Principals' communication effectiveness as perceived by Adventist academy teachers in the Southeast Asia Union Mission

Abstract

The guiding problem of this study was "How might principals be helped in improving their comrnunication skills?" This involved the adaption of an appropriate instrument for measuring communication effectiveness of the principals as perceived by teachers.

The method used in this study was that of descriptive-correlation survey. Fifty-six teachers from the five participating academies in SAUM were involved in this study. The principal instrument, Administrators' Communication Effectiveness Questionnaire (ACEQ), consisted of three scales: (a) Communication Processes, with three subscales, (b) Leadership Behavior, and (c) Communicatlon Effectiveness. The five administrator-related factors, considered as predictor variables, consisted of 57 behaviors, each rated on two scales, is considered to be associated with communication effectiveness. Treatment of data consisted of descriptive statistics, t tests, and stepwise multiple regression. The level of significance was set at .05 for the t test and .001 for the multiple regression .

The findings showed there was no significant difference in teacher-related factors concerning principals' communication effectiveness except for teacher attitude toward the princlpal. The t test showed a significance Level of .024 for teacher attitude. For administrator-related factors the independent variables of communication processes items and leadership behavior items showed significant correlations. The top predictor of principals' communication effectiveness was Leadership Behavior Frequency wlth 57% of the variance explained. This was followed by Leadership Behavior Effectiveness with 9% of the variance explained, Home Visits with 5% of the varlance explained, and Informal Conversation with 2% of the variance explained. A comparison between the frequency and effectiveness subscales revealed that effectiveness items were consistently rated higher by teachers .

Based upon the findings, the conclusions were that (a) academy principals in SAUM are somewhat effective cominunicators; (b) leadership behavior and communication technique are good predictors of principals' communication . effectiveness; (c) no significant correlations exist between demographic factors of dge, gender, marital status, educational attainment, years of teaching experience, communication medium, and direction of communication; (d) there was a signlficant difference noted between teachers' attitudes toward the princlpal and the principals' communication effectiveness.

Recommendations to principals were (a) to formulate a plan to acquire information on present communication trends and practices; (b) to keep updated on current trends and the latest research on effective leadership behavior; (c) to be informal when talking with teachers. visit them in their homes, and be aware of their personal needs; (d) to involve teachers in school leadership; (e) to communicate to all teachers the present condition of the school in achieving the school's goals and objectives; (f) to incorporate suggestions of teachers in planning for improvements and give recognition where it is due; and (g) to deal with teachers as colleagues and acknowledge their contribution to the school.