276 K-12 LEADERSHIP PRACTICES
Several scholars maintain that leadership resides in the eyes of followers. If they are
correct, then context may be a critical determinant of what followers see—acting as a
lens that brings into focus those qualities that are consistent with their implicit
theories and romanticized notions of what it means to be a leader (Emrich, 1999,
p.1004)Vroom and Jago (2007) argued, “Variance in the behavior [of leaders] can be understood
in terms of dispositions that are situationally specific rather than general” (p. 220). We concur
with Vroom and Jago who concluded,
The task confronting contingency theorists is to understand the key behaviors and
contextual variables involved in this process. Looking at behavior in specific classes
of situations rather than averaging across situations is more consistent with
contemporary research on personality and more conducive to valid generalizations
about effective leadership. If...then ...relationships are not only at the core of
attempts to understand what people do but are also the basis for attempts to
understand what leaders should do (p. 23)Contingency theories, the “merger of trait and situational approaches” according to Hoy
and Miskel (1982, p.222), hold that the contextual arenas in which leaders operate can be pre-
determined and can, therefore, be matched to a leader with a complementary style. According
to traditional contingency theory, under one set of circumstances, one type of leader is more
likely to be effective, while under another set of circumstances a different type of leader is
required. (Hoy & Miskel, 1982; Spillane, Halverson & Diamond, 2004).
While this view may be useful for predicting which type of leader will be effective in a
particular situation, it does not take into account the dynamic nature of the environments in
which educational leaders function. Therefore, we advocate a more context-responsive view
of leader behavior in which leadership is expressed through action, not a taxonomy of
preferred characteristics or a predisposed style. From this perspective, leaders who employ
context-responsive leadership strategies recognize that contexts vary, both enabling and
constraining their behaviour. Additionally, they know how, when, why, where and what to
push back to re-shape the context to achieve their long-term goals. Next, we briefly review
the findings from our study of successful superintendents to provide greater detail of context-
responsive leadership in action.
METHODOLOGY
Employing qualitative research methods, we designed an interview study to examine the
leadership of superintendents as understood and expressed in the words of these experienced
administrators. Structured, in-depth interviews, lasting from 90 minutes to two hours, were
conducted (between February and August) 2007 with 12 successful superintendents, 6 in
Sweden and 6 in Wisconsin. We defined a successful superintendent as one who had been
identified and recognized by his or her colleagues (e.g. superintendents, professional
association leaders, and university faculty) as a highly effective district leader. All
interviews were conducted in English, audio-taped, and transcribed for analysis.
The cross-national nature of the study was important because the socialization
experiences, pre-service preparation, and career paths of school superintendents are
substantially different between Sweden and the United States. Thus, the sample of