Creditor's right and bankruptcy Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Creditor's right and bankruptcy - Term Paper Example But creditors have certain rights in bankruptcy claims. This paper briefly analyses creditor’s claims in bankruptcy cases. Business is not the right profession for all the people. Many people failed to prosper in business because of their inability in managing the business successfully. In some cases, unexpected business climate changes can destroy the backbone of the business people. For example, the recent financial crisis came quiet unexpectedly and even prominent business groups struggled for the survival. In short, business can be a risky act at times because of so many reasons and the entrepreneurs may fall in a state of bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is the legally declared inability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. The outstanding debts might be too much for the person or the organization to pay at once and the court or judge will determine the payment schedule based on the type of bankruptcy filed by the entrepreneur or the organization. When a business enters the bankruptcy state, it means either the business is closed or the the business will continue to operate with reduced payments to debtors. This paper briefly analyses the creditor’s right and bankruptcy in a legal environment. Creditor is a party (a person or organization) which provided certain money, property or services to another similar party (Debtor). In other words, a debtor is a borrower from the creditor. Debtors normally file bankruptcy suits in order to prevent the creditors from collecting the debts immediately. A bankruptcy suit prevents a creditor from taking any action against the debtor till the court take any decisions on the case. However, creditors have certain rights even after the debtor files the bankruptcy case as the debtor might have signed some legal contracts with the creditor before the actual deal was taken place. Some debtors file bankruptcy cases even

Sales Manager at Omnico, Inc Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sales Manager at Omnico, Inc - Case Study Example From the report, Buddy identified that Omnico’s position was very low when compared to other industries. It indicated that the firm’s salespeople had not been maintaining a long-term relationship with their customers. Based on recent financial reports, Buddy concluded that acquisition of new potential customers would be more expensive. Hence, realizing the significance of customer retention, he tried to convince his sales people about this matter. However, some of the subordinates opposed to his opinion and argued that intense follow up activities would negatively affect the sustainability of the business. In addition, they added that customers would re-buy from Omnico only when they were satisfied with the company’s products and services; hence Omnico’s product lines would be the main factor that affects the sales volume. Buddy’s concepts seem outdated for it does not have much significance in modern industrial sectors. He conceptualizes business strategies on the ground of his 35 years’ experience. In the words of Fifield (1998, p. 290), market and marketing trends have recently changed a lot as compared to last two decades. In olden days, continuous follow-ups and salespersons’ potential determined the sales volume because customers did not have sufficient information regarding various products and services. Therefore, the marketer’s communication skill and customer relationship influenced the market to a large extent. In contrast; subsequent to the growth of high-tech communication facilities like internet, nowadays customers are well aware of the products and services offered by modern marketers.  

Comparison and contrast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comparison and contrast - Essay Example A living situation that causes one to become more reliant on fluorescent lighting even during the day time. A walk down the street has the skyscrapers, billboards, and other man made obstructions blocking the natural lighting of the sun. You take a walk along the street an deeply inhale the smog and other pollutants in the air as you start your daily grind. Compare this with the joy of small town living where no structure is higher than a three floor building. You wake up to natural lighting as the sun warms you up by peeking into the breaks of your light window curtains that are meant to keep the heat out but the natural lighting in. You leave your home to walk the streets and feel the warm glow of the sun enveloping your body. While the crisp, dew filled air fills your lungs as you take that morning stroll around your block, getting some early morning exercise in as you prepare to begin your day. We can live our whole lives in the city and never know the names of the people living next door to us. Nor could we be bothered to find out and care about them. They are simply house number tenants in our book. Not really necessary parts of our lives. Small town neighbors on the other hand, help one develop a sense of familiarity and concern for one another as the neighborhoods tend to be closely knit and bonded in such a way that city dwellers will never know. Small town America is where the neighbors know each others names and are actually there for one another should one need any sort of assistance. City life is all about a race against time and the battle to accomplish as many errands and personal needs as possible within a 24 hour or less time frame. Urbanites are clock watchers who seem to consider time as an enemy who needs to be beaten. The errands never seem to get done and the stores, banks, and other places of business do not seem to stay open long enough for the purposes that we need. Urban living is physically tiresome. Small town residents however, seem to have a friend in Father Time. Maybe it is because they are the kind of people who are â€Å"early to bed and early to rise†. Or maybe it is because they know one another