The Role of E-Transformational Leadership in Intergenerational Cooperation for School Culture

Abstract

In transforming society and the new education system, there is significant need to know more about new generation expectations and the characteristics in order to form future actions. This study aims to reveal the role of e-transformational leadership in intergenerational cooperation for the better school practice and culture. The literature pays attention on transformation in education however literature needs to put forward to expanding practical knowledge on entrepreneurship, cooperation and transformational leadership by concentrating on intergenerational learning and exchange of knowledge in school culture. The study has qualitative nature that self-reports of headmaster and teachers in school context provided qualitative data in order to discover emic perspective on e-transformational leadership and intergenerational cooperation. Thematic analysis was employed to reveal the perceptions and experiences of headmasters and teachers in respect to research focus. The findings showed that the situation of transformational leadership of headmasters, intergenerational cooperation on school culture and efficient use of information technology are key terms to be considered for the development of school culture.

1. Introduction

The role of the new generation is emphasized within innovation that forms the basis for expanding new products and services as well as producing new, different and visionary ideas. Information technologies and leadership does not only play a linking role between generations but it also has an important place in static changes in workplaces. No matter if its workplace or educational institutions, it would be beneficial to take steps forward in solving the possible problems on social reflections with a different view on the restructuring of fields starting with educational institutions to management and education by starting to shed a light on the effects of the Internet generation on life and work conditions which will also contribute to considering the expectations of the new generations in being innovative [1]. Prew provides insights on innovation and transformation in education process [2].

Previous research shows that activating the features of the new generation through transformational leadership style while re-considering the administrative structure of educational institutions would increase the productivity for quality [3]. In this regard, in the new age, the importance of information, globalization, new production structures, new policy understanding are forcing businesses to manage conflicts and take total quality as the foundation. Hence, new generation and cooperation with the new generation represents a significant workforce in order to raise awareness and form a foundation [4]. Recent research sheds a light to understand the merits of collaboration between generations for enhancing professional knowledge. The new generation that believes it is important to be dynamic, focused on self-development, sensitive to environment, open to new things for success possesses personal qualities such as problem-solving, risk-taking, faith in sustainability, good communicator, innovative and enthusiastic for feedback and this covers new graduates of universities [5, 6]. This generation that lives a natural consequence of the digital age may seem as something new but they expect to be understood by other generations.

In case of being understood by other generations, this generation has the potential of being very productive. The new generation follows technology closely, is family-focused, oriented towards success, focused more on the job rather than working hours, and is a generation that expects a job with a guaranteed future. This generation, which possesses a leadership perception that supports idea production and sharing, is forcing change in management structures with their independent and noncompliant nature. It is an audience that contributes greatly to following and betterment of global perspective with their enthusiasm, faith in teamwork and willingness to be the center of attention. Thus, they function as a bridge in establishing change and betterment in the structure of institutions. With a constructive benefit from the aforementioned qualities, especially in educational institutions, productivity, formation of knowledge will show the realistic operations of quality and competition. This generation foresees the changes in the mind-set of especially business organizations and emphasizes standardization to meet the quality criteria. Hence, it is possible to move towards change in professional life, education and communication by conducting institutionalization and standardization.

In the conducted research, continuous education and development rely on being open to innovations with a basis of trust. This generation professionally benefits from those who mentor them for guidance purposes that collaboration plays a great role. In this respect, there is a need for management models and educational systems through their expectancies from their workplaces or educational settings as follows: being satisfied with the setting, having active participation at the same time with encouraging organized learning, creating free time for their areas of interest and research for new ideas. Therefore, they expect working conditions that support and encourage idea production and creativity as well as benefitting from technology at utmost level for better effectiveness. As this generation, that perceives collaboration-based settings and active participation with management for employee satisfaction, expects a job with a guaranteed future, humanistic working conditions and a job image that does not create future anxiety, this research examines how collaboration based activities through information technology and transformative leadership foster school culture within generations. Work places working for the benefit of the society, educational institutions and working with a leadership approach that facilitates idea production and sharing despite status are among the expectancies of this generation.

