WORKPLACE INCIVILITY AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STYLES OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE LEADERS IN THE NINE MEGA STATES

The purpose of the study was to examine the conflict management styles and perceived levels of workplace incivility of community college senior level administrators in the nine mega-states. Six research questions guided the study. Research question one described the self reported conflict management styles of the participants. Research question two described the participants\u27 perceptions of workplace incivility. Research question three examined if relationships existed between conflict management styles and demographic variables. Research question four examined if relationships existed between workplace incivility and demographic variables. Research question five examined if relationships existed between workplace incivility and conflict management styles. Research question six explored if conflict management styles and/or demographic variables could explain any amount of variance of workplace incivility. The methodology implemented was a non-experimental survey research design. A random proportional cluster sample of community college senior-level administrators selected from the nine mega-states was used for the study. The Uncivil Workplace Behavior Questionnaire (UWBQ) and the Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory- II (ROCI-II) were used for the web-based survey to collect data. Data were collected in three waves yielding a total of 176 responses giving a 26.3 % response rate. Preliminary data analysis was done to address missing data, detect outliers, test assumptions (linearity, constant variance of the error terms, independence, and normality) and test for non-response bias. Exploratory factor analysis was done to ensure the instruments factored into the appropriate constructs with the specific population. Lastly, reliability for the instruments were reported using Cronbach\u27s alpha. Data analysis techniques included computation of means, standard deviations, frequencies, and percents for the descriptive data. Pearson\u27s Product Moment (interval data), Point-Biserial (nominal dichotomous data), and Kendall\u27s Tau (ordinal data) were used for correlations. Step-wise multiple regression and hierarchical regression analysis were used to examine if demographics and conflict management styles could explain workplace incivility. Findings indicated that community college senior-level administrators prefer the integrating conflict management style, followed by obliging, avoiding, compromising and dominating. Further, participants reported a perceived low level of workplace incivility. Correlations indicated that as hostility, exclusionary behavior, and overall incivility increased, the integrating conflict management style decreased. Gender, age, and education level had no significant relationships with any of the five conflict management styles. As work experience increased, obliging, dominating, and avoiding conflict management styles increased. Overall, workplace incivility had no significant relationships with the demographic variables. A hierarchical stepwise regression showed that integrating, obliging (step 1), work experience (step 2), gender (step 3), and race (step 4) could be used to explain 10.3% of the variance of workplace incivility

An Investigative Study of the Abuse of Girls in African Schools

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

The role of the principal as an instructional leader in improving learner achievement in township schools: a case study of two primary schools of Soweto in Gauteng province

Submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Masters in Education at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa 30 June 2015This study explores the role of the principal as an instructional leader in two successful township primary schools in challenging circumstances. It examines instructional strategies used by principals of the two schools that may account for high levels of learner achievement and explores how these successful leaders deploy leadership styles and management approaches to deal with prevailing challenging circumstances that affect their schools academically and other spheres of governance and management. Sixteen participants were involved including 2 principals, 4 Heads of department (HODs), 4 educators, 4 parents from the two schools and 2 district officials under who both schools account. Using qualitative approaches, triangulation of data was achieved through semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis. The study found that the key instructional leadership approaches used by these principals were promoting teamwork, active participation, collective decision making, sharing of responsibilities, collaboration/collegiality and distribution of tasks amongst multiple leaders or people. The claims made by the principals were corroborated by educators, parents, members of the School Management Team (SMT) and district management teams. Data also indicated that the principals relied on a combination of different leadership styles and efficient and effective management approaches with their subordinates to garner the enthusiastic implementation of instructional approaches which are claimed to yield good learner outcomes in Annual National Assessment (ANA) tests. The study suggests that there might be a strong link between leadership styles and management approaches on one hand and learner performance on the other. Further, the data suggests that the application of appropriate management systems and relevant leadership styles can contribute to institutional resilience against the prevailing challenges which tend to depress performance in many schools in similar circumstances. The findings of the study have several important implications including: Schools as organisations require the collective effort of all stakeholders in order to achieve their objectives or goals. That ‘one size fits all’ form of leadership has no place in different environments but that more often than not, a combination of different leadership styles and management approaches should be explored in an attempt to realize a common vision of an organisation. The study makes specific recommendations for a more broad based research agenda to examine factors which contribute to resilience and success in schools operating in challenging circumstances. It also calls for more contextualised studies in specific schools to explore the leadership forms that have greatest potential for delivering better learning outcomes in schools facing challenging circumstances

Evidence synthesis on the occurrence, causes, consequences, prevention and management of bullying and harassment behaviours to inform decision making in the NHS

Background Workplace bullying is a persistent problem in the NHS with negative implications for individuals, teams, and organisations. Bullying is a complex phenomenon and there is a lack of evidence on the best approaches to manage the problem. Aims Research questions What is known about the occurrence, causes, consequences and management of bullying and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace? Objectives Summarise the reported prevalence of workplace bullying and inappropriate behaviour. Summarise the empirical evidence on the causes and consequences of workplace bullying and inappropriate behaviour. Describe any theoretical explanations of the causes and consequences of workplace bullying and inappropriate behaviour. Synthesise evidence on the preventative and management interventions that address workplace bullying interventions and inappropriate behaviour. Methods To fulfil a realist synthesis approach the study was designed across four interrelated component parts: Part 1: A narrative review of the prevalence, causes and consequences of workplace bullying Part 2: A systematic literature search and realist review of workplace bullying interventions Part 3: Consultation with international bullying experts and practitioners Part 4: Identification of case studies and examples of good practic

A Qualitative Study of Elementary Teachers\u27 Perspectives of Professional Learning Communities

