Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of the this study was to identify the key leadership styles of successful Chief Business Officials (CBOs) in Northern California school districts who have demonstrated fiscal solvency during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 school years. This study examined the prominent leadership orientations and the perceived leadership effectiveness of CBOs based on the results of the Bolman and Deal's Leadership Orientation Questionnaire (Self) (1990). Methodology. Successful CBOs who were employed in fiscally solvent Northern California school districts were sent a Leadership Orientation Questionnaire (Self) by Bolman and Deal (1990) during the fall of 2008. Of the 162 questionnaires that were distributed, 116 responded with a return rate of 72%. Qualitative research was used to determine what the prominent leadership orientations were of successful CBOs. A t-test was used to identify significant differences between leadership orientation and overall effectiveness as managers or leaders. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to examine the differences between leadership orientation and demographic information of the CBO that included age, gender, how many years as a CBO, education level, size of the district, type of district, and area of the school district. Findings. The conclusions that were derived from the research indicated that the prominent leadership orientations that were used by successful CBOs in Northern California school districts was the structural and human resource frames. There were no significant differences between leadership orientation and age or education level; however, the data did conclude that there were significant differences between leadership orientation and gender, years of experience, size of school district, type of school district, and area of a school district. This study showed that CBOs rated themselves higher for overall effectiveness as a manager opposed to overall effectiveness as a leader. Conclusions. The study data support the conclusion that school administrators use the structural and human resource frames more predominately than the other leadership frames (Flaer, 1999; Harlow, 1995; Hernandez, 1997; Kelly, 1999; Knudsen, 2000; Miller, 1998; Miro, 1994; Rivers, 1997; Travis, 1997). Successful CBOs view themselves as effective managers as opposed to effective leaders. Recommendations. Further research is warranted to include a study that includes CBOs from nonfiscally solvent districts to determine if there are differences of leadership orientations and overall leadership effectiveness. Future studies could expand to a larger population of CBOs in the central and southern locations of California.