Effects of Leadership Styles on Organizational Health

Yıl 2007, Cilt: 49 Sayı: 49, 57 - 91, 01.10.2007

Mehmet Korkmaz

Öz

This article examines the effects of the leadership style of the principal, “transformational leadership and transactional leadership”, along with teachers' job satisfaction on school's organizational health. Specifically speaking, it investigates to what extent the variations in school health can be related to principal's leadership style and teachers' job satisfaction. To this end, a Likert-type questionnaire was administered to 635 teachers out of 875-person sample, working in Turkish schools. To explain the direct and indirect relationships between the dependent and independent variables, Path Analysis was used. As a result of the analysis, the most striking finding is that transformational leadership has a profound impact on teachers' job satisfaction, while the transformational leadership of the principal directly affects the school health and through teachers' job satisfaction it indirectly affects the school health. Summary National Education Basic Law, 1973 and numbered 1739, stated that one aim of high school education is to prepare students for higher education. The fact that sixty thousand of the one million five hundred students who took the University Entrance Exam (ÖSS) in the 1999-2000 educational year got zero point, caused authorities of the National Education and researchers to focus on these schools. Only the students of general high schools among the other types of high schools were unsuccessful formed a field of interest for the researchers and they found this subject worth investigating. The Problem Making all high schools have a healthy organizational structure has become the aim of many researchers. In Turkey, no research on the influence of job satisfaction of teachers on the organizational health of the schools and the leadership styles that school leaders show in their schools has been done. Researchers sometimes investigated job satisfaction and leadership styles individually (Balcı, 1985; Pehlivan, 2000; Özdayı, 1991; Kabadayı, 1982; Çelik, 1998; Karip, 1998). However, they have never done a research relating both of them. The researches done on the job satisfaction of teachers in Turkey have revealed an important fact. It was found that the payments of teachers are insufficient (Koçak, 2002), in the research on the relationship between the leadership styles of leaders and the job satisfaction of teachers (Kabadayı, 1982; Alıç, 1985), and in the research on the relationship between job stress and job satisfaction (Özdayı, 1990) it was concluded that the job satisfaction level of teachers was low. The result of this research made it necessary to deal with this subject and search it again. Without doubt another topic that is too obvious to be discussed is the effect of the leadership styles that the leaders show in the schools on the job satisfaction of teachers. A lot of researches done on this subject revealed that the proper leadership styles that the leaders show in their schools is an important factor on the job satisfaction of the employees (Howell and Avolio, 1993; Bogler, 2001). Under the light of the explanations above in this study how much the varieties of the organizational health of the school can be related to the leadership styles of the director and the job satisfaction of the teachers. Answers to the following questions will be searched in this study. 1. What kind of relationship is there between the transformational leadership behaviour and the organizational health of the schools? 2. What kind of relationship is there between the transactional leadership behaviour and the organizational health of the schools? 3. What kind of relationship is there between the transformational and transactional leadership styles and the job satisfaction of the teachers? 4. Have the transformational leadership style and the job satisfaction of the teachers and effect on the organizational health of the school? Method 630 teachers are working in 46 high schools in the metropolitan area of the province of Ankara and they took part in this study.284 (%45) of the teachers were female and 346 (%55) of them were males. 13 of the school principals of the 46 high schools in our study were female and 33 of them were male. 39 of these school managers were assigned after completing a six-month manager training course and 7 of them were assigned without completing such a course. The participants were asked to answer likert-type questions in three different questionnaires, MLQ (Bass and Avolio, 1985), OHI (Hoy, 1991) and Job Satisfaction of Educational Administrators developed by Balcı (1985). Pearson correlation coefficients among the variables were calculated. Path analysis was used to be test the hypothesized causal relationships. Findings As can be seen in Table 3 the organizational health of the school is significantly related to transformational leadership (r=.58, p<.0001), the job satisfaction of teachers (r=.55, p<0001), and transactional leadership (r= - .00, p<.001). Another relationship among the sub measures is between the perception of teachers about job satisfaction and the perception of school leaders as being transformational leaders (r=.53). The relationship among the variables showed that the organizational health of the school increased when the teachers perceived their leaders as transformational leaders at a higher level, the level of job satisfaction they got from their job and the school leaders showed less transactional leadership. To test the model in Figure 1, Path analysis was used. The aim of this analysis was to be able to make the logical explanations of the causal relationships among the variables. The most striking finding of the Path analysis was that the transformational leadership style that the principals showed in the school affected the job satisfaction of the teachers strongly (p.56, p<.05). The transformational leadership of the school principal affected the school health both directly (β=.46, p<.05) and indirectly through the job satisfaction of teachers (β=.47, p<.05). Moreover, the job satisfaction of the teachers affects the organizational health of the school directly (β=.34,p<.05) p<005). The model explains the %64 of the total variance. Discussions and Suggestions The most interesting finding of this study is that transformational leadership has a strong effect on teachers' job satisfaction. Transformational leaders' actively involved in employees' individual value systems increases the inter-organizational relations into the top level. Moreover, such leaders have a strong effect on the staff by creating a common goal in the school, easing the communication and managing the education to establish and develop the aims of the school (Cruz, 1995; Eblen, 1987; Jung, Chow and Wo, 2003). This situation might increase the quality of mutual relations and the inner motivation of the employees. This finding is similar to the findings of the researches that tested the positive relationship between the principal's transformational leadership style and the job satisfaction of the teachers (Houseknecht, 1990; Mraschilok, 1993; Everett, 1991). Organizational health is a useful structure that describes the mutual personal relations of the teachers, students and managers in the school. In other words, in healthy organizations teachers like school, students and each other .They consider the principal as their supporter to develop education. They trust their principal because they believe that their principal is a sensitive person towards their social and emotional needs. These findings must be accepted by the Ministry of Education, policy maker's supervisors and local managers of education Leadership styles that have such a strong effect on job satisfaction of teachers and the organizational health of the school must have the position it deserves.

