A study of the leadership styles and personality types of elementary school administrators in exempl

1
A study of the leadership styles and
personality types of elementary school
administrators in exemplary and adequately
performance schools in North Carolina

• By
• EVETTA LAWRENCE DAVIS
• Doctoral Candidate
• Department of Educational Leadership
• School of Education
• Fayetteville State University
• Fayetteville , North Carolina
• November 17, 2003

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Dissertation Committee Members

• Dr. Virginia Dickens, Chairperson
• Dr. William Lawrence
• Dr. Richard Ellis

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IntroductionThreefold Purpose of this Research

• To measure and compare the leadership styles of
  elementary school administrators in adequate
  performance schools in North Carolina with those
  in exemplary schools in North Carolina
• To measure and compare the personality types of
  elementary school administrators in adequate
  performance schools in North Carolina with those
  in exemplary schools in North Carolina.

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Threefold Purpose of This Research

• 3. To explore possible relationships among the
  four leadership styles and adaptability scores
  identified by the Leadership Effectiveness and
  Adaptability Description Instrument, the 16
  personality types as identified by the
  Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Form M, and
  specified administrator demographic variables of
  elementary school administrators in North
  Carolina including (a) age, (b) gender, (c) race,
  (d) educational degrees, (e) number of years in
  administration, and (f) number of years in
  administration at present school

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Research Questions

• What are the leadership styles of elementary
  school administrators in North Carolina for
  adequate performance schools and for exemplary
  schools as measured by the Leadership
  Effectiveness and Adaptability Description
  Instrument?
• What are the personality types of elementary
  school administrators in North Carolina for
  adequate performance schools and for exemplary
  schools as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type
  Indicator?

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Research Questions Continued

• 3. How many reliable and interpretable components
  are there among the following 12 variables age
  of administrator, degree of administrator, number
  of years in administration at present school,
  adaptability score, gender of administrator,
  personality type, race of administrator, number
  of years in administration, and leadership style
  (high task-low relationship, high task-high
  relationship, high relationship-low task, low
  relationship-low task)?

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Research Questions Continued

• If reliable components are identified, how might
  these components be interpreted?
• How much variance in the original set of
  variables is accounted for by the components?

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Null Hypotheses

• There will be no significant relationships
  between the leadership styles of elementary
  school administrators in adequate performance
  schools and those in exemplary schools.
• There will be no significant relationships
  between the personality types of elementary
  school administrators in adequate performance
  schools and those in exemplary schools.
• There will be no reliable and interpretable
  components among the 12 variables examined in
  this study.

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Some Study Limitations

• This study was limited to elementary school
  administrators within schools identified by the
  state of North Carolina as adequate performance
  schools and as exemplary schools according to the
  State Department of Public Instruction.
• The study was subject to all limitations that are
  recognized in collecting data by mailed
  questionnaires (e.g., response bias due to
  return).

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Definition of Terms

• Adequate Performance North Carolina schools
  that did not meet their expected growth/gain
  standard but that have at least half of their
  students scoring at or above grade level as
  measured by the performance composite of the
  State Board of Education in the North Carolina
  ABCs Plan.
• Exemplary North Carolina schools that exceed
  their expected growth standard by 10 as
  established by the State Board of Education in
  North Carolina ABCs Plan.

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Definition of Terms

• Style Adaptability The degree to which a leader
  is able to vary his/her leadership style
  appropriately to the readiness level of a
  follower in a given situation.
• Style Range The extent to which a leader varies
  his/her leadership style depending on the
  situation.

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Brief Review of Literature

• Loos (2001)
• Title of Study Improved Leadership Through
  Myers-Briggs Analysis Personality styles of
  Principals and Teachers at the Secondary Level
• Findings Principals in study did not have
  predominate personality types. However, vice
  principals and teachers had a predisposition of
  extroversion, sensing, thinking, and judging
  (ESTJ) personality type. Each group of
  participants showed a distinct relationship
  between teacher type and the effectiveness of the
  principal. A relationship was noted between
  personality types and leadership effectiveness of
  the principal.

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Brief Review of Literature Continued

• Lohrmeyer (2000)
• Title of Study The Relationships Between
  Personality Types and leadership Styles of Idaho
  Certified Professional-Technical Educators
• Findings The distribution of personality types
  was found to be consistent with the national
  norms. Participating leadership style identified
  by more principals. No relationship noted
  between the personality types and leadership
  styles of the respondents.

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Brief Review of Literature Continued

• Vail (1991)
• Title of Study Leadership Styles and
  Personality Types of Superintendents in South
  Carolina
• Findings Selling (S2) Leadership Style
  identified by 52.27 of the superintendents. The
  second most used leadership style was
  Participating (S3) Leadership Style which was
  identified by 34.09.

