The leadership strategies of high school principals in relationship to organizational structure

The purpose of the study was two fold: (a) to investigate the relationship between nine organizational dimensions and five transformational leadership practices used by high school principals as perceived by teachers; and (b) to determine if differences in use exist between more experienced and less experienced principals, again, as perceived by teachers. One hundred thirty high school teachers were surveyed to gather perceptions on principal behavior. Significant correlations indicated greater degree of coupling between dimensions and practices. Two survey instruments, the School Assessment Survey (SAS) and the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI), provided data used to answer three research questions and test 54 hypotheses. Firestone and Wilson (1985) developed the SAS for the Research for Better Schools, Inc. Kouzes and Posner (2003) developed the LPI. The results indicated a stronger degree of coupling in schools managed by principal with more leadership experience than schools managed by principals in four organizational dimensions: (a) Facilitative Leadership, (b) Centralization of Classroom Instruction, (c) Vertical Communication, and (d) Staff Conflict. The results also indicated that four organizational dimensions (a) Facilitative Leadership, (b) Vertical Communication, (c) Staff Conflict, and (d) Teacher Behavior were correlated with all of Kouzes and Posner’s (2003) five transformational leadership practices. One organizational dimension, Centralization of Classroom Instruction, was correlated with four of Kouzes and Posner’s (2003) transformational leadership practices. The overall finding was teachers perceived principals with more experience exhibit behaviors associated the Kouzes and Posner’s (2003) five transformational leadership practices more frequently than do principals with less experience. Of the 54 hypotheses tested, 33 hypotheses tested significantly at p \u3c .05 or p \u3c .01 level