The Principal Leadership Style of Madrasah Ibdaiyah in the Views of

Structural-Functionalism Analysis

Desi Erawati

Institut Agama Islam Negeri Palangka Raya, Jl. G.Obos Komplex Islamic Center kota Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan,

Indonesia

desi.erawati@iain-palangkaraya.ac.id

Keywords: Leadership style, principal of madrasah, structural-functionalism theory.

Abstract: The principal of madrasah Ibtidaiyah (Islamic elementary school) has an important role to maintain a balance

both academic and social roles, due to his/ her duty as a policy maker. Accordingly, the principal leadership

style of madrasah is a main factor to realize school’s vision dan mission. This study is aimed at analyzing the

principal leadership style of Madrasah Ibtidaiyah in structural-functionalism analysis approach as an effort to

improve teacher’s discipline. The method of this study is explorative descriptive qualitative method. The

samples are some teachers (the principal of madrasah ibtidaiyah, three classroom teachers, and one

administrative staff), and some students. The data are collected using observation, in-depth interview and

documentation. The finding of this research is that the principal leadership style of madrasah ibtidaiyah has

been implemented with situational leadership style which is relevant to Parsons’s structural-functionalism

theory. The principal of madrasah positions himself not only as a policy maker but also a facilitator and a

mediator to his subordinates. In this case, he puts social awareness forward and emotional/situation and

condition to create a comfortable psychology of workers.

1 INTRODUCTION

The principal leadership style of the madrasah,

according to functional structural analysis, is how the

leadership of the madrasah principal be analyzed

based on the theory of Talcott Parsons functionalist

structuralism "AGIL". A school institution is a social

system in which all elements are existed, namely the

principal of madrasah, teachers, administrative staffs,

learners and parents. All elements are interrelated and

dependent. School has a system of vision, mission,

goals and achievements in order to create social order

in school environment. Therefore, it is needed the

leadership. In this case, the principal of madrasah

becomes as an administrator, a mediator, a facilitator

and a good motivator. As stated Nurkholis in his book

"School Based Management: Theory, Models,

Applications,” leadership is usually defined as the

power to move and influence people. Leadership is

simply a tool or process to persuade people to be

willing to do something voluntarily. Related with the

willingness of others to follow the leader's wish, there

are some forces (powers) that must be owned by the

leader in order that the driven person follows his

wishes. They are threats, rewards, authority, and

persuasion (Nurkholis 2003).

As a leader, in this case, the principal of Madrasah

is the figure leader who organizes all activities in the

school. The importance of the position is in

accordance with the research finding conducted by

Sinha and Hanuscin entitled "Development of

Teacher Leadership Identity: A Multiple Case

Study.” He said that being a leader requires several

stages, since in this study a teacher can be a leader.

He has a lot of teaching experience both as a

classroom teacher and school administravie staff. The

figure of the teacher or his identity becomes very

important as the expected leader (Hanuscin, n.d.).

Similarly, Hua Sun et al in his article "Exploring The

Interaction between Vertical and Shared Leadership

in Information Systems Development Project", states

that joint leadership is less effective in managing

information systems of development projects,

especially when it is developed with the role theory.

That is, the vertical leadership is better since the

model of top-down supervision becomes more

effective and more guided (Sun, n.d). From the two

findings of this study, it indicated that a good leader

must have special skills in terms of good leadership

Erawati, D.

The Principal Leadership Style of Madrasah Ibdaiyah in the Views of Structural-Functionalism Analysis.

In Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities (ANCOSH 2018) - Revitalization of Local Wisdom in Global and Competitive Era, pages 59-63

ISBN: 978-989-758-343-8

and guided. This is achieved with the authoritarian

style so that subordinates can be controlled. Other

researches found that successful leadership is

achieved when it was built on a shared based as stated

by Wiil entitled "Flock Leadership: Understanding

and Influencing Emergent Colletive Behavior", The

finding is that the group leadership is better than

individual leadership. Through group leadership, it

can develop, and has challenges. Group leadership

becomes the basis for mutual understanding and

influence of each group. Group leadership becomes

an opportunity in establishing an organization (Will,

n.d.). Similarly, Mohamed et al., state that in a school

or college institution, it is needed to have a

transformational leadership style. It is preferred since

of the synergy between leaders, subordinates

(teachers, administrators), and learners (Mohamed,

n.d). The purpose of this study is that the dynamics of

transformational leadership is well-established in

terms of human resources and others. In contrast to

Erziko’s views, leadership as seen when dealing with

society in terms of cultural perspective is to become

a reliable leader when he can develop himself in

society, school and others, interact with various

community and able to take strategic decisions

(Erzikova, n.d). The result of this study is seen from

cultural studies, a good leader must have a social

sensitivity to the environment.