and trust each other immensely. But it seems like even though stores and business establishments close early in small town America, all the errands manage to get done. Even on days when one chooses to sleep in, any errands that are pending will magically find a way to get done within the same day, and one will not feel physically taxed from the activity. Some small town residents say this is happens because everyone does their job with a smile on their faces. While the city dwellers tend to do their jobs just because they have to do it. They could really care less about whether your gas bill gets paid or not. It's just part of the paycheck to them. City dwellers tend to be highly sociable night time people. The day for most modern, professional urbanites does not actually start until the clock strikes fiv e and they hit the bars in their latest outfits and cars. Social time in the city relies heavily on spending a lot of money in order to participate in any activity that can be considered social. But the small town counterparts manage to socialize at a decent hour. Since the small towns tend to wind down early and get to bed as early as 9 pm, there is a tendency for their social life to be

Explain the causes of the increase in violence and deaths of young Essay

Explain the causes of the increase in violence and deaths of young people due to guns, knives and gangs and discuss the various policing challenges this presents - Essay Example In fact, there have been reports of children as young as 11 being murdered, not out of personal violence, but gang crimes such as the unfortunate murder of 11 year old Rhys Jones. Worse still is the fact that street brawls include more than just fists and kicks now – they include the very real possibility of knives and guns. To get an idea of how widespread the problem is, a 2007 report stated that there are over 600 to 700 young people between the ages of 10 to 19 involved in gang activity, having affected the lives of over 8100 others (Pitts, 2007). In 2009 it was reported that there has been a seventy five percent increase in the number of teenage stab victims over sixteen, and an almost staggering ninety percent increase in the number of stab victims under the age of sixteen (Blair, 2009). The questions is, however, when did this shift arise, and why has it arisen in the first place? What are the reasons that younger children are submerging themselves into this violent culture and finding themselves the dangerous target of an armed child? Where do these children get access to the weapons they use and who is responsible for making it possible? The main problem with gathering data on youth criminals is the fact that it is often a widespread grey area where the question of motivation is concerned. Is it possible for a child or teenage to act of completely independent motivation? If so, one may wonder where motivation arises from and is that source of motivation in any way to blame for the uncultured reaction of an individual not yet considered a mature adult by society. And if not, what are the factors influencing these crimes, and who are these children acting in support with. The obvious answer might be gang activity, but the further confusion arises when one considers that not all criminal youth activity is motivated by gangs, and vice versa. So how is one expected to offer some clarity into this blurred line? Perhaps one

Team member encouragement Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Team member encouragement - Research Paper Example The two members do not consider handing their reports to me as a matter of priority. Nevertheless, I have a strategy to encourage these team members to contribute to the project on time. It is essential for me to acquire team management skills, conflict resolution, and negotiation skills as a project manager (University of Technology Sydney, 2006). As a result, I seek to attend various workshops, seminars, and training sessions as a well continue practicing such skills with an aim of handling the team members in an effective manner. Specifically, for the sake of streamlining reporting, I will ensure that I negotiate and establish a reporting system with the sponsors and stakeholders at the beginning and throughout the project (University of Technology Sydney, 2006). Nevertheless, I will make sure that the reporting system is flexible and its content and frequency varies through the project running time. This will ensure that all the team members find it relevant and necessary to subm it their weekly reports to the right person and at the right time. I will involve the views of all stakeholders while formulating the reporting system to ensure that the team members value the reporting system and understand the reporting authority structure. Notably, team-involvement in planning a project remains the most important idea that project managers should consider (Spellman, 2011). In my context, this will help me to establish stepwise techniques that will foster the creation, development, and evaluation of relevant project management tools (Portny et al, 2007). This will derive substantial knowledge that will enable me to encourage and deal with the team members without jeopardizing the motivation and performance of the large multidisciplinary product testing team that I manage. At the same time, I will seek to build a strong project team delegation with a view of increasing the probability for a successful performance. To achieve this, I will determine and define the de legated duties, select the right personnel, determine the time of completion, and state the expected outcomes. This will encourage the team members to develop a sense of involvement and make significant and timely contributions to the project. To this effect, I will equally monitor performance by setting up strategic checkpoints to monitor performance that will encourage constant reporting, high performance, and completion of the project according to schedule (Portny et al, 2007). I will equally seek to establish project teams with a high sense of accountability and responsibility to foster timely reporting and successful completion of the project. Consequently, I will develop the project procedures that will promote effective relations among the team members. Moreover, I will define and establish the roles, identities, processes, and practices that will enable the team members to achieve individual and team goals within the stipulated time (Russell, 2011). Notably, team members val ue projects that will enhance their chances of achieving significant professional and personal goals. As such, I will explain the dynamics, sponsors, results, and possible effects of the project on the organization and to the individual members (Portny et al, 2