Anahtar Kelimeler

organizational health , leadership styles , transformational leadership.

Örgütsel Sağlık Üzerinde Liderlik Stillerinin Etkisi

Öz

Bu araştırma, müdürün liderlik biçiminin “dönüşümsel liderlik, etkileşimci liderlik” ve öğretmenlerin iş doyumunun okulun örgütsel sağlığı üzerindeki etkilerini incelemektedir. Daha spesifik olarak, okulun örgütsel sağlığındaki çeşitliliğin ne kadarının müdürün liderlik stilleri ve öğretmenlerin iş doyumu ile ilişkilendirilebileceği araştırılacaktır. Bunun için Türkiye'deki okullarda görev yapan 875 öğretmene likert tipinde sayısal bir anket uygulandı ve öğretmenlerin 630'u ankete cevap verdi. Bağımsız değişkenlerle-bağımlı değişken arasındaki direkt ve indirekt ilişkileri açıklamak için Path analizi kullanıldı. Analiz sonucunda elde edilen en ilginç bulgu şu idi. Okul müdürlerinin okul içerisinde gösterdikleri dönüşümsel liderlik stilinin güçlü bir şekilde öğretmenlerin iş doyumunu etkilediğidir. Dönüşümsel liderlik biçimi aynı zamanda okulun örgütsel sağlığını direkt ve öğretmenlerin iş doyumu etkisiyle de endirekt olarak etkilemektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

