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OBORAH, MARGARET UBE

PG/MED/06/41665

IMPROVING MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOL ORGANISATIONAL

CLIMATE OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KOGI EAST

Educational Foundations

A RESEARCH PROJECT PRESENTED IN PARTIAL

FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD

OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF EDUCATION

(M. ED) IN EDUCATION

Webmaster Digitally Signed by Webmaster’s Name

DN : CN = Webmaster’s name O= University of Nigeria, Nsukka

OU = Innovation Centre

2009

UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA

ii

IMPROVING MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOL ORGANISATIONAL

CLIMATE OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KOGI EAST

BY

OBORAH, MARGARET UBE

PG/MED/06/41665

A RESEARCH PROJECT PRESENTED IN PARTIAL

FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF EDUCATION

(M. ED) IN EDUCATION

TO

THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS,

UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA

SUPERVISOR: DR (MRS) C. U. ONWURAH

MAY, 2009

iii

APPROVAL PAGE

This project work has been approved for the Department of Educational

Foundations, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

By

___________________ ______________

Dr (Mrs) C U Onwurah Internal Examiner

Supervisor

__________________ ________________

Prof G C Unachukwu Prof N Ogbonnaya

External Examiner Head of Department

________________

Prof G C Offorma

Dean of Faculty

iv

CERTIFICATION

It is hereby certified that Oborah, Margaret (Mrs), a postgraduate student

in the Department of Educational Foundations with Registration Number,

PG/M.ED/06/41665, has satisfactorily completed the requirements for

course and research works for the degree of Master in Education in

Educational Administration and Planning. The work embodied in this

project is original and has not been submitted in part or full for any other

degree of this or any other university.

_________________________ ________________________

OBORAH, MARGARET UBE DR (MRS) C U ONWURAH

STUDENT SUPERVISOR

v

DEDICATION

This research work is dedicated to my beloved husband,

Pastor (Dr) J O Oborah.

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The researcher is eternally grateful to the Almighty God for His

infinite mercy, grace, love, favour and divine protection and provision.

My hearty appreciation and thanks go to my supervisor, Dr (Mrs) C U

Onwurah for her immeasurable and valuable guidance and contributions

to the successful completion of the research work. Her tireless prompt

attention, guidance and prayers were instrumental to the timely

completion of this study.

Furthermore, the researcher sincerely appreciates the spiritual,

moral and financial contributions of my husband, Pastor (Dr) J O Oborah.

My special thanks go to my parents, my brothers and sisters and all

members of Odiba family for their prayer supports. I also appreciate

members of Adonai Business Centre, Idah, for the computer typesetting

and other secretarial jobs.

The researcher appreciates the members of Divine Love Assembly,

Idah and Favour Shopping Complex, Idah, for their financial and moral

supports. My thanks further go to Pastor Ojotule Akor, Friday Dikko for

assisting in travels for questionnaire retrieval.

My special thanks and appreciation go to my Education Secretary,

Mr Henry Amodu and the SUBEB management in Lokoja for the

permission to undertake this study. My thanks finally go STTEB and TSC

staff, Lokoja for making available relevant data for this study.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page….……………………………….….………………………..i

Approval Page ………………………………………………………..ii

Certification ………………………………..……..………….………..iii

Dedication……………………………………………..…….………….iv

Acknowledgements ……………………………..………..….…………v

Table of Contents...………...………………………..………..…....…...vi

List of Tables ………………..………………………………….…… .ix

Abstract…………………………………………………...…………..…x

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION… …………………………………….1

Background of the Study ......................................................................... 1

Statement of the Problem ...................................................................... 10

Purpose of the Study ............................................................................... 11

Significance of the Study ........................................................................ 11

Scope of the Study ................................................................................... 13

Research Questions ................................................................................. 13

Hypotheses ............................................................................................... 14

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ................. 15

Conceptual Framework ......................................................................... 15

Concept of School Organisational Climate .......................................... 15

Types of School Organisational Climate .............................................. 20

Factors Influencing School Organisational Climate ........................... 26

Managing the School Organisational Climate ..................................... 36

Theoretical Framework ......................................................................... 42

Review of Empirical Studies .................................................................. 46

Summary of Review of Related Literature .......................................... 51

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODS ........................................... 53

Design of the Study ................................................................................. 53

viii

Area of the Study .................................................................................... 53

Population for the Study ........................................................................ 54

Sample and Sampling Technique .......................................................... 54

Instrument for Data Collection ............................................................. 55

Validation of Instrument ....................................................................... 55

Reliability of the Instrument ................................................................. 56

Method of Data Collection ..................................................................... 56

Method of Data Analysis ........................................................................ 57

CHAPTER IV: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA ..... 58

Research Question 1 ............................................................................... 58



Hypothesis 1 ............................................................................................ 64

Hypothesis 2 ............................................................................................ 65

Hypothesis 3 ............................................................................................ 68

Summary of the Findings of The Study ................................................ 69

CHAPTER V: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS,

RECOMMENDATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND SUMMARY OF

THE STUDY……………. …………....................................................73

Discussion of the Findings … . …………………………….................76

Conclusions .............................................................................................. 77

Educational Implications of the Findings Of The Study .................... 77

Recommendations of the Study ............................................................. 79

Limitations of the Study ......................................................................... 80

Suggestions for Further Studies ............................................................ 81

Summary of the Study ............................................................................ 82

REFERENCES ....................................................................................... 85

ix

Appendix A : List of Secondary Schools in Kogi East Senatorial zone...91

Appendix B: Table of Sample for the Study……………………………95

Appendix C: Letter to the Respondents…...………..…………………...96

Appendix D: Questionnaire…………... ……………… .…..……….. 97

Appendix E: Computer Printouts for Reliability of the Instrument...…101

Appendix F: Administration and Return of Questionnaire…… …... ..103

x

LISTS OF TABLES

Tables Page

1 Mean and Standard Deviation of the Respondents’

Responses on the Types of School Organisational

Climate in Kogi East Secondary Schools………………. 59


Responses on the Factors that Influence School

Organisational Climate in Kogi East Secondary Schools . 61


Responses on the Administrative Strategies that

Influence School Organisational Climate in

Kogi East Secondary Schools ……………………………63

4 Summary of T Test on the Mean Responses of the

Principals and Teachers on the Types of School

Climate in Secondary Schools in Kogi East ……………..64

5 T’ Test of the Mean Responses of the Principals and

Teachers on the Factors that Influence School

Organisational Climate in Secondary Schools

In Kogi East……………………………………………….66

6 T’ Test of the Mean Responses of the Principals and

Teachers on the Administrative Strategies that Influence

School Organisational Climate in Secondary Schools

In Kogi East……………………………………………….68

xi

Abstract

The major purpose of this study was to evolve administrative strategies

for improving school organisational climate of secondary schools in Kogi

East, Kogi State. Three research questions were answered and three

hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population for the

study was 2,231 teaching staff. A random sample of 503 based on

multistage sampling technique was drawn. Structured questionnaire was

used to generate data for the study. This instrument was face-validated by

three experts from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and was trial-tested

on 25 respondents in Kogi Central. The Cronbach Alpha reliability

technique yielded a total coefficient of 0.85. The instrument was

administered on the sample and 476 copies of the questionnaire were

returned and used for data analysis. Mean and standard deviations were

used for the research questions, while t’test was employed to test the

hypotheses. The major findings were (1) three school organisational

climates existed in secondary schools in Kogi East, including open,

autonomous and controlled school climates, (2) clean and aesthetic school

environments were critical factors influencing school organisational

climate and (3) staff development and the use of rewards and recognitions

were strategies for improving school climate. It was recommended that

principals in the secondary schools should adopt an appropriate blend of

the various school climates to suite the peculiarities of the schools.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

School organisational climate is an important and all-embracing

characteristic of the school environment that includes the psychological,

social and physical factors. The psychological factors relate to the

feelings, attitudes and values exhibitions of the stakeholders of the school

– administrators (principals), teachers, staff, students, parents,

government agencies and the society. Social factors include the nature of

the interactions, communications and group activities of the stakeholders

and the physical factors are the tangible aspects of the environment such

as the nature of the buildings, classroom conditions, laboratories and

other educational materials. Thus, Tagiuri (1968) identified the following

four components of the school climate: ecology, milieu, social system and

culture. Ecology is the physical and material aspects of the school

environment, milieu is the social dimension in the school, and the social

system relate to the organisational structure of the school. The culture

aspect deals with the values, belief system, norms and ways of thinking.

The concept of school organisational climate has been variously

defined. Hodgetts and Altman (1979) defined organisational climate as a

set of properties of the work environment perceived by individuals who

2

work there and which serve as a major force in influencing their job

behaviour. This means that organisational climate depicts the quality of

the work environment capable of influencing the performance of the

members negatively or positively depending on the status of the climate.

Marshall (2002) viewed school organisational climate as a multi-

dimensional environmental factors that influences many individuals,

including students, parents, school personnel, and the community,

stressing that it is a belief system or culture that underlies the day-to-day

operation of a school. School climate according to him is influenced by

factors such as the number and quality of interactions between adults and

students, students’ and teachers’ perceptions of their school environment,

or the school’s personality. Other factors include, the environmental

factors such as the physical buildings and classrooms, and materials used

for instructions, academic performance, feelings of safety, school size and

feelings of trust and respect for students and teachers.

A positive school climate therefore exist when students and

teachers feel comfortable, wanted, valued, accepted, and secured. In order

to achieve the positive school organisational climate, the principal adopts

the appropriate managerial skills and practices which are not only

applicable to business organisations, but also amenable to effective

management of organisational climate of schools. This is because with a

3

well managed school climate the teaching and learning would be

effective. Also, in such environment, the teachers are satisfied working to

achieve the goals of the school which influence positively the overall

performance of the students. The parents and the society would be happy

that their expenditure on education has been justified and goals of

national development would be achieved when the goals of the schools

are achieved.