Providing free time and initiative for the employees, freedom of expression, freedom to question the available system, change of mind-set in business management, and institutionalization are also the expectations of the new generation from professional, educational and working settings. They also emphasize the importance of sensitivity to environment, sensitivity to social issues, fair income division and transparency for productivity and increasing job loyalty. Although there are different leadership styles such as distributive leadership, entrepreneurial leadership in the schools, the practices of these leadership are limited to focus on intergenerational collaboration in the school culture [7, 8]. The study of Naicker and Mestry, points out reflections of teachers on distributive leadership in primary schools [7]. This research study gives insights on distributive leadership is restricted due to authority and hierarchy. As this research study discusses the themes of leadership styles, school climate, communication and barriers to teacher leadership, autocratic leadership style, participative leadership style, staff relationships, teacher morale and motivation, transparency are fostered in primary schools. Further to this, the study of Akmaliah et al. gives insights on entrepreneurial leadership in schools [8]. This sheds a light that there is a relation between entrepreneurial leadership practices with school innovations regarding to teachers’ perspectives.

Transformative leadership plays an important role in the establishment of intergenerational collaboration and formation of school culture [9, 10]. The qualities to be possessed by innovative individuals in supporting development are as follows: creativity, intellectual skills, knowledge of informatics, entrepreneurship, having knowledge in specific areas, focused on future, communication skills, potential for entrepreneurship and being lifelong learners. Strategic steps should be taken by having an interest in learning new things [11].

Transformative leader is the main character who is honest, decisive and respectful to people. Also, these leaders are skillful in knowing themselves as well as others. They move, not based on others’ suggestions but rather, on their own intuition [12]. Transformative leaders motivate the employees by exploring their skills and abilities and increasing their self-confidence, hence, aiming to get the maximum result possible [13, 14]. The idea of transformative leader motivating the employees to be aware of pragmatic outcomes beyond the loyalty and expectation of the employees is at the heart of the model [15].

Transformative leaders are people who have reached a level of satisfaction in their personal and professional lives. They do not need to be accepted, recognized or approved. They are self-sufficient people. Therefore, they are not afraid of failure. They blame themselves and not the other in case of any failure [12].

Transformative leadership is re-determining people’s missions and visions, refreshing responsibilities and re-structuring the system to reach the objectives [16, 17]. It is a relationship that is based on mutual encouragement and those who support the leader are raised to leadership position, and in which leaders are turned into moral tools [18]. Real transformative leaders are expected to facilitate in the development of ethical ideas and implementations. These implementations should be set clearly and are continuously emphasized as well as helping to establish an organizational culture that covers all the ethical standards acknowledged by all members. Leaders are interested only in good things that will be done within their groups and cause changes in the thoughts and emotions of those that belong to them about themselves. It is concluded that leaders become real transformative leaders when they help to notice what is right, good and important; when they meet the needs of those following them; when they improve the ethical maturity of those who belong to them and when they reach the point where they can give up on their own wishes for the sake of others in their group [18].

It is needed to highlight the reflections of the new generation on the management, communication and educational fields in order to evaluate the place and importance of the new generation in the best way. Transformative leaders are needed in order to increase the collaboration potential of the new generation. The awareness level of the new generation is important in establishing the mutual spirit and structure; resolving interpersonal conflicts in organizations, and reinforcing intergenerational communication [19]. Additionally, with the current generation establishing the foundation for future generation via integration of the digital world, it will shed a light for growing human power for future. Thus, it is inevitable to re-improve the pedagogy that will be presented to this new generation who is pragmatic and product-oriented and adapting the teaching-learning understanding to the new human profile of the digital age [20]. Transformative leadership understanding would reinforce establishment of school culture; creating intercultural interaction and collaboration; betterment of management processes; implementing active participation based decision making processes as well as development of climate and culture in institutions and organizations [21]. Hence, the productivity will lead to gaining of quality.

The time has come to manage processes and relationship with the influence of 21st century skills and digital age. Since teachers and administrators use technology intensively as education is digitalized, it is not possible for administrators to remain remote from these developments or maintain traditional education management styles. Administrators and teachers should quickly integrate technology into their management processes as 21st century communication tools rapidly develop and distribute information. The way to do this is to keep up with the digital age [22].

