Values, attitudes, and beliefs are an integral part of an organization’s culture and have an impact on the entire system (Deal & Peterson, 1990). Values, attitudes, and beliefs that emerged consistently throughout the observations, the interviews, and the focus groups included: (a) solidarity, sharing, and citizenship; (b) teaching by setting the example; (c) commitment, love, and care; and (d) sacrifice and hard work. These values represented eminent concerns that emerged from the Mexican leaders’ past personal and organizational experiences as well as from their daily interactions with the economic and the political system.

Solidarity, sharing, and citizenship. Solidarity was envisioned at the school by the leaders as the ability and willingness to help others and to share accomplishments, knowledge, and resources with others. These leaders conveyed the thought that it is a citizen’s moral duty to create social consciousness and develop responsibility towards the less privileged people in society. Thus, they promoted solidarity as being achieved by serving others, with citizenship being acquired by developing solidarity. The following statements are representative examples of the values shared by the teachers and the leaders.

Solidarity in the Mexican workplace has been valued by both the business leaders and the workers (Martinez and Dorfman, 1998). Findings illustrated that for the school’s leaders, solidarity is a process for transforming society. A strong commitment was observed among the teachers and the leaders for helping and educating the less privileged and instilling in them a sense of social responsibility. This commitment is manifested in every aspect of the organization, including curriculum and community outreach programs. The students are taught that by developing social consciousness and engaging in active participation, they can transform society. The impact of this commitment is evident in the students’ discourse of their views and sense of responsibility towards indigenous people and especially the children in those communities, as well as in their willingness to volunteer on weekends and during their free time in the various indigenous community outreach programs.

Setting the example. Setting the example through actions emerged as a critically important leadership attribute for the members of this organization. According to one of the respondents, “leaders need to practice moral leadership and start by setting an example; by setting an example, people will learn to develop the concept of moral person; you cannot ask others to do what you are not willing to do yourself.” The following statements exemplify the importance of this value.

A leader can earn respect, trust, and credibility, if the leader is willing to set the example (Blanchard & Shula, 1995). Members of a group will follow the leader's steps, if the leader leads by example (Bolman & Deal 1997). In our case study, we discovered that setting the example was one of the key values that the school leaders used to promote growth and gain the support and trust of their community. In a culture where it was reported to us that the government and the political leaders continuously defrauded its citizens, it became important to gain trust by setting the example.

Commitment, love, and care. Evidence of the values of genuine caring, compassion, and love was demonstrated by members throughout this organization consistently in their actions, interactions, and statements.

Individuals committed to a vision that goes beyond their self interest experience a sense of energy that can only come from involvement, compassion, and empathy (Senge, 1990). The leaders’ commitment in this organization to promoting social change through widespread participation positively impacted the change. According to Whitmeyer (1993), "Caring begins with knowing; it requires listening, understanding, and accepting. It progresses through a deepening sense of participation, respect, and, ultimately, love. Love is a willingness to reach out and open one's heart. An open heart is vulnerable. Confronting vulnerability allows us to drop our mask, meet heart to heart and be present for one another" (p. 81). Caring for and loving the members was the underlying fabric of this organization which helped to build the trust between leaders and members.

Sacrifice and hard work. Sacrifice and hard work are regarded as duties by the leaders of the school. The school leaders are convinced that sacrifice in the sense of putting the well being of others before their own and making an extra effort to achieve common goals are necessary to create change and to transform the current society. They know, based on their own previous experiences, that hard work and persistence are attributes that they must possess to succeed and to achieve their goals. Sacrifice and hard work are not perceived as punitive, but as a way of life that will enable all citizens to stop the cycle of poverty, improve their life styles, and enrich their spirit.

Leaders and members of this organization were willing to sacrifice a higher income, time with their families, personal gains, job opportunities, and themselves in order to achieve a common vision of justice and egalitarianism. For example, Researchers A and C observed that personal time was sacrificed for the good of the organization. When Researcher C arrived at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday, there appeared to be no difference between Saturday and a regular work day. The office was full of people working on different projects; coordinators, teachers, and students were busy planning and working together. When asked what they were doing there on a beautiful Saturday morning, they stated that they had a couple of deadlines coming up, and that they had agreed to come and work on that day, because they wanted to have everything ready ahead of time, just in case they ran into a problem. When asked if they received comp time, they indicated they were volunteering. Additionally, Researcher A, having visited programs at the indigenous sites, observed the co-founders taking their time on Saturdays to assist with the youth community programs.