In this study, school organisational climate refers to a broad

concept about the way principals, teachers, students and parents

experience and perceive the quality of the school total environment

emanating from their interactions which also influences their behaviour.

The nature of the interactions consists of the academic and social

dimensions. Whereas the academic dimension deals with the schools

administrator’s effectiveness in leadership and administration, the social

dimension deals with the nature of the facilities, the aesthetic appeals and

comfort of the stakeholders.

The concept of organisation, according to Okumbe (1998) consists

of groups of people whose efforts are deliberately coordinated for the

achievement of specific goals. An educational organisation thus refers to

a group of individuals, in a given place, whose efforts are deliberately

coordinated for the purpose of imparting knowledge, skills and attitudes

4

to students or pupils in order to achieve predetermined educational

objectives or goals. In Nigeria, school as an organisation consists of a

group of people working to achieve the goal of preparing the individuals

to be useful members of the society. According to the Federal Republic of

Nigeria (FRN) (2004), education is an instrument for national

development and particularly, the secondary education which is the

education children received after primary education and before the

tertiary stage which has the broad goal of preparing individual for: useful

living within the society and higher education. To achieve these goals, the

teaching and learning environment need to be conducive by improved

management of the school organisational climate. Thus, every

stakeholder in the administration of secondary school ought to brace up to

the demands of improved organisational climate and the school

administrators (principals) of secondary schools have particular

responsibility in this direction.

Improved school organisational climate is a goal to pursue because

teaching and learning need to be constantly moved toward greater

performance. This can be achieved by adopting appropriate management

strategies by the respective school administrators. Wikipedia (2008)

stated that management comprises planning, organising, resourcing,

leading or directing, controlling and organisation of effort for the purpose

5

of accomplishing a goal. Fayol in Wikipedia, identified the following five

management functions – planning, organising, leading, coordinating and

controlling. According to Mgbodile (2007), Planning is a blue print of

well-reasoned and packaged ideas which guide all subsequent operations

leading to the achievement of objectives from first stage to the final

stages of implementation and evaluation. Therefore, planning is an

important management function that leads to the achievement of any

organisational goal. Organizing is making optimum use of the resources

required to enable the successful carrying out of plans, while

leading/motivating involves exhibiting skills in these areas for getting

others to play an effective part in achieving plans. Coordinating involves

interrelating the various parts of the work and ensuring efficient and

effective job performance and controlling is monitoring and checking

progress against plans, which may need modification based on feedback.

A well managed school organisational climate can greatly enhance

the performance of the schools which in turn contribute to the

achievement of the overall goals of education. This management team

work together to create the needed climate that would ensure conducive

teaching and learning environment.

The application of management principles and practices to the

educational settings has spurred a lot of researches in this area.

6

Organisational climate is an area that is receiving a great deal of research

in educational administration with foundational research by Halpin and

Croft (1963). School organisational climate is defined as the morale

existing among the teachers in the school. Halpin and Croft identified six

school climates, including, open, autonomous, controlled, familiar,

paternal, and closed climates. Thus Halpin and Croft conceptualised

school organisational climate on a continuum of open – closed

organisational climate types.

Open climate is used to describe the openness and authenticity of

interaction that exists among the principal, teachers, pupils and parents. It

reflects the principal and teachers' cooperative, supportive and receptive

attitudes to each other’s ideas and their commitment to work. The

principal shows genuine concern for teachers and gives the staff freedom

to carry out their duties in the best way they know. Autonomous climate

is the type of climate that portrays an atmosphere where teachers are

given a good measure of freedom to operate in the school. The principal

models enthusiasm and diligence. Both teachers and pupils are happy.

There is no external threat or influence. Teachers have great desire to

work and pupils are highly motivated to learn. There is close relationship

among the principal, teachers, pupils and parents. Controlled climate is

the situation where hard work is the major characteristic. Although the

7

principal does not model commitment, hard work is over-emphasised to

the extent that little or no time is given to social life.

Furthermore, familiar climate depicts a laissez-faire atmosphere.

The principal is concerned about maintaining friendly atmosphere at the

expense of task accomplishment. Thus, a considerable percentage of

teachers are not committed to their primary assignment. Paternal climate

is the type of climate that depicts an atmosphere where the principal is

very hardworking, but has no effect on the staff; to them hard work is not

a popular term. There is a degree of closeness between the principal and

teachers, but the principal's expectation from teachers is rather

impractical. Closed climate represents the 'antithesis of the open climate'.

The main characteristic of this type of climate is lack of commitment on

the part of the staff members. There is no commitment, especially on the

part of the principal and teachers. There is no emphasis on task

accomplishment; rather the principal stresses routine, trivial and

unnecessary paper work to which teachers minimally respond. The

principal is rigid and controlling. There is lack of respect for the

principal. Not only that, the teachers lack respects for and are suspicious

of each other, the school authority and even the pupils.

From the foregoing, the principal and teachers are very important

determinants of the school organisational climate and can contribute

immensely to its improvement. The principal through the exhibition of

8

behaviours that enhance conditionality among the school members can

lead to the creation of conducive atmosphere for enhanced school

organizational climate. The teacher can as well enhance the school

organizational climate through commitment to the duties and

responsibility and the creation of conducive classroom environment for

teaching and learning. In this study, principals are the respective heads of

secondary schools charged with the day-to-day administration of the

school and teachers are staff in the schools whose primary duty is the

impartation of knowledge and skills to the students. Also, Strategies in

this context are the adoption of appropriate administrative and

motivational practices for improving school organisational climate.

In Nongnuang (1988), it was found out that schools with higher

teacher morale were more likely to appear in open tendency climate and

schools with low teacher morale were more likely to appear in the closed

tendency climate. Consequently, the teachers with open organisational

climate exhibited high level of job performance than those of the closed

organisational climate. Also, in Enugu, Agajelu (1991) conducted a study

and found out that there was positive relationship between the

organisational climate type and the students’ academic achievement. It

was found that the students in the open organisational climate performed

better than those of the closed organisation climate academically.

9

In Kogi State, particularly, the Eastern Senatorial Zone, the public

and private secondary schools are in deplorable conditions which

contribute to poor organisational climate. Achimugu (2000) and Idachaba

(2001) have decried the deplorable school environment in Kogi East

secondary schools. Idachaba stressed that with this situation of the

teaching and learning environments of the secondary schools,

performances in the West African Examinations have been very poor. He

further stated that this situation had been responsible for the inability of

students in the zone to win the scholarship award of the Shell

Corporations. He then advised that all stakeholders should be involved in

concerted efforts to revamp the ailing conditions of the schools in the

zone. This is a motivation for this study.

At present, there is low morale among staff and students as well as

poor performance of students in public examinations such as the West

African Examination Council. There is lack of research evidence on

improving management of school organisational climate in secondary

schools in the zone, hence the need for the present study which will be

conducted to provide empirical evidence on the strategies for improving

school organisational climate of secondary schools in Kogi East

Senatorial Zone.

10

Statement of the Problem

Effective teaching and learning take place in atmosphere that is

conducive. This atmosphere depicts a school where the principal and

teachers work as a team member in cooperation and understanding. Also,

students are well behaved and go about their studies with seriousness. In

such school environment appropriate and adequate physical facilities are

provided for the school. This situation describes the school organisational

climate that is desirable in all the educational institutions in Nigeria,

including secondary schools. Although this situation is attainable, it is yet

to be attained in secondary schools in Kogi East.

In Kogi East Senatorial zone, secondary school organisational

climate needs improvements as school performances are unsatisfactory.

The question now is what strategies should be adopted to create the

desired improvements? Unfortunately, there are little or no empirical

studies that identified strategies for improving management of school

organisational climate in Kogi East. This paucity of empirical evidence

necessitated this present study to provide strategies for improving

management of school organisational climate of secondary schools in

Kogi East.

11

Purpose of the Study

The major purpose of the study was to evolve strategies for

improving management of school organisational climate in secondary

schools in Kogi East. Specifically, the study:

1. Identified the types of organisational climate in Kogi East

secondary schools.

2. Determined the factors that influence the schools’

organisational climate in secondary schools in Kogi East.

3. Determined the administrative strategies that can be used to

improve the school’s organisational climate in Kogi East.

Significance of the Study

The findings of the study will be significant to school

administrators of secondary schools in Kogi East, the teachers, students,

the community and government agencies charged with supervisory

functions of secondary schools in Kogi state and other scholars of school

administration. These are the stakeholders of secondary schools that work

together to ensure improvements in secondary schools in Kogi State.

The findings on the types of organisational climate in secondary

schools in Kogi East will benefit the school administrators to ascertain

the organisational climate being practised to adjust accordingly. The

school administrators will use the findings as strategies to be adopted to

12

improve the climate in the school in order to enhance conducive teaching

and learning.

Furthermore, the findings on the preferred leadership behaviours of

principals will enable the school administrators to determine their relative

standings on the acceptable leadership behaviours. This would also assist

the school administrators to evolve the necessary intervention measures

to correct any lapses in the leadership behaviours. The principals will use

the findings on the appropriate leadership behaviours and factors as

strategies to improve the school climate.

The findings of this study will serve as a guide to the teachers in

creating conducive atmosphere for teaching and learning. When this is

done, the students will perform effectively in their studies. Also, students

will benefit from the findings as a stakeholder in creating conducive

learning environment. The students will use the findings to guide them in

exhibiting appropriate and disciplined behaviour that create conducive

school climate which positively influence learning in the school.

The community will use the findings of the study as a means of

improving their involvement in school management, guiding them on

what to do to supplement the efforts of the principals, teachers and

students in creating appropriate school organisational climate for teaching

and learning.

