manager

International Journal of Business and Social Science

Vol. 2 No.10; June 2011

How Democratic Leaders Empower Teachers Job Satisfaction? The Malaysian Case
Cheah Lee
Abdul Ghani Kanesan Abdullah
Aziah Ismail
Naser Jamil Alizydeen
School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia
11800 Penang, Malaysia

Abstract
This study aims to investigate how democratic leaders work to empower teachers job satisfaction. The present follow-up study uses the naturalistic qualitative and exploratory approach. Semi-structured open-ended interviews were conducted on three schools, selected from the 97 school which participated in the previous study. In each school selected for the present study, individual interviews were conducted with the principals and the selection of randomly 10 teachers from each sample school. Participants were asked to describe critical incidents related to their principals’ leadership and their sense of empowerment. The findings of this study revealed that there are some common attributes of principals that contribute to the successful empowerment of teachers in schools. They include amongst others: upholding participatory and collaborative management; relations-oriented and established trusting relationship; on top of that, these leaders also possess the attributes of transformational leadership, such as individualized consideration, idealized influence and intellectual stimulation.

Key words: Democratic Leadership, Empowerment, Job Satisfaction
1. Introduction
Researches on both effective school and school improvement advocated that today‟s school reform agenda requires a style of leadership different from the traditional top-down, hierarchical, bureaucratic and autocratic style. Due to the increased complexity in the educational system, it becomes probable that no one individual has all the knowledge, skills, and abilities that would enable him/her to accomplish all of the leadership functions. Thus a more dispersed

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