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Brief Review of Literature Continued

• Pendley (1985)
• Title of Study Effective Educational
  Leadership Its Relationship to Personality
  Characteristics, Interpersonal Behaviors, and
  Leadership Styles
• Findings Selling (S2) Leadership Style
  identified more frequently. ESTJ identified by
  greater percentage of administrators.
  Personality characteristics were not
  significantly related to leadership effectiveness.

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Methodology

• Research Design Descriptive Random
  Selective Study
• Population 130 randomly selected
  elementary public school
• administrators
• Sample 100 elementary public school
• administrators
• Return rate 77

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Methodology Continued

• Instruments Used
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Form M
• Leadership Effectiveness and Adaptability
  Description Instrument
• (LEAD-Self)
• Biographical Data Sheet for Principals

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Methodology Continued

• Validity//Reliability of Tests
• LEAD-Self The Center for Leadership Studies
  rates the reliability as moderately strong. The
  12 item validation for the adaptability score
  ranged from .11 to .52, and 10 of the 12
  coefficients were .23 or higher. Eleven
  coefficients were significant beyond the .01
  level, and one was significant at the .05 level.
  Each response option met the operationally
  defined criterion of less than 80 with respect
  to selection.
• MBTI The MBTI Manual verifies the extensive
  usage of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for
  research purposes. Literature suggest that the
  MBTI is reliable a instrument which shows
  consistency over time. Research by Carskadon
  (1970) examined the reliability of MBTI scores.
  Carskadon detailed a study of 70 female and 64
  male college students. The study investigated
  the reliability of the continuous scores. A week
  test-retest was given. The study revealed that
  the scores ranged from .73 to .87 which
  corresponded to the 1964 study by Stricker and
  Ross.

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Methodology Continued

• Procedures
• 2000 Report Card for the ABCs of Public
  Education Volume I was used to determine
  categories of all public schools in North
  Carolina
• Random selection of exemplary schools and
  adequate performance schools in Central and
  Southeast Region
• Letter explaining study and requesting
  participation along with a consent form and
  instruments were sent to superintendents of
  selected school systems.

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Methodology Continued

• Procedures
• Telephone call or reminder sent to
  superintendents
• After permission was received from
  superintendents, letters sent to elementary
  school administrators explaining the study and
  requesting their participation along with the
  consent form
• Confidential codes assigned to each school

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Methodology Continued

• Procedures
• Copies of surveys along with a cover letter and
  instructions mailed
• out to administrators who agreed to
  participate
• Researcher communicated weekly with contact
  person
• Reminder letters were sent to encourage return
  of completed
• instruments
• Once returned, results from instruments were
  analyzed using SPSS Version 11.0 (Factor
  Analysis, Cross-tabulation and t Test)

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Analysis of the Data

• Table 1. School Categories

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Analysis of the DataTable 2. Gender of
Administrator
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Analysis of the Data

• Table 3. Race Of Administrator

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Analysis of the Data

• Table 4. Age Of Administrator

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Analysis of the Data

• Table 5. Degree Of Administrator

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Analysis of the Data

• Table 6. Number of Years in Administration

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Research Findings

• Research Question 1 What are the leadership
  styles of elementary school administrators in
  North Carolina for adequate performance schools
  and for exemplary schools as measured by the
  Leadership Effectiveness and Adaptability
  Description Instrument?
• Table 7. Leadership Styles by School Categories

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Research Findings

• Hypothesis 1 There will be no significant
  relationships between the leadership styles of
  elementary school administrators in adequate
  performance schools and those in exemplary
  schools
• Findings Using Levenes Test of Equality of
  Variances, no significant differences existed
  among administrators in exemplary and adequate
  performance schools for three of the four
  leadership styles. However, a significant
  difference was identified between administrators
  of exemplary and adequate performance schools in
  exhibiting a Participating (S3) Leadership Style,
  therefore hypothesis 1 is not accepted.
• Table 8. Leadership Styles and School Categories

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Research Findings

• Research Question 2 What are the personality
  types of elementary school administrators in
  North Carolina for adequate performance schools
  and for exemplary schools as measured by the
  Myers-Briggs Type Indicator?
• Hypothesis 2 There will be no significant
  relationships between the personality types of
  elementary school administrators in adequate
  performance and those in exemplary schools.
• Findings Levenes Test for Equality of
  Variances revealed that no significant
  relationship existed among the personality types
  of elementary school administrators in schools
  identified as exemplary and those in adequate
  performance schools,
• F(.061) pgt0.005 therefore hypothesis 2 is
  accepted. All 16 personality types were
  represented in the sample. The ISTJ personality
  type represented the largest number of
  administrators in total (13.0), followed closely
  by the INTJ (11.0).