örgüt sağlığı , liderlik stilleri , dönüşümsel liderlik

Kaynakça

• Akbaba, S. (1997). Organizational health in middle school. Unpublished Dissertation, Ankara University, Faculty of Educational Sciences.
• Akçamete, G., Kanes, S. & Sucuoğlu, B. (1998). Engelli ve engelli olmayan çocuklarla çalışan öğretmenlerin tükenmişlik ve iş doyumu düzeyleri arasındaki ilişkinin incelemesi. Milli Prodüktivite Merkezi Yayınları, No: 622, 1-28.
• Amabile, T.M. (1998). How to kill creativity. Harvard Business Review, 76, 77-87.
• Anderson, M.E. (1991). Pincipals: How to train, recruit, select, induct, and evaluate leaders for America’s schools. ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management College of Education. University of Oregon.
• Atay, K. (2000). İlköğretim Sınıf ve Branş Öğretmenlerinin iş doyumu ve iş streslerinin karşılaştırmalı analizi. Eğitimde Yansımalar VI-2000 yılında Türk Milli Eğitim Örgütü ve Yönetimi.
• Bailey, B.I. (1992). The relationship of faculty practice to autonomy, job satisfaction and productivity. George Mason University.
• Balcı, A. (1985). Eğitim yöneticisinin iş doyumu. Yayınlanmamış Doktora Tezi, Ankara Üniversitesi.
• Bass, B.M. &Avolio, B.J. (1990). The implications of transactional and transformational leadership for individual, team and organizational development. In R.W. Woodman & W.A. Passmore (Eds), Research in organizational change and development. Greenwich, CT: JAl Pres.
• Bass, B.M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free Pres.
• Bass, B.M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free Press.
• Bass, B.M., Avolio, B.J. (1990). Developing transformational leadership: 1992 and beyond. Journal of European Industrial Training, 14, 21-27.
• Bogler, R. (2001). The influence of leadership style on teacher job satisfaction. Educational Administration Quarterly. Vol. 37, No: 5 (December 2001) 662-683.
• Bryman, A. (1992). Charisma and leadership in organization. London: Sage.
• Burns, J.M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row.
• Çelik, V. (1998). Eğitimde dönüşümcü liderlik. Kuram ve Uygulamada Eğitim Yönetimi Dergisi, Yıl, 4. Sayı, 16, Pegem Yayıncılık.
• Cheng, Y.C. (1989). An investigation of the relationship of organizational commitment and job attitudes to organizational culture, organizational structure, leadership, and social norm. [CD –ROM]. Abstract from: Proquest File: Dissertation Abstracts International Item: 50/11.
• Conger, J.A. & Kanungo, R.N. (1988). Charismatic leadership in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage.
• Cruz, P.A. (1995). The leadership actions of principals in schools that have experienced academic success with Hispanic students. [CD-ROM]. Abstract from: Proquest File: Dissertation Abstracts International Item: 56/10.
• David, M.A.M. (1990). Factors affecting the organizational and occupational commitment of lay teachers of the RVM schools in the Philippines. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, college of Education, University of the Philippines, Diliman.
• Depasquale, F.J. (1996). Principal leadership behavior and faculty trust: Is there a connection? [CD –ROM]. Abstract from: Proquest File: Dissertation Abstracts International Item: 57/04.
• Eblen, A.L. (1987). Communication, leadership and organizational commitment [CD-ROM]. Central states speech Journal, 38 (3), 181- 195. Abstract from: Dialog on disk file: ERIC Item: EJ 377365.
• Ekvall, G. & Arvonen, J. (1991). Change-centred leadership: An extension of the two – dimensional model. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 7, 17-26.
• Ekvall, G. (1991). Change-centred leaders: Empirical evidence of a third dimension of leadership: Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 12, 18-23.
• Ekvall, G., & Arvonen, J. (1994). Leadership profiles, situation and effectiveness. Creativity and Innovation Management, 3, 139-161.
• Evans, T.J. (1996). Elementary teachers’ and principals’ perceptions of principal leadership style and school social organization. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo.
• Everett, G.L. (1991). Teacher attitudinal commitment: A function of the school, the teacher, and the principal’s ledaership. [CD-ROM]. Abstract from: Proquest file: Dissertation Abstracts International Item: 52/08.
• Fliegner, Herbert R. (1984). School leadership and organizational health: A Simulated Teaching Unit. Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol. 45, no . 6, December 1984.
• Gawel, J. (1997). Herzberg’s theory of motivasyon and maslow’s hiyerarcy of needs. ERIC/AE Digest. ERIC NO: ED42186.
