Abstract
The preponderance of poor management of institutions especially secondary schools across the country has become a source of worry to stakeholders including principals, teachers, the government and even parents. Hence this study was carried out to examine the extent of entrepreneurial leadership and effective management of secondary schools in Federal Capital Territory, Abuja that enables them to effectively manage their schools. To achieve this objective, the study adopted Ex-post facto design. The study was carried out 56 secondary schools in FCT. The population of the study consists of 4234 personnel made up of 56 princicipals and4178 teachers. A sample of 231 respondents made up of 22 principals and 209 teachers were used for the study. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Entrepreneurial leadership and effective management of schools questionnaire ELEMSQ”. The structured questionnaire was face validated by 3 experts, 2 of which are in educational administration and planning and 1 educational measurement and evaluation of faculty of education of the University of Nigeria Nsukka. The cronbach alpha method was used to test the internal consistency of the questionnaire items to obtain coefficients of .91, .79,89, and .77 for the four clusters with an overall reliability of .92. The study was guided by four research questions and four null hypotheses which tested at 0.05 level of significance. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while t- test statistic was used test the null hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that entrepreneurial leadership influenced to very high extent on principals’ maintenance of school physical facilities, provision of instructional materials, supervision of instruction as well as the motivation of teachers for greater job commitment These influences helped to improve the quality of managerial leadership of school principals which actually enhanced the tone of school learning environment. It was further discovered that there were no significant difference between the mean ratings of the principals and teachers with regards to the influence of entrepreneurial leadership of principals on maintenance of physical facilities, provision of instructional materials, supervision of instruction and motivation of teachers in the schools. Based, on these results, it was recommended that there should be a policy framework that enables principals to compulsorily imbibe the attitude of adopting entrepreneurial leadership into the management of schools. It was further suggested that government at all levels must step up the responsibility of supply of school learning facilities and ensuring that they are adequately maintained.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
In every facet of human endeavour, management is vital for the survival and sustainability of an organization. Hence, there is need for management of human and material resources in such a manner that will give full satisfaction to human beings in the organization. Management basically, is the task of coordinating human and material resources towards the achievement of organizational objectives. Nwachukwu (2008) stated that management is the coordination of all resources of an organization through the process of planning, organizing, directing and controlling in order to achieve predetermined organizational objectives. Similarly Adeyemi (2006) posited that management is the totality of operational guidance, leadership and control of the efforts of people towards achieving some common objectives. The above definitions of management can be summed up to infer that management involves deliberate and conscious planning, organizing, staffing, directing, controlling and coordinating of efforts of people and materials towards achieving set goals and objectives. Therefore, resources must not only be organized, controlled and coordinated but should be effectively managed to ensure the realization of the goal of such institution.
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According to Ogunu (2000) effective management is seen as the judicious and efficient organization and utilization of human and material resources in a particular system for the achievement of identified objectives. Enyi (2007) stated that effective management is a consciously focused systematic planning, organizing, staffing, controlling, directing, reporting, budgeting and coordinating institutions’ materials and human resources to achieve predetermined goals. Operationally, effective management is seen as a conscious manipulation of human and material resources in a manner that will ensure the achievement of organization’s goals.
Effective management in school plays essential roles in order to secure the participation, intervention and involvement of everyone so as to achieve stated educational objectives. Although, the process of management changes over time as a result of innovations and advances in technologies, effective management remains essentially a tool vital for handling human and material resources and manipulating them for the purpose of achieving predetermined objectives. According to Mgbodile (1997) school principals face onerous challenges with increasing complexities in management of schools. The need for effective management has increased tremendously as a result of managerial problems before the principals. Effective management therefore is basically a result oriented approach in the contemporary management. Such management approach is essential not only for the schools’ effective teaching and learning but also for maximum satisfaction of teachers and students in the day -to – day school activities (Ekumankama and Ukah, 2010).
Every school system has some objectives to achieve. These objectives can be achieved with the co-ordination of efforts of several persons. The work of a number of persons is properly co-ordinated to achieve the objectives through the process of effective management. Within the overall concept of management, the functions of school principals as managers can be identified as the practical execution of the plans and decisions on a day- to -day basis which requires some specific administrative expertise with the precision of a skilled entrepreneur.
An entrepreneur is a person who pilots an organization’s enterprises or venture and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and outcome involved in the management of such enterprise towards making a difference (Adiele, 2010). Guffey (1998) opined that entrepreneurs are forward looking individuals who through creative ventures invest available resources, and harness their innovative potentials. Furthermore, Reich (2007) posited that entrepreneurs nurse their ideas into successful business enterprise with their instinct for taking advantage of opportunity and new idea for producing positive result. Entrepreneurs are not just motivated by profit alone but by their desire to float and run a successful business in a competitive environment. They speculate for business opportunities and are propelled by inner drive to succeed and achieve sustainable growth. Ezeani (2008) succinctly stated that an entrepreneur is a catalyst for organizational changes that uses purposeful searching, careful planning and sound judgment in managing institutions. In this study, an entrepreneur is seen as a speculator for investment opportunity, and sees opportunity from different perspectives in order to achieve exceeding result. Given this advantage, entrepreneurship is a driver of competitive advantage. An entrepreneur in an organization has a significant role to play in the success and growth of the organization (Grey, 2008). An internal drive to create additional value in the organization is one of the unique characteristics of an entrepreneur. Based on this, an entrepreneur is regarded as an influential leader. According to Little (2011) a leader is someone who persuades others to perform tasks for the achievement of goals. Onu (2007) described a leader as one who provides direction, guides group activities and makes sure that the goals of the organization are achieved. This implies that the success or failure of schools depends to an extent on its leadership. Nwachukwu (2008) posited that leadership is a social influencing process for the attainment of goals. Ogbonnaya (2010) opined that leadership is the capacity to exert social influence over the members of a group and who helps others to satisfy their own needs. Operationally, leadership is the process of showing others the way, guiding or directing a person or group of persons so that goals may be achieved. In the bid to secure effective management in school system, entrepreneurial leadership skills could be incorporated into the management process so as to further enhance the managerial efficiency of school administrators.
