THE EFFECTS OF TRAINING IN TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS UPON THE INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION TRANSACTIONS OF GRADUATE STUDENTS IN SUPERVISION (EGO STATES, PRODUCTIVE, NON-PRODUCTIVE)

Communication is an integral part of educational administration. However, while previous studies in educational administration have analyzed the language of administration and the nature of the interaction, no synthesis of theory has occurred. The field of social psychology, meanwhile, has developed a theory of transactional analysis (TA) which appears to synthesize much of the work previously done in interpersonal communication.A non-equivalent control group design was employed which involved a sample of 52 graduate students. The study tested the hypothesis that supervisory students trained in TA would use more productive transactions in their interpersonal communication than would those who were not. The treatment consisted of 16 weeks of training in transactional analysis. Supervisory tape simulations were used to gather verbal responses from both groups. The responses were rated as productive or non-productive by a four member panel using protocols based upon TA theory. An analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data.The findings confirmed that there was a statistically significant difference beyond the .01 level, between the productive response means of the experimental and control groups, when controlled for differences on the pre-test via analysis of covariance.A limitation of the study is the use of the descriptive terms, productive and non-productive. While their use is linked to a body of literature which reports the use of these terms in reference to supervisory communication, productivity as an empirical question has not been tested in this study.This study, based upon TA theory, examines whether training a supervisor in his/her awareness of transactional communication will make a difference in his/her interpersonal communication. What is hypothesized is that an individual trained in TA will use more productive communication transactions than an individual who is not.The significance of the study lies in its validation of TA theory as a viable process for teaching communication awareness to supervisors for the purpose of measurably enhancing their interpersonal communication.