and School Culture
(The case of Izmir, Turkey)
Semiha ÞAHÝN*
Kuram ve Uygulamada Eðitim Bilimleri / Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice 4(2) • Kasým / November 2004 • 387-396
* Correspondence: Assis. Prof. Dr., Dokuz Eylul University, Faculty of Buca Education, Department of Educational Sciences, Buca, 35150, Izmir.
E-mail: semiha.sahin@deu.edu.tr
© 2004 Eðitim Danýþmanlýðý ve Araþtýrmalarý Ýletiþim Hizmetleri Tic. Ltd. Þti. (EDAM)
This research examines the relationship between the transformational and transactional leadership styles of school principals and school cul-ture. Transformational leadership can be defined as increasing the inter-est of the staff to achieve higher performance and developing and revealing the commitment and the beliefs in the organization (Bass, 1985). Transactional leadership is based on the reciprocal changing of the duty and reward that are controlled by the principal. In this leader-ship, the sources, human skills, the financial sources, material, and technology are administered and the workers’ needs are covered (Koppang, 1996). The effects of transformational leadership on job-sat-isfaction, commitment, effectiveness, organizational learning, improve-ment, climate, culture, teacher morale, and student achievement in schools are well documented in the literature (Deal, 1995; Griffith, 2004; Hitt & Keats, 1992; Lawrence, 2000; Ross & Gray, 2004;
Leithwood & Jantzi 1997; Leithwood, Jantzi, & Steinbach, 1999;
Shivers, 1999). Transactional leaders focus on the basic needs of their staff (Bass, 1985; Leithwood et al., 1999; Slater, Goldring, Bolman, Thurston & Crow, 1994) but they do not have a characteristic provid-ing high level motivation, job-satisfaction, and commitment. Moreover, the research focuses on more effective transformational leadership than transactional leadership (Bass, 1990; Ingram, 1997;).
It is possible to define the culture of an organization as the belief that organize the thought and behavior patterns by affecting values, politics, expectations, traditions, the unity of perceptions, and sense. Studies indi-cate a positive relationship between commitment, motivation, job-satis-faction, communication, collaboration, effectiveness, and the organiza-tional performance of staff and organizaorganiza-tional culture (Doran, 1996;
Jones, 1998; Nnadozie, 1993; Nystrom, 1993; Reames, 1997; Sarwono, 1990). However, according to Bonar (2000), Lock (2001), Lucas (2001), Lucas and Wayne (2003), Marks (2000), Miles (2002), and Sueki (1998), there is a positive relationship between transformational leadership and school culture. However, others found negative relation-ships between the two (Hall, 1999; Marks, 2000). Thus, the present study aimed to determine the most commonly used leadership styles exhibited by the principals, based on the perceptions of primary school principals and teachers. In addition, it also aimed to determine their per-ceptions concerning the culture in their schools and the relations between their styles of leadership and school culture. Finally, suggestions to prac-titioners and researchers are provided in the light of the findings.
Methods Populations and Sample
The research was conducted on 50 school principals and 950 teachers working in 50 primary schools out of a total of 364 primary schools in Izmir in 2002-2003 academic year. Irregular layer sampling method, which is suggested when the sample represents the population at varying ratios, is used to form the sample (Baloðlu, 2002). All the participants answered the Personal Data Form and the Scales of School Principals’
Leadership Styles and School Culture.
Instruments
The data were collected using the Personal Data Form distributed and the Scales of School Principals’ Leadership Styles and School Culture developed by the researcher. The first section of the scale consists of demographic information about teachers, principals, and schools. The second section consists of 24 items about transformational leadership and 12 items about transactional leadership. The Scale of Transactional Leadership indicates two dimensions as autocratic leader and status quo leader found by factor analysis. All scales are composed of 5-point Likert-type items. The final section consists of 48 items about school culture.
The Scale of School Culture is composed of four dimensions as Co-oper-ative Culture, Educational Development Culture, Social-Educational Culture and Traditional Culture.
The reliability of the scales was tested through Cronbach Alpha reliabil-ity coefficient and found to be .96 for the Transformational Leadership; .79 for the Transactional Leadership; and .94 for the School Culture. Internal consistency coefficients of the scales were .60 and .83 for the subscales of transactional leadership and .94 to .59 for the subscales of school culture.
The data were analyzed using the SPSS. The research was analyzed using means, standard deviations, correlation coefficients, and t-test statistics.
Results
Both school principals and teachers perceive that school principals exhib-it more transformational style than transactional style. The school princi-pals consider the school culture to be more positive than the teachers do.
Both school principals and teachers perceive that schools exhibited more high-level co-operative culture, but less low-level social-educational cul-ture. According to the school principals, there is a positive relationship between the transformational leadership style and the dimensions of co-operative culture; educational development culture and the
social-educa-tional culture aspects of the school culture; and the transacsocial-educa-tional leader-ship style and the educational development dimension of the school cul-ture. However, they do not see a relationship between school culture and transactional leadership style with overall concept. According to the teachers, there is a positive relationship between the transformational leadership style and the overall concept; the dimensions of the school cul-ture and the transactional leadership style with the overall concept; co-operative culture and educational development culture and the dimen-sions of the social-educational culture.
Discussion
School principals were found to exhibit more transformational leadership style both by school principals and teachers. It was understood that schools change in time. For example, school principals were educated, some schools have implemented the Total Quality Management, and renewals are done as directed by the Europe Union. School principals have high perception regarding school culture. This may stem from their schools’ perceived positive features. Both school principals and teachers perceive that schools exhibited most high-level co-operative culture. The positive perception of co-operative culture in the schools may be related with Turkish social culture. There is effectiveness of shared behavior cul-ture in Turkey (Çelik, 1999). But, this should be investigated via well designed research studies. According to the results, social-educational activities are neglected in the schools, even in courses designed to foster creativity, sports, and music.
According to the school principals’ perception, there is a positive relation-ship between the transformational leaderrelation-ship and the school culture.
However, there is no relationship between school culture and transaction-al leadership style with overtransaction-all concept. But, there are a positive relation-ship between the transactional leaderrelation-ship style and the educational devel-opment dimension of the school culture. Similarly, the teachers view that there is a positive relationship between the transformational leadership, the transactional and the school culture. All findings are consistent with the previous literature.
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