Benefits of Infusing a Transintegrational (TI) Leadership Model Within State and Federally Funded Organization

There are growing concerns about the productivity of children's goal attainment within public sectors of developmental disability organizations such as school districts and regional centers where services are typically state and federally funded. Leadership styles within these various organizations play a significant role in determining productivity and effectiveness. This mixed methods research study analyzed the effects of infusing transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles within bureaucratic structures such as developmental disability service organizations (DDSOs). This study also analyzed the relationship between the three leadership styles and investigated their impact on parent satisfaction, including whether there was an increase or decrease in parent complaints or litigation under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) guidelines. This was accomplished by studying the effects of specific leadership styles and exploring leadership behaviors. In the first phase, quantitative research questions addressed the relationship between transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles and its effect on parent satisfaction of services provided within special education programs. Participants included IEP team leaders in the public sectors within DDSOs (public schools in Southern California). Information from this first phase was explored further in a second qualitative phase. The second phase, qualitative interviews were used to probe significant answers provided by the quantitative results by examining aspects of the lived experiences and viewpoints of families with children with developmental disabilities and current IEP team leaders within the school districts. Emphasis was placed on the public school as a primary DDSO for students within special education possessing individualized education plans (IEP). The researcher focused on leadership styles in the public sector of DDSOs (public schools in Southern California). The behaviors of 100 leaders in current leadership positions on an IEP team all possessing an administrative leadership credential from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing was explored and analyzed.