The purpose of this case study was to understand elementary teachers’ perspectives of professional learning communities (PLCs) in a Southeastern United States elementary school. The theories guiding this study were Bandura’s social theory and Herzberg, Mausner, and Synderman’s two-factor theory of motivation. The research questions included: (a) How do elementary teachers describe the purpose of a PLC? (b) How do elementary teachers describe the experiences in PLCs? and (c) What are elementary teachers’ perceptions of benefits and barriers of PLCs? This study aimed to explore the perspectives of elementary teachers in PLCs and the attitudes of these teachers who collaborate in PLCs. The setting was in the Southeastern United States school that has participated in PLCs for many years. A purposeful sample obtained allowed participants to have certain conditions to participate in the study. The sample size utilized 13 teachers. Data collected was through observations, surveys, questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups. Data was categorized, coded, and analyzed to determine themes and patterns. The results revealed elementary teachers’ perceptions of PLCs as the following themes: benefits included (a) collaboration, (b) shared vision, (c) collective learning, (d) shared practice, and (e) supportive conditions , and barriers included (a) data, (b) pointless, (c) openminded, (d) coaches need move training, (e) norms, (f) roles, (g) agenda, (h) time and (i) trust. The elementary teachers indicated that PLCs are beneficial; however, overcoming some barriers must be part of the process. Recommendations for further study include elementary male teachers’ perspectives of PLCs, other geographical locations, teachers’ perspectives in secondary schools, and elementary teachers’ perspectives on time allotted for PLCs

Improving the Leadership of P-12 Administrative Teams

Traditional individualistic approaches to leadership and learning have failed to create the systems change and continual improvement school districts need. As a result, school districts have increasingly turned to use administrative teams to solve complex systems issues. Unfortunately, many of these groups fail to become a real team. Facilitating a groups transformation into a team that effectively engages learning is not easy. The primary goal of this case study is to assist team leaders in improving their leadership of P-12 administrative teams, primarily by gaining the perspectives of team members. These perspectives have been gathered from ten exceptional P-12 administrative team members (five district directors and five principals). This qualitative case study uses their interviews and follow-up focus groups to delve deeper into their initial insights and perspectives on the guiding research question: What are the insights and suggestions of a team of P-12 principals and district directors that could benefit team leaders who are creating teams to collaborate and learn together? The significant findings and implications outline what leaders should do to increase the likelihood of a group becoming a high performing team, and what may hinder leaders from transforming a group into a team. The most critical finding: The leader makes or breaks the team. Fortunately, leaders can learn to be effective, transformational team leaders

Toward a theory of Pedagogical Change: The role of Leadership and Teacher Professional Learning for Pedagogical Reform

The implementation of the Australian Curriculum has brought unprecedented curriculum change in New South Wales (NSW) primary schools for the first time in two decades. This study focuses upon the way in which two schools in NSW have worked to enact the new English syllabus. The study uses a constructivist grounded theory methodology, which assumes that people form new perspectives from their actions in relation to space, time and circumstance. This research sought to understand how teachers and leaders in two primary schools implemented this significant curriculum change, and the extent to which the new curriculum was used as a catalyst for pedagogical change. Grounded in the data, this research builds towards a theory of pedagogical change. It explores school culture, leadership and pedagogy during change, acknowledging their contested, complex, interdependent relationship. The research highlights salient issues related to the interplay of practice and inquiry during a period of imposed change; teacher understanding and enactment of pedagogy, particularly considering the emergent tension between holistic and individualised approaches to learning on the one hand and pedagogies that lend toward measured collective school improvement on the other; and professional development and learning. Pedagogical leadership and teacher professional development and learning are seen to be key to shaping curricular and pedagogical change, and the study explores the different manifestations of these in the two contexts, and their implications for the school communities. In particular, it highlights the critical role of school leaders in building distributed pedagogical leadership, fostering collegiality and collaboration and cultivating trust during curriculum change. The study contributes to the body of research on pedagogical leadership by exploring teacher professional learning about curriculum change. Its key contribution lies in the way that it builds a grounded theory of pedagogical change, highlighting the importance of leadership and teachers’ involvement in building pedagogical practice. This theory emphasizes the importance of trust and teacher professional autonomy while developing individual pedagogical identities as well as a collaborative and shared collective pedagogy

Teacher professional development in an online learning community : a case study in Indonesia

Over the past decade the rapid pace of technological innovation has changed the knowledge-based society and gradually changed the way teaching and learning are conducted (Hargreaves, 2003). Teachers are increasingly viewed as not only the knowledge providers, but also the facilitators of a learning process. These changes have been difficult for teachers to adapt to, requiring substantial amounts of professional development. In Indonesia, the government has continually developed a number of strategic education policies and implemented various pathways to improve the professionalism of teachers. Nonetheless, there are still a large number of teachers who struggle to access the professional development support provided by the Indonesian government for a variety of reasons. This is particularly the case for teachers who work in rural and remote areas, because many of the current Teacher Professional Development (TPD) practices still focus on teacher-centred approaches instead of collaborative approaches, and often only in the format of face-to-face interaction. Research has shown that an Online Learning Community (OLC) can support TPD and facilitate collaboration among teachers. As an open and voluntary form of gathering that involves education practitioners concerned with the general practice of teaching or specialist disciplines or areas of interest (Lloyd & Duncan-Howell, 2010), OLC promotes active and collaborative learning processes (Helleve, 2010) and gives an opportunity for teachers to engage in reflective practice that can lead to transformative professional development (Windschitl, 2002). This thesis presents the results of a study that set out to develop and implement an OLC to support the current TPD practices in Indonesia. This online learning community was called the Online Learning Community for Teacher Professional Development (OLC4TPD). The study investigated the facilitating and inhibiting factors of OLC4TPD implementation in Indonesia, and analysed how OLC4TPD supported TPD within the Indonesian context