Relation of Bureaucratization to Sense of Power Among Teachers

Abstract

Teachers' sense of power over school system affairs was measured by questionnaire among 662 classroom teachers in 20 school systems. On the hypothesis that sense of Power would be lower in highly bureaucratic than in less bureaucratic organizations, ratings of the school systems were obtained to measure their degree of bureaucratization. Contrary to the hypothesis, sense of power was greater, not less, in the highly bureaucratic schools. Further analyses showed some influences of organizational structure an sense of power, but also suggested that school systems may select teachers differing in sense of Power. Gerald H. Moeller is supervisor on special assignment with the St. Louis Public School System. W. W. Charters is professor of education at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.