ABSTRACT
Effective Secondary School administration is central to providing the needed enabling environment for producing the desired Secondary school products (students) that can meet with the national objectives for secondary education. The purpose of this study was to investigate entrepreneurship leadership as a factor in effective secondary school administration in Enugu State. Four research questions and two hypoptheses guided the study. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance while the decisions on the responses to the research questions were determined using real limit of numbers. The descriptive survey design was adopted. The sample population for the study consisted of 100 principals and 100 vice principals selected through proportionate stratified random sampling. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire, titled Entrepreneurship leadership, a factor in Effective secondary school Administration (ELFESSA). The study focused on the extent of possession of entrepreneurial leadership characteristics by the secondary school administrators, the effect of gender and location on the extent of possession and the capacity building strategies for developing entrepreneurial leadership characteristic. Mean and standard Deviation were used to answer the research questions while a t-test statistics was used for data analysis. Findings show that the secondary school administrators in Enugu State possess entrepreneurial leadership characteristics but lack computer literacy. The study also discovered that gender does not affect the possession of entrepreneurial leadership characteristics while location does. Strategies for developing entrepreneurial leadership characteristics were stated. Recommendations include among others, that the government should mandate school administrators to enforce the teaching of entrepreneurship objects in their schools and follow it up with effective monitoring.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Every formally instituted organisation exists to achieve some specific goals. These goals however can hardly be achieved without effective administration. In other words, administration is an indispensable factor in the realization of the aspirations of any organization. Edem (1987) viewed administration as the planned activities which aim at the fulfilment of the goals of a particular organization. These activities include; task descriptions, assigning tasks to personnel, directing the personnel for effective performance, co-ordinating the different units or departments and ensuring a free flow of information. Ndu, Ocho and Okeke (1997) defined administration as being concerned with decision-making, planning, organization, communicating, co-ordinating and evaluating. In the opinion of Ogbonna (1995), administration is a process which entails the utilization of human and financial resources in maximizing the realization of goals. For the purpose of this study, administration simply put is working through people to achieve organizational goals using resources. This definition reveals a key important component of administration which controls the other components for the realization of organizational goals, and that is leadership.
The execution of all the administrative functions of an organization is actually spear-headed by the leader who is also known as the chief executive. The leader sets the pace and inspires others to willingly act towards the realization of the organizational goals. Keeja (1998) viewed leadership as the ability to influence others by persuasion, example, and tapping inner moral values. This definition is very apt for this study as it brings out the means by which a leader can influence others positively. This means that influencing others to act in a way that can produce desirable outcome is not automatic. It is not dependent on title or formal authority or position one occupies. Rowe (2007) asserted that although one’s position as the chief executive gives the person the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization, yet the power does not make him a leader. It simply makes him the boss.
Leadership differs from a position of authority in that, it makes the followers willingly want to achieve high goals rather than bossing people around. It is therefore imperative that any individual who is appointed to a position of authority should possess certain leadership attributes for effectiveness. Some of the attributes of an effective leader identified by Etuk (1991) include the ability to command respect and confidence, ability to make timely decisions, a personality to organise and co-ordinate group activities and ability to appraise his subordinates and get along with them. Effective leaders are effective followers and so they set examples for others to follow. They act as catalyst by motivating and inspiring their subordinates into higher levels of teamwork. The leader must show signs of professional competence, exemplary character and ability to carry others along through effective communication. The possession of such leadership attributes will most likely make for effective administration.
The very essence of any administration is to fulfill the aspirations of its organization. In other words, no organization, no administration. This is because an organization is the foundation upon which the whole administrative structure is built. In the opinion of Mbipom (2000) an organization is a group of people working together for a common purpose. In this sense, an organization is born whenever an identifiable group of people contribute their efforts towards the attainment of common set goals. Of course no group either large or small can unitedly work towards the attainment of a common goal without someone co-ordinating, directing, guiding and motivating them. The viability of any organization therefore depends on how well it is administered and managed. In other words, the success or failure of any organisation depends to a large extent on the effectiveness of the leader or administrator. The school is an organization established by a society to equip her citizenry with the necessary knowledge, attitude, skills, values and norms that will help them meet the needs of the society.One of the functions of the school in the opinion of Lydiah and Nasong (2009), is to take human raw material (students) and convert them into something more valuable as in employable adults. The school carries out this function through the provision of basic infrastructural facilities, instructors, teaching and learning equipment. An indispensable factor in the discharge of this function is the administrative process. It is duty of the school administrator to ensure effective manipulation of the resources available in his school. He takes both the credit and the blame for the organizational success or failure.
Secondary education occupies a key position within the Nigerian educational system. The Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004), in recognition of the importance of secondary education stated its broad goals to include; preparation for useful living within the society and for higher education. In pursuance of these, diversified curriculum to cater for the differences in talents, opportunities and future roles have been designed with emphasis on entrepreneurship. Suffice it to say that well administered secondary education will equip the students with the right intellectual capacity for further studies and encourage spirit of enquiring resulting to their being resourceful, inventive and self- reliant. Regrettably, lamented Omorigie (2005), the products of today’s secondary education system can neither usefully live in the society nor move into higher institution without their parents’ aid or forgery. They can neither think for themselves nor respect the views of others. They have no regard for dignity of labour but rather crave for anything that would fetch them quick money. This is a far cry from the national education goals, hence, there is need for change.
It must be noted that education cannot be seen as an instrument ‘par excellence” for effecting national development where the secondary education is not effectively managed or administered to accomplish its aims and objectives. The administrative head of a secondary school is called the principal. As the leader, he or she takes both the credit and blame for the organizational success or failure. In order to ensure effectiveness, the principal has to apply the right leadership approach in the management of both human, material and financial resources. The principal in the opinion of Ekundayo (2010) is a change facilitator. When it comes to efforts to improve the quality of the school, the principal is the key person in making change occur. For effective secondary school administration, principals need to review their leadership practices and be open to adopting leadership skills, attitudes and practices that match with the organizational demands, thereby producing the desired outcome.
Entrepreneurship possesses characteristics consisting of relevant behaviours, skills and competence that enable an individuals see and run an enterprise or organisation successfully. It is central to the promotion of wealth creation and economic growth .In the view of Sobel (2008), entrepreneurship is the process of discovering ways of combining resources. An entrepreneur is therefore a calalyst for economic change in an economy by introducing new goods or new methods of production. He is a catalyst for economic change. There are certain attributes that characterize successful entrepreneurs. Bram (2008) noted that such characteristics are not what a person is born with but can be learned, though some people may seem to have an aptitude for the qualities that make up the entrepreneurial spirit. He mentioned some of the characteristics to include; discipline, calm, attention to detail, risk tolerance and balance. Such entrepreneurial characteristics enable an individual to seek and run an enterprise or organization successfully.
It is worthy of note that a key element in entrepreneurial success is leadership. Thus for a successful entrepreneurial venture leadership is very essential. It is through the process of leadership that an entrepreneur is able to influence employees to achieve the objectives of the organization. In the view of Gunther and McMillian (2000), entrepreneurial leaders translate ideas into action. They passionately seek new opportunities, always looking for the chance to profit from change and disruption. The implication of the above definitions is that entrepreneurship leadership has no regard for maintaining the status quo but is rather result oriented. It is against this background that this study focuses on entrepreneurial leadership as a factor in effective secondary school administration in Enugu State with a view to finding out the extent of possession of the attributes of entrepreneurial leadership by the secondary school administrators in the state public schools and the capacity building strategies for acquiring such attributes......
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