Problem Formulation and Identification Process Essay Example for Free

Problem Formulation and Identification Process Essay It doesnt matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions (Jim Rohn). In the corporate world, leaders are faced with decisions that can make or break the organizations they represent. Several methods, consensus, brainstorming, systematic, and democratic are used in the decision making process. This paper will investigate the decision-making processes most prevalent in each team members organization, compare and contrast them, and will show the most favorable aspect of each style. Consensus The name of my company is Envicor. Envicor is a plastics molding company that manufactures anything that can be made of plastic. This author was recently hired as the national sales manager to oversee Envicors newest product line, sporting goods equipment. This authors job is to promote the sale of portable pitching mounds to a broad range of customers. When it comes to decision making, Envicor uses the consensus method. Consensus is a process using group decision making. The input and ideas of all participants are gathered and synthesized to arrive at a final decision acceptable to all. Through consensus, the company is not only working to achieve better solutions, but also to promote the growth of community and trust. Consensus takes more time, as many resources are investigated before a decision is made. Team members become committed to the decision through consensus. The consensus method gives everyone experience with new processes of interaction and conflict resolution. For consensus to be a positive experience, the group should have 1) common values, 2) some skill in group process and conflict resolution, or a commitment to let these be facilitated,3) commitment and responsibility to the group by its members, and 4) sufficient time for everyone to participate in the process (C.D.T. 2009). The goal of Envicor is to expand our product line to as many customers as possible. After making contact with a catalog company, a meeting is called  in order to discuss the pros and cons of including our product in the catalog. In the meetings, each person gets a chance to give his or her opinion. Once everyone has spoken, a decision is made. By using the consensus method, the group is able to come together and make a decision based on each persons opinion. Advantages and disadvantages exist when using the consensus method of decision making.. Some examples are:Strengths:†¢Encourages cooperation instead of competition†¢Garners trust and confidence; everyone is involved in the final decision†¢Everyone agrees to the final decision no matter whether a majority, minority, or lone voiceWeaknesses†¢Lack of experience may lead to inefficient use of the method†¢Lack of control in meetings, conversation goes off topic†¢No ownership when decision is not correct or no consensus made (Notes on Consensus-Decision Making). Consensus seems to work well for smaller companies because it allows them to actually talk out their decisions and come together. Bigger companies might struggle with this type of decision making process because there might be too many employees and it could waste a lot of time. Brainstorming In the brainstorming model, all employees use free thinking to create ideas that will later be used as part of the projects process. Brainstorming is useful because it allows all employees, some with extensive experience, to give their input. All members contributions allow them to own their role within the group and therefore, believe they have been a larger part of greater good. Like other decision making processes, brainstorming has advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that all decisions are reached by consensus of the entire group. The larger the group is in a brainstorming session, the better the results will be. Everyone works from his or her strengths, weaknesses, experience, and education to find the best results for the project. Next, by making the decision a group project, everyone has a chance to  participate in the decision making process. They are able to voice their objections and give alternative suggestions. This open forum allows ideas to flow freely, and sound decisions are made quickly. A disadvantage of brainstorming is similar to one of its advantages. With more than two or three employees making a decision, the result can become a point of contention and a fight for power within the group. The more people involved in the process, the greater the propensity for debate, creating the possibility of a stalemate. Another disadvantage of brainstorming is something called group think. This occurs when one member of a group makes a statement, and the others follow along. Nothing is accomplished because only one person is making the decision with no alternate suggestions. An open dialogue does not exist; therefore, solutions to problems are not properly explored. SystematicThe systematic approach to decision-making is rational and analytical. (Concise Handbook of Management) This approach employs existing data, and the goal of the decision is the focus of the steps taken to put the decision together. This authors organization uses the systematic approach for making most decisions. A strength of using the systematic approach is that information used to reach the