• Hannum, E. & Sargent, T. (2003). Keeping teachers happy: teacher work satisfaction in rural Gansu, China. Conference presentation, Annual Meeting of the International Sociology Association Research Committee on Social Stratification, New York (August)
• Hannum, J. W. (1994). The organizational climate of middle schools, teacher efficacy, and student achievement. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.
• Hater, J.J., Bass, B.M. (1988). Superiors’ evaluations and subordinates’ perceptions of transformational and transactional leadership. Journal of Applied psychology, 73, 695-702.
• Heller, H.W. Clay, R., & Perkins, C. (1993). The relationship between teacher job satisfaction and principal leadership style. Journal of School Leadership, 3 (1), 74-86.
• Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., & Snyderman, B. (1959). The motivation to work. New York: John Wiley.
• Hipp, K.A. & Bredeson, P.V. (1995). Exploring connections between teacher efficacy and principal’s behavior. Journal of School Leadership, 5 (2), 136-150.
• Hipp, K.A. (1997, April) Documenting the effects of transformational leadership behavior on teacher efficacy. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago.
• Hoover, N.R., Petrosko, J.M., & Schultz, R.R. (1991). Transformational and transactional Leadership: An empirical test of a theory. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Associaton (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 331 177).
• House, R. J. (1977). A. 1976 theory of charismatic leadership. In J.G. Hunt & L.L. Larson (Eds), Leadership the cutting edge (pp.189-207). Carbondale, IL: Southern İlinois University Press.
• Houseknecht, S.E. (1990). The relationship between perceived leadership behaviors and the morale of elementary classroom teachers. [CD-ROM]. abstract from: Proquest file: Dissertation Abstracts Internatioal Item: 51/10.
• Howell, J.M., & Avolio, B.J. (1993). Transformational leadership, transactional leadership, locus of control and support for innovation: key predictors of consolidated-business-unit performance, Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 891-902.
• Hoy, W. K., Tarter , C.J.& Kottkamp, R.B. (1991). Open schools / Healthy schools. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
• Hoy, W.K., &Miskel, C.G. (1991). Educational administration: Theory, research and practice (4th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Hoy, W.K., &Sabo, D.J. (1998). Quality middle schools: Open and healthy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Pres.
• Jamal, M. (1985). Type A behaviour and job performance: some suggestive findings. Journal of Human Stress, Summer, 60-68.
• Johnson, Richard A. &. Wichern Dean W. (1982) Applied multivariate statistical analysis. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 07632.
• Jung, D.I., Chow, C. & Wu, A. (2003). The role transformational leadership in enhancing organizational innovation: Hypotheses and some preliminary findings. The Leadership Quarterly 14-525-544.
• Karip, E. (1998). Dönüşümcü liderlik. Kuram ve Uygulamada Eğitim Yönetimi Dergisi. Yıl, 4. Sayı: 16, Pegem Yayıncılık.
• King,M. (1989). Extraordinary leadership in education: Transformational and transactional leadership as predictors of effectiveness, satisfaction, and organizational climate in k-12 and higher education. Doctoral dissertation, University of New Orleans, 1989, Dissertation Abstracts International, 50, 2329 A.
• Kirby, P.C., Paradise, L.V.& King, M.I. (1992). Extraordinary leaders in education: Understanding transformational leadership. Journal of Educational Research, 85 (5), 303-311.
• Korkmaz, M. (2004). The relationship between organizational health and robust school vision in elementary schools. Educational Research Quarterly Journal, 113 Greenbriar Drive, West Monroe, Louisiana.
• Lashway, L. (1995). Facilitative leadership. ERIC Clearing house on Educational Management, Eugene OR. ED 381851
• Leithwood, K., & Jantzi, D. (1990) Transformational leadership: How principals can help reform school cultures. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 1 (4), 249-280.
• Leithwood, K.A. (1992). The move toward transformational leadership. Educational Leadership, 49 (5), 8-13.
• Leithwood, K.A. (1994). Leadership for scool restructuring. Educational Administration Quarterly, 30 (4), 498-518.
• Licata, J. W, & Harper, G.W (2001). Organizational health and robust school vision, Educational Administration Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 1 (February 2001) 5-26.
