THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PRINCIPAL'S PARTICIPATION IN COLLECTIVE BARGAINING, ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ISSUES, AND LEADER BEHAVIOR

RONALD CHARLES GREEN, Purdue University

Abstract

This study identified relationships between the degree of participation of the public school principal in the collective bargaining process and his attitudes toward the appropriate scope of issues and his perception of leader behavior. Three sample populations from West Central Indiana were studied: principals who had direct active participation as a member of the negotiating team; principals who had indirect participation in an advisory capacity; and principals who had no experience in the negotiations. Forty-eight principals who had direct active participation, seventy-one who had advisory roles, and twenty-two who had no participation experience participated in the study. Instruments utilized in the study were the Collective Negotiations Index and the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire XII-Self. A brief questionnaire was used in conjunction with the instruments to gather additional data regarding the characteristics of the principals and their schools. Ten major hypotheses were stated to determine the differences related to the mean scores on attitudes toward the scope of bargaining issues, leader behavior and each of the five characteristics identified with the principals in the study. The five characteristics of the principals examined were level of participation in the negotiations process, age, seniority in the principalship, school type (elementary, junior high, high school), and size of school staff. An ancillary hypothesis was stated to relate the ratings of issues on the CNI with mean scores on the LBDQ. An Analysis of Variance was performed to test each of the hypotheses. Attitudes toward bargaining issues were found to be significant across levels of participation of principals in negotiations. Age and seniority produced no significant differences in attitudes toward the scope of issues. Attitudes toward working conditions and work environment showed significant differences across school type and staff size. No significant differences were found between level of participation of the principal in the bargaining process and leader behavior, however several leader behavior descriptors were significant across age and seniority of the principal. Marginal significance was demonstrated in leader behavior across school types and staff size. There were differences found on several leader behavior subsets when compared across groupings by levels of agreement to the appropriateness of each of the five categories of bargaining issues. The results of the tests on the major and ancillary hypotheses led to the following conclusions: (1) Active participation in the collective bargaining process negatively affects the attitudes of the principal toward a broader scope of bargaining issues. (2) Leader behavior is not associated with level of participation in the negotiations process. (3) The age or seniority of the principal have no effect upon attitudes toward bargaining scope. (4) Elementary school principals demonstrate more positive attitudes toward broader scope bargaining than do principals of junior or senior high schools. (5) Principals of smaller schools demonstrate more positive attitudes toward bargaining issues than do principals of larger schools. (6) Principals who generally agree to a broader bargaining scope demonstrate higher ratings on leader behavior. The major implication of this study was that more consideration should be given to specifying and communicating an appropriate cadre for the principal in the bargaining process. While collective bargaining may not have had the major impact upon the principal which many have presumed, conflicts arising from a role of collective bargaining participant, contract administrator, and instructional leader have the potential for dysfunctional consequences.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

School administration

COinS