Some studies conducted are, of course, different

from this study. The focus is on how is the principal

leadership style of madrasah ibtidaiyah when

analyzed using the social theory of Talcott Parsons,

where the principal of madrasah as a leader in the

school. The school is also a social system, where the

social system is the AGIL theory proposed by Parsons

to examine how the principal leadership style of

madrasah ibtidaiyah in managing and organizing a

school. Some concepts on leadership styles are

categorized as task-oriented and employee-oriented

style. Terminologically, style is a typical way of

behaving from a leader to the members of his group.

Therefore, what the leader tries to do, when he does

it, and the way he acts, will shape his leadership style

(Indonesia, 2010). This study refers to situational

leadership style. Situational leadership style is the

style of leadership, in which a leader adopted to the

situation (situational approach), because leadership is

basically faced with a number of situations within the

various characteristics of the group.

In other words, the situational leadership style

depends on the situation (Hidayat, 2012). One

example of situational leadership style within the

scope of madrasah is that when there is a teacher

violating the rule or non-discipline in work. Then the

principal of a madrasah may be harsh or authoritarian

to the teacher. The reason is that the teacher will no

longer repeat his actions. Regarding to the situational

leadership style, there is a bit similar with the result

presented by Yun Du et al. The research conducted

by principals both at the primary and secondary

levels, assuming there is a professional change in

schools by conducting comparative studies in some

schools, in terms of interested, school system

structure and classroom management. Leaders with

international experience, there are opportunities and

challenges to address needs can be resolved, teacher

involvement, policy and financial supports (Ulla et

al., N.d.). The more experience and insight, the more

skills a leader has, especially in the school

environment. The term functionalism is derived from

the theoretical approach used in sociology.

Functionalism refers to a consensus, or equilibirium

theory pioneered by Emile Durkheim (1858-1817).

He was the first person to advocate education in

sociology. The sociologist uses this theoretical

approach begins with the assumption that the society

and the social institutions in it, such as education is a

part of society that is interdependent with each other.

Each contributes to the other in operating its activities

in accordance with its owned functions in society

(Abdulhak, 1998). The concept of AGIL Parsons also

emphasized in his theory of the importance of role-

status in a system. The principal of madrasah is not

seen as the internal side of the individual but more

visible on the status attached to him. To see his role

of course seen first is whether the status is properly

implemented in accordance with the expected role

(Goodman, 2007).

2 RESEARCH METHODS

This study applies descriptive explorative approach

which identifies the reason for the occurrence of a

thing. This study was conducted in 2017 at one of the

Islamic primary schools in Palangka Raya, Central

Kalimantan, Indonesia. The data are collected using

purposive sampling technique, in-depth interview

techniques. The informants in this study were the

principal (simple personality, prioritizing the

progress of education on the basis of religion), three

teachers (teachers having long experienced in the

field of education), and one administrative staff and

some learners as supporting data.

ANCOSH 2018 - Annual Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Principal Leadership Style of

Madrasah Ibtidaiyah with

Functional Structural Approach

An opponent stream to empirical sociology that

dominated the postwar United States of America,

Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) built a general theory of

society. Society, in his view covers a broad system,

and its elements fill four basic functions: adaptation,

continuing goals, integration and maintaining norms.

Society produces agreements, changes and common

interests, in which Parsons declares that coexistence

is not only selfish or submissive to the law but it is

determined by values and norms. In The Social

System (1951); systemic and functional society

figure. This theory is directed to understand the

existence of an organized social order within a free

state, in which people freely choose their own

activities (Forse, etc, 2009). Parsons sees that social

interaction is not a fundamental unit in the study of

social systems. Hemphasized on status and role as the

basic unit in the system. Status refers to the structural

position in the social system, and the role is what the

actor does in his position (Goodman, 2007). The

status and role of the madrasah principal in this case

determines whether or not a school is advancing.

Targeted socialization because those who provide

policies, regulations and rules or norms developed in

schools can run in accordance with what is desired.

All components in the school are teachers,

administrators, learners and parents who participate

in them following the rules in force at the school. The

Madrasah Ibtidaiyah is one of the private schools that

are boarded with pesantren, but administratively

accountable directly to the local religious ministry, so

that the recruitment of teachers and administrators is

partly civil servant status (PNS). The AGIL concept

of Parsons being the primary target in the analysis of

the leadership style of the Ibadidaiyah madrasah

principal, such as the analysis on adaptation, the part

of the external and the instrumental functions of the

system. It is said externally because it is related to the

system with its environment. It is called instrumental

because it is not the purpose of the environment that

the system wants to achieve but as a means of

achieving goals and tools to create dynamic

conditions supporting the achievement of the goals in

the future. The findings of this study are the policy of

the madrasah principal by applying finger print, and

CCTV (instrument or surveillance machine /

supervisor) is the instrument used to achieve the goal

of creating discipline both in quantity and quality.

Then the second is goal attainment. It is a

prerequisite as an effort to meet the objectives of the

system and the implementation of priorities among

those goals. In order for the system to take place, it is

required a goal formulation, and those who can

achieve that goal. The key word is "effectiveness".