The content of the interview and focus group records, as well as the observations, documented that for this case study Factor 1 can be used as a lens for analysis of leadership experiences in this particular context. Thus, findings of our study demonstrated that values, attitudes, and beliefs of the leaders were reflected in their leadership behaviors and were evident in the organizational culture.

Under leadership behaviors, three major subcategories emerged: (a) servant leadership behaviors, (b) desirable interpersonal leadership behaviors, and (c) democratic, participative, situational, and transformational leadership behaviors.

Servant leadership behaviors. The leaders described their leadership as a function of satisfying and providing for the needs of their students, staff, and community.

Responsive servant leadership best represents the kind of leadership advocated and practiced in this organization. The term servant leadership was first coined in an essay written by Robert K. Greenleaf, in 1970. Greenleaf saw a leader as a servant first, a person that puts serving others, including employees, customers, and community as the number one priority. Servant leadership is the way by which leaders get legitimacy to lead. Part of this legitimacy originates from the responsibility to give a sense of direction and/or to establish an overarching purpose. A leader can only lead by earning credibility and trust (Blanchard & Shula, 1995; Greenleaf; 1973). People will trust leaders who make judgments based on competence and values, rather than on self-interest. Servant leadership over the long term can provide a sense of being a catalyst for positive change in society.

Participants in our study view the school educational model as an alternative to public education and the beginnings of social educational reform. Public education generally stands as the great social equalizer; however, according to the perceptions of people in our study, public education in Mexico did not serve that purpose. Traditionally, the Mexican educational system perpetuates the class system and creates a great disparity between the upper and lower classes in the quality of education, wealth, and power (Martinez & Dorfman, 1998). The leaders in our study believe that marginalization in Mexico is perpetuated by the actual educational programs offered by the state, because they do not attend the real needs of the learners. Responsive to truant children on the street and determined to provide an education to the populous, the leaders developed the school as well as the indigenous outreach programs that support the notion of working with children who are not successful in public schools and who are not able to afford private schools. Their servant leadership behaviors, therefore, resulted in an alternative to the public and parochial school systems in Mexico.

Desirable interpersonal leadership behaviors. Desirable interpersonal leadership behaviors in our study included persuasive communication skills in order to convey a vision and the practicing of reflection in relation to Mexico’s cultural, historic, and socio-economic context.

Additional interpersonal leadership behaviors that emerged from the data included: people orientation, high energy, active participation, optimistic, empathy, humanistic, compassionate, receptiveness to ideas and change, accessibility, sociability, team orientation, trustworthiness, discreteness, and dependability. Such interpersonal behaviors resulted in high trust between the leaders, members in the organization, and the community. Such behaviors enabled the realization of the leaders’ vision and the accomplishment of shared goals.

Democratic, participative, situational, and transformational leadership behaviors. Participants described their leaders as democratic, participative, situational, and transformational. The following statements from one instructional coordinator, two teachers, and two high school student leaders illustrate this:

The leaders of this organization adopted different leadership behaviors according to different situations and in relationship to subordinates’ job maturity and psychological maturity. According to the SLT, the key to effective leadership is to align the leadership behaviors with a particular situation and context. Additionally, the leaders in our study were described and observed as transformational leaders being courageous, value-driven, risk takers, life-long learners, reflective, visionaries, and as having high expectations of themselves, staff members, and the organization. According to transformational leadership theory, transformational leaders "are social architects, who in creating a vision, have to develop the trust of their followers, but in doing so, it is also claimed, need also to build the self-confidence and self-regard of their followers" (Bottery, 2001, p.200). The leaders of this organization had a well-communicated vision, were able to unify people, and empowered others to bring about change. Consideration of leadership behaviors in our study through the lens of the SLT enhanced the analysis and appeared to be appropriate for this context.

Participants were asked to describe external forces and to discuss their impact on the organization and on the leaders’ ability to accomplish goals. The external forces identified in these data resulted in four subcategories: (a) economic situations, (b) ideological and religious influences, (c) governmental regulations, and (d) interference.

Economic situations. Most of the respondents agreed that the most significant external force was economic, mainly referring to the national economy, local economy, and lack of funds to maintain the school. Mexico’s economic struggles over recent decades have perpetuated the disparity in the quality of education, wealth, and power that exists between the upper and lower classes (Buenfil-Burgos, 2000).

Economically, families have changed as a result of the school and its leaders. According to the parents interviewed, the families participating in the project have changed considerably, from being primarily low income families to a mix of middle and low income families. The families have improved through the work and knowledge gained at the school.