In addition, Involving employees in implementing sustainable work policies; establishing mutual interaction; being technology-oriented; social responsibility understanding; collaboration; openness and quality are listed as the fundamental criteria [23, 24]. In today’s world, starting work with more knowledge has brought the need to use information at the right place, and gave rise to the issue of filtering information and how it is shaped for learning.

Networking has occupied an important place at this point. This research paper has a significant value to give framework on how information technology affects leadership and its practices in school culture. In addition, it gives an insight on collaboration between generations in the transformation of education.

In addition, this paper contributes the strategic planning for the future considerations in school culture and school development. The new generation is the source for expanded workforce and effectiveness for more flexible decisions, producing new and different ideas and using them as betterment policies in educational institutions.

There are few studies on e-transformational leadership in the literature. New generation leadership aiming to strengthen learning can be improved with technological development. Therefore, e-transformational leadership in this study is technology based. For the future school managers, assessing the impact of e-transformational leadership for inter-generational cooperations will be fruitful. The current fast pace of transformation, it becomes impossible for the leadership with outdated behavior to adapt to the change. It is believed that e-transformational leaders are more capable to adapt to such change.

For this reason, this research aims to point out the significance of transformational leadership in inter-generational cooperation. In this regard, the following questions have been raised:

• What is the contribution of transformational leadership on the formation of school culture?

• What is the significance of intergenerational cooperation in professional development?

• What are the effects of technology on transformational leadership?

• What is the contribution of technology on intergenerational cooperation?

2. Methodology

2.1. Research design

The conducted research benefitted from the interview technique as one of the techniques for qualitative research. It is possible to classify the interview technique into three categories as: structured, semi-structured or unstructured interviews. In semi-structured interviews, questions and pre-set and data is tried to be collected via these pre-set questions [25]. This technique is neither as strict as structured interviews nor as flexible as unstructured interviews; it is situated between two poles. The semi-structured interview is preferred as it provides a degree of flexibility for the researcher.

2.2. Research group

Purposeful sampling was followed in this research and snowball sampling was used to determine the sample of the research [26]. Majority of the data could be collected from school directors and teachers in this sample so it is believed that the chosen sample fits the aim of the research [27]. 10 school directors and 50 teachers, a total of 60 participants, joined this research from the schools in rural areas participating in Cyprus. The statuses of the participants are presented in Table 1.

Table 1.

The statuses of the participants.

2.3. Data collection process

The research data has been collected through interviews in participants’ offices between February 15th and March 30th 2016, when they were available. The researcher conducted face-to-face interviews that lasted for approximately 45 minutes each with school directors and teachers in order to investigate the statuses of rural area school directors and teachers on transformative leadership and e-leadership. The interviews were conducted in a relaxing and comfortable atmosphere in order to be able to collect rich data from the participating school directors and teachers.

2.4. Data collection tool

Interview questions that would fully explore the perceptions of school directors and teacher about the about the transformative leadership and e-leadership statuses of rural area school directors and teachers were prepared for the interview form used to collect data from the participants. In order to ensure the internal validity of the interview form, it was given to three experts for review and as a result, the form was finalized after some questions were omitted or merged due to similar content, and after the clarity of some questions were improved. Two school directors and three teachers were chosen to conduct the pilot study. This ensured the clarity and openness of the questions and whether the answers reflect the possible answers of the questions. With this aim, the recorded audio files were turned into written form on the interview transcription form on the computer. Then, two other experts were asked to review these transcripts in terms of openness and clarity of the questions, whether they cover the research area or not, and possibility of providing the needed answers. The two experts were found to be in agreement for 92%. At the end of this, the item validity of the questions was determined. Data collection process was started after ensuring that interview questions provide the needed responses. The data was solved through content analysis in this research. The data was analyzed through four steps in content analysis.

