Perceptions of Tennessee Public School Principals Concerning Their Managerial Authority Under Collective Negotiations

• Main Author: Eller, Oliver E.
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 1986
• Subjects: Education; School administration; Educational Administration and Supervision
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2671; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4062&context=etd

The problem of this study was to determine if collective negotiations had restricted the perceived managerial authority of Tennessee's public school principals within selected demographic variables. Fourteen demographic variables (the independent variables) were selected for the study. Pauline's Principals On-Job Discretion Scale (the dependent variable) developed and validated by Robert A. Pauline was selected as the appropriate instrument for use in this study. The instrument listed ten responsibilities of public school principals which might or might not be registered by the terms and conditions of teachers' negotiated agreements with school boards. The principals marked the instrument as to how they perceived their managerial authority (discretion) under collective negotiations. The sample drawn included 315 of the 1260 public school principals who were under collective negotiations in the seventy-eight school systems in Tennessee during 1985-86. Respondents used in the study included 242 principals--19.21 percent of all Tennessee public school principals under collective negotiations. The statistical analysis of the data indicated there were significant differences in four of the fourteen null hypotheses. The significant differences found were: (1) The younger age group of principals perceived themselves as having less managerial authority than the older groups of principals. (2) Those principals who had been principals for five or fewer years perceived themselves a having less managerial authority than those principals who had been principals for more than ten years. (3) Those principals in city/town/special school systems perceived themselves as having less managerial authority than those principals in county school systems. (4) High school principals perceived themselves as having more managerial authority than those principals in elementary, junior high/middle/intermediate, and other schools. Although the findings indicated that Tennessee's public school principals did not perceive themselves as having "complete discretion" in their managerial authority under collective negotiations, the principals did perceive themselves as having "considerable discretion" in managing their schools under the teachers' negotiated agreements with school boards. Recommendations were indicated for future research.