Communication Methods for Moving from Authoritarian to Allocative or Distributed Leadership, in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia, as Adopted by a High School Principal: A Case Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on a long-standing centralized appointment process for principalship, Yogyakarta’s secondary school principals have typically taken an authoritarian approach to leadership, and this stance has persisted even amid Indonesia’s recent political modernization. To examine the recent emergence of an allocative approach, this case study documented the communication style, collegiality, and dispersed tasks by leadership of an SMA “Bintang” High School principal. We interviewed nine key school actors: namely, the principal, two vice principals, three teachers, two staff members, and the student union head. Eight themes benefit the overall school community amid collaborative communication and allocative task management used by the principal. His approach toward co-decision-making, dispersion of authority, and embracing of shared tasks is considered by staff to have enhanced academic achievement, school management, and student-based activities, and is more allocative yet inseparable from the bureaucracy. Such leadership represents a positive transition to implementation of more dispersed and communicative leadership.