2.5. Coding of the data

The CDs recorded during the interviews were resolved and each line was numbered, then, transcribed. The in review transcription and CDs were given to an expert from the field and asked to check whether there are any wrong or missing parts. Upon completing the transcriptions, the data collected from the participants were reviewed to divide them into meaningful parts and these parts that form meaning chunks within themselves were named and coded. A list of codes was prepared after finishing coding of all data and this list functioned as the key list in reviewing and organizing the data. Later, the coding key and interview transcriptions were read by the researchers separately and organized after discussing the issues of “agreement” or “disagreement.” The reliability formulae suggested by Miles & Huberman was used for reliability calculation of the research and it was calculated as 89%. The research is considered as reliable if the reliability calculations are above 70% [28]. The result gained here was accepted as reliable for this study. Among the coding done by the researchers, those with similarities were taken as the basis to find the themes. The themes were organized diagrammatically as related nodes within NVIVO, with full definitions being written for each, to ensure consistency of coding. The thematic analysis will be continued until saturation is reached; the final themes identified forming the results of the study. For the above transactions are the “QSR Nvivo 8” was used for data analysis and modeling. NVIVO is a computer program for qualitative data analysis that allows one to import and code textual data, edit the text; retrieve, review and recode coded data; search for combinations of words in the text or patterns in the coding; and import from or export data to other platforms [29].

2.6. Finding themes

At this stage, the codes determined at the previous stage are brought together under certain categories and themes were formed. For example, the code of education council decision making and the code of conduction jobs at the sub-committees of education council were brought together under the theme of education council decisions and similarities between codes were tried to be found and same procedure was followed by all thematic coding processes. In this research, a total of four dimensions were formed with the aim of exploring transformative leadership and e-leadership statuses of rural area school directors from the perspective of school directors and teachers: transformative leadership status of school directors; intergenerational collaboration status of school director within the scope of transformative leadership; status of the new generation in establishing organizational culture; and contribution of the effective use of technology by school directors on intergenerational collaboration.

The specified themes: determining the Status of directors’ transformational leadership, cooperation status of school directors, the status of the new generation in establishing organizational culture, the contribution of effective use of technology by school directors to intergenerational cooperation.

2.7. Organizing data based on themes and interpreting

At this stage, the views of the participants were explained in a way that would be understood by the reader and the views were presented to the reader from the first-hand. Footnote was used to determine which participant the interview notes belong to and interview notes are given in quotation marks. Then, the participants to whom the notes belong to were given in brackets. The coding system is given in the following example explanations:

Example-1: “……………” (D (1)).

D: School Director, AD: Assistant Director, T: Teacher.

Interpretation of the data that was defined and presented in detail by the researcher and explanation of certain findings were done at this last stage. The collected data has been interpreted through the steps required by qualitative research and some conclusions were drawn, the importance of findings were supported by relevant literature.

3. Findings

The perceptions of school directors and teachers regarding the transformative leadership and e-leadership statuses of rural area school directors are presented below. Method literature states that numerical analysis of qualitative data is suitable to use for the purposes of increasing the reliability of the research, reducing bias, allow comparison between the formed themes and categories. With this aim in mind, the qualitative data has been reduced to percentages and presented in tables. Also, views of participants were tried to be presented for all dimensions.

3.1. Dimension: status of directors’ transformational leadership

The first dimension of the research has been formed in regards to determining the Status of directors’ transformational leadership. It was tried to investigate the thoughts regarding this dimension of 60 participants by asking what the transformational leadership statuses of the directors are. The views of participants have been determined by the percentages and themes given in Table 2 and examples from views are provided.

Table 2.

Dimension: Status of directors’ transformational leadership.