13

Government agencies will use the findings of this study in

identifying the areas that the schools need improvements with regards to

the climate and to advise the school administrators appropriately to

improve the school organisational climate.

The findings of the study would be theoretically significant in

advancing knowledge on the concept and practice of organisational

climate in secondary schools. The findings of the study will enrich the

literature on organisational climate for educational planners and

administrators in Kogi East and the entire state as well as Nigeria in

general. This is achieved when the report is published and disseminated.

Scope of the Study

The scope of this study with regards to the content is on the types

of school climate including open, autonomous, controlled, paternal,

familiar and closed school climates. There are also four types of

leadership behaviour which include aloofness, production emphasis,

thrust and consideration. These are the areas that form the focus of the

present project. The study is geographically delimited in scope to the

secondary schools in Kogi East senatorial zone.

Research Questions

The following research questions were answered in this study:

1. What types of organisational climate exist in Kogi East secondary

schools?

14

2. What factors influence the schools’ organisational climate?

3. What administrative strategies can be used to improve the schools’

organisational climate?

Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of

significance:

1. There is no significant difference between the mean ratings of

principals and teachers with regard to the types of school

organisational climate in Kogi East.


principals and teachers on the factors that influence schools’



principals and teachers on the administrative strategies that can

be used to improve schools’ organisational climate in Kogi

East.

15

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter deals with the review of related literature. Literature is

reviewed under the following subheadings:

1. Conceptual Framework

- Concept of School Organisational Climate

- Types of School Organisational Climate

- Principal’s Leadership Behaviour and School Climate

- Factors Influencing School Organisational Climate

- Managing the School Organisational Climate

2. Theoretical Framework

- The Behavioural Science theories

- Open – Closed Continuum Theory of School Climate

3. Review of Empirical Studies

4. Summary of Review of Related Literature

Conceptual Framework

Concept of School Organisational Climate

The concept of school organisational climate has been variously

defined. According to Eneasator (1997), the concept of organizational

climate emerged from the 1930s and was described as the interaction of a

person and the environment. Therefore, in conceptualizing organizational

climate, it is necessary to think of the person and the organizational

16

environment as complementary parts of the situation. Consequently, the

human behaviour was seen as a function of the whole situation and the

environments. This implies that organizational climate influences the

behaviour of the members of the organization. In relation to the School

organisation, Hoy and Miskel (2001) defined school climate as the set of

internal characteristics that distinguishes one school from another and

influences the behaviour of people. They stated that the school climate is

the end product of the school groups – students, teachers, administrators,

as they work to balance the organisational and individual aspects of a

social system. As such, people experiencing a particular climate share

certain values, social beliefs and social norms.

Furthermore, Owens (2004) defined school climate as the

atmosphere, personality, tone or ethos of the school and credited the

foundational work on the school climate to Halpin and Croft (1963) who

roughly defined school climate as the morale. According to them, school

climate is seen as the personality of the school and gave the analogy that

personality is to the individual what organisational climate is to the

organisation. Therefore, the concept of school organisational climate

describes the environment that distinguishes between the various schools.

Taguiri in Owens (2004) defined school climate as the total

environmental quality within the school organisation which include four

dimensions - ecology (the physical and material components), milieu (the

17

social dimension of people), social system (the patterned relationships in

the organisation); and culture (the belief systems, values, cognitive

structures and meanings).

The current view of school organisational climate given by

Sackney (2007) described school organisational climate as relatively

enduring quality of the internal environment of the school that is

experienced by the members (students, teachers, administrators,

secretaries, consultants and custodians),) influences their behaviour, and

can be described in terms of the values, norms especially concerned with

those institutional patterns and behavioural practices that enhance or

impede students’ achievement. This definition implies that the school

climate is not a temporary situation experienced by the members of the

school but is relatively permanent and it is experienced by all the

stakeholders.

School organisational climate, according to Sackney (2007) consist

of two dimensions – academic and social dimensions. The interactions of

the attributes of these dimensions will result in a positive or negative

school organisational climate, depending on the nature of the interactions.

For instance, the academic climate is the result of how the school uses

rewards and praise, the effectiveness of the teachers and the principal and

the collaborative processes that exist within the school. The social aspect

of the school climate as conceived by Sackney is a result of the

18

appearance, comfort and orderliness of the school facilities, the

opportunities students have for participation in the school programme, the

peer norms that are prevalent and the nature of the administrative staff-

student cohesion and support systems. To this end, Sackney conceived

school organisational climate with the following attributes: an influence

on psychological processes and achievement, alterable, the perceptions

of the participants in the school setting is the basis for change of the

climate, the school climate is established by the principal and school

staff and is capable of change, and school climate can impact on student

achievement, with positive climate impacting positively on the students

academic achievement, and vice versa.

School organisational climate, according to Oyetunji (2006) is the

atmosphere; tone or feeling that prevails in a particular school. It is

brought about by the interaction between the principal and teachers,

among teachers and students. Also, the school as a social system compels

the principal, teachers and students to interrelate at administrative level in

area of planning, decision making, problem solving and control. They

also interact through personnel matters which are part of normal school

routine. This means that the school organisational climate results from the

effects of the interactions of the school members – principal, teachers,

students, administrative staff and other stakeholders.

19

In this present study, school organisational climate is a broad

concept that relates to the way principal, teachers, students and parents

experience and perceive the quality of the school working environment

emanating from their interactions. The nature of the interactions consists

of the academic and social dimensions. Whereas the academic dimension

deals with the schools administrator’s effectiveness in leadership and

administration, the social dimension deals with the nature of the facilities,

the aesthetic appeals and comfort to the members of the school and the

nature of interactions among the school members. The appropriate blend

of these two dimensions can result in positive school organisational

climate capable of effective job performance on the part of the teachers

and good performance of the students.

On the other hand, management of the school organisational

climate could be described as strategies the school administrators employ

to make positive changes in the organisational climate. Such strategies

could include, motivating the teachers and students with a view to

creating a friendly atmosphere for teaching and learning to take place.

Sackney (2007) identified some of the strategies that could enhance

school climate which include opportunities for students’ participation, use

of rewards and praise, high expectation, collegial organisational process

and student-staff cohesion and support, among others.

20

Types of School Organisational Climate

School organisational climate has been classified in several ways

depending on the theoretical framework. For instance, Willower, Eidell

and Hoy (1973) classified school climates into custodial and humanistic

climate. A school with custodial climate would operate from a controlled,

impersonal and order-oriented environment. A humanistic school climate

would operate from an interactive, self-disciplined and open

communicative mode. Hoy and Miskel (2001) wrote that the custodial –

to – humanistic continuum on school climate focus on teacher-student

relationship rather than principal –teacher relationship. It is rightly termed

as pupil-control perspective on school organisational climate. Also, Hoy

and Tarter (1997) classified school climate into healthy and unhealthy

school climate. The healthy school climate is the school that has less

external influence, such as unreasonable parental and community

pressures, while the unhealthy (sick) climate is controlled by external

forces of the parents and the community demands.

Similarly, school climate has been classified according to four

systems developed by Likert (1961). These include System 1 – Exploitive

– Authoritative, System 2 – Benevolent – Authoritative, System 3 –

Consultative and System 4 – Participative. System 1 - exploitive –

authoritative (or punitive-authoritative) depicts a school climate in which

the principal adopts a directive leadership style. System 2 - benevolent-

21

authoritative (or paternalistic-authoritarian) emphasis a one-to-one

relationship between subordinates and leader in the school environment

in which the subordinate is relatively isolated from others in work –

related matters. System 3 - consultative climate is the type of school

climate where the principal employ more of a participative leadership

style in which the leader tends to consult with people individually in the

process of making decisions. System 4 - The participative (or group

interactive) climate shows a school that emphasises team interaction in all

of the critical organisational processes. Hence the school climate types in

this context are arrayed on a continuum from exploitive – authoritative to

participative climates.

Perhaps, the most popular and widely accepted school

organisational climate types, is the one developed by Halpin and Croft

(1963). This climate types are arrayed on a continuum of open – to –

closed and composed of six types of climates. These include, (1) open,

(2) autonomous, (3) controlled, (4) familiar, (5) paternal, and (6) closed.

An open climate is used to describe the openness and authenticity of

interaction that exists among the principal, teachers, students and parents.

Hoy and Sabo (1998) stated that an open climate reflects the principal and

teachers cooperative, supportive and receptive attitudes to each other’s

ideas and their commitment to work. The principal shows genuine

concern for teachers; motivates and encourages the staff members (high

22

supportiveness). The principal gives the staff freedom to carry out their

duties the best way they know (nondirectiveness). The principal does not

allow routine duties to disrupt teachers’ instructional responsibilities (low

hindrance). Also, in a school characterised by open climate, teachers are

portrayed as tolerant, helpful and respectful professionals (low

disengagement). They are caring and willing to assist students when need

be. Teachers work hard so that students succeed (high commitment).

They care, respect and help one another as colleagues and even at

personal level (high collegial relations). As a team they work for the

success of students. Both the principal and teachers are accessible and

approachable as they maintain close relationships with students and

parents (Halpin 1966). Hoy and Tarter (1997) found that high supportive

principal behaviour, low directive principal behaviour, high engaged

teacher behaviour are attributes of an open/healthy organisational climate.

The autonomous school climate portrays an atmosphere where

teachers are given a good measure of freedom to operate in the school.

The principal models enthusiasm and diligence. Both the teachers and

students are happy and there is no external threat or influence. Teachers

have great desire to work and students are highly motivated to learn.

There is close relationship among the principal, teachers, students and

parents (Halpin, 1966). This implies that in this type of climate there is

effective management of organizational climate.

23

In controlled school climate, hard work is the major characteristic.

