| In the great debate over increasing the productivity of a staff member, higher amounts of job satisfaction have been proven to be a motivating factor. One of the most important factors in perceptions of satisfaction has been communication climate between leaders and their followers.;This study measured the effect of five interpersonal aspects of communication climate (decision making, reciprocity, feedback perception, feedback responsiveness, and feedback permissiveness) between a department chair and his/her intermediate instructional leader on the perceptions of job satisfaction by that department chair. The population studied was academic department chairs at all of Florida's community colleges.;Overall, Florida's community college department chairs reported that communication climate activities were characterized by mutual influence, openness, and the free flow of information. Satisfaction with supervision, work environment, pay, promotion, and overall feelings for their job were rated highly. Regression analysis showed a strong relationship between the independent variable of communication climate and all factors of the dependent variable of job satisfaction (satisfaction with supervision, work environment, pay, promotion, and overall feelings).;ANOVA revealed a significant effect of gender on satisfaction with the work environment. There was no influence of gender, race, number of departments supervised, and size of institution on any other job satisfaction factors. Thus, the human relations theory of improved interpersonal communication in the superior-subordinate dyad leading to increased satisfaction is advanced. |