The school, a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization, relies heavily on local and foreign financial support to cover operational expenses. Financial support, as noted by the participants, is getting harder to obtain, creating economic hardships for the teachers and staff of this organization. “We continuously face situations where we can’t cover our basic needs and expenses, these economic situations have forced us to forfeit our personal income and salary increases,” Co-founder 2 reported to the researchers that they had to go into Mexico City to garner support and financial assistance from the federal government to make the payroll.

Although the economic situation, an external force, had a negative impact on the organization, the respondents indicated the external forces also had positive impacts. For example, rather than allowing the situation to discourage them, the leaders saw these challenging situations as motivators. In spite of adversity, these forces did not affect or limit the leaders’ determination and ability to lead or to expand the project. Collectively, the leaders were able to move people toward a vision to overcome any negative external forces.

Ideological and religious influences. Mexican education is characterized by being morally and intellectually conservative and fostering authoritarian discipline and puritan values dating from 1920 (Buenfil-Burgos, 2000).

This ideological influence is evident at the teaching preparatory college (Buenfil-Burgos), which is the college from which most of the elementary school teachers graduate (Erickson, 2002). Thus, in essence, teachers’ formal education becomes a negative external force. In order to counteract some of this conservative influence, teachers at the school in our study receive training and staff development once a month. Topics include a variety of subjects: curriculum development, effective teaching strategies, behavior management, motivational strategies, conflict resolution, participatory curriculum, reflective critical thinking, problem solving, cultural sensitivity, and educational theory.

Another external influence that Co-founder 2 recalled was related to religion. During the beginning stages of the project, the local clergy and the local governmental authority felt threatened and did not welcome the project. The priest and the municipal president organized the members of the community to frighten and drive them out of town. There were several violent incidents, vandalism, and threats, but in spite of all the adversity, the leaders continued to work and remained in the neighborhood until they were able to purchase a building on the other side of town. The animosity towards the project continued for several years. Local religion continues as an external force in the sense that it determines the work schedule in relation to the particular church calendar.

Concerning the outreach program that the leaders sponsor in outlying indigenous communities, respondents mentioned a situation that related to the inhabitants’ ingrained ideological influences that promulgate a reluctance for them to perceive themselves as change agents. The respondents who work in the communities indicated that people in the communities have learned to be passive and are less willing to participate in programs that require their time and commitment.

Ideological and religious influences had negative impacts on the organization. Leaders needed the courage to face and to confront external during the beginning of their journey. Despite the difficulties, the leaders, teachers, staff, and students in the organization viewed even these negative experiences in a positive light and as symbols of hope and faith that kept them motivated and in pursuit of their goals.

Governmental regulations. Governmental influencers were sources of negative impact on the organization. The Secretaria de Educación Publica (SEP) has laws and mandates regulating private and public education agencies (SEP, 1993). Mexican national educational policy determines academic programs, basic knowledge skills, and curriculum for elementary and secondary schools (SEP). Responsibility for monitoring and implementing mandates depends on each state Local Education Agency. Thus, the SEP becomes an external force regulating and monitoring the school’s academic program. However, according to the respondents, the impact that this agency exerts is minimal, since it is limited to mere paperwork requirements and timelines.

Some of the parents and teachers mentioned that leaders had developed coping mechanisms to deal with these external forces. They knew what they needed to do to keep harmonious relationships with the governmental agency.

Interference. The target communities for the school’s outreach programs are extremely poor; basic services, such as sewage, electricity, and schools are controlled by the local authorities. Caciques (mayors) and municipal presidents (city managers) are continuously blocking the efforts of these outreach programs; sabotage takes several forms, from discouraging participation to cutting public services.

This was noted as well by Researcher A who had visited that particular community and had seen this group of youth in action.

Our findings indicated that the leaders in this organization are resilient and resourceful. When respondents were asked to discuss strategies used to cope with external forces, the responses were consistent: courage, hard work, and effective communication. It is evident that these three behaviors helped the leaders to adapt in order to build a broader support base that changed the perspective of the community, while allowing them to continue their mission and accomplish their goals. This coping and adaptation resulted in an alignment of the external forces with the other three factors of the SLT.

According to the SLT, organizational structure encompasses the organization’s characteristics, norms, and operational procedures. In the SLT, organizational structures range from open transformational organizations to inflexible bureaucratic organizations (Irby et al., 2002). The leaders were asked to describe their organization’s characteristics and to reflect on the school community members’ satisfaction. Also, members were asked to reflect on their own satisfaction with the organization.