Although the principal does not model commitment, hard work is over-

emphasised to the extent that little or no time is given to social life.

Nonetheless, teachers are committed to their work and spend considerable

time on paper work. Thus, in most cases, there is little time to interact

with one another. Students are also hard working, but are given little time

for participation in extra curricular activities. The principal often employs

a direct approach, keeps distance from teachers, students and parents in

order to avoid familiarity. Parents are not encouraged to visit school with

their children’s problems as the time on such matters could be used on

something worthwhile (Silver, 1983).

The familiar school climate depicts a laisssez-faire atmosphere.

The principal is concerned about maintaining friendly atmosphere at the

expense of task accomplishment. Thus, a considerable percentage of

teachers are not committed to their primary assignment. Some who are

committed resent the way the principal runs the school; they do not share

same views with the principal and their colleagues. As a result, those who

are not committed, form a clique because they are of the same attitude,

they become friends. Most students do not take their studies seriously and

some of them give flimsy excuses to be out of class or absent from

school. Most parents are not involved in their children’s education, they

are not keen to find out what their children do or do not do in school. In

24

other words a careful supervision is needed for this type of climate to be

effective.

Paternal climate depicts an atmosphere where the principal is very

hardworking, but has no effect on the staff; to them hard work is not a

popular term. There is a degree of closeness between the principal and

teacher, but the principal’s expectation from teachers is rather

impractical. All the same, the principal is considerate and energetic, but

the leadership approach is benevolently autocratic. As a result, most

teachers, students and parents prefer to maintain distance from the

principal often, students cannot express their difficulties or problems with

boldness and parents visit the school only when it is absolutely necessary

(Costley and Todd, 1987). The meeting of Parent Teacher Association

(PTA) is one of such occasions.

On the closed school climate, Hoy and Sabo (1998) asserted that it

represents the ‘antithesis of the open climate’. The main characteristic of

this type of climate as identified by Halpin (1966) is lack of commitment

and or unproductive (high disengagement). There is no commitment,

especially on the part of the principal and teachers. There is no emphasis

on task accomplishment; rather the principal stress routine, trivial and

unnecessary paper work to which teachers minimally respond. The

principal is rigid and controlling (high directiveness). The principal is

inconsiderate, unsupportive and unresponsive (low supportiveness).

25

Consequently, most teachers are frustrated and ineffective. Hoy and Sabo

(1998) add that there is lack of respect for the principal. In addition, the

teachers lack respect for and are intolerant and divided, thus there is

social tension in the school. Hoy and Tarter (1997) found that students in

the closed climate do not achieve high academic standard or have positive

attitude towards school and each other due to lack of example to emulate.

However, it is worthy of note that the six school climates by Halpin

(1966) has no universal applications based on the levels of education,

geographical location and culture. Cheng (1985) found that the climate of

secondary school in Hong Kong corresponds to the open and closed

climate but none of the other climate corresponded with the rest four

climate types. Cheng concluded that the designation and characteristics of

organizational climate may be different based on culture and society.

Also, in relation to the higher levels of education, Bolman and Deal

(2003) identified two organizational climates including balanced and

unbalanced climates. The balanced climate is one in which the staff rated

above average in efficiency and effectiveness, concern for staff welfare,

goal attainment and harmonious work environment. The unbalanced

climate scores below average in the criteria used as in the balanced

climate.

Furthermore, in subsequent studies, the six organizational climates

did not fully apply to the school situation. Andrews (1965) stated that the

26

individual subsets of open and closed continuum were mere predictive of

the school’s climate than the overall climate categories. Thomas (1976)

stated that apart from open-closed climate classifications, the middle

classifications are of questionable validity. To this end, Kottkamp,

Mushern and Hoy (1987) reported a revision of the original

Organisational Climate Description Questionnaire (OCDQ) to make it

valid for measuring the climate of secondary schools. The original OCDQ

was developed for use in the elementary school and the results could not

appropriately apply to the secondary school (Shackney, 2007). This led to

the revision of the OCDQ now to be known as OCDQ-Rs (Shackney,

2007). This present study adapts the school climate types by Halpin

(1966) with the modifications thereof. This is to make it amendable to

measuring the organisational climate of secondary schools.

Factors Influencing School Organisational Climate

A number of factors influence school organizational climate which

range from the school plant, interactions and the leadership behaviour of

the school administrators. Owens and Valesky (2007) stated that climate

is generally defined as the characteristics of the total environment in a

school building and these characteristics are composed of four

dimensions in line with the taxonomy of school climate by Taguiri

(1968). These dimensions which could also influence the quality of

school climate are: ecology, milieu, social system and culture.

27

Ecology refers to the physical and material factors in the

organization, for example, the size, age, design, facilities and conditions

of the building or buildings. It also refers to the technology used by

people in the school; desks and chairs, chalkboards, elevators, everything

used to carry out the school activities. Milieu refers to the social

dimension of the school and has to do with everything relating to the

people such as how many people are there and what are they like in terms

of race and ethnicity, salary level of teachers, socioeconomic level of

students. Others include educational levels of teachers, the morale and

motivation of adult and students and level of job satisfaction of the

people, among other factors.

Social system as a factor that determines the quality of school

climate refers to the organizational and administrative structure of the

school. These include how the school is organized, the communication

patterns among the people (who talks to whom about what), what work

groups there are, among others. Culture as a determinant of climate

quality refers to the value, belief systems, norms, and ways of thinking

that are characteristics of the people in the school. It is ‘the way we do

things around here’. In this case, school culture is distinguished from

school climate as culture refers to the behavioural norms, assumptions,

and beliefs of a school, whereas climate refers to perceptions in the

school that reflect those norms, assumptions and beliefs, (Owens and

28

Valesky, 2007). Owens and Valesky stressed that the culture of a school

exerts powerful influence on the development of the climate as it

influences the way the people in the school perceive events and make

sense of those events. Therefore, culture has influences on the attitudes

and feelings of the people.

The two factors that influence school orgainaitional climate include

academic and social related factors (Sackney, 2007). Academic related

factors include, leadership skills, teachers’ skills, collaborative and use of

rewards and praise. The social related factors include administrative –

staff – student cohesion and support structures, peer norms, opportunities

for students to participate, appearance and comfort. It is asserted that the

academic related factors are concerned with how the school uses rewards

and praise, the effectiveness of the teachers and the principal, and the

collaborative processes that exist within the school. The social related

factors is concerned with the appearance, comfort and orderliness of the

school facility, the opportunities students have for participation in the

school programmes, the peer norms that are prevalent and the nature of

the administrative staff-student cohesion and support system. All these

factors interplay to create a positive school climate.

These claims had been severally confirmed by some studies. For

example, Putter, Manghan, Mortimore, Ouston and Smith (1979) stated

that behaviour and academic tended to be better when the school was

29

clean and in good decorative condition. Putter, et al (1979) also found

that schools which gave students tasks of responsibility were associated

with better pupil behaviour, better attendance, less delinquency and

higher achievement. Murphy, Neil, Hallinger and Mitman (1985) stated

that effective schools maintain a safe and orderly environment for

learning. They also maintained that the most important collegial

organizational processes are open communication, shared decision

making, and confrontation of conflict situation, collaborative planning,

and the building of consensus. These assertions and research findings

underscore the importance of academic and social related factors in

determining the quality of the school organisational climate.

More importantly, Owens and Valesky (2007) stated that the

principal and teachers behaviour contributes immensely to the creation of

a conducive school climate. They maintained that the school

administrator has a lot to do to alter the direction of the climate and also

do the teachers. Sackney (2007) asserted that there cannot be a good

school climate with bad teacher, stressing that the effective teacher can

overcome many obstacles in any school. Therefore, considerable efforts

at creating a positive school climate hinge on the principal and the

teachers behaviours. Halpin and Croft (1963) have identified some of the

important principal’s behaviour. These include thrust, consideration,

aloofness and production emphasis. Thrust depicts the behaviour of a

30

principal that set a hardworking example; consideration is the principal

that treat teachers with dignity and has human concern. A principal with

aloofness behaviour maintains social distance such as warm, cold and

friendly dispositions. The production emphasis behaviour tries to get the

teachers to work harder by supervising closely, being directive and

demanding results.

On the other hand, teachers exhibit certain behaviour such as

intimacy, disengagement, espirit and hindrance (Halpin and Croft, 1963).

A teacher with intimacy behaviour shows some degree of social

cohesiveness among other teachers and disengagement shows the teacher

that are involved and committed to achieving the goals of the school.

Espirit behaviour shows the teachers with apparent morale among the

colleagues. Hindrance describes the situation where the teacher sees

rules, paperwork and other administrative encumbrances as impeding

their work.

According to Halpin and Croft (1966), the exhibition of these

behaviours by the principal and teachers were capable of creating certain

climates – school. For example, the school with a closed climate has the

teacher that tends not to be highly engaged in the work, they do not work

well together and their achievement as a group is minimal. The principal

in such a school is seen by the teachers as ineffective in leading them, as

creating a great deal of hindrance to their work, and was not inclined to

31

be concerned about their personal welfare. The behaviour in the open

climate shows the principal as an easy, authentic integration of the

official rule, shows no aloofness and with minimal hindrance.

The views that have been expressed by authors show that there are

various factors influencing school organisational climate. These range

from the physical appearance of the school building, the landscaping and

the facilities. Others include the culture and the social cohesiveness in the

school and that of the teacher and principal’s behaviours.

Principal’s Leadership Behaviour and School Organisational

Climate

Principal’s leadership behaviour is an important factor that

influences school organisational climate. According to Okumbe (1998)

leadership behaviour refers to a particular leadership style that a leader

adopts to motivate the subordinates to achieve the objectives of the

organisation. Oyedeji and Fasasi (2006) wrote that the principal is

regarded as the chief executive of the school, who is responsible for all

that happens in the school. As the chief executive, the principal assigns

duties to those who could perform the duties, though all responsibilities

still reside in the principal as the accounting officer. Babayemi (2006)

views principalship as involving the control of human and material

resources of the school. The position of the principal in the school is so

germane to the extent that the school cannot exist without that position.

