Perception of Headteacher's Communication Style and Teachers’ Motivation to Participate in Government Secondary School Activities in Sheema District Uganda

Abstract

The study investigated the perception of head teachers` communication style and teachers' motivation to participate in secondary school activities in government-aided secondary schools in Sheema District Western Uganda. The study employed a parallel mixed model design for data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Purposive sampling was used to select 10 head teachers from 10 government-aided secondary schools in Sheema District Western Uganda. 186 teachers out of 371 teachers from the 10 schools in Sheema District Western Uganda participated in the study. Simple Random sampling was used to arrive at teachers. There was a significant and positive relationship between the perception of head teachers' communication style and teachers' motivation to participate in school activities (𝑟=0.386, 𝑝<0.01). This relationship was mediated by Perceived Supervisor Support which presented itself as being positively and significantly related to supervisor communication (𝑟=0.399, 𝑝<0.01) as well as to the intrinsically motivating factors (𝑟=0.408, 𝑝<0.01). The perception of the communication style of the head teacher influences the morals and morale of teachers by 15%. Hence there is a need for head teachers to organize and plan concerning why, what, when, where, and whom to communicate (hence the 5Ws communication rule). Therefore, from the study findings, non-monetary forms of motivation are important factors in motivating teachers. This is because 15% of teachers' motivation is contributed by head teachers' communication style; 16% by Perceived Supervisor Support and 20% by Perceived Organization Support. Thus, the study recommended that head teachers should always recognize the strong points by for example saying "thank you" and avoid evaluating and observing the weak points only.