Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Research On Administrative Competence
Research On Administrative Competence
Research On Administrative Competence
than four minutes, and 50 percent of All Activities were interrupted before
completion.
The portrait of the principal that emerges from this study is one of an
administrator who interacts verbally, usually with members of the organization,
in high-visibility areas of the building. Because of the hectic pace of their work,
principals demonstrate a tendency to engage themselves in the most current and
pressing situations. They invest little time in reflective planning, and display an
affinity for the action components of their role. This portrait corresponds with a
1979 study by the National Association of Secondary School Principals that also
documented "the busy person syndrome" in the principalship.4
We could cite many role studies concerning the actual performance
of the practicing principal, but that would be beyond the scope of this chapter.
Most professional organizations will readily acknowledge the gap between the
model and the practicing administrator. In fact, a number of studies indicate no
significant relationship between a principal's description of his own leadership
behavior and descriptions of his behavior by superiors or subordinates.'
This discrepancy between real and ideal roles may also explain
why many practicing principals do not take advantage of training opportunities. If
the principal is preoccupied with immediate tasks such as schedules, parent
conferences, discipline, and supervision of custodial services, training and inservice
could be perceived as an invitation to greater administrative responsibility, for
which the principal would undoubtedly assume he doesn't have time.
In summary, then, the principalship is presently an illdefined role
- aspiring to professionalism, but more closely resembling the role of foreman in
management. The discrepancy between what the position ought to be and what it is
can best be understood by analyzing conditions in today's schools and how they
affect the practicing administrator.
Research studies seem to reinforce the perception that training opportunities for
junior administrators are often not on target. Where university-based masters
programs offer courses, certain skills seem to differentiate the effective junior
administrator from the ineffective. A
'G. R. Weldy, Principals: What They Do and Who They An (Reston, Va.: Xational
Association of Secondary School Principals, 1919). 34-39.
'Warren Eveneon, "Lendenhip Behavior of High School Principals, NASSP Bulletin 43
(September 1959): 90-101.