In regards to the status of directors’ transformational leadership, 40% of the school directors and 70% of the teachers have a fear of failure and they do not see themselves as responsible. Difference in perspectives were seen between school directors and teachers. This difference in perspectives can be interpreted as teachers thinking that school directors do not consider themselves as responsible when they fail and cannot exhibit the expected behavior in transformational leadership criteria. Within this theme, a teacher stated that: “Our school director does not take any responsibility in case of failure after any decision and always blame others (T (9)).” In regards to the theme of taking risks in restructuring the system, 60% of the school directors and 24% of the teachers expressed their views. It can be said that there are differences in the views of teachers and school directors within this theme. It can be understood that the reason for this difference can be school directors not taking sufficient risks in restructuring the system. Within the scope of this theme, a school director stated the following: “We want to renew the system in school according to the needs but we cannot take any risks because of the rules and regulations.” For the theme of experiencing problems in providing renewal and transformation of the system due to supervision and regulations during the process of radical decision-making, it can be seen that there are no differences between the views of the teachers and school directors. In regards to this theme, a school director stated: “We make strong decisions, however; we remain incomplete in renewing and transforming the system due to inspectors and regulations coming from the Ministry (D (4))”. With the theme of decrease in transformational leadership of the rural area director due to the lack of opportunities, it can be said that teachers and school directors are in agreement based on the percentages. In regards to this theme, of the teacher participants stated the following: “We are far from the cities, thus, I can say that the opportunities and facilities here are less than the cities. Hence, our school directors showing transformational leadership can be said to be none (T (9))”.

3.2. Dimension: intergenerational cooperation status of school directors as part of transformational leadership

The second dimension of the research was formed within the scope of determining the intergenerational cooperation status of school directors as part of transformational leadership. The views of participants have been determined by the percentages and themes given in Table 3 and examples from views are provided.

Table 3.

Dimension: Intergenerational cooperation status of school directors as part of transformational leadership.

In relation to the intergenerational cooperation status of school directors as part of transformational leadership, 30% of the school directors and 48% of the teachers expressed their views on the need for old teachers and new generation teachers taking responsibilities together. The percentages show that there is a difference between the views of teachers and school directors. It can be understood from this difference that school directors do not give full responsibility in regards to old generation teachers taking responsibility together with new generation teachers. For this theme, a school director stated: “I can easily say that young generation teachers do not show sensitivity towards working together with old generation teachers” (D (9)).” For the theme on transferring thought through the values, symbols and rituals of the schools within collaboration between generations in forming school culture (school climate), 50% of school directors and 28% of the teacher expressed their views. It can be said that they are differences between the views of school directors and teachers about this theme. The reason for this difference can be the perception and understanding differences between new generation teachers and old generation teachers on transferring thought through school values, symbols and rituals for establishing school culture (school climate). A school directors said the following about this theme: “We try to reinforce the connection between generations by organizing periodic activities that remind the school values, symbols and rituals (D (7))”. It can be understood from the percentages and statements that there are differences between the views of school directors and teachers regarding the theme of organizing games, having breakfast or lunch together to develop collaboration between generations. A teacher said the following about this theme: “School director sometimes organizes a breakfast, lunch or games to mainstream us with old generation teachers and this was done only once and I believe it would be better if it is done more often (T (36))”. The percentage rates show that there are differences between the views of teachers and school administrators regarding the theme of self-confidence and self-sufficiency of transformational leadership. About this theme, one of the school directors stated the following: “I am quite confident that I can organize many activities and events at school on my own and I sometimes do it on my own. In reality, I cannot say that I need many people to do things. I can manage most of my duties on my own and I think that I do not need many people (D (4))”.

3.3. Dimension: cooperation status of the new generation in establishing organizational culture

The third dimension of the research was formed to determine the status of the new generation in establishing organizational culture. The views of participants have been determined by the percentages and themes given in Table 4 and examples from views are provided.

Table 4.

Dimension: Cooperation status of the new generation in establishing organizational culture.