32

To this end, the principal is seen as the supervisor, manager, school

climate developer, and change facilitator. It is the important role that

principal performs in school and the behaviour exhibited in the leadership

roles that endeared the principal to be a veritable source of school climate

building. Kelley and Williamson (2006) stated that the leadership

behaviour of the principal affects the school climate and the academic

achievement of the students.

According to Halpin and Croft (1963), the leadership behaviour of

the principal and the teachers’ interactions has a greater influence on the

climate of the school. They identified the leadership behaviour of the

principal include the following: aloofness, production emphasis, thrust,

and consideration. Aloofness is the principal’s leadership behaviour that

refers to the extent to which some of the principal keep social distance

from the staff, give excessive rules and regulations. Some principals are

seen as unfriendly, they do not show human feelings as they relate to the

staff. Silver (1983) stated that this distance is both psychological and

physical; it is psychological because these principals avoid informal

discussions, they do not joke with staff and the staff are aware of the

manners of the principal’s expectations. This is also physical in the sense

that the principal may choose to be reserved or to be open and interact

freely with the staff, they may use their position to assist the staff to

achieve the school goals and they may either choose to use their voice,

33

mannerism and behaviour to show their superiority. Both the

psychological and physical distances have influence on the school

climate.

The principal with production emphasis shows authoritarian and

controlling behaviour that makes such principal rigid. Therefore, the

principal supervises the staff closely, the principal believes strongly that

people work best under tension and pressure. The principal also believes

that when all attention is directed to work, it minimises personal clashes

that sometimes occur among the staff. The principal believes that the

social and psychological needs of teachers are met when they are

dedicated and committed to their work. This type of leadership behaviour

influences how the staff will discharge the responsibilities and it will

ultimately affect the school climate.

Furthermore, the principal with thrust as leadership behaviour,

according to Oyetunji (2006) characterises the principal that is

hardworking, the staff are both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated,

the staff work hard and enjoy their work. The principal with this

behaviour influences the school climate positively, all activities are

focussed and directed to achieving the school goals, both teachers and

students enjoy teaching and learning. Consideration as a leadership

behaviour has to do with the principal that relates and respond to staff and

their needs, having personal interest in things that concern the staff,

34

students and parents if it means sacrificing some time to do this, the

principal shows sympathy when the need arises and celebrates teachers,

students and parents’ achievements. Azzara (2006) asserted that showing

concern for teachers, parents and students is the heart of school leadership

and is capable of influencing the climate positively. The four leadership

behaviours have varying degrees of influences on the school climate; the

principal with aloofness affects the climate negatively as those with

production emphasis, while the principal with thrust and consideration

leadership behaviours affect the school climate positively.

The earlier scholar simply categorised leadership behaviour into

initiating structure and consideration (Halpin, 1959). Initiating structure

refers to the behaviour in delineating the relationship between the leader

and the members of the group, and in endeavouring to establish well-

defined patterns of organisation, channels of communication and methods

of procedure. Consideration is behaviour indicative of friendship, mutual

trust, respect and warmth in the relationship between the leader and the

members of the group. Other leadership behaviour relate to whether the

principal is concerned with empowering the teachers, supporting the

students and is concerned with professional interests of the teachers and

the students and adequate provision of school resources. To this end,

Jerffrey, Dorma, Barry, Fraser, Carmis and McRobber (1997) identified

the following leadership behaviours in secondary school; empowerment,

35

student support, affiliation, professional interest, mission consensus,

resource adequacy and work pressure.

The Bolman and Deal’s leadership frame is very relevant as

leadership behaviour influencing school organisational climate. Bolman

and Deal (2003) found the following leadership style: structural (the

assembly plant), human resource (the clan), political (the coliseum), and

symbolic (the shrine). The structure frame of leadership emphasises

efficiency and effectiveness and the leader with this behaviour makes

rational decision over the personal and strive to achieve organisational

goal and objectives through coordination and control. The human

resource leadership style is concerned with the individuals and the leader

values camaraderie and harmony within the work environment and strives

to achieve organisational goals through meaningful and satisfying work.

The political emphasises competition and the leader with this behaviour

values practicality and authenticity, and strive to achieve organisational

goals through negotiation and compromises. The symbolic leader’s is

interested in meanings and values the subjective and organisational goals

are achieved through interpretative rituals and ceremonies.

From the foregoing, the principal’s leadership behaviour as

identified by Halpin and Croft (1963) remain very authentic as the

subsequent classifications are merely emphasising on some aspects of the

behaviour and giving them unique names for originality. Therefore, the

36

leadership behaviours of principals range from an unfriendly disposition

to friendly disposition or from production emphasis to human emphasis.

Consequently the open –closed continuum identified by Halpin and Croft

(1963) characterise the school climates.

Managing the School Organisational Climate

Managing the organisational climate of the school hinges much on

the leadership prowess of the principal through the adoption of

appropriate management principles and practices. Bowers (1976), citing

Likert (1961) identified four managerial approaches for managing the

organisational climate. These are System 1- exploitive-authoritative (or

punitive-authoritarian), System 2 – benevolent-authoritative (or

paternalistic-authoritarian), System 3- consultative and System 4- the

participative (or group interactive).

In explaining these organisational climate management approaches,

Owens and Valesky (2007) stated that System 1 – exploitive-

authoritarian is the management approach based on classical management

concepts, a Theory X view of motivation, and directive leadership style.

System 2 – benevolent – authoritarian (or paternalistic – authoritarian, is

the management of organisational climate that emphasis a one-to-one

relationship between subordinate and leader in an environment in which

the subordinate is relatively isolated from others in work related matters.

System 3 – consultative employs more of a participative leadership style

37

in which the leader tends to consult with the people individually in the

process of making decisions. System 4 – the participative (or group

interactive) model of an organisational climate management uses Theory

Y concept of human functioning and also emphasises team interaction in

all of the critical organisational process. The four systems of

organisational climate management approaches underscore the role of the

principal in adopting management principles that relate to either people

orientation or production orientation as identified by Halpin and Croft

(1963).

In the school setting, people are the vital component and the

principal ought to give attention to this category of the organisation.

Azzara (2001) stated that the principal needs to be people oriented,

stressing that the principal needs to remember that teachers, students and

parents are human and as such they have strengths and weaknesses. It is

therefore, the principal’s responsibility to create situations where the

strength of people will be tapped for facilitating the achievement of

school goals. Benton (1995) believes that the principal needs to recognise

human dignity. This implies that teachers should not be perceived as

slaves, but as colleagues in order to create the needed harmony. Benton

believes further that the principal as well as teachers need to balance

individuals concerns in their private lives with demands of their jobs as

the nature of their work require both personal and professional

38

management. The principal in managing the school climate needs to

model and facilitate good relationship among the school community by

recognising the inherent worth of human beings irrespective of status or

positions in the school hierarchy.

The findings of Harris and Lowery (2002) indicate that the

principal who respects and treats every member of the school community

fairly and equally encourages and emphasises behaviour that create

positive school climate. In addition, Heller (2002) affirmed that showing

compassion to staff makes them more willing to put in extra hours when

need be. Heller believes in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs that people

function at high levels when their basic needs are met, stressing that

personal relationships enhance loyalty and mutual support. Thus when

people are treated as human beings as opposed to machines, their

potentials are discovered and utilised to the advantage of the school,

hence the school climate can be effectively managed.

Furthermore, Freiberg and Stein (1999) compared sustaining

school climate to tendering a garden that requires continuous effort to

retain its beauty. Continuous effort implies the involvement of

motivation, evaluation and feedback and staff development. Benton

(1995) stated that the need for security, sense of belonging and

recognition go a long way in determining a worker’s attitudes and level of

performance. Benton opined that the leader that recognises the individual

39

needs, is most of the time satisfied using recognition and support than

with money. This underscores the need for the principal to make use of

praise to motivate staff. Fulton and Maddock (1998) stated that the

principal has great opportunity to use his emotion in a constructive way to

energise teachers, students and parents and maximise motivation, getting

them to be personally engaged in school activities in pursuit of school

goals. Therefore, as a motivator, the principal needs to consistently

acknowledge and praise the performance of teachers, students and

parents. This motivates them towards greater participation and

performance with overall effect on the positive school climate. In

addition, Steffy (1989) pointed out that the purpose of evaluating the

teachers should be to provide them with feedback on their performance

and should not be seen as an end, but rather as a means to an end. This

should be done consistently in order to maintain a positive climate in the

school. Hill (1997) wrote that when evaluation is used well, it builds

confidence and competence in the teachers and they will value it and

performance enhanced. This is capable of enhancing the school

organisational climate.

Another management practice that can ensure effective school

climate is the staff development. Harris (2002) stated that staff

development is critical to student progress and therefore school

improvement, stressing that research findings show that successful

40

schools encourage and facilitate the learning of both teachers and

students. The quality of staff development and learning is pivotal to

maintaining and enhancing the quality of teaching and learning. The staff

development is effective if the teachers are involved in the process

themselves, therefore, Speck and Knipe (2004) maintained that

professional development plan should not be prescribed for teachers

rather, teachers should have input in their professional development

plans. Dufour and Eaker (1998) stated that the purpose of staff

development is to help teachers as individuals and as a team to become

more effective in helping the students achieve the intended results of their

education. In essence, staff development benefits both teachers and the

school because the teachers learn for themselves and this makes them

more effective teachers in class; that is, the passion to learn will spill over

to their students and the students’ enthusiasm will increase. Therefore,

staff development is imperative for the school in order to keep abreast

with the demands of teaching and learning in a rapidly changing world.

