A STUDY OF THE DELEGATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS BY PRINCIPALS OF THE LARGE HIGH SCHOOLS IN MICHIGAN AS RELATED TO SELECTED VARIABLES
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Date
1968
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UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES GKVK, BANGALORE
Abstract
The general purpose of the study was to contribute
toward the improvement of high school administration through
an ascertainment of the delegation of administrative tasks
by principals of the large high schools in Michigan and the
determination of relationships which might exist between the
utilization of this administrative technique and selected
variables.
The principals were interviewed with regard to their
delegation of sixty-five administrative duties within six
major areas of educational administration. A delegation
■core was obtained on each individual and correlation coefficients
were computed between the delegation scores and
the data gathered on each of the variables.
The findings, generally, revealed a mean age of
forty-nine, while the average experience, as principal of
a large high school, was slightly under five years. Less than half of the principals had taken the major part of
their graduate work in educational administration, and
the greatest number had experienced most of their classroom
teaching in the field of social studies. The principals
estimated spending almost fifty-seven hours per week
in fulfilling the responsibilities of the position, with
over one-quarter of the time being devoted to the instructional
program and curriculum development. Most want to
remain in the high school principalship until retirement,
and the great majority feel an immediate need for more
administrative assistance in their buildings.
The study bore out the assumption that there is no
common or set pattern in the delegation of administrative
tasks by high school principals. It also pointed out that
the large, comprehensive high school provides an advantageous
environment for delegating duties to others, and the
principals of these schools in Michigan are successfully
utilizing the technique.
Most of the principals completely delegated more
duties than they performed personally, and the delegation
came store often in the principals' least preferred areas
of administration than in their most preferred area.
Administrative tasks were most often delegated in pupil
personnel matters and least often in the area of school
and community relations. No significant linear relationships were found to
exist when the delegation scores of the principals were
correlated with the following variables:
1. the number of years experience the principals had
as chief building administrators in large high
schools;
2. the ages of the principals;
3. the number of full-time administrative assistants
in the buildings;
4. the percentages of students going on to college
from the schools;
5. the school enrollments;
6. the state equalized valuation of the school
districts;
7. the fact that the principals had taken the major
part of their graduate work in educational administration
as opposed to other graduate areas; and
8. the fact that the principals wanted to remain in
the high school principalship as opposed to a
move to other professional goals.
Findings of the study were in accord with previous
research which denied that certain personal, professional
and institutional variables affect the administrative
behavior of principals, but in disagreement with studies
which indicated that most high school principals receive
the major part of their graduate training in educational administration. The results, also, seriously question
generalizations which are presently being made, in the
professional literature, regarding high school principals
being bogged down in trivial matters and not concerning
themselves with the instructional and curricular programs
of the school.
The author recommends that similar studies of a
wider scope be undertaken so that comparisons might be
made in schools of different administrative organization
and size. This study should be replicated for the purpose
of exploring other variables which might have a relationship
to the delegation of administrative tasks. Two
factors which might be considered are the personality of
the principal and the quality of his administrative assistants.
Visitations should be encouraged for those administrators
not presently using the delegation technique, so
that they might have the opportunity to observe situations
in which the method is effectively being utilized.
Investigation should also be made into the present concern
of principals regarding the administrative understaffing
of their schools and the increasing involvement
of central office personnel in matters pertaining to the
high school.
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No . of references 94