Principal‐Staff Relations: Situational Mediator of Effectiveness
| Pages | 66-73 |
| Date | 01 January 1971 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009657 |
| Published date | 01 January 1971 |
| Author | LEONARD B. WILLIAMS,WAYNE K. HOY |
| Subject Matter | Education |
66 THE JOURNAL, OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
VOLUME IX, NUMBER 1 MAY, 1971
Principal-Staff Relations:
Situational Mediator of Effectiveness
LEONARD B. WILLIAMS AND WAYNE K. HOY
The "Contingency Model" of leadership effectiveness postulates
that effectiveness of a group is contingent upon the relationship
between leadership style and the degree to which the situation
enables the leader to exert his influence. This investigation was an
attempt to explore the usefulness of the theory as a guide to the
study of leadership in public elementary schools. As predicted by
the model, the favorableness of principal-staff relations was a
significant situational mediator of leadership effectiveness. In
elementary schools where principals were well supported by
teachers, a task oriented leadership style was associated with
effectiveness; however, in schools where principals were less well
supported by teachers, a relationship oriented leadership style was
associated with effectiveness.
INTRODUCTION
The leadership phenomenon in organizational settings is a
complex social process. Indeed, leadership does not result simply
from the personality traits of individuals; it must also involve
attributes of the transactions between those who attempt to lead
and those who are expected to follow.1 For example, the highly
respected leader who severely reprimands one of his men may
raise the morale of his group while the same behavior exhibited by
a less well-liked leader may produce hostility, resentment, or even
revolt. In a word, leadership performance appears to depend as
much on the organizational setting as it does on the leader's
attributes.
Fiedler's Contingency Model of effective leadership postulates
that the effectiveness of a group is contingent upon the relation-
DR. LEONARD B. WILLIAMS is Lecturer in Education at Rutgers University.
He holds the degrees of A.B. and Ed.D. of Rutgers and the M.A.T. of Duke
University. WAYNE K. HOY is Associate Professor of Educational Administra-
tion at Rutgers University. He holds the degrees of B.S. of Lock Haren State
College and M.Ed. and D.Ed. of The Pennsylvania State University. Professor
Hoy is co-author of The School and Pupil Control Ideology. He has contributed
articles to numerous educational journals.
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