An analysis of some of the relationships between management style of junior and senior high school principals and teacher job satisfaction and productivity

Abstract

The study was conducted to explore the relationship between Teacher-Centered Management Style of junior and senior high school principals and Job Satisfaction and Job Productivity of junior and senior high school teachers. -- A three-part questionnaire was hand-delivered to 209 junior and senior high school teachers in 18 of 20 junior and senior high schools in the Grand Falls area of Newfoundland. A total of 177 questionnaires, 84.7 percent, were completed and returned. -- Factor analysis was utilized as a data reduction technique. The variable Job Satisfaction was decomposed into two factors, Teacher Salary Satisfaction and Teacher Satisfaction with the Capabilities of Teacher Colleagues. Similarly, the variable Job Productivity was decomposed into three factors, Intrinsic Commitment to Teaching as a Profession, Job Involvement, and Self-Concept as a Teacher. -- Analysis of the data by means of a path analytic model revealed a number of statistically significant relationships. The relationship between Teacher-Centered Management Style of school principals and Teacher Salary Satisfaction was a statistically significant positive one and accounted for about 15 percent of the variance. The relationship between Teacher-Centered Management Style and Teacher Satisfaction with the capabilities of Teacher Colleagues was also a statistically significant positive one, but accounted for less than 10 percent of the variance of the dependent variable. There was also a statistically significant positive relationship between Teacher-Centered Management Style and Intrinsic Commitment to Teaching as a Profession, but this relationship accounted for less than 6 percent of the variance. -- Statistically significant negative relationships were revealed between Teacher Satisfaction with the Capabilities of Teacher Colleagues and Job Involvement, accounting for less than 4 percent of the variance, and between Teacher Satisfaction with the Capabilities of Teacher Colleagues and Self-Concept as a Teacher, accounting for less than 3 percent of the variance. -- Because so little of the variance of the dependent variables was accounted for by the independent variables, it was concluded that factors not explored in the study were probably more important determinants of the Job Satisfaction and Job Productivity variables studied.