In regards to the status of the new generation in establishing organizational culture, 70% of the school directors and 40% of the teachers expressed their views as periodic meetings should be organized to increase the collaboration with old generation teachers. This percentage shows that there are differences of views between teachers and school directors. It is understood from this difference in views that school directors have certain lacks within the theme of the need for giving responsibility together with old generation and new generation teachers and organizing periodic meetings to increase collaboration. In relation to this, one school director expressed his views as follows: “I can easily say that new teachers do not show the necessary sensitivity towards working with old generation teachers (D (9)).” In relation to the theme of hosting lecturers from universities for in-service courses to increase the collaboration with old generation teachers, 50% of school directors and 30% of teachers expressed their views. There are differences in the views of teachers and school directors about this theme. We can say that the reason for this difference in views is the need for more collaboration with new generation teachers to increase collaboration with old generation teachers and more courses to be organized in order to reduce the gap between generations. In relation to this theme, a teacher said the following: “Our school rarely gives any courses; when it is provided, old generation teachers never attend and universities do not really provide any support (T (37)).” It is understood from the percentages that teachers and school directors have any differences in views regarding the theme of new generation doing more sports and other activities than Internet and computers. In relation to this theme, one school director said the following: “The new generation teachers in our school are always very busy with their cell phones or laptops. I have personally never seen them to engage in any sports or nature walks. I would like to state that they have a very unhealthy lifestyle (D (8)).”

3.4. Dimension: the contribution of effective use of technology by school directors to intergenerational cooperation

The fourth dimension of the research was formed to determine the contribution of effective use of technology by school directors to intergenerational cooperation. The views of participants have been determined by the percentages and themes given in Table 5 and examples from views are provided.

Table 5.

Dimension: The contribution of efficient use of technology by school directors to intergenerational cooperation.

In regards to the contribution of effective use of technology by school directors to intergenerational cooperation, 20% of the school directors and 66% of the teacher expressed their views on helping old generation get close to technology so reinforcing their relation with the younger generations by collaborating with parent teacher association, MoE, universities and new generation. The percentages indicate the difference in the views of school directors and teachers. This shows that school directors are not able to get old generation teachers closer to technology and hence, they should form good relations with parent-teacher associations, MoE and universities. In relation to this theme, one teacher stated the following: “I can say that our school directors cannot use the technology sufficiently; that new generation teachers are able to collaborate and communicate via technology whereas; old generation teachers cannot communicate or collaborate via technology. Actually, school directors should cooperate with parent-teacher associations, MoE and universities to use technology and make old generation teachers closer to new generation teachers. This will also help school directors to improve their transformational leadership skills (T (16)).” In relation to the theme of increasing collaboration and intergenerational problems by video recording the organized events and sharing them on social networking sites through the Internet, 30% of the school directors and 22% of the teachers expressed their views. It can be said there are differences in the views of school directors and teachers regarding this theme. We can say that the reason this is that not all events are video recorded and rarely share on social networking sites. Thus, it is understood that intergenerational collaboration is less; and the school director does not frequently use the social networking sites. In relation to his theme, a teacher expressed his view as follows: “We cannot see the transformational leadership qualities in our school director as the events or activities of our school are not shared on social networking sites; hence, intergenerational relations are weak and our school director is not close to technology. I believe that if school directors used the Internet and the social networking sites effectively, both intergenerational collaboration, cooperation and sharing would increase as well as it would be easier to implement the radical decisions taken (T (26)).”

4. Conclusion

The conclusions and recommendations drawn from the research exploring the perceptions of teachers and school directors regarding the transformational leadership and e-leadership statuses of rural area school directors are presented below under four dimensions.

4.1. Dimension: status of directors’ transformational leadership

Participants were asked to express their views to determine the status of directors’ transformational leadership. 40% of rural area school directors and 70% of teachers expressed that they are afraid of failure and they do not consider themselves responsible. Differences in views of the school directors and teacher are seen and this can be interpreted as teachers and school directors do not consider themselves as responsible when they fail and do not exhibit desired qualities of transformational leadership. In this regard, it can be suggested that school directors should acknowledge their failures and take responsibility for them. For taking risks to restructure the system, 60% of school directors and 24% of teachers expressed their views. It can be said that views of teachers differ from the views of school directors within the scope of this theme. It is understood that the reason for this difference is that school directors do not take sufficient risks to restructure the system. Hence, we can suggest that school directors should make more radical decisions and should be encouraged to take risks in order to restructure the system; Ministry of Education should support school directors more to make it possible and easier for them to make radical decisions and take risks; and make way to school directors through legal regulations.

