Charismatic Leadership in Character Education of Generation Z of Islamic Boarding School Indonesia

Charismatic Leadership in Character Education of Generation Z of Islamic Boarding School Indonesia

Liza Mahzumah, Siti Zulaikha, Desi Rahmawati

Management of Education, Jakarta State University

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.8080220

Received: 31 July 2024; Revised: 09 August 2024; Accepted: 13 August 2024; Published: 13 September 2024

ABSTRACT

Character education is an important part of realizing the development of the Indonesian nation. One of the challenges in implementing character education is the rapid development of technology in the current generation. Generation Z is the first generation born and raised in an era of rapid advances in information technology. Good character education can be formed through a charismatic leader. Az-Ziyadah Islamic Boarding School is an Islamic boarding school that has a charismatic leader figure. The exemplary behavior of a leader can form good character for students. This study aims to reveal charismatic leadership in the context of Islamic boarding school character education using qualitative methods and data collection techniques carried out through interviews, observations and documentation The results of the study show that good character education for generation Z can be achieved because the role model of the leader of the Islamic boarding school has good communication skills and has a clear vision and mission as well as high self-confidence and carries out activities starting from getting used to waking up early, reading yellow books, story methods and extracurricular activities.

Keywords: Charismatic leadership, character education, generation Z.

INTRODUCTION

Character education is one of the topics that never runs out of discussion, especially in the current era. The level of importance of character education can be seen from its status as one of the important components in improving the nation (Ariatama et al., 2022)In today’s life, the fact is that the character of the Indonesian nation has declined sharply, then this is what underlies the emergence of character education. Education is a conscious and planned effort to create an atmosphere and learning process so that students actively develop their potential in the form of spiritual religious strength, self-control, intelligence and noble morals, as well as the skills needed for themselves, their families, society and the country. Therefore, there is always development that is carried out so that the implementation process produces the expected generation. A generation that is in accordance with the objectives of education according to Law Number 20 of 2003 concerning the National Education System Article 3 that the goal of national education is to develop the potential of students to become human beings who believe in and fear God Almighty, have noble morals, are healthy, knowledgeable, capable, creative, independent and become democratic and responsible citizens. One of the things that influences the development of a nation’s character is the development of technology, coupled with the current generation being a generation that was born and grew up at a time of rapid advances in information technology, this generation is known as generation Z.

Generation Z is the beginning of a generation born in a world with the development and advancement of the world of technology. The generation born between 1997-2012. The generation also known as Gen N (Net), Gen D (Digital) and Gen V (Viral) is recorded as having a very large duration of internet usage 24/7, which means that all of their time in a day will not be free from technology. Gen Z has several challenges that must be faced by upholding religious values ​​(Zeva et al., 2023).

Islamic boarding schools are very identical to the figure of kiai. The large role of kiai in a boarding school so that in organizing the boarding school, kiai is a central figure who has the authority to plan, organize, and control all implementation of education.

The leadership of Islamic boarding schools generally adopts a charismatic leadership model. Charismatic leadership provides something new through words and actions that will be imitated and emulated by its followers (Robbins & Judge, 2015). Good leadership is able to direct to achieve predetermined goals and conversely, less competent leadership will create a decline in the educational institution. Realizing this, educational leaders must be able to carry out educational development in a directed, planned and sustainable manner to improve the quality of education they lead. The special personal character (akhlaqul karimah) or morals of charismatic leaders can be role models for their followers and sometimes even give rise to excessive obedience (Bafadal et al., 2021). In addition, the simplicity and humble attitude of the leader and his obedience to God can be used as a role model or example for his students, especially in terms of preaching. Charismatic leaders create strong beliefs in their followers so that many of their followers idolize them and many of their followers make the approval of the leader their main source of motivation and at the same time the followers are also motivated by the fear of disappointing the leader.

From the data above, it is explained that the leader in the Islamic boarding school is a person who can be emulated both in terms of attitude or behavior in the form of actions or speech, has high authority that makes his followers have a high sense of respect for him, high confidence or optimism so that his followers believe that what is mentioned from the educational goals offered by the Islamic boarding school can be achieved through definite steps, has a clear and planned vision and mission for the future and has religious knowledge that makes a strong grip between dealing with humans and their God. This is in accordance with the character that must be re-emerged in generation Z which is currently starting to fade away due to technological developments.

RESEARCH METHODS

This study used a descriptive qualitative method with the aim of revealing charismatic leadership in the context of character education for generation Z at the Az-Ziyadah Islamic Boarding School in East Jakarta Indonesia. This research produced some information from interviews with several informants and direct observation and documentation. Data analysis in qualitative research consists of 3 activities, namely determining the data needed or data contraction, data formation, and conclusions from the results of interviews and observations (Ambarwati et al., 2022). In qualitative research, the research instrument to extract the results of interviews from several informants and the results of field observations and documents obtained. The researcher employed an observation sheet to document activities at the research site and developed an interview guide focusing on charismatic leadership, educational character, and Generation Z to gather data from kiyai, asatidzah, and santri. Supporting documents related to the focus of the research are used as complementary data obtained from the results of observations and interviews. To determine the validity of the data, the researcher uses a triangulation technique which is interpreted as checking data from various sources in various ways and at various times.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Leadership is the process of influencing someone to achieve a certain goal. Reference (Yukl, 2013), leadership is the process of intentionally influencing someone to guide, organize, and facilitate activities and relationships in an organization. The leader in an Islamic boarding school is a central figure because he has full power over everything that happens in the Islamic boarding school environment. The leadership of Islamic boarding school leaders cannot be separated from charismatic leadership. Islamic boarding school leaders are generally not only role models in the Islamic boarding school area but also in the environment around the Islamic boarding school(Pamulang, 2023) . The characteristics possessed by Islamic boarding school leaders describe the characteristics of charismatic leadership in full and in full. Some characteristics of charismatic leadership are having an example that can be emulated by their followers, having a vision and mission that is oriented towards the future, having a self-confident attitude, having a calm attitude in facing everything, always providing full motivation to their followers, being able to communicate well with their followers, and having authority.