Uben (2001) believes that it is the responsibility of the principal to set

conditions that will enable teachers reach their full potentials stressing

that the principal has the responsibility to initiate and support staff

development in schools.

Another way of creating a positive school organisational climate is

by fostering teamwork. George (2003) defined a team as a group of

41

people with complementary skills, who work actively together to achieve

a common purpose for which they hold themselves collectively

accountable. Teamwork occurs when teachers work together for the same

purpose as their skills are well utilised to achieve a common goal.

According to Cohen (2003) when teachers work as a team, they serve

their customers better. In effect, when teachers share ideas with

experiences with regards to teaching, learning and discipline, they are

likely to be more effective and efficient in the classroom. Dufour (2004)

stated that when teachers work collaboratively, it increases internal

motivation, general job satisfaction, work efficiency and professional

commitment. Also, working in team spirit and as a team member

increases teachers’ competence in their job and it boosts the relationship

among teachers. Thus, to a reasonable extent, working as a team enhances

positive school climate. It is assumed that teachers are better able to work

together as a group if they share common goals and if the school setting

encourages it.

From the review of management strategies on managing the school

organisational climate, it is clear that the principal has a number of

strategies to adopt, including the use of motivation, rewards and praise,

professional development of the staff. The principal could create positive

climate by creating friendly and aesthetic physical environment, cordial

42

and collegial relationship and participative decision making approach of

the stakeholders, among others.

Theoretical Framework

There are certain theories that explain how school climate could be

effectively managed which form the basis for this present study. Two of

these theories are identified and used as basis for the present study. They

are Behavioural Science Theories and Open-Closed Continuum School

Climate Theory.

The Behavioural Science Theories

The Behavioural Science Theories were propounded by some

Behavioural Scientist such as Max Weber (1910), Chester Bernard

(1938), Herbert Simon (1947), Abraham Maslow (1954), MacGregor

(I957) and Halpin (1958). These proponents used the behavioural

sciences to explain various motivational strategies that can ensure

productivity in the work environment. For instance, MacGregor theory of

motivation referred to as Theory X and Y is an important theory in the

Behavioural Science Theories. Theory X as propounded by Douglas

McGregor (Owens and Valesky, 2007) rests on four assumptions that the

administrator may hold:

1. the average person inherently dislikes work and will avoid it

whenever possible

43

2. because people dislike work, they must be supervised closely,

directed, coerced, or threatened with punishment in order for

them to put forth adequate effort toward the achievement of

organisational objectives

3. the average worker will shirk responsibility and seek formal

directives from those in charge

4. most workers value job security above other job-related factors

and have little ambition.

On the other hand, Theory Y is based on the assumptions about the

nature of people at work:

1. if it is satisfying to them, employees will view work as natural and

as acceptable as play

2. people at work will exercise initiative, self-direction, and self-

control on the job if they are committed to the objectives of the

organisation

3. the average person, under proper conditions, learns not only to

accept responsibility on the job but also to seek it

4. the average employee values creativity that is, the ability to make

good decisions – and seeks opportunities to be creative at work.

The adoption of Theory X and Y by the school principal in

managing the organisational climate may not be uniform in all the

schools and no one result could be expected. The principal that believes

44

in Theory X would exercise a lot of control on the staff and students in

order to create the needed school climate and those principals that believe

in Theory Y would provide the enabling environment and engender the

participation of the staff and students to create the desired school climate.

However, on the question of which management approaches and

principles produce the effective school climate is not yet fully determined

and research in this area is on going. For instance, Hormer and Sugai

(2002) believed that when all staff members within all school settings

actively teach and consistently recognise and reinforce appropriate

behaviours, the school climate would improve.

In summary, Enyi in Mgbodile(2004) wrote that the major tenets of

these theories include:

1. The best approach to facilitate work and productivity in an

organisation is through an understanding of the worker, his

job content and the work environment.

2. It is not adequate to concentrate either on the work alone as

in the Classical Management Theory or on the Worker, as

in the Human Relations Theory.

3. Integration of the two was considered more helpful in the

realisation of organisational and personal goals.

4. Administrators draw their knowledge and experiences from

the various subjects in the social sciences, incorporating

45

such areas as psychology, philosophy, economics,

anthropology, and sociology for better understanding of the

job performance of the workers.

From these beliefs, the management of any organisation that adopt

the Behavioural Science Theories would give attention to both the work

environment and the worker’s motivation toward effective and efficient

productivity. Consequently, the school administrators are expected to

give emphasis to staff and student welfare in addition to the provision of

conducive environment to achieve academic performance. Therefore, in

relation to the present study, the administrative strategies that would

ensure the conducive school climate should be anchored on the tenets of

the behavioural science theories.

Open – Closed Continuum School Climate Theory

The second theory that is relevant to the present study is Open-

Closed Continuum School Climate by Halpin and Croft (1963). The

Open-Closed Continuum as propounded by Halpin and Croft (1963) and

Kottkamp, Mucher and Hoy (1987) conceptualised school climate as

‘personality’ and it is described along open-to-closed continuum.

Kottkamp, Mucher and Hoy (1987) modified the early study by Halpin

and Croft (1963) for measuring the school climate of the secondary

school as the early study was based on elementary school. The major

beliefs of the theory include:

46

1. School climate is like an individual personality that can vary

from individual to individual. Thus school climate are not the

same for all the schools.

2. There are six types of school climate including open,

autonomous, controlled, familiar, paternal and closed climates.

The two polar are open and closed climates with open more

desirable to achieve academic performance.

3. There are four dimensions of the principal behaviours that could

influence the type of school climate including aloofness,

production emphasis, thrust and consideration. Administrators

with consideration leadership behaviour tend to create

conducive school climate than those of the rest three

behaviours.

The present study would identify the types of school climate and

the principal leadership behaviour that influence the climate in Kogi East

which can influence the administration of the school climate. The basis

for this identification is on the Open-Closed school climate continuum

bearing in mind the major tenets of the theory outlined.

Review of Empirical Studies

A number of related empirical studies have been carried out and

available for review. Nongnuang (1988) conducted a study on

organisational climate of secondary schools of East zone in Thailand. The

47

main purpose of the study was to classify the climates of secondary

schools in the east Thailand and to investigate the leadership behaviour of

school administrator in East Thailand. The design of the study was a

survey design. The Organisational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire

(Halpin and Croft, 1963) and the Leadership Behaviour Descriptive

Questionnaire developed by Halpin and Winer (1966) were used for data

collection. Data was collected from 406 teachers and 29 administrators

from 29 secondary schools randomly selected. Percentage and Analysis

of Variance (ANOVA) were used to analyse the data. The major findings

were (1) 44.83 per cent of the secondary schools had an open climate,

while 55.17 per cent had closed climate and (2) the principals of all 29

schools had leadership behaviour patterns varying from high initiative

structure and high consideration to low initiative structure and low

consideration.

The study by Nonguang and the present study are related in the

areas of identifying the organisational climate of secondary schools.

However, the study was carried out in abroad and also did not cover the

areas of how the climate could be managed effectively. The present study

was carried out in different location (in Kogi East, in Nigeria).

Furthermore, Cheng (1985) conducted a study on the

organisational climate in Hong Kong Aided Secondary Schools. The

major purpose of the study was to identify the types of organisational

48

climate and the relationship between leadership behaviour and the school

climate. The design of the study was a descriptive survey design. The

Organisational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire and the Leader

Behaviour Descriptive Questionnaire (Halpin, 1966) was used to generate

data from 627 teachers. Data collected was analysed by T’test and

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The major findings were (1) the

organisational climate identified did not follow the open-to-closed

continuum types as identified by Halpin and Croft (1963). It was also

found that there were significant effects of initiating structure leadership

style on the school. Positive relationship was established between

leadership style and the types of organisational climate. It was concluded

that school organisational climate vary from culture to culture and that

Theory X is unfavourable to use as a basis for managing a school.

The study by Cheng is similar to the present study in the areas of

types of school climate and influence of leadership behaviour on the

school climate. It however did not extensively deal with the management

of the school climate which form a focus of the present study. The study

was carried out in a different location (China) from the present study

which was carried out in Kogi East of Nigeria.

Furthermore, Alike (1995) conducted a study on the influence of

school organisational climate on teachers’ attitude to work in Awka

Education Zone of Anambra State. The major purpose of the study was to

49

identify the types of organisational climate prevalent in schools in Awka

Education Zone of Anambra State and to determine whether it influenced

teachers’ attitudes to work. The study adopted survey design. The

population for the study consisted of sixty secondary schools in Awka

Education Zone and the subjects for the study consisted of two thousand,

one hundred and thirty teachers (2,130) from twenty randomly selected

schools in the zone were involved in the study. Descriptive statistics

(mean and standard deviations), T’test and ANOVA were statistical tools

employed for the data analysis. It was revealed that the organisational

climate of most of the schools were relatively closed and scores obtained

revealed a controlled structure, The analysis of the data also showed that

teachers’ sex, qualification and years of teaching experience did not

influence the attitude to work. Also it was revealed that teachers in

schools with open climate showed positive attitude to work while those

with closed organisational climate showed negative attitude to work. The

study relate to this present study in the area of types of organisational

climate in the schools, it focus on teacher’s attitude to work. However, in

addition, the present study focuses on the strategies for effective

management of organisational climate and focus on the influence of

leadership behaviour on the management of school climate. The location

was in Kogi East which is different from Awka.

50

Another study carried out was by Shegede (1996) on the impact of

leadership behaviour of principals on organisational climate of secondary

schools in Ondo State of Nigeria. The major purpose of the study was to

investigate and identify the leadership styles prevalent in the schools.

