decreases and vers-a-visa, using a classical example that with the introduction of more autocratic leadership style, the effectiveness of school administration tends to dwindle. The researcher therefore recommends that school administrators should be properly oriented on the pros and cons of the different leadership style they adopt while performing their school administrative functions.