Philippine schools overseas’ capitalized strength: Phenomenological impact of proversified leadership

Abstract

Leading a highly diversified workforce is a major challenge administrators of Philippine Schools Overseas (PSO’s) deal with as they strive to achieve organizational success and create competitive advantage in a world characterized by surprising and extensive changes. This qualitative study intends to capture the lived experiences of PSO administrators as they lead a unique and highly diversified work environment. Capitalizing on the power of phenomenology with an in-depth semi-structured interview as the primary data collection tool, this research probed into the proversified leadership experiences of a select group of school leaders to uncover the distinguishing effects of diversity among PSOs. A sample of 11 school administrators; 6 principals and 5 coordinators participated in the study. They represented the Philippine Schools Overseas (PSO’s) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to include six countries particularly the State of Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Sultanate of Oman, Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the State of Libya. Notably, the phenomenological data analysis of the individual and collective leadership experiences of principals and coordinators revealed three elements of strength considered as PSO’s capitalized strength. These capitalized strengths categorized as synergistic strength, chainergistic strength, and mutualistic strength enable PSO administrators and employees to fully embrace and effectively handle diversity in the school system.

Keywords: Proversified Leadership, synergistic strength, chainergistic strength, mutualistic strength, phenomenology, Middle East and North Africa (MENA).