**2.4 Student voice in leadership**

The role of leaders of student unions is to serve as a pivot for channelling the collective opinions and needs of the students they lead. Arguably this is best achieved when students when the opinions and interests of all involved are solicited and defended by the few chosen to represent them. Fielding [7] writes persuasively that student-led dialogue can lead to open and exploratory exchanges founded on 'active listening' in 'joint inquiry [which is] respectful, attentive and committed to positive change' Student Representative Councils in institutions of higher education try to achieve this by establishing other chains of representations from faculties through departments down to classes. Robinson and Taylor [39] asserts that one of the values underpinning pupil voice work is that of participation. To create a school in which there is democratic inclusivity, there is a need for ways of allowing the whole student body to participate in school decision-making and recognising that there are multiple voices to be listened to, regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, behaviour and social class. The mandate of the SRC to advocate for student needs and interests is also achieved through partnerships with faculty and management, serving as a close mouthpiece to the two parties and aligning interests. The beneficial outcomes of partnership engagement are emerging in published literature [40]. Cook-Sather [41] also report positive learning impacts for students, while [42, 43] demonstrate how students and staff who work together have a greater feeling of leadership in, accountability for, and

motivation for the learning process. Other scholars report a transformed sense of self and self-awareness for both students and staff [41, 42, 44, 45] alongside the development of more inclusive teaching practices [46].

## **2.5 Leadership orientation of staff**

Regarding the benefits of partnerships between student leaders and faculty and staff, it is also important to discuss the leadership orientations of faculties and staff and the outcomes/effects on the wellbeing, behaviours, achievements and performances of the student populace. Focusing on building faculty leadership skills with an emphasis on increasing student collaboration may lead to increased student performance [47]. Studies suggest that there might be no unique or universal approach to leadership that can improve all aspects of students' welfare. For instance, [48] examined the effect of principals' leadership styles on students' academic performances in the Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE). The study's foundations were modified versions of Bossert's and Pitner's theoretical frameworks, which claim that interconnected factors, such as external antecedent variables and current external environmental conditions, impact the principal's role. They discovered that schools with more democratic and participative leadership styles that promoted teamwork and group work outperformed those with more authoritarian, largely dictatorial leadership approaches.

Al-Khasawneh and Moh'd Futa [49] first sought to determine the leadership style most frequently employed by Jordanian university professors and then looked at how three different leadership philosophies—autocratic, laissez-faire, and democratic affected how students behaved. The findings showed that the academic staffs at the universities under study operate democratically. The simple regression results showed that only the democratic leadership style affected how the behaviour of students.

In a slightly different context, [50] investigated the influence of principals' democratic leadership and autocratic and laissez-faire styles on students' performance. The study established that democratic leadership accounted for 37.4% of student academic performance variation, as signified by adjusted R square 0.374. Autocratic leadership accounted for 43.8% of the variation in students' academic performance, and the Laissez-faire leadership style accounted for 15.7% of the variation in students' academic performance. They suggested that principals should be encouraged to balance both democratic and autocratic styles but avoid Laissez-faire.

Similarly, [51] compared principals' leadership styles in public and mission secondary schools on students' academic performance in Nigeria. Results of the investigation reveal that autocratic leadership style was positively correlated with students' academic performance. The study recommended that principals' application of autocratic leadership style can increase students' academic performance.

## **2.6 Leadership orientation of student leaders**

Based on the leadership orientation survey (LOS-self) by Bolman and Deal, [52] investigated the leadership philosophies of student leaders at secondary and postsecondary institutions in Malaysia. Four leadership philosophies—structural, human resource, political, and symbolic—were examined. Findings showed various leadership philosophies among Malaysian student leaders of the three main ethnic groups, genders, and between those enrolled in secondary school and postsecondary education. The structural frame is the second most common after the human resources frame.

According to [52], the human resource frame focuses on human needs and assumes that organisations that meet basic needs will work better than those that do not. Human resource leaders value relationships and feelings and seek to lead through facilitation and empowerment. The political frame assumes that organisations are coalitions composed of individuals and interest groups competing for scarce resources. The political framework assumes that institutions are coalitions of people and interest groups vying for limited resources. Conflict results from persistent disparities in the values and views of various groups and people. The structural frame emphasises goals and efficiency. It assumes that leaders work by establishing crystalclear objectives. Institutions use policies, procedures, and the chain of command to classify people into distinct jobs and coordinate a variety of activities. In a world where meaning and predictability are social constructs and facts are interpretative rather than objective, the symbolic frame sees chaos. Organisations create culture and symbols that subtly influence people's behaviour and foster a sense of shared purpose and identity.

Mohanan and Shah [53] also examined the leadership frames of university presidents using the Bolman and Deal framework. They also emphasise that, given the complexity of the modern presidency, using at least three frames is essential to effectively lead the organisation. Leaders who analyse challenges from many viewpoints are better equipped to address more complicated difficulties. Tull and Freeman [54] evaluated the preferred leadership frames and locus of power used by 478 student affairs administrators in a different study. Administrator responses were analysed to determine the most popular leadership frames and their preferred rankings. The survey's findings showed that administrators preferred the human resource frame above the structural frame, ranked second, and rarely focused on the political frame.

Furthermore, by ranking the preferred leadership styles and influence strategies at a management institute as part of a class assignment, [55] investigated the preferences of 209 MBA students. Findings showed that individuals favoured adopting nurturing-task and participatory methods over transformational style more frequently. Additionally, they discovered that they were least likely to adopt an authoritarian style. The first three styles have positive correlations, indicating that they can invoke all leadership styles to varying degrees. Sinha and Gupta [55] further research revealed that although influence tactics and leadership styles were significantly associated, there were enough overlaps to imply that leaders might flexibly employ various styles and influence tactics depending on the circumstances of various scenarios. Literature on the prevailing leadership styles of students in the sub-continent is relatively scarce. The current student then seeks to remedy this by shedding light on the preferred leadership styles of undergraduate students in Ghana.
