| dc.description.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. | en_US |