final decision is based on factual data. The goal has been clearly identified; the objective(s) have been defined; the impact of not addressing the issue has been established. A weakness of systematic decision making, an example of which will be described in the following paragraphs, is that the decision can become stalled in the process. Additionally, regardless of how much research is done, if all principal stakeholders are not engaged in the process, a negative outcome is possible. Several years ago this authors company developed a product that was designed to align with current imaging procedures. The equipment is a dual-head injector for use in CT scan. The purpose of the dual-head is to provide Radiologists with the capability of using not only contrast media for the CT exams, but also saline. Benefits of having the saline option developed as  the clinical team became more familiar with the system, but initially the service team was concerned about damage occurring to the injector head if a saline syringe was not used. At that time, without consulting other stakeholders, the service and engineering teams went to work on a solution that would prevent this issue.Several years later, as the clinical team was successfully promoting saline usage, the engineering department began shipping a cap for the saline side of the injector. Yes, the issue had been clearly identified, the objective for the project was defined, and the impact of not addressing the issue had been determined. However, because all stakeholders in the decision were not involved, and because the process took so long, the decision and resulting action became a very expensive mistake. Democratic In this participative form of the decision making process the superior(s) gives complete ownership of the decision to the subordinates (Sager 1999). The democratic decision making process allows for the employees (stakeholders) to have ownership of the decisions that are made. The majority vote wins, which can lead to fast and effective decisions concerning the stakeholders. In this decision making process the adage regarding having strength in numbers reigns true. A drawback to the democratic process can be that no one person takes responsibility for the decision if something goes wrong. It may be hard to pinpoint how the decision came to such a conclusion if it does not work out for the benefit for the stakeholders. In using the example of the Health Insurance Accountability and Portability Act (HIPPA) of 1996, a vote for change by a group of individuals affected by the way health records were handled was applauded, then when implemented, the act became more a hindrance than a solution to a problem. In the vast health systems used there was a need to implement a privacy feature to protect patients information, so the HIPPA regulations were signed into law in 1996. HIPPA was implemented by a democratic decision making process and became popular with health organizations such as Medicare and well known health insurance companies. Later HIPPAs biggest fans became its biggest objectors because the law made it impossible for anyone to get  health information on the patient, including the parent(s) or guardians of minor children and the elderly, unless there was a form signed by the patient, the legal guardian, or POA. HIPPA soon became more frustrating than helpful, and the majority who voted for its implementation became the majority opposing it. So in implementing the democratic decision making process for the good of the people to whom the power is given, it must be made known that with great power comes great responsibility (Uncle Ben, Spider Man Pt1). Contrast and ComparisonProblems and issues are generally inevitable when people are working together. Each individual decision making process can allow for better management of those situations for building a better organization. This does not mean there will be an absence of issues, but whether or not the team resolves the problem effectively. Each decision making process described above demonstrates to the reader the importance of adhering to a process that will work for each organization. The consensus method shows how the power of agreement can lead to a good decision. However, this method can be time consuming and teamwork plays a major role. Brainstorming will allow for creativity and open ideas, but can also cause conflicts and debates among the group members due to so many independent ideas being presented. In the systematic approach to decision making organization is critical. This process bases decisions on factual information. The systematic process can be costly if all members are not involved in the final decision. Democratic decisions are made based on majority input. The stakeholders are in total control of the decision making process. Speedy and effective decisions can be made; however, problems can occur because not everyone who can vote will vote. Then if a decision has a negative impact on the group it can be hard to identify the owner of the problem. The authors of this paper have investigated four types of decision making, consensus, brainstorming, systematic, and democratic. Advantages and disadvantages of each type have been presented, and finally, all were compared and contrasted with each other. References Consensus Decision Making. Aids Coalition to Unleash Power. Retrieved May 19, 2009. http://www.actupny.org/documents/CDdocuments/Consensus.htmlNotes on Consensus-Decision Making. Retrieved May 19, 2009. www.vernalproject.org/papers/process/ConsensNotes.pdfScott, Jonathan T. 2009, Concise Handbook of Management: A Practitioners ApproachChapter 17: Managerial Decision Making and Problem Solving, p131- 138retrieved 5/19/09 from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ehost/pdf?vid=9hid=106sid=f7f74d3b-190b-4f87-ae2e-438809c65b35%40sessionmgr109McConnell, C. R. (2006). Umikers Management Skills for the New Health Care Supervisor. Ch 25 pp.337-345. Sager, K.L., Gastil, J.,(1999). Reaching consensus on consensus Communication Quarterly. 47(1), 67-79.

