A Study of the Relationship Between Contract Administration and Selected Labor Problems.

Statement of the Problem. Very little research specifically addresses the issue of how contracts are administered by public school principals. The aim of this study was to investigate the nature of contract administration in public education and to explore the relationship of this variable with the selected labor problems of grievances and new contract proposals. Stated differently, this study investigated the relationship of the principal's approach to contract administration with the frequency of grievances and new contract proposals generated by teachers in the building. Hypotheses. Hypotheses were designed to test the relationship between contract administration and the frequency of selected labor problems. Perceptions of both principals and their respective building representatives toward the principal's approach to contract administration were tested as independent variables. Grievance and new contract proposal frequencies generated by teachers in the principal's building were dependent variables. Procedures. Twenty matched pairs of selected principals and their respective building representatives comprised the sample for the study. A major effort in the study was the development of an instrument for measuring the perceptions of principals and building representatives regarding the principal's approach to contract administration. Scores on the instrument were compared to grievance and new contract proposal frequencies. Correlations describing the strength of the relationships between the perceptions of cntract administration and the frequencies of selected labor problems are presented. Conclusions. There is a relationship between perceptions of the principal's approach to contract administration and the frequency of grievances and new contract proposals. Positive contract administrators (those with higher scores on the instrument) tended to have fewer reported grievances and new contract proposals than did the most negative contract administrators. Also, the congruence of perceptions between principals and building representatives was related to the frequency of the labor problems. Recommendation. The use of positive contract administration techniques may reduce the frequency of labor problems. If the school district has a history of chronic labor problems, it is recommended that the administrative personnel responsible for labor relations consider the implications of contract administration presented in this study.PhDEducational administrationUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/160189/1/8422294.pd