Guidelines for Cross-Cultural Leadership Development of World Class Standard School Principals

Abstract

Cross-cultural leaders, are the behaviors or the characters of administrators who were able to manage or administrate people with different thoughts, beliefs, values and practice and combine them to form a single concept of being attentive to their work and trust their leaders to possess good attitudes and work efficiently for their ultimate goal of student development. The current study examines the situations of leadership and the guidelines for cross-cultural leadership development of World Class Standard School principals. The research sample was composed of 359 principals of World-Class Standard Schools in Secondary Educational Service Area Office. The research tool consisted of the 5-level rating scale questionnaire and the focus group discussion form. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The research findings revealed five components rated from the highest to the lowest levels as follows: 1) Communication ( X = 4.24, S.D. = 0.71), 2) Empathy ( X = 4.24, S.D. = 0.73), 3) Conflict Management ( X = 4.22, S.D. = 0.72), 4) Transformational Leadership ( X = 4.21, S.D. = 0.72) and 5) Trust ( X = 4.16, S.D. = 0.74). The guidelines for developing cross-cultural leadership can be summarized as follows: principals should develop communication skills that were expressive, clear, and appropriate to the situations by using rhetorical skills in persuasive speech, exchanging of information between the networks of principals and other organizations, being good mediators, emphasizing teamwork, encouraging the school personnel to have a sense of participation and work successfully in order to achieve the vision of the school, remaining neutral, avoiding conflicts, creating consciousness and friendly atmosphere in the organization. Taking advantage of this research to improve the quality of administration in schools and administrators at all levels.