Distributed Leadership Among Teachers Education Essay

Distributed Leadership Among Teachers Education Essay Distributed leadership stretches and shares the leadership practice to form collection leadership so that those not in formal authoritative position such as classroom teachers could be valued and have a voice in leadership. It disassociates from the vertical, bureaucratic and organizational hierarchy to enable collaboration and wide spread sharing of information and power to sustain improvement in teaching and learning. Distributed leadership is effective as it is an open and democratic model of principle equipped with both vertical and lateral communication. This leadership is associated with concepts such as empowerment, teamwork, capacity building, teacher leadership and professional development. The theoretical framework of distributed leadership is Theory Y as the leadership considers diverse contribution to the process of subtleties of leadership to shape collective action instead of the traditional vertical leadership process which separates leaders from followers as mutually exclusive categories. The purpose of this research proposal is to explore the perceptions of head teachers, teachers and students about distributed leadership, how it is practiced in schools and the perceived effects on teaching and learning in three high performing urban secondary schools in Klang Valley. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies are proposed in this study as semi-structured interviews with four head teachers to capture their perceptions on distributed leadership and what it means to them, while questionnaires to be administered on teachers and students to investigate on the level of distributed leadership practiced by head teachers and its effects on teaching and learning. Keywords: Distributed leadership, collaboration, empowerment, teamwork, and capacity building. Introduction Distributed leadership, I believe, presents a powerful concept of leadership in the educational arena of 21st century as it enables a collaborative and sharing approach among teachers and students and treats every person as a leader at the entry level, rather than leadership understood individually. It acknowledges various stakeholders and provides them with a voice about their situations to positively impact the teaching and learning outcome (Flowers, 2007). According to Leithwood and Mascall (2008), meaningfully leading schools requires collective leadership and interactions of people and their situation, and not centred on a single formal leader, so that they can specify and perform the tasks involved in leadership by identifying, acquiring, allocating, coordinating, and use the social, material and cultural resources necessary to establish the conducive conditions for teaching and learning in order to be powerful enough to have significant effect on students. This active and purposeful involvement of multiple individuals in school leadership enhances instructional innovations as distributed leadership considers teachers and students as partners in school leadership, rather than as followers to engage them as collaborative leaders with their colleagues to learn from one another and empowering others to lead, participation in shared decision-making, and development of a shared vision for their school (Sheppard and Brown, 2009). A widely distributed school leadership at all levels and the greater partnerships are important as it enables sharing of ideas and insights and therefore has great influence on the school and student outcomes (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2007). Distributed leadership enhances student outcome as it creates a culture for learning by promoting instructional leadership, leadership for learning, team work, capacity building, collective interaction and good communication among leaders, followers and their situations thus, crea ting trust and accountability among them. It is against this backdrop that this study proposes to explore the perceptions of head teachers, teachers and students of selected high performing schools in Klang Valley about distributed leadership and its effects on teaching and learning. These perceptions are essential to gain a deeper understanding of distributed leadership and its impact on teaching and learning and to yield lessons regarding the ways high performing schools can effectively lead and operate with their workforce of headteachers and teachers. Background of the study There is growing empirical evidence that distributed leadership causes a positive difference to student outcome as it has greater density of instructional leadership (Harris Spillane, 2008). This leadership identifies, develops and utilizes the pedagogical expertise and talent of teachers so that they are knowledgeable and responsible of the educational outcomes to positively impact the teaching and learning (Robinson, 2008). According to Chan and Sidhu (2009), excellent principals in Malaysia had deliberately chosen distributed leadership to move the school forward by empowering others to lead so that there is collaborative, cooperative, participative, democratic teacher leadership throughout the school. Distributed leadership which engages teachers as leaders with wider distribution of tasks rather than hierarchical distributions enables shared vision based on trust and a collective endeavour within the school which builds a broad capacity base is fast replacing the charismatic hero or the heroic leader in school leadership. Thus, the decision making processes are widely shared and school development becomes the responsibility of team of teachers to enhance student achievement rather than the senior management group. Although distributed leadership involves various stakeholders including principals, local education authorities, parents and community, the researcher proposes to explore the perceptions from those directly involved, that is, the headteachers, teachers and students who are the participants in this study, in moving forward the teaching and learning agenda by investigating their perceptions of the term distributed leadership, how it is practiced and what they perceive as its effect on teaching and learning as it is not possible to conduct a study that incorporates the perceptions of all the stakeholders within the scope of this