Organizational Trust of Mobbing Victims: A Study of Turkish Teachers

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between mobbing behaviour faced by high schools teachers and their organizational trust. The study was based on the survey model. 418 teachers from five different prefectures in the province of Ankara participated in the survey. The NAQ negative acts scale and organizational trust scale were used to collect the survey data. Frequency, t-test, ANOVA, and regression analyses were employed in the analysis of the data. Following the survey, it was found that the level of mobbing faced by teachers was low and their level of organizational trust was high. Significant differences by type of school were found in both variables. In addition, a medium-level negative relationship was also identified between mobbing experienced in schools and organizational trust

Analysis of mobbing behavior that teachers and managers exposed in primary schools

Bu araştırmanın amacı, ilköğretim okullarında görevli öğretmen ve yöneticilerin görüşlerine göre, yıldırma davranışlarının yaşanmasında etkili olan bireysel, örgütsel ve sosyal faktörleri saptamaktır. Araştırma tarama modelindedir. Araştırmanın evreni, Türkiye'nin yedi coğrafi bölgesinde, ilköğretim okullarında görev yapan öğretmen ve yöneticilerdir. Araştırmanın alt evreni, illerin sosyo-ekonomik gelişmişlik sıralaması temel alınarak seçilmiştir. Alt evrende bulunan illerden, random yöntemi ile okullar alınmıştır. Bu okulların her birinden rastgele seçilen 3'ü sınıf öğretmeni, 2'si branş ve 1'i yönetici olmak üzere toplam 6 katılımcı örnekleme dahil edilmiştir. Örneklem büyüklüğü 1330 kişidir. Araştırmanın veri toplama aracı araştırmacı tarafından Ankara ilinde bulunan 4 ilçede uygulanarak geliştirilmiştir. Veri toplama aracı uzman görüşler ve faktör analizi sonucunda MEB-EARGED tarafından belirlenen okullarda uygulanmıştır. Toplanan veriler, bilgisayar ortamında, SPSS programında ve amaçlara uygun hazırlanan bir dosyaya kodlanmıştır. Kodlanan bu veriler, araştırma amaçlarına uygun bir şekilde işlenerek bilgiye dönüştürülmüş elde edilen bulgular yorumlanmıştır. Araştırmanın nitel boyutu için veri toplama aracı, araştırmacı tarafından hazırlanmıştır. Bu veri toplama aracında, nedenlerle ilgili boyutların sorulması için sonda sorular hazırlanmıştır. Pilot uygulama olarak Ankara ilinde iki ilçede toplam 6 kişiye uygulanmıştır. Nitel boyutun verileri araştırmacı tarafından toplanmıştır. Araştırmanın bu bölümü, yıldırma davranışları yaşamış 10 gönüllü katılımcıdan oluşur. Araştırmada elde edilen veriler frekans, yüzde ve aritmetik ortalama, t-testi, tek yönlü varyans analizi, Mann-Whitney U- testi ve Kuruskal Wallis testi kullanılarak hesaplanmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, ilköğretim okullarında en çok meydana gelen yıldırma davranışları Kişi hakkında söylenti ve dedikodu çıkarılması, Kişinin göz ardı edilmesi, dışlanması, olayların dışında bırakılması ve Kişinin görüş, fikir ve önerilerinin dikkate alınmaması davranışları olduğu saptanmıştır. İlköğretim okullarında görev yapan, müdür yardımcılarının okul müdürü ve öğretmenlere göre, lisansüstü eğitime sahip olan yöneticilerin lisans ve ön lisans eğitime sahip olanlara göre daha çok yıldırma davranışlarına maruz kalmaktadır. Erkekler daha çok yıldırma davranışlarını uygulayan rolünde iken kadınlar daha çok kurban rolündedir. Erkek tanıklar yıldırma davranışlarına açıkça karşı gelirken, kadın tanıklar kurbanı gizlice desteklemeyi tercih etmektedir. Kadın kurbanlar, yıldırma davranışlarıyla yüzleşerek çözüm aramakta erkeklere göre daha cesaretli davranmaktadır. Ayrıca yıldırma davranışlarının meydana gelmesini en çok etkileyen alt faktörlerin sırasıyla örgüt kültürü, yıldırma davranışlarının uygulayanların kişilik özellikleri, kurbanın kişilik özellikleri ve pasif kişiliği faktörleri olduğu saptanmıştır. Bunun yanı sıra yıldırma davranışlarına en çok neden olan davranışların, ödül ve cezaların adil olmaması, çalışmaların takdir edilmemesi ve sorunların çözümünün hiç konuşulmaması olarak saptanmıştır.The purpose of this study is to find out, in accordance with the opinion of teachers and administrative personnel working at elementary schools, individual, organizational and social factors which give rise to mobbing behavior. The study is a modeling survey which covers all teachers and administrative personnel in charge at elementary schools in 2009-2010 national curriculum in seven different geographical regions of Turkey. Selection of sub-universe is based on socioeconomic development level of provinces. Selection of schools from each province is random. At each school, 6 randomly selected survey units included 3 counselors, 2 branch teachers and 1 administrator. The sample size was 1330 persons. Data collection tool has been developed by the researcher himself and based on application practices in 4 districts of the province of Ankara. The collection tool has been used at schools nominated by MEB-EARGED according to specialist view and factor analysis. Collected data is processed into a file in SPSS software environment designed for the purpose. Encoded data has been processed and the outcome has been commented on. Developed by the researcher, the collection tool reflects the qualitative aspect of the survey. Probation questions are designed to reveal causal story. Tool has been applied to 6 persons in two different districts of the province of Ankara. Data representing qualitative aspect has been collected by the researcher. 10 voluntary persons, who have been through mobbing behavior, participated in this component of the survey. Assessment of the data has been made according to frequency, percentage, arithmetical medium statistics, t-test, anova, Mann-Whitney U and Kuruskal Wallis tests . As a result of this research, it has been observed that the most common mobbing behaviors are rumors, ignoring and not taken into serious. It has been deduced that the post graduate managers working in primary schools are exposed to mobbing behaviors more than the graduate's managers. The male are seen generally as a perpetrator, while the female are seen as victims. Male witnesses act against the mobbing behavior clearly, while the female witnesses choose to support the victims secretly. The female victims act more courageous than male victims on facing the mobbing behavior and look for solutions. In addition, sub-factors that most effected the occurrence of mobbing behaviors are respectively; organizational culture, the personality characteristics of the perpetrator and the personality and the passive character of the victim's. Besides, it has been observed the most common reasons for the mobbing are; unfair practices in award and punishment, lack of appreciation of the employees by others, and not talking on the problem