• Marschilok, E.S. (1993). A study of the relationship between leadership behavior of high school principals and selected areas of educational achievement [CD-ROM]. Abstract from . Proquest file: Dissertation Abstarcts International Item: 54/06.
• Matteson, M.T; Ivancevich, J.M.& Smith, S.V. (1984) Relation of type A behavior to performance and satisfaction among sales personnel. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 25, 203-214.
• Meade, G.A. (1994). The principal’s role in developing and maintaining teacher commitment [CD –ROM]. Abstract from: Proquest File: Dissertation Abstracts International Item: 35/02.
• Metcalfe, B.A., & Metcalfe, R.A. (2001). The devleopment of a new transformational leadership questionnaire. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 74, 1-27.
• Miles, M.B. (1969). Planned change and organizational health: Figure and ground. In F.D. Carver T.J. Sergiovanni (Eds), Organizations and human behavior (pp.375-391). New York McGraw-Hill.
• Owens, R.G. (1991). Organizational behavior in education (4 th ed.) Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Prentice Hall.
• Parsons, T. (1967). Some ingredients of a general theory of formal organization. In A. W. Halpin (Ed), Administrative theory in education (pp. 40-72). New York: Macmillan.
• Parsons, T., Bales, R.f., & Sils, E.A. (1953). Working papers in the theory of action. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
• Rasmussen, B.K.(1996). Perceptions of school climate, job satisfaction, stress and burnout, and their relationship to teacher absenteeism. Dissertation Abstract International, 56 (9), 3402 A.
• Reyes, P.& Shin, H.S. (1995). Teacher commitment and job satisfaction: A causal analysis, Journal of School Leadership, 5 (1), 22-39.
• Rossmiller, R.A. (1992). The secondary school pincipal and teachers’ quality of work life. Educational Management and Administraiton, 20 (3), 132-146.
• Roush, P.E., & Atwater, L. E. (1992). Using the MBTI to understand transformational leadership and self perception accuracy. Military Psychology, 4, 17-34.
• Sargent, T., & Hannum, E. (2003). Keeping teachers happy job satisfaction among primary school teachers in rural china. Paper presented at the International Sociology Association Research Committee on Social Stratification and Mobility (RC28), New York University, NY.
• Sashkin, M. (1986). Making participative management work. King of Prussia, PA: Oganization Desing and Development, Inc.
• Schein, E.H. (1985). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Schwab, R.L; Jackson, S.E. & Schuler, R.S. (1986). Educator burnoot: Sources and consequences. Educational Research Quarterly, 10 (3) 14- 29.
• Sergiovanni, T. (1967). Factors which affect satisfaction and dissatisfaction of teachers. Journal of Educational Administration, 5 (1) 66-81.
• Shamir, B; House, R.J. & Arthur, M.D. (1993) The motivational effects of charismatic leadership. A self concept based theory. Organizational science, 4, 577-593.
• Shann, M.H. (1998). Prefossional commitment and satisfaction among teachers in urban middle schools. Journal of Educational Research, 92 (2) 67-73.
• Sheppard, B. (1996). Exploring the transformational nature of instructional leadership. Alberta Journal of Educational Reseacrh, 42 (4), 325-344.
• Silins, H. C. (1994). The relationship between transformational and transactional leadership and school improvement outcomes. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 5 (3), 272-298.
• Sosik, J.J., Avolio, B.J. & Kahai, S.S.(1997). Effects of leadership style and anonymity on group potency and effectiveness in a group decision support system environment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 89-103.
• Tarabeh,H. (1995). Principals’ and teachers’ job satisfaction as a function of the gap between principal’s perception and teacher’s perception of the principal’s role. Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Haifa, Israel.
• Tsui, T.K. & Cheng, C.Y. (1999). School organizational health and teacher commitment: A contingency study with multi-level analysis. Educational Research and Evaluation ,Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 249-268.
• Yakmalian, K.M. (1995). Informal relationship between elementary school teachers: The art of interaction and influence [CD –ROM]. Abstract from: Proquest file: Dissertation Abstracts International Item: 56/12.
• Yukl, G. (1994). Leadership in organizations (3 rd ed.) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.