Survey design was used for the study. Questionnaire was administered on

500 secondary school teachers in fifty secondary schools. The study made

use of mean, standard deviations and t’test to analyse the data generated.

It was found that the organisational climate of most schools was

relatively closed. The study revealed a positive relationship between

leadership styles and the type of organisational climate. The study by

Shegede and the present study are related in the areas of identifying the

school climate types and the influence of leadership behaviour. However,

the present study covered a wider scope including the management of the

school climate and was carried out in Kogi East, a location quite different

from Ondo state.

A study was conducted by Onwuachi (1997) on school climate and

teachers job satisfaction in Enugu Education Zone of Enugu State. The

major purpose of the study was to find out to what extent the school

climate affected the satisfaction of teachers in their job. Survey design

was employed for the study. A population of 225 teachers randomly

selected from a total population of 3,684 secondary school teachers in

Enugu Education Zone. The statistical tools used for the study were

51

mean, standard deviations and t’test. The study revealed that the teachers

were satisfied with the administrative leadership style of the principals of

secondary schools in Enugu Education Zone which is related to the

present study. However, teachers were not satisfied with the insufficient

availability of infrastructural facilities in the schools. The study focussed

mainly on the effect of school climate on teachers’ job satisfaction. The

present study is broader in scope including the strategies for managing

organisational climate of schools, factors that influence school

organisational climate in addition to identifying the climate types and was

carried out in Kogi East.

Summary of Review of Related Literature

The concept of organisational climate is broad including the total

environment of the school ranging from the physical, social and

psychological environments. The school organisational climate is a

relatively enduring quality of the internal environment of the school that

is experienced by the members and stakeholders, influences the

behaviours of the members and can be described in terms of the values,

and norms which can enhance or impede the performance of the school.

The types of school organisational climate are on the continuum of open-

to-closed climate.

Authors consulted identified factors that influence organisational

climate to include: the nature of the environment, teachers’ and the

52

principal’s leadership behaviours. These behaviours include low initiating

structure, high initiating structure, thrust, aloofness, production emphasis

and consideration.

On the management of school climate, authors identified the

adoption of Theory X and Y and other motivational strategies. Staff

development and the promotion of team spirit are equally effective

strategies for managing the organisational climate of the school.

From the empirical studies, various authors dealt in part on the

identification of the school organisational climates and the influence of

leadership behaviours. However, none of the studies dealt extensively on

areas of factors that influence school organisational climate and the

strategies for improving the school organisational climate. None of the

studies was carried out in Kogi East. The lack of factors influencing

school organisational climate and strategies for improving school

organisational climate in Kogi East in the previous studies are the gaps

that will be filled in the present study.

53

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODS

This chapter describes the procedures for carrying out the study. It

will be discussed under the following headings: design of the study, area

of the study, population for the study, sample and sampling technique,

instrument for data collection, validation of the instrument, reliability of

the instrument, method of data collection and method of data analysis.

Design of the Study

The design of the study was a descriptive survey design. According

to Nworgu (2006), descriptive survey design is employed in a study to

collect data based on the opinions of the representative sample of the

population or sometimes from the entire population. Therefore

descriptive survey design is appropriate for this study as opinions of the

subjects would be sought.

Area of the Study

The study was carried out in the Eastern senatorial zone of Kogi

state (Kogi East). The zone covers 9 local government areas of the state

including, Ankpa, Bassa, Dekina, Idah, Ibaji, Igalamela/Odolu, Ofu,

Omala and Olamaboro. The choice of this zone is motivated by its size;

being the most populous in the state with more secondary schools than

the other two zones of the state.

54

Population for the Study

The population for the study was 2231 teaching staff comprising

142 principals and 2089 teachers drawn from 142 secondary schools in

Kogi East (see appendix A for the list of Secondary schools in Kogi

East). These are managed by the State Teaching Service Commission

(TSC) and Science, Technology and Technical Education Board

(STTEB). This information was obtained as at July 2008, from the two

bodies.

Sample and Sampling Technique

The sample for the study was 503 teaching staff comprising 85

principals and 418 teachers drawn from 142 secondary schools in Kogi

East using multi-stage sampling technique. The sample size was

determined by adapting the recommendations of Nwana in Nwagu (2005)

that sample sizes for specific population could be at least 40% for a

population of few hundreds, 20% for many hundreds, 10% for few

thousands and at most 5% for several thousands. Therefore, sample sizes

of 60% and 20% for the principals and teachers respectively are

considered appropriate for this study. Using random sampling technique

by balloting system, 60% of the principals (142) were selected on

proportionate basis from the schools in each of the nine Local

Government Areas (LGAs), while 20% of the teachers (2089) from the

schools will be taken. To ensure that the sample will be true

55

representation of the population, the procedure for selection of the sample

would be done by stratifying the population into LGAs, and the

designation of the subjects – principal and teachers. The sample sizes

from the computations were 85 and 418 for the principals and teachers

respectively. Therefore, the total sample for the study was 503 (see

appendix B).

Instrument for Data Collection

The instrument has two sections (A and B). Section A deals with

demographic information and section B is a structured questionnaire

comprising three sections (1-3) with 37 items. Section one will elicit

information on the types of school organisational climate; section 2 will

elicit information about the factors that influence school organisational

climate and section 3 elicits information on the principal’s management

strategies for improving school organisational climate. A four-point

rating scale of ‘Strongly Agree’, ‘Agree’, ‘Disagree’ and ‘Strongly

Disagree’ with assigned values of 4, 3, 2, and 1 respectively is used (see

appendix C and D).

Validation of Instrument

The instrument for the study was face-validated by three experts

from the Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education,

University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Two experts from Educational

56

Administration and Planning and one from Educational Measurement and

Evaluation were used.

Reliability of the Instrument

Cronbach Alpha reliability technique was used to determine the

internal consistency of the instrument (sections 1 - 3). The reliability of

the instrument was determined using data collected from a trial test of the

instrument administered on 10 and 15 principals and teachers respectively

drawn from Kogi Central to ensure that a different but similar sample as

the population was used. The entire clusters together yielded a coefficient

of internal stability of 0.85. The coefficient for each section includes:

Section 1 (0.55), Section 2 (0.84) and Section 3 (0.70) (see appendix E).

These measures are considered high enough for the instrument to be

reliable to elicit data for the study.

Method of Data Collection

The questionnaire was administered personally and with the help of

five trained research assistants. The administration of the questionnaire

on the sample was by personal visit and with reasonable time given for

completion and immediate retrieval. On the whole, 476 copies of

questionnaire were duly completed and found usable for data analysis.

This rate of questionnaire returned 95% (see appendix F).

57

Method of Data Analysis

Research questions 1-3 were answered using mean and standard

deviations. Hypotheses 1-3 were tested by the use of t-test. Numerical

values of 4, 3, 2 and 1 were assigned to the scale of strongly agree, agree,

disagree and strongly disagree respectively. The three null hypotheses

were tested using t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The criterion mean is

2.50 for the research questions.

58

CHAPTER IV

PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

This chapter deals with the presentation and analysis of data

generated for the study. The data were presented to answer the research

questions and the testing of the hypotheses formulated for the study as

follows:

Research Question 1

What types of organisational climate exist in Kogi East secondary

schools?

59

Table 1

Mean and Standard Deviation of the Respondents’ Responses on the

Types of School Organisational Climate in Kogi East Secondary Schools

S/No Items Mean SD Grand

Mean

Decision

1 Open Climate

The principal motivates and encourages the

staff members

3.54

0.53 3.46 A Climate

2 The principal gives the staff freedom to

carry out their duties the best way they

know

3.38

0.64

3 Autonomous Climate The principal sets example by working

hard

3.42

0.74 3.35 A Climate

4 The principal encourages interpersonal

relationships among teachers, students and

parents

3.27

0.74

5 Controlled Climate The principal emphasis hard work and no

time is given for social life

2.76

0.87 2.76 A Climate

6 The principal supervises the teachers very

strictly 3.26

0.64

7 Parents are not encouraged to visit school

with their children’s problems 2.27

0.91

8 Familiar Climate The principal emphasis social relationship

and gives little time for the official tasks

1.83

0.82 2.09 Not a

Climate

9 Informal groupings are rampart with some

resenting to the way the principal runs the

school

2.12

0.92

10 Most students do not take their studies very

seriously 2.31

0.99

11 Paternal Climate The principal is very hard working and

does almost all the works alone

2.17

1.04 2.02 Not a

Climate

12 The principal maintains only official

relationship with the teachers and students 2.05

0.74

13 Teachers are not committed to hard work 1.83

0.84

14 Closed Climate The principal does not give freedom to the

teachers to operate in the school

1.92

0.75 1.81 Not a

Climate

15 Teachers are intolerant and unsupportive to

themselves and students 1.72

0.73

16 There is no friendly social relationship

among the principal, teachers, students and

parents

1.80 0.81

N = 476

60

Table 1 revealed that open climate recorded a high grand mean of

3.46, autonomous climate had grand mean of 3.35 and controlled climate

was 2.76. With these grand means, the criterion mean of 2.50 has been

exceeded which indicated that in Kogi East secondary schools, open,

autonomous and controlled school organisations climates existed. On the

other hand, familiar climate recorded the grand mean of 2.09, paternal

climate had 2.02 and controlled climate had 1.81. These grand means are

less that the criterion mean of 2.50, which showed that familiar, paternal

and controlled school organisational climates did not exist in Kogi East

secondary schools.

Research Question 2

What factors influence the schools’ organisational climate?

61

Table 2


Factors that influence School Organisational Climate in Kogi East

Secondary Schools

S/No

.

