Exploring the Relationship between Perceived School Administrators' Leadership Styles and Perceived Organizational Climate

This study explored the relationship between perceived leadership style and the organizational climate of elementary schools above and beyond the effect of teacher level, principal level and school level predictor variables. Five schools within Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD were sampled. A total of 176 teachers participated in the study by rating the climate of their school, as measured by the Organizational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire--Revised Elementary (OCDQ-RE), respectively, and the leadership styles of their principal as measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5X (MLQ-5X). A multiple regression was conducted for each of the dimensions of organizational climate and in each case leadership style was found to add to the regression model above and beyond the variance explained attributed to the teacher level, principal level and school level predictor variables. The results showed that the higher the principal's rating on Transformational Leadership, the higher the teachers rated the climate dimensions of Supportive Principal Behaviors, Collegial & Intimate Teacher Behaviors. Also, the higher the principal's rating on Transformational Leadership, the lower the rating on Restrictive Principal Behaviors and Disengaged Teacher Behaviors. The higher a principal was rated on Transactional Leadership, the higher the teachers rated Directive Principal Behaviors and Disengaged Teacher Behaviors. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]