Effectiveness as a determinant. One example is that

the principal of madrasah ibtidaiyah socializes in

various community both senior and junior teachers,

both civil servants (PNS) and the honorary workers.

The information given is those considered important

and up to date such as curriculum socialization,

learning tools, rules of teacher performance as

classroom teachers, teachers of study, and so forth.

This activity usually includes in weekly or monthly

meetings conducted on Saturday. Mr. AA, said that

the information provided does not have to be in

formal but also non-formal. It depends on the

situation and conditions. The most important thing is

that the message given can be received well and

smoothly. One evidence of time efficiency is that to

convey information, advice, suggestion or input from

subordinates. It does not have to be in a formal

condition.The third condition is integration. The

purpose of integration is the ability to establish

relationships with each other, among the constituent

units of a system. The principal of the AA madrasah

always communicates and accepts the inputs from

bottom to top. It is assumed that it is easy to accept

aspirations from subordinates. It makes easy to

achieve what is desired together. In addition,

communication from top to bottom is usually policy

or regulation that must be implemented.

The last requirement is Latent Pattern

Maintenance (Maliki, 2012). It is a prerequisite

refering to how to ensure continuity of action within

the system in accordance with some rules or norms,

so that it can be matched through a cultural system.

The principal of AA madrasah always performs

evaluation both weekly, monthly, semester and

yearly. In order to monitor, evaluate the performance

or what programs are implemented or vice versa.

Starting from the program of teaching and learning

activities in schools, and all programs from

improving the quality of teachers, infrastructure and

so forth. The principal of madrasah in this case

strongly supports to all teachers to follow self-

development by following the workshop, training or

mentoring. In addition, there should be monitoring to

class visits. Although not intense because it is

supported the presence of CCTV installed throughout

the study room. This makes it easier for madrasah

The Principal Leadership Style of Madrasah Ibdaiyah in the Views of Structural-Functionalism Analysis

principal to monitor, control and evaluate the learning

process in the classroom.

This analysis, if it is seen from the figure of the

principal of madrasah ibtidaiyah, from the

observations made, AA wants the school he leads

should be in accordance as instructed by the regional

ministry of religion of Palangka Raya city, creating

the young generation who has good behavior. The

performance of AA is simply, punctuate, easy to get

friend along with anyone, not limit himself to all the

citizens of the school. He also has a high spirit to

improve the quality of learning in Madrasah

Ibtidaiyah. One of them is not yet conveyed the

subject of local content in the form of classical

Islamic studies such as nahwu, sharaf and the like.

AA wishes that the teaching materials are made like

a module, concise and understandable and

measurable in accordance with the existing

curriculum. Because of something, the intention is

only a discourse. Some teachers and learners say that

the profile of the principal AA madrasah is typically

simply, punctuate, has a strong vision and mission to

advance the madrasah. The existence of CCTV is

very helpful for AA in controlling or supervising

teachers who teach in each class.

3.2 The Efforts of the Madrasah

Ibtidaiyah Principal to Improve

Teacher's Discipline

The Enthusiastic teachers and administrative staff

make it easy for AA to apply discipline at the school.

Assuming that all elements have the same

commitment, then the learners will follow and obey

what is set at the school. Finding from Parsons theory

is that socialization and social control is the main

mechanism that allows the social system to maintain

its balance. Individuality and deviation are

accommodated, but more extreme forms must be

dealt with by a rebalancing mechanism (Goodman,

2007). Socialization is part of the AGIL process,

where social processes through mediation

intercultural patterns (values, beliefs, languages and

symbols). All values, beliefs, languages, and symbols

are embedded in the personal system. Through this

process, individuals receive and have a commitment

to the existed norms. Second is social control; through

the process of status and role existed in the society,

which is organized into the social system. The

purpose of this mechanism is to reduce the emerging

tensions (Wirawan, 2014). Monitoring to the

evaluation of activities in schools, socialization and

social control are always done in the form of monthly

meetings, semesters and even years, to evaluate each

program which is implemented or vice versa.

4 CONCLUSIONS

This study reveals that the situational leadership style

of madrasah ibtidaiyah principal can improve the

discipline of teachers, administrative staff and

learners. The ability of madrasah ibtidaiyah principal

in responding to environmental, cultural, and social,

resource and other conditions becomes a necessity for

the creation of a good functional structural in the

educational environment, especially in schools.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research can be conducted for cooperative work.

Thanks to good participation of madrasah ibtidaiyah

such as principal of madrasah, teachers, and all

parties that help this study. Also grateful to the

Institut Agama Islam Negeri of Palangka Raya,

because this research is funded by DIPA IAIN

Palangka Raya in the year of 2017.

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The Principal Leadership Style of Madrasah Ibdaiyah in the Views of Structural-Functionalism Analysis