study at this time. The study would involve three urban, high performing secondary schools in Klang Valley. The first school is a large secondary school with an enrolment of 1,200 students and 105 teachers and 5 head teachers. The second school also has an enrolment of 1,100 and the third school with an enrolment of 1,090 pupils. Pupils in these schools come from the wider community and are often sent by private vehicles. The students have no learning difficulties as they are the excellent students. Problem Statement There is a growing recognition of the need to study distributed leadership in the field of education especially in high performing schools as there has been powerful effects on student outcomes and there has been growing dissatisfaction with the traditional vertical leader-centred leadership (Caskey, 2010). Leadership vested in one position has become obsolete as it is not the single and heroic individualistic leader who makes an organisation function but leadership should be broadly distributed throughout the school to take into consideration of the competences of its members. According to Richard Elmore, distributed leadership is linked to schools fundamental task of helping students learn. However, the concept is new and lacks the definition and empirical knowledge about how or to what extent the high performing schools actually use distributed leadership as well as evidence that firmly links distributed leadership to students achievement is still far in the future as there is lit tle empirical data to support the effects of distributed leadership on teaching and learning. I believe distributed leadership can only be judged by the evidence of its impact on teaching and learning. Objective of the study Firstly, the study aims to explore the perceptions of headteachers of distributed leadership and what it means to them. Secondly, to investigate on the level of distributed leadership practiced or how it is practiced by headteachers as perceived by teachers and students. Thirdly, it seeks to find out the contribution of distributed leadership to teaching and learning as perceived by teachers and students at each school. These objectives are in line with tentative conclusions from various studies which indicate that leadership that is distributed among the wider school staff is likely to have an effect on students academic performance than that of exclusively top-down approach (Muijs and Harris 2007; PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2007). However, to-date, there has not been any empirical data to support the effect of distributed leadership on student outcomes as studies have also confirmed that the effect of leadership on student outcomes is largely indirect (Hartley, 2007; Rhodes and Brundrett, 2010). This study therefore proposes to contribute to knowledge about the impact of distribute leadership on teaching and learning by providing some empirical evidence from teachers and students and to integrate to previous findings of studies on distributed leadership. Research Questions The research questions for this study with the aforementioned objectives include: 1. What are the perceptions of head teachers on distributed leadership and what it means to them? 2. What are the perceptions of teachers and students on the level of distributed leadership practiced by head teachers? 3. To what extent does distributed leadership contribute to effective teaching and learning? Significance of the Study This emerging approach to leadership will be potentially useful to national and international policy makers, practitioners, trainers and researchers in education as they are more directly connected to student learning. Policy makers could utilize the study to devise new leadership approaches based on distributed leadership while practitioners may assist in creating professional learning communities and for continued professional development for school improvement and effective leadership. Trainers could formulate training needs for stakeholders based on leadership distribution while researchers may use it to set future agenda for research. Besides that, there is little empirical data to support the effects of distributed leadership on teaching and learning in high performing schools (Mayr, 2008). By investigating the perceptions of teachers and students, the study will highlight how distributed leadership is practiced in these selected urban schools in Malaysia. The researcher also finds the study important so as to reflect on past practices of leadership and to seek new ideas on effective school leadership and teaching and further to contribute to knowledge by adding some knowledge base to distributed leadership. Literature review Distributed leadership Distributed leadership stretches and shares the leadership practice among multiple formal and informal groups whereby the leadership responsibility is disassociated from the vertical, bureaucratic and organizational hierarchy so that there is interaction and wide spread sharing of information and power to sustain improvement in teaching and learning (Robinson, 2008). For example, when teachers, parents and support staff work together to solve certain problems, they are involved in developmental space and collective capacity building within the school as they utilise multiple sources of guidance, direction and expertise of these stakeholders and as such by their actions, they are engaged in distributed leadership. This leadership practice is the result of interactions between different members of the team or organization to contribute to the life of the school and maximize the human capacity and enhance self-worth of others by energizing others for tasks within the organization to contribute to broad and deep learning for all students. Distributed leadership is a way of thinking about leadership and being involved in a common task or clear goal improvement of instruction and common frame of values in executing the particular leadership task rather than another technique. Distributed leadership is linked to the notion of collaboration, shared, distributive, dispersed and democratic as shown in Figure 1 below. Figure 1: Terminologies associated with distributed leadership (Moyo, 2010) Thus, distributed leadership is effective as it is an open and democratic model equipped with both vertical and lateral