Adaptive style and supervisory effectiveness: A survey of high school supervisors and teachers
Abstract
There has been much research on the different types of supervision (directive, collaborative, and nondirective), but disagreement about which type is most effective or if a combination of these types is more effective than just one. The purpose of this study was to determine if supervisors who adapt their supervisory styles to the levels of their subordinates are more effective than supervisors who use the same supervisory style regardless of the levels of their subordinates. Several hypotheses were tested in this study to determine the correlation between the variables of age, experience, department size, department type, levels of adaptability, and supervisory styles with the dependent variable of effectiveness as perceived by supervisors' subordinates. The Coefficient of Linear Correlation (r) was used to determine the correlation (cause/effect) between the variables in this study. The means, standard deviations, and z-scores were also computed to determine if a significant difference existed between the variables. The results of this study were as follows: (1) No correlation existed between the variables of age, experience, and department size and the variable of effectiveness as perceived by their subordinates. Therefore, the ages, experience, and sizes of supervisors' departments did not influence their effectiveness. (2) A very high positive correlation (.839) existed between supervisors' levels of adaptability and their effectiveness as perceived by their subordinates, showing that supervisors who are flexible and adapt their supervisory styles to the levels of maturity of their subordinates will be more effective than supervisors who use the same approach with all subordinates regardless of their levels of maturity. (3) Supervisors using predominantly a collaborative approach were perceived as more effective by their subordinates than either directive or nondirective supervisors. (4) Foreign language supervisors were perceived as more effective by their subordinates than math, science, social studies, and English supervisors. (5) Supervisors using predominantly a directive style of supervision were perceived as more administratively effective by their subordinates than either collaborative or nondirective supervisors. (6) Supervisors using predominantly a collaborative style of supervision were perceived as more effective in terms of interpersonal skills than either directive or nondirective supervisors.
Subject Area
School administration|Teacher education
Recommended Citation
Melucci, Ranier William, "Adaptive style and supervisory effectiveness: A survey of high school supervisors and teachers" (1990). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI9109265.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI9109265