Statements Mean SD Decision

1 Clean school physical environment

contributes positively to school climate 3.63

0.56 A Factor

2 Good aesthetic school environment enhances

school climate 3.28

0.62 A Factor

3 Cooperation among staff members enhances

school climate 3.33

0.80 A Factor

4 Parents’ supportive behaviour promotes

positive school climate 3.53

0.59 A Factor

5 Students’ disciplined behaviour enhances

school climate 3.41

0.62 A Factor

6 Principal’s administrative competence

influence positively the school climate 3.39

0.65 A Factor

7 Teachers’ teaching competence enhances

school climate 3.40

0.70 A Factor

8 Effective monitoring by the governing

bodies promotes good school climate 3.40

0.69 A Factor

9 Magnificent school building enhances school

climate 3.02

0.82 A Factor

10

Aloofness

The principal’s leadership behaviour that

maintains social distance from staff and

strict adherence boost conducive school

climate for teaching and learning

2.12

0.84 Not a

Factor

11

Production Emphasis


directs all efforts to work and little to the

staff welfare enhance improved school

climate

2.22

1.00 Not a

Factor

12

Thrust

The leadership behaviour in which the

principal gives example and motivates

teachers to be committed to hard work

enhances school climate

3.47

0.64 A Factor

13

Consideration

The behaviour in which the principal

maintains a positive social relationship with

the teachers leads to improved school

climate

3.39

0.65 A Factor

N = 476

62

Table 2 showed that out of 13 identified factors; only two were not

factors that could influence school organisational climate in Kogi East

secondary schools. The factors that influence school organisational

climate include: clean school environment with a high mean of 3.63,

good aesthetic school environment with a mean of 3.28, cooperation

among staff members recording a mean of 3.33, parents’ supportive

behaviour with a mean of 3.53 and students’ disciplined behaviour with

the mean of 3.41. Other factors, included, principal’s administrative

competence with a mean of 3.39, teachers’ teaching competence with a

mean of 3.40, effective monitoring by governing bodies with a mean of

3.40 and magnificent school building scoring a mean of 3.02. The

remaining factors were principal’s thrust leadership behaviour recording a

mean of 3.47 and principal’s consideration leadership behaviour with a

mean of 3.39. The two factors that did not influence school organisational

climate were principal’s aloofness leadership behaviour recording a mean

of 2.12 and principal’s production emphasis behaviour scoring a mean of

2.22.

Research Question 3

What administrative strategies can be used to improve the schools’

organisational climate?

63

Table 3


Administrative strategies that influence School Organisational Climate in

Kogi East Secondary Schools

N = 476

Table 3 showed that all the 8 identified strategies were found to be

administrative strategies the principal could use to improve school

organisational climate, having scored more than the criterion mean of

2.50. These administrative strategies included staff development (3.56),

S/No Items Mean SD Decision

1 Principal encourages staff

development

3.56

1.36 A Strategy

2 He involves students in decision

making process

2.95

0.72 A Strategy

3 Principal promotes staff welfare 3.38

0.65 A Strategy

4

The effort by the principal to foster

team spirit among the staff

members could lead to enhanced

school organisational climate

3.45

0.63 A Strategy

5

Provision of appropriate and

adequate teaching and learning

facilities leads to effective

management of school climate

3.45

0.68 A Strategy

6

Effective implementation of staff

promotion scheme leads to

conductive school climate

3.40

0.69 A Strategy

7

Effective use of rewards and

recognition by the principal

enhances the school climate

3.46

0.67 A Strategy

8

The principal uses stringent

measures to control staff and

students which leads to effective

school climate

2.56 1.04 A Strategy

64

students’ involvement in decision making (2.95), promotion of staff

welfare (3.38) and fostering of team spirit (3.45). Other strategies

included provision of appropriate and adequate teaching and learning

facilities (3.45), effective implementation of staff promotion scheme

(3.40), effective use of rewards and recognition (3.46) and stringent

control measures on staff and students (2.56).

Hypothesis 1

There is no significant difference between the mean ratings of

principals and teachers with regard to the types of school organisational

climate in Kogi East.

Table 4

Summary of t-test on the Mean Responses of the Principals and Teachers

on the Types of School Climate in Secondary Schools in Kogi East

Response

Categories on

the types of

school climate

Categories of Respondents

df t tab t cal Decision Principals Teachers

N Mean SD N Mean SD

Open Climate 80 7.15 0.66 396 6.30 1.04 474 ±1.96 7.00 Reject

Autonomous

Climate

80 7.45 0.81 396 6.18 1.17 474 ±1.96 9.27 Reject

Controlled

Climate

80 7.40 1.57 396 8.88 1.74 474 ±1.96 -7.03 Not

Rejected

Familiar

Climate

80 6.10 1.71 396 7.95 2.29 474 ±1.96 -6.85 Not

Rejected

Paternal

Climate

80 5.20 1.44 396 7.58 2.36 474 ±1.96 -8.66 Not

Rejected

Closed

Climate

80 4.00 1.33 396 5.66 1.70 474 ±1.96 -6.25 Not

Rejected

65

N = Number of Respondents

SD = Standard Deviation

Df = Degree of Freedom

T tab = Table t Value at 0.05 level of significance

T cal = Calculated t value

Table 4 showed that there were significant differences in the

opinions of principals and teachers on the two out of the six school

organisational climates. These included open climate with t cal of 7.00

and autonomous which recorded a t’ cal of 9.27. The remaining four

school climates showed no significant differences in the mean ratings of

the principal and teachers. These school climates were controlled climate

which recorded a t cal of -7.03, familiar climate scoring a t cal of -6.85,

paternal climate with t cal of -8.06 and closed climate with t cal of -6.25.

Hypothesis 2


principals and teachers on the factors that influence schools’


66

Table 5

t-test of the Mean Responses of the Principals and Teachers on the

Factors that Influence School Organisational Climate in Secondary

Schools in Kogi East

S/No. Statements Categories of Respondents

tcal Decision

Principals

(N = 80)

Teachers

(N = 396)

Mean SD Mean SD

1 Clean school physical environment

contributes positively to school climate

3.70 0.46 3.62 0.58 1.21 Not

Rejected

2 Good aesthetic school environment enhances

school climate

3.45 0.59 3.24 0.62 2.74 Reject

3 Cooperation among staff members enhances

school climate

3.70 0.56 3.25 0.82 4.66 Reject

4 Parents’ supportive behaviour promotes

positive school climate

3.90 0.49 3.49 0.61 2.65 Reject

5 Students’ disciplined behaviour enhances

school climate

3.90 0.30 3.31 0.63 8.13 Reject

6 Principal’s administrative competence

influence positively the school climate

3.65 0.48 3.33 0.67 4.04 Reject

7 Teachers’ teaching competence enhances

school climate

3.65 0.48 3.34 0.72 3.61 Reject

8 Effective monitoring by the governing bodies

promotes good school climate

3.60 0.59 3.35 0.71 2.94 Reject

9 Magnificent school building enhances school

climate

2.95 0.87 3.03 0.81 -0.80 Reject

10

Aloofness


maintains social distance from staff and strict

adherence boost conducive school climate for

teaching and learning

1.85 0.80 2.17 0.84 -3.14 Not

Rejected

11

Production Emphasis


directs all efforts to work and little to the staff

welfare enhance improved school climate

1.75 0.89 2.31 0.99 -4.70 Not

Rejected

12

Thrust

The leadership behaviour in which the

principal gives example and motivates

teachers to be committed to hard work


3.70 0.46 3.42 0.67 3.52 Reject

13

Consideration

The behaviour in which the principal

maintains a positive social relationship with

the teachers leads to improved school climate

3.55 0.50 3.35 0.67 2.48 Reject

SD = Standard Deviation, T-cal = calculated value of t.

67

Table 5 showed that there were significant differences in the

opinions of the principals and teachers on 10 out of 13 identified factors

that influence school organisational climate with the given table of ±1.96 at

474 degree of freedom at 0.05 level of significance. The ten factors

include, good aesthetic school environment with a t-cal of 2.74,

cooperation among staff members recording a calculated ‘t’ of 4.66,

parents’ supportive behaviour recording a t-cal of 2.65, students’

disciplined behaviour with obtained ‘t’ of 8.13 and principal’s

administrative competence with a calculated ‘t’ of 4.04. Other factors

included, teachers’ teaching competence with a ‘t’ calculated as 3.61,

effective monitoring by governing bodies with a t-cal of 2.94,

magnificent school building scoring a calculated ‘t’ of -0.80. The

remaining factors were principal’s thrust leadership behaviour recording a

calculated‘t’ of 3.52 and principal’s consideration leadership behaviour

with a t-cal of 2.48. The three factors on which no significant differences

were recorded included, good clean environment with a calculated ‘t’ of

1.21, principal’s aloofness leadership behaviour recording a calculated ‘t’

of -3.14 and principal’s production emphasis behaviour scoring a ‘t’ of -

4.70.

68

Hypothesis 3


principals and teachers on the administrative strategies that can be used to

improve schools’ organisational climate in Kogi East.

Table 6

t-test of the Mean Responses of the Principals and Teachers on the

administrative strategies for improving School Organisational Climate in

Secondary Schools in Kogi East

S/No Items Categories of Respondents T-cal Decision

Principals

(N= 80)

Teachers

(N = 396)

Mean SD Mean SD


development

3.75 0.44 3.45 0.62 4.04 Reject

2 He involves students in

decision making process

3.25 0.70 2.89 0.71 4.16 Reject

3 Principal promotes staff

welfare

3.80 0.40 3.29 0.66 6.66 Reject

4

The effort by the principal to

foster team spirit among the

staff members could lead to

enhanced school organisational

climate

3.60 0.49 3.41 0.65 2.41 Reject

5





3.75 0.44 3.39 0.71 4.33 Reject

6

Effective implementation of

staff promotion scheme leads

to conductive school