Charismatic leaders generally have different abilities from other leaders, one of the factors is their obedience to God and having noble morals. Not infrequently this causes many followers of charismatic leaders, even many of their followers do not know why they are so obedient to their leaders. It is said that charisma is a gift from God.

A. The Role of Charismatic Leadership in Character Education of Generation Z

Charismatic leaders must be able to play a role in improving character by striving for all the personal characteristics they have. The personal characteristics of a charismatic leader can have a major influence on the formation of the character of generation Z. Charismatic leaders foster an atmosphere of motivation for their followers to carry out their duties, carrying out not only obeying orders but providing awareness and understanding to followers to work according to their priority scale.

The leader of the Az-Ziyadah Islamic boarding school, KH. Muhajir Zayadi, the son of the charismatic Betawi KH. Ahmad Zayadi Al-Bantani, accustomed his students to doing good deeds. He feels that a role model is important in character education. As the leader of the Islamic boarding school, KH. Muhajir Zayadi always accompanies all student activities and always arrives earlier than all students. This shows that leadership is not about words but examples in action that will later inspire and motivate students to emulate the good character of a leader.

KH. Muhajir Zayadi always communicates both formally and informally with the asatidzah at the Islamic boarding school, he believes that in any case, they must be able to adapt to every existing condition. The asatidzah say that not all statements that come out of the boarding school leader are orders but rather provide a sense of awareness to carry out tasks according to their priorities and level of emergency.

The attitude of respecting the asatidzah and students is not enough only in the Az-Ziyadah Islamic boarding school environment but also to all alumni who have completed their studies at the Az-Ziyadah Islamic Boarding School. Umi Hj Fatimah Hasbiyallah said that the sense of appreciation that is always proven by giving appreciation in the form of gifts by her child explains that KH. Muhajir Zayadi has characteristics that always provide motivation and appreciation to his subordinates.

At a relatively young age, KH. Muhajir Zayadi began to continue the leadership of the Az-Ziyadah Islamic boarding school, which was initially held by his father KH. Ahmad Muhajir Al-Bantani as the founder and chairman of the Az-Ziyadah Islamic boarding school foundation, then currently continued by him, but this is not an obstacle because KH. Muhajir has high self-confidence to carry out his duties as a leader to continue to advance the Az-Ziyadah Islamic boarding school.

Generational differences require adaptation of leadership styles in order to answer existing challenges (Wolor et al., 2021) . Some of the challenges faced by generation Z are the lack of awareness of the negative impacts of technology, they assume that technology that is so fast and easy produces a more advanced life. However, behind this, there are still challenges that need to be fixed, namely their difficulty in finding their identity because the information they receive is so extensive that they cannot sort it out properly.

B. Charismatic leader’s commitment to character education of generation Z

Leaders as the holders of the highest power play an important role in improving the character education of generation Z students. Leaders must realize the importance of character education for students, especially generation Z who have very big challenges because of the rapid development of technology that forms the character of generation Z who do not like things that take a long time and like things that are fast and instant, and have a global perspective so it is very unfortunate if they do not have a strong grip in terms of religious and national character. Leaders must have a program of activities for students and teachers to develop character education for students.

Activities carried out both daily, weekly, monthly and annually. Az-Ziydah Islamic Boarding School holds an evaluation meeting every year to determine what program activities will be carried out.

Table 1: Weekly Activities of Students of Az-Ziyadah Islamic Boarding School, East Jakarta Indonesia

Note. Reprinted from Administration Az-Ziyadah Islamic Boarding School

The leaders of Islamic boarding schools always include teachers and students in seminars or talk shows on improving character education held by several education providers, because one of the efforts to improve self-quality is by attending workshops or seminars (Kadiyono et al., 2020).It is important for Islamic boarding schools to always be wise in implementing learning systems and curriculum because they must align with technological advances without eliminating the identity or character of each student(Bonfield et al., 2020).

C. Factors for the Success of Charismatic Leadership for Generation Z Character Education at the Az-Ziyadah Islamic Boarding School, East Jakarta

Every activity program implemented has supporting factors to achieve its success. The influencing factors consist of internal and external factors. Internal factors consist of the awareness or instinct of each student to carry out the entire series of activity programs. Reference (Pamungkas, 2014) also said that the success factors in moral/character education consist of internal and external factors. External factors consist of the family environment, school (teachers and friends), and society. Reference (Muhtarom & Ni’am, 2018) said that there are four factors that can influence character education, namely parents, teachers, friends and motivation to study diligently from within each student. Based on the results of the interview, the students found it difficult to control the influence of a friendship because the level of interaction that is so frequent with each friend in the Islamic boarding school requires them to choose a healthy friendship, which can lead them to continue to obey the rules and carry out their obligations. A healthy friendship environment will have an impact on the success of character education and conversely a less good friendship environment will hinder the character education process. However, the most important and first is the family environment.

CONCLUSIONS

Charismatic leadership which is very rare in several educational institutions has a very big impact on building the character values ​​of students. Governing without giving direct orders but through attitudes and actions as well as habits of good things even though simple can actually foster awareness of the importance of character education for generation Z so that it can be an answer to the challenges in the declining quality of character of students in educational institutions in Indonesia and can always realize the goals of national education as written in Law No. 20 of 2003.

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