School-Based Management Level of Practice, Organizational Culture, and Leadership Style: Implication for School Administration Policy

The imbalanced distribution of resources together with the unequal distribution of power results in unequal educational outcomes and difficulties to implement local educational policies effectively. It amimed to explore the characteristics of the schools SBM Level of Practice in terms of organizational culture, leadership styles, and teachers' affect. Furthermore, it exflored a study of teacher emotional responses, motivation and work satisfaction, and engagement change between different SBM stages for school effectiveness improvement. A descriptive-correlational research design was utilized to assess municipalities in Leyte Division through which 462 respondents were randomly selected. Research data was analyzed by application of Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) and employee engagement surveys while using arithmetic mean, frequency, percentage, standard deviation and Kruskal-Wallis test methods for analysis. The study showed that Adhocracy emerged as the primary organizational culture because it received the highest preferred mean score (37.7) at SBM Level 2 yet Laissez-faire leadership reached its peak (42.9%) in SBM Level 3. Teacher commitment reached its highest point (3.48 Very High) alongside job satisfaction (3.18 High) and work engagement (5.08 High) at SBM level 3 while variables showed important differences between SBM levels (p < 0.05). The study concludes that while Adhocracy leadership supports innovative practices and active governance, yet the enduring presence of Laissez-faire leadership generates issues with school leadership accountability, decision-making effectiveness, and organized guidance systems. To enhance SBM effectively, schools should develop leadership abilities, enhance participatory governance mechanisms, teacher support structures, and establish proper organizational cultures to maintain accountability and continuous educational improvement.