communication. Distributed leadership among teachers The authorities to lead is no longer centered around one man theory as distribution is not monopolized by the headteachers initiative but is a collective leadership and dispersed within the school and among teachers through the cultivation of relationship and networks as classroom teachers are in direct contact with learners in the majority of cases and hence influence their learning. (Ameijde, et al., 2009). The school leadership adopts power equalization and inspires teachers to participate in leadership by developing a school culture which values the sorts of learning that enhance the capacity of individuals to lead and conducive to building norms of building trust to enhance openness, respect, appreciation and autonomy for the teachers to conduct their activities in collaboration, to procure and distribute resources, support teacher growth for both individual and collective development, to provide both summative and formative monitoring of instruction and innovation so that teachers could develop skills and expertise by working together and have a sense of ownership to influence the quality of teaching which subsequently affect student outcome. (Ameijde, et al., 2009). Distributed leadership which emphasizes collaboration of teachers with their colleagues in other schools facilitates teacher learning and enhances self-confidence as they engage in action research by trying new teaching approaches and disseminating their findings to colleagues, thereby minimizing teacher isolation but rather challenging teachers to promote personal and professional development so that they contribute to optimal student learning and achievement. The collective endeavour of efforts enables team based work and forms leadership community that share meaningful contexts and creates opportunities for learning as it integrates differing viewpoints and interests in approaching a highly complex and interdependent task. In this regard, teachers have clearly defined responsibilities which are linked to their area of expertise so that they could contribute effectively to leadership process. By doing so, teachers are not confined to the classroom but are rather transcended to contribute to the community of learners beyond the classroom to lead to improved practice and higher performance (Ameijde, et al., 2009). Distributed leadership is associated with a number of concepts and themes such as empowerment, teamwork, staff motivation, capacity building, teacher leadership and to a lesser extent professional development. (Ameijde, et al., 2009). Distributed cognition Distributed cognition views thinking as social rather than individual activity. Teachers are no longer passive and isolated but are connected through dialogue and reflection so that they are active and weaved in the fabric of the school for a common task and shared common values. They become more knowledgeable and take responsibility about the task of teaching as more of the pedagogical expertise and talent of teachers will be identified, developed and utilized than a more hierarchical pattern of leadership to impact on learning and student outcome. This creates unity and instructional innovations rather than micromanaging instruction. (Ameijde, et al., 2009). Teaching and Learning According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (2007), the behaviour of school leaders impact pupil performance. By distributing leadership to teachers that emphasise collaboration and distribution of power and authority which is central to learning, they exert their influence on pupil performance by empowering pupils and creating a favourable condition for learning by applying learner centred approach to teaching and learning in classrooms and across the school which has the potential to effect learner inclusion, engagement and improved achievement. With collaboration which is effective in widening student learning opportunities and raising expectations, teachers could also help to resolve immediate problems through dialogue and establishment of a shared sense of accountability. Pupils are not treated as passive recipients and as such, good communication is ensured so that the students know what is going on and has a hand in shaping this. high performing schools High performing schools (HPS) or cluster schools act as models for other institutions within the same cluster and becomes the premise for pioneering new approaches and innovations in the education system. Students of these excellent institutions excel in academic and co-curricular activities and possess outstanding personality, leadership skills, high team spirit, creative thinking skills, and are patriotic, globally oriented and competitive. These schools are acknowledged to have ethos, character and own identity and unique in all aspects of education. The high performing secondary schools in Klang Valley are either regular day schools or residential schools, premier schools and 100-year schools and the Ministry of Education Malaysia uses the HPS as markers to point towards excellence in education and as special model schools to other schools in Malaysia (MOE, 2008). Safe and orderly learning environments are created in these schools with clear instructional objectives in which the head teachers expect high performance from teachers and students through increased time on task and develop positive relations All students are required to show excellent performance comparable to benchmark standards such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) with proficiency in Math, Science and English.  