The Effect of School Administrators' Political Skills against Organizational Cynicism in Educational Organizations

Tuğba Konaklı

doi:10.13189/ujer.2016.040317

Abstract

In the present study, it is aimed to investigate the relationship between the primary school teachers’ perceptions of the political skills of school administrators and their perceptions of organizational cynicism. Within the scope of this general purpose, it was investigated whether there was a significant relationship between teachers’ perceptions of school administrators’ political skills and cognitive, emotional, and behavioral cynicism. The universe of the study is composed of teachers working in the primary schools within the central district borders of Kocaeli province of Turkey. 350 teachers from 21 primary schools chosen via simple random sampling from among 54 primary schools in Izmit district of Kocaeli province made up the sample of this study. “Organizational Cynicism Scale” developed by Brandes et al. (1999) and Political Skill Inventory (PSI) developed by Ferris, Treadway et al. (2005) was used in the present study. The study findings demonstrate a significant positive relationship between the teachers’ perceptions of political skills and organizational cynicism. It was also found out that the sincerity dimension of the school administrators’ political skills significantly predicts cognitive, emotional, and behavioral cynicism while the social astuteness and sincerity dimensions together have a significant influence on emotional cynicism.

Highlights

Changing living conditions have necessitated transformation from old models to new ones in the structures of schools
The study findings indicate that the sincerity dimension of political skills has a significant relationship with emotional and behavioral cynicism, and there is a significant relationship between social astuteness and sincerity dimensions and emotional cynicism
The present study investigated the relationship between the primary school teachers’ perceptions of the political skills of school administrators and their perceptions of organizational cynicism

Summary

Introduction

Changing living conditions have necessitated transformation from old models to new ones in the structures of schools. This transformation occurs from hierarchical bureaucratic designs towards more networked and flexible designs in schools. It has brought along some important changes in and expectations about the roles and skills of school administrators. Katz [27] defined the conceptual skill as an important ability in the upper positions of organizations, technical skills in lower ones, and interpersonal skills at the bottom. It was stressed that cognitive skills are necessary on all organizational levels while strategic skills are necessary and important more in the upper positions of an organization

Objectives

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion