Degree Name

EdD (Doctor of Education)

Program

Educational Leadership

Date of Award

July 1989

Abstract

The perceptions of elementary teachers with regard to the leadership behavior exhibited by their principals and to the organizational climate of their schools were examined in this study. The purpose of the study was to determine whether Tennessee elementary principals who achieved Career Ladder III standing exhibited more effective leadership behaviors and maintained a more suitable organizational climates than Career Ladder I principals. This study followed the ex-post facto research approach and utilized data obtained through use of the Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire Form 12 (LBDQ-12) and the Revised Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire (OCDQ-RE). Responses were obtained from 590 teachers who represented 26 randomly selected elementary schools in northeast Tennessee, 11 of which were administered by Career Ladder III principals and 16 administered by Career Ladder I principals. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was applied to the data to determine significance at the.05 level. ANOVA was selected because it permitted the researcher to evaluate the mean differences in perceived leadership behavior and organizational climate simultaneously while maintaining the Type I error rate at the preestablished.05 significance level for the entire set of comparisons. No significant differences were found in total leader behavior or in any dimension of leader behavior, as measured by the LBDQ-12, for Career Ladder III elementary principals when compared to Career Ladder I elementary principals. No significant differences were found in any dimension of organizational climate, as measured by the OCDQ-RE, for elementary schools administered by Career Ladder III principals when compared to elementary schools administered by Career Ladder I principals. Recommendations for future research were given.

Document Type

Dissertation - unrestricted

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