The effect of principal's leadership style on school council members' perceptions of empowerment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the relationships between principal leadership style and teacher empowerment. The principal leadership styles, transformational and transactional, were measured using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ; Bass & Avolio, 1995). Six subscales of teacher empowerment, as identified by Short and Rinehart (1992), were measured using the School Participant Empowerment Scale (SPES; Short & Rinehart, 1992). This study was conducted in a large urban school district in the southwestern United States during the Spring of 2002. Subjects in this study were high school teachers who were serving on their high school's school council. Teachers provided their perceptions of their principal's leadership style and their own empowerment through their responses to the MLQ and SPES. They also provided information regarding the content of the meetings through their responses to a survey designed by the researcher. Seven hypotheses were tested using multivariate analysis of variance, univariate analysis of variance, regression analyses, and t-test. Significant positive correlations between transformational leadership and each of the empowerment subscales were observed. A significant negative correlation was observed between transactional leadership and the subscale Self-Efficacy. Marginally significant negative correlations were observed between transactional leadership and the other empowerment subscales. Significant relationships were observed between transformational leadership and the meeting content questions that addressed the frequency with which issues related to budget, curriculum and instruction, and facilities and operations were discussed. Significant relationships also existed between transformational leadership and the frequency with which council recommendations were carried out. Principal leadership style as reported by the teachers was not found to be significantly different among the principals in this study and all principals demonstrated higher levels of transformational than transactional leadership. Educational researchers have called for the practice of transformational leadership by principals, and for the empowerment of teachers, suggesting that they are essential to educational reform. This study confirms that significant positive relationships exist between transformational leadership and teacher empowerment, and demonstrates marginally significant negative correlations between transactional leadership and teacher empowerment.