Besides that, the students should also master higher-order thinking skills such as applications, problem-solving, participation in co-curriculum activities, and personal development or soft-skills (The Malaysian Insider, 2012). In order to maintain the schools high performance, leadership is distributed throughout the school and its community and when teachers are empowered in areas they believe are important (Jacobson, 2010). According to Muhyiddin, Malaysian Education Minister, the objective of HPS is to ensure that all students regardless of stream, medium, or urban or rural locations would attain continuous excellence  (The Malaysian Insider, 2012). The principal and teachers from these schools are expected to set examples and share their experiences with counterparts in other institutions. Their accountability is outlined by a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relating to human resource development, physical development, financial management, professionalism among staff member, and school achievements (academic, co-curricular activities and aptitude) (MOE, 2008). According to MOE (2008), high performing schools are expected to bring about positive impact to the national education system through excellence in co-curricular activities programmes; exemplary career guidance programmes; outstanding all-rounded students that is 5.8% of 5.2 million students; acceptance of students from high performing schools at world renowned universities; government and private sector sponsorships; international acknowledgements; as benchmarks for other schools, both local and foreign; quality leadership; and excellent teachers. Theoretical and Conceptual underpinning Distributed leadership in which the leadership functions are shared, employs Theory Y as the leadership enables diverse individuals to contribute to the process of subtleties of leadership to shape collective action instead of the traditional vertical leadership process which separates leaders from followers as mutually exclusive categories. Conceptually, distributed leadership refers to democratic style of leadership to allow voices of influence beyond just one and increases participation of stakeholders. It de-monopolizes concentrated leadership and enhances delegation of authority, collective decision-making, power, influence and coordination to enable plurality of analyses and boundarylessness so that the organizational phenomena such as information systems, knowledge, cognition, learning systems and work can be distributed. As leadership expands to multiple players, it displays holistic framework and allows flexibility, open-endedness with overlapping expertise to complement and reinforce one another, and strengthened decision making commitment and quality, and further utilizes fully the resources of the schools to collaborate and collectively devise strategies to improve students progress. It eliminates the tightly drawn lines, borders, commands and control associated with a Weberian bureaucratic paradigm (Gronn, 2 008). Conceptually, distributed leadership is associated with notions of empowerment, teamwork, collegiality, staff motivation, capacity building, teacher leadership, professional autonomy and professional development (Muijs and Harris, 2007). According to Moyo (2010), collegiality results in strong professional culture in the school as it includes collaboration among teachers, mutual respect, shared work values, cooperation and specific conversation about teaching and learning. According to Ameijde et al. (2009), distributed leadership underpins is a shared influence process to which several individuals contribute; and leadership arises from the interactions of diverse individuals which together form a group of network in which essential expertise is a dispersed quality. Empowerment Empowerment of teachers is an essential component of distributed leadership. Distributed leadership disassociates from control and dominance but rather creates opportunity, support, space, capacity and growth among teachers by encouraging them to have the power to decide how to do the defined tasks and to get involved vigorously in school policies, curriculum and educational practices and voice their views openly without fear of retribution to experience a greater sense of efficacy. With empowerment, teachers are more motivated to take risks and committed to work with surprising ability as it cultivates teacher leadership which extends beyond their own classrooms to others within and across schools, and further enhances teacher involvement in collective and collaborative process of school decision-making that promote teacher learning to contribute widely to teaching and learning. The empowerment elevates teachers expertise, confidence and self-esteem as they have control over resources, methods and decision making and further to experiment with novel, cutting-edge teaching methods, and to evaluate their colleagues teaching performance through team work, selection of instructional materials and textbooks, curriculum development, school policies and plans, coordination of programmes, professional development, organizing visits to other schools, collaborating with colleagues, leading study groups and coaching and mentoring students which impacts positively on their effectiveness as teachers and to have a positive effect on students. Teamwork Teamwork which refers to setting up of teams by the headteachers with the need to work together on a common purpose is crucial for distributed leadership. This implies that the headteacher is willing to distribute leadership. The team must be equipped with clear goals and results driven, competency, unified commitment, collaboration climate based on trust to develop honest openness and respect, clear standards of excellence, and external support and recognition to achieve an optimum degree of synergy. With these characteristics, the team will have comprehensive knowledge and responsibility of student learning and outcomes. They further become role models for students to emulate. Capacity building Capacity building through collaboration and trusting relationship for mutual learning can be achieved with distributed leadership in order for teachers to become professional communities and to focus on teaching and learning as they participate in decision-making and have a shared sense of purpose so as to have a joint responsibility for the outcomes of their work. The capacity may be built by reviewing the performance of teachers, adding more resources, materials or technology and by restructuring the tasks so that teachers can work together, experiment, reflect and explore with colleagues to acquire new skills and practice of the profession. Capacity building enables continuous learning of teachers to enhance pupil learning. According to Harris (2002), the conditions for capacity building to create a learning culture may include commitment to teachers development, inclusion of teachers and students in school policies and decisions and collaborative planning with effective coordinat ion strategies. Teacher leadership research methodology