A Comparative Study of Principals′ Administrative Behaviour
| Date | 01 January 1989 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09578238910132688 |
| Published date | 01 January 1989 |
| Author | Kyung Ae Chung,Cecil G. Miskel |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Principals'
Behaviour
45
A Comparative Study of
Principals' Administrative
Behaviour
by
Kyung Ae Chung
Department of Educational Administration, University of Utah, and
Cecil G. Miskel
School of Education, University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor,
USA
A number of investigations have been conducted with educational
administrators using Mintzberg's structured observation techniques[1].
They include studies of superintendents[2,3,4], of high school
principals
[5,6,7],
of elementary school principals
[8,9,10],
and of
educational innovators[11].
A few studies have described and compared administrator behaviours
across organisational types and roles. However, we found no studies
or analyses that compared the results of Mintzberg's structured
observation technique for the managerial behaviours of secondary
school principals in highly different cultures, even though different
languages, customs, values, philosophies and religious systems could
affect how they behave.
To
explore cross-cultural influences, the current study compared the
managerial behaviours and beliefs about those behaviours of Korean
and American secondary school principals. New data were collected
from the Korean sample. The results from studies of American
principals were used for the purpose of making comparisons.
Related Literature
Comparisons across organisational levels have or can be made from the studies
conducted
by
Kmetz and
Willower[8],
Morris
et al.[12]
and Martin and
Willower[5].
The pace of the elementary principal
is
less hectic than that of secondary principals.
They spend more time on the instructional programme, have fewer scheduled
meetings and hence greater
flexibility.
However, elementary principals exhibit the
same "busy-person" syndrome as their secondary counterparts.
Both elementary and secondary principals have most of their unscheduled
meetings with insiders
—
students, teachers, the office clerk and the vice-principal,
but elementary principals have almost four times as many meetings with parents
and and devote nearly five times as many minutes to them. The main activity
at meetings scheduled by elementary principals is planning, in marked contrast to
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