The Role of the Principal in Collective Negotiations

Abstract

AbstractThis study investigated the amount of agreement between superintendents, principals, and teachers from rural, urban, and central city school districts in Indiana and Michigan concerning the role of the principal in collective negotiations and the scope and structure of the negotiation process. Through the utilization of Q-Methodology, four significant types or groups of school personnel were identified, each demonstrating a high degree of similarity in their attitudes toward collective negotiations and the principal’s role in this process. Identification procedures revealed that a person’s position in a school system was the most significant variable in determining the role of the principal in collective negotiations. Investigation of the pattern of responses of the four groups led the investigator to label the first type, educational managers; the second, anxious participators; the third, ambivalent participators; and the fourth, educational bystanders.