Educational institutions as learning organizations could be best explained through Senge’s theoretical framework of schools as learning organizations. For Peter Senge, ‘real learning gets to the heart of what it is to be human. We become able to recreate ourselves. This applies to both individuals and organizations. Thus, for a learning organization, it is not enough to survive, but to enhance capacity to create’. Educational leaders are individuals in schools, colleges, universities and educational institutions that have responsibilities and a decision-making role. These people are responsible for the successes and failures of their institutions. This paper discusses the potential of leadership styles in influencing a learning organization. It first explores the leadership styles most frequently engaged in schools and secondly identifies the dimensions of leadership style that influence a learning organization. The study was conducted across 80 schools in the city of Bangalore. Two tools were used in this study, namely, Learning Organization Profile (LOP) to measure learning organization and leadership styles scale to measure the leadership style most engaged in by the supervisors/principals/coordinators of schools. A total of 750 respondents’ data was analyzed. The study has indicated that leadership styles play a significant role in building a learning organization. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications.

Educational leadership is the process of enlisting and guiding the talent and energies of teachers, pupils and parents toward achieving common educational aims. Looking into the school sector, the principal or school head is commonly thought to be the school leader; however, school leadership may include other persons, such as supervisor, coordinators and mentors who contribute toward the aims of the school. “School leaders in all countries are facing challenges with the rising expectations in technological innovations, multiculturalism and globalization. As countries aim at transforming their educational systems to prepare all young people with the knowledge and skills needed in this changing world, the roles and expectations for school leaders have changed radically” (www.oecd.org/edu/schoolleadership (Dec, 2013)). School leaders are not just merely seen as good managers but they are expected to have effective school leadership qualities. Deal and Peterson (1990) stated that changes in the teaching and learning process have left many educators consciously or unconsciously mixed up, fatigued and disappointed. But these changes in the process of teaching and learning can be seen as evolutionary and lively with a stress on unceasing learning and adaptation. To accept change that provides internal steadiness while moving ahead is one of the challenges educational institutions have to face. To improve an organization’s quality there are many routes for organizational development through change. A learning organization, which is an organization that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future, provides methods that can be used to provide paths for organizational accomplishment. Hoy and Miskel (2001) noted that educational institutions are service organizations which are dedicated to teaching and learning. The people who will take the world into the next era will be those who can move from being knowledge transformational bodies to those that will have the ability to possess, renew, employ and sustain knowledge and development successfully. The chief issue that threatens educators is whether or not we can renovate learning and create educational institutions that can effectively prepare students for life. This progression calls for effective leadership to the development of educational institutions into learning organizations.

Organizational Behavior Journal, The Influence of Leadership in Building, Learning Organization