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Research FindingsTable 9. Personality Types
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Research Findings

• Research Question 3 How many reliable and
  interpretable components are there among the
  following 12 variables age of administrator,
  degree of administrator, number of years in
  administration at present school, adaptability
  score, gender of administrator, personality type,
  race of administrator, number of years in
  administration, and leadership styles (high
  task-low relationship, high task-high
  relationship, high relationship-low task, low
  relationship-low task)?
• Findings Factor analysis was used to determine
  what, if any, underlying sub-patterns existed
  among the 12 variables. The analysis retained
  five components and all 12 variables. The
  researcher elected to retain 2 components which
  provided a reliable and interpretable
  relationship among the variables. See Table 10.

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Research Findings

• Research Question 4 If reliable components are
  identified, how might these components be
  interpreted?
• Findings Two components were retained. To
  interpret the relationship between variables in
  the two components, the researcher reviewed the
  computer output which identified a load for each
  variable. See Table 10.
• Research Question 5 How much variance in the
  original set of 12 variables is accounted for by
  the components?
• Null Hypothesis 3 There will be no reliable and
  interpretable components among the 12 variables
  examined in the study.
• Findings The relationship variance for
  Components 1 and 2 was 5.98. On the basis of
  these findings, Hypothesis 3 is rejected.

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Research FindingsTable 10. Component Matrix
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Conclusions, Summary and Recommendations

• Research Question 1 What are the leadership
  styles of elementary school administrators in
  North Carolina for adequate performance schools
  and for exemplary schools as measured by the
  Leadership Effectiveness and Adaptability
  Description Instrument?
• Null Hypothesis 1 There will be no significant
  relationship between the leadership styles of
  elementary school administrators in adequate
  performance schools and those in exemplary
  schools.
• Summary
• Selling Leadership Style (S2) most predominate
• Participating Leadership Style (S3) second most
  predominate
• A significant relationship existed between
  administrators of adequate performance schools
  and exemplary schools in exhibiting a
  Participating Leadership Style

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Conclusions, Summary and Recommendations

• Research Question 2 What are the personality
  types of elementary school administrators in
  North Carolina for adequate performance schools
  and for exemplary schools as measured by the
  Myers-Briggs Type Indicator?
• Null Hypothesis 2 There will be no significant
  relationship between the personality types of
  elementary school administrators in adequate
  performance schools and those in exemplary
  schools.
• Summary
• 13 of the administrators from both school
  categories were categorized as introverted,
  sensing, intuitive, judging (ISTJ) personality
  types
• introverted, intuitive, thinking, judging
  (INTJ) personality types were represented by 11
  of the respondents from both school categories
• no significant relationships were identified
  between the personality types of elementary
  school administrators from both school categories

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Conclusions, Summary and Recommendations

• Research Questions 3 How many reliable and
  interpretable components are there among the
  following twelve (12) variables (a) age of
  administrator, (b) degree of administrator, (c)
  number of years in administration at present
  school, (d) adaptability score, (e) gender of
  administrator, (f) personality type, (g) race of
  administrator, (h) number of years in
  administration, and (i) leadership styles
  characterized as high task-low relationship, high
  task-high relationship, high relationship-low
  task, low relationship-low task?
• Research Question 4 If reliable components are
  identified, how might these components be
  interpreted?
• Research Question 5 How much variance in the
  original set of 12 variables is accounted for by
  the components?
• Null Hypothesis 3 There will be no reliable and
  interpretable components among the 12 variables
  examined in the study.
• Summary
• 2 component clusters of 4 variables each
  examined by factor analysis better represented
  the factors involved in school administrators for
  this study. The relationship variance for
  Components 1 and 2 was 5.98. On the basis of
  these findings, Hypothesis 3 is rejected.

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Conclusions, Summary and Recommendations

• The study should be replicated using a larger
  sample, which might yield additional information
  about the interaction between leadership styles
  and school performance categories.
• A study should be conducted using other
  personality and leadership inventories since the
  MBTI and LEAD-Self are primarily self-perception
  inventories.
• A comparison study between administrators in
  elementary schools identified as high performing
  and middle and high schools identified as high
  performing by the North Carolina State
  Department of Public Instruction should be
  conducted to
• examine leadership styles.
• Further study should be conducted on how the
  variables in Components 1 and 2 resulting from
  factor analysis related specifically to the
  development of effective leaders.

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