The effect of interpersonal behaviors within a superintendency team of the principals' perceptions of the system's organizational climate

Purpose. This investigation was undertaken to study interpersonal behavior within superintendency teams and its effect on the perception by principals of the organizational climate. The purpose of the study was fourfold: (1) to determine whether a team within a team could be identified from the designated superintendency team utilizing instruments measuring interpersonal behavior; (2) to determine whether there is a relationship between the proportion of team within a team members on the team and the principals' perception of the organizational climate; (3) to determine whether a relationship exists between the team perception of the leadership style of the superintendent and the principals' perception of the organizational climate; and (4) to determine whether there is a relationship between the way members of the team within a team perceive the leadership style of the superintendent and the organizational climate as perceived by principals. Procedures. The sample for this case study was composed of selected superintendency teams and building principals of six public school districts in southeast Texas containing from 10,000 to 13,000 pupils in average daily attendance during the 1974-1975 school year. The participants for the study, then, included six public school superintendents, thirty-five other superintendency team members, and ninety-eight building principals. Each superintendent was asked to identify his superintendency team within the definition provided. To assess the perceptions of the superintendent's interpersonal behavior within the superintendency team, all other identified team members were asked to provide individual evaluations of the superintendent's functioning by responding to Bales' Interpersonal Rating Form. Simultaneously, the interpersonal behavior of each subordinate in the superintendency team was similarly rated on the Bales' instrument by the superintendent. Building principals (as personnel outside the limits of the superintendency team, but as those closest to the team) were asked to evaluate the organizational climate of the team by responding to Likert's Profile of Organizational Characteristics. [...]