Transformational, Transactional, Democratic, and Situational: Leadership Styles of Academic Program Leaders

The success or failure of an academic community is significantly influenced by the leadership style demonstrated and exhibited by its academic leaders. Academic leaders are very influential wherein to such an extent, their voices and actions as role models create an impression of authority and power. Using a descriptive-research design, the researchers made a quest of determining the leadership styles of the academic program leaders (as perceived by 313 faculty members from both public and private universities and colleges in Negros, Philippines). Results showed that the predominant and leading perceived leadership style is Transactional Leadership with 127 or 40.6 percent of the total surveyed respondents. Other significant findings include transformational (12.5%), democratic (26.2%), and situational (20.8%) leadership styles predominantly perceived by faculty members after transactional leadership. Relatively, the study also covers the determination of the participants as grouped by age, sex, educational attainment, length of service, and institutional classification.