Open and constantly learning organization. Bolman and Deal (1997) stated, “Organizations need leaders who can provide a persuasive and durable sense of purpose and direction, rooted deeply in human values and the human spirit” (p. 379). There were clearly defined and articulated goals of the organization. Both the school leaders and staff had a commitment to the common vision and were observed to have the characteristics of humanistic orientation, open communication, and a high level of involvement and satisfaction.

Perhaps one of the most important indicators of an open, constantly learning organization is the level of trust. According to Galford and Drapeau (2002), “Trust is the most valuable, and vulnerable, assets of any organization. When people trust one another, they can work through disagreement, both personal and professional, successfully in the context of the greater fabric of the organization” (p. 4-5). In this sense, trust enables employees and leaders to work towards the achievement of school goals, the most important determinant for an organization’s success. The level of trust among the individuals of the school was evident in every aspect of the organization. Parents, teachers, and students trust their leaders to make decisions concerning curriculum and instruction issues, grant writing, funds appropriation, outreach program implementation, and personnel. The leaders in turn seek their collaborators’ active participation and input for decisions that take place in this organization. Input to the leaders is given by the different committees and groups within the organization: the faculty advisory committee, the parent association, and the student association. During the focus group interviews, several members of these committees stated that they felt confident to express their viewpoints freely because they trust their leaders. Leaders’ trust was also evident in their employees’ ability to make decisions regarding instruction and program implementation.

High level of satisfaction. Addressing the school community members’ satisfaction, responses indicated satisfaction level was dependent upon the conviction to and longevity with the organization. Some respondents believed that supporters who had been with the project longer were more satisfied, because they had a better understanding of the vision and a higher level of involvement. Their commitment to a common vision, along with experiencing challenging events and financial struggles, developed their dedication, allegiance, and emotional attachment to the project.

Evidence of this orientation toward empowerment was observed in the organization’s democratic processes and open communication procedures. The staff and student involvement in decision making and problem solving was systematic and included activities and interactions where group members were brought together for a common purpose.

Respondents indicated high levels of emotional satisfaction attributed to their commitment to the organization’s vision and to their leaders’ disposition to provide opportunities for them to achieve their own feelings of power and success.

In this sense, the feeling of empowerment follows the same principles as love; the more you give to others, the more you get in return (Tracy, 1990).

According to the respondents, dissatisfaction among the staff was low, since the dissatisfied employees could not handle the work demands and did not choose to stay. Respondents explained dissatisfaction as a reflection of attitude and job expectations.

Our findings of the employees’ high-level of satisfaction with the organization suggested an alignment of the four factors of the SLT and also support the human resource frame (Bolman & Deal, 1997) which emphasizes the relationship between organization and people. According to Bolman & Deal (1997), a good fit between both the individual and organization is the key to success. “When the fit is good, both benefit: individuals find satisfaction and meaning in work; the organization makes effective use of individual talent and energy” (Bolman & Deal, p. 141). Two of the researchers observed high-involvement strategies which strengthened the bond between individuals and the organization by promoting from within, providing training, and sharing the fruits of success. Other strategies included empowering the staff and giving them significance through participation, teaming, democracy, and egalitarianism. Involvement of members of the organization by leaders increased commitment to the organization’s goals and the leader’s vision. The findings of our study demonstrated that, in this case, organizational structure was aligned with the other factors of the SLT.

The SLT is based on the unique concept of a systemic, interdependent interaction of four factors related to leadership: (a) values, attitudes, and beliefs, (b) leadership behaviors, (c) external factors, and (d) organizational structure (Irby et al., 2002). Jones & Leonard (2009) stated:

In our study, interactions among the four factors were evident. For example, the leaders’ values, attitudes, and beliefs were transparent to others in the organization, and the people who worked in the organization shared those same values. Although their leadership behaviors varied depending on the situation, the leaders were constant as positive influencers, and their behaviors were aligned to their values. For example, they acted out of their moral conviction as responsive servant leaders. The leaders were able to align the people within the organization to confront external forces as needed or to adapt their actions to address the external forces. The organizational structure was open, democratic, humanistic, and constantly agile and was aligned to the leaders’ values.

In the context of our study, values, attitudes, and beliefs significantly interacted with and influenced the leadership behaviors, the external forces, and the organizational structure, resulting in all four factors being aligned. This alignment among the four factors, according to the theory, could account for the perceived effectiveness of the leaders and of the organization.