Determining and Evaluating Criteria for Transformational Leadership in Educational Institutions With AHP Method

Introduction

The developing and changing world has brought differentiating habits and beliefs. It is considered that the strong structures of organizations affect the progress of societies. Organizations, which exist at the base of society, have been managed in various ways until today (Al-Alawi et al., 2019). Changes in belief, value and understanding have also shown their effect in the field of education, and with this effect, new searches have started in education. All institutions in the society must be in this process of change. Educational institutions are at the forefront of institutions that affect the progress of society. Educational institutions should be willing to adapt to change and achieve the goal of realizing its transformation. Institutions that catch up with change will renew and restructure by adapting to change and determine new paths to follow ensure their existence (Brazill & Ruff, 2022).

Today, reasons such as the rapid progress of information, the increase in developments and competition, and the more complex appearance of problems reveal the necessity of change. Lack of creativity, lack of flexibility, inability to catch up with innovations, changes and technology, and failure to fulfill the requirements of the information age cause the emergence of a poor-quality school environment and the development of educational activities. For these reasons, organizations must improve their existing structures. To increase the performance, effectiveness, and efficiency of organizations, to increase motivation and job satisfaction, to ensure that they are in change and development, there should be managers who are open to development and have a certain vision. To achieve this, managers with transformational leadership characteristics are needed (Türk & Mızrak, 2021). Leadership is seen as an important factor in the initiation and implementation of transformation in organizations. To provide management in the transformation process, the need to have leaders who are in the direction of change comes to the fore. These leaders attach great importance to the formation of a clear vision and that their employees follow these visions (Ghavifekr & Fung, 2021).

In this perspective, the purpose of the study is to determine the characteristics of a transformational leader in educational institutions. After a detailed analysis of the recent literature and interview with 5 executives working in educational institution, 5 criteria have been obtained and weighted with the AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) method to determine their priorities. The study contributes to literature well since conducted interviews with the executives and use of multi-criteria decision-making techniques in an integrated manner will facilitate business analysts and decision makers in the quantitative evaluation of subjective and objective criteria. Furthermore, It is thought that the findings of the research will be a guide for educational institutions which have changed especially after the pandemic. At the same time, it is believed that the criteria determined according to the order of importance will contribute to the senior manager selection process of the relevant enterprises.

In the following part of the study, a detailed literature analysis of the concept related to leadership, difference between being a manager and leader have been presented. Furthermore, concept, history and dimensions of transformational leadership have been illustrated in the same part. In the methodology section, steps of the analyses have been explained. Last but not the least, finding of the study have been demonstrated in the final part.