A Study Of The Perceptions Of Unionized School Administrators Regarding District Organizational Climate And Other Selected Variables.

Abstract

Purpose. This study focused on identification of differences in perceptions of unionized and nonunionized public school principals with respect to the organizational climate in their school districts. Methodology. A sample of fifteen school districts whose principals had organized formal collective bargaining units were identified, and matched with fifteen school districts whose principals were not formally organized. Unionized and nonunionized districts were matched on the basis of district enrollment, state equalized valuation per pupil, average teacher salary, community type, stability of student enrollment, and geographic distribution. Four principals from each district in the two sample groups were selected for participation in the study. Perceptions of the principals regarding the organizational climate in their districts were collected using Rensis Likert's Profile of a School instrument. Principal responses on the Profile of a School instrument were consolidated into unionized and nonunionized group scores, then the means of management indices were compared by applying a t-test to determine significant differences. Results. Significant differences were found between the perceptions of unionized and nonunionized principals regarding the district's organizational climate, the superintendent's leadership, the principal's trust in and by superiors, the principal's influence, and the principal's perceptions of teacher and student attitudes toward school. In each case, the perceptions of nonunionized principals reflected a more participative viewpoint than those of unionized principals. Perceptions of principals regarding communication with the superintendent and job satisfaction were found not to reveal significant differences, except for the factor of decision process. Personal interviews with administrator union officers provided the following supplementary findings: job security and salary considerations were perceived to be the predominant incentives to unionize; unionization was perceived to have created strained relationships, generally temporary, between principals and their superiors, and was not felt to have produced greater involvement in decision-making or a better team management relationship. Unionization was felt to have had a beneficial effect upon salary and fringe benefits. Conclusions. The data in this study indicated that unionized principals identified salary and job security considerations to have been influential causal factors in their decision to organize formally, and that the level of trust in and by superiors in unionized districts was significantly lower than in nonunionized districts. Since unionization was found to be associated with less effective organizational climate characteristics, a superintendent of schools would be well-advised to promote mutuality of trust among the administrator group by sharing decision-making, emphasizing the team relationship, and by facilitating multi-directional communication. Further, middle-management unionization was found to produce mixed results, since perceived improvements in salaries and job security were also accompanied by perceived strains in various human relationships.