AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF PRINCIPALS' LEADERSHIP STYLE TO TEACHER STRESS AND JOB RELATED OUTCOM

This study examined the relationship between principals' leadership styles and teacher stress, job performance, job satisfaction, and absenteeism.;Subjects were 335 teachers in Washington State. Data was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics and correlations.;Findings included: (1) Teachers under High-Consideration, High-Structure principals experienced lower role stress, higher job satisfaction, and higher job performance than teachers under the other leadership styles. They also experienced higher absenteeism than teachers under High-Consideration, Low Structure and Low-Consideration, High-Structure principals. (2) Teachers under High-Consideration, Low-Structure principals experienced lower role stress, higher job satisfaction, higher job performance, and lower absenteeism than teachers under Low-Consideration, Low Structure principals but they experienced higher absenteeism and lower job performance than teachers under Low-Consideration, High Structure principals. (3) Teachers under Low-Consideration, High-Structure principals experienced higher job satisfaction, higher job performance, lower absenteeism, and lower role stress than teachers under Low-Consideration, Low-Structure principals. (4) Teachers under Low-consideration, Low Structure principals experienced higher role stress, higher absenteeism, lower job performance, and lower job satisfaction than teachers under the other leadership styles. (5) Consideration was the leadership variable most strongly related to job satisfaction. Structure was the leadership variable most strongly related to job performance. (6) Teachers attributed several times more stress to interactions with Low-Consideration, Low-Structure principals and lesser amounts to Low-Consideration, High-Structure and High-Consideration, Low-Structure principals and least to High-Consideration, High-Structure principals. (7) Job satisfaction was highly associated with the consideration variable. Teachers under the High-Consideration, High Structure and High-Consideration, Low-Structure principals found higher satisfaction than teachers under Low-Consideration, High Structure and Low-Consideration, Low-Structure principals. (8) Ambiguity was the role stress most strongly related to job satisfaction deficiencies, while all three role stresses (conflict, ambiguity, and overload) were related equally to job performance and absenteeism. (9) The relationship of absenteeism to leadership style was weak and operationally of no significance.