4.2. Dimension: intergenerational cooperation status of school directors as part of transformational leadership

Participants were asked to express their views in order to determine the intergenerational cooperation status of school directors as part of transformational leadership. 30% of rural area school directors and 48% of teachers expressed their opinions for old generation teachers taking responsibility together with new generation teachers. This percentage shows that there is a difference in the views on teachers and school directors. Based on this difference, we can say that school directors are not given full responsibility to help old generation teachers taking responsibility together with new generation teachers. In this regard, it can be suggested that school directors be more sensitive while giving more balanced and fair responsibility to old generation and new generation teachers. 50% of school directors and 28% of teachers expressed their views about transferring thoughts through school’s values, symbols and rituals as part of intergenerational collaboration for establishing school culture (school climate). Differences in perspectives can be seen regarding this theme. We can say that there is a huge difference in perception and understanding between new generation and old generation teachers regarding the transfer of thoughts through school’s values, symbols and rituals as part of intergenerational collaboration for establishing school culture (school climate). Hence, we can suggest the school directors to have a more active role and make radical decisions that would reinforce collaboration between old generation and new generation teachers for transferring of school values, symbols and rituals.

4.3. Dimension: cooperation status of the new generation in establishing organizational culture

Participants were asked about their views on the cooperation status of the new generation in establishing organizational culture. 70% of the rural area school directors and 40% of the teachers expressed their views on the need for organizing periodic meetings to increase collaboration with old generation teachers. These percentages show differences between the views of school directors and teachers. We can suggest that school directors should organize more periodic meetings to increase collaboration between old and new generation teachers and help them take responsibility together. 50% of school directors and 30% of teachers expressed their views on the theme regarding university lecturers coming and offering in-service courses to increase collaboration between old generation and new generation teachers. It can be said that there are differences in the views of school directors and teacher regarding this view. As for the reason of this difference in views, we can suggest more collaboration with new generation teachers and taking courses from universities to reduce the gap between generations.

4.4. Dimension: the contribution of efficient use of technology by school directors to intergenerational cooperation

Participants were asked to express their views to help determine the contribution of efficient use of technology by school directors to intergenerational cooperation. 20% of rural area school directors and 66% of teachers expressed their views on the theme of getting old generation teachers closer to technology by cooperating with parent-teacher associations, MoE, universities and new generation; and reinforcing relations with young generations. These percentages show differences in the views of school directors and teachers. This difference shows that school directors are not able to make old generation teacher get closer to technology. In this regard, we can suggest rural area school directors to form collaborative relations with parent-teacher associations, MoE and universities to help old generation teachers get closer to technology. 30% of school directors and 22% of teachers expressed their views regarding the theme of video recording the events and sharing them on social networking sites via Internet to increase intergenerational collaboration and reduce problems experienced between generations. It can be said that the views of school directors differ from teachers’ views within the scope of this theme. We can say that the reason for this difference can be not video recording and rarely sharing them on social networking sites all types of events organized in school and school director not frequently using the Internet or the social networking sites.

5. Discussions

School culture plays a great role to foster exchanging of information. In addition, exchanging of information is required for enhancing collaboration in order to establish a common sense in respect to strategic implications. Mutual understanding among working staff, paying attention to values and roles among working team provide a great insight to foster the realities of intergenerational collaboration. In this respect, tolerance education plays an important factor to diffuse school development. Integration of technology and apply the merits of technology for the school development is crucial to understand the nature of intergenerational collaboration and understand collegiality among teachers and directors. As this study sheds a light to use of internet and social networking and intergenerational collaboration, it also gives importance to transformational leadership [30].

Regarding to the conclusion, it can be emphasized that the intergenerational collaboration rate is low, and the school director does not effectively use the Internet or social networking sites [31]. Thus, we can suggest that rural area school directors should use the Internet or social networking sites more effectively and goal-oriented in order to increase the collaboration and sharing between old and new generation teachers. In this respect, the use of technology to foster learning in relation to new generation learning is crucial [32]. As this research study gives an insight to understand the nature of new learners and new generation in the transformation and information technology. Leadership is essential for management culture. School development and establishing a culture in schools becomes a mirror for strategic planning for future actions. In addition, e-transformational leadership plays a great role to proceed the significance of collaboration and merits of establishing school culture.