Mental Models of the School Principals on “Leadership”

AbstractMental models are representations of the outside world in individuals’ minds. These models represent how we perceive concepts. People's understandings and perceptions of leadership can be defined through the mental models they have developed. The aim of this study is to determine the mental models of the school principals on leadership. In order to collect data, a data collection tool developed by the researchers was used. The study group was asked four open-ended questions and also asked for drawing a picture of a leader and the followers. The study group of the research was 61 school principals who work in the cities of Bursa, Samsun, Trabzon and Istanbul and attend the graduate program in Educational Administration and Supervision department. As a result of the research, the study group expressed the leadership concept mostly “directing”, “managing” and “affecting”. Behavioral characteristics of the leader associated with the highest rated feature is “innovative”, personality traits associated with the highest rated feature is “honesty”, the skills associated with the highest rated skills is “communication skills” and physical properties associated with the highest rated feature is the “charismatic”. The drawings related to the leader revealed that the principals perceive the leaders mostly male and the one who is positioned in front of his followers to lead them

Advances in nanoplasmonic biosensors for clinical applications

Biomarkers are unquestionable biological indicators for diagnosis and therapeutic interventions providing appropriate classification of a wide range of health disorders and risk factors. Nonetheless, the detection and quantification of biomarkers need to be tested with sufficient reliability by robust analytical methods in order to assure clinical performance in health care settings. Since the analytical performance is determined by the sensitivity and specificity of the method employed, techniques have been intensively refined in order to avoid the misinterpretation of results and undesirable bias. Although biomarkers can be detected with the existing analytical techniques, to reproducibly quantify them in decentralized settings or remote locations with the required accuracy is still a challenge. Currently, only a few point-of-care devices for biomarker evaluation are commercially available. Thus, more focused research efforts are needed to overcome these limitations in order to provide universal patient-centered care platforms. To this end, plasmonic biosensors can be conveniently used as portable diagnostic devices for attaining timely and cost-effective clinical outcomes. The development of enhanced performance based on nanoplasmonics technology opens the way for sensor miniaturization, multiplexing and point of care testing. This review covers recent advances and applications of plasmonic and nanoplasmonic biosensors intended for biomarker diagnosis in clinical practice, including cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. The review specially focuses on: (i) recent progress in plasmonics development including the design of singular nanostructured surfaces, (ii) novel chemical functionalization strategies for the appropriate incorporation of bioreceptors and (iii) plasmonic applications as real operative devices in the clinical field. Future prospects in the use of nanoplasmonic sensor platforms for personalised quantification and management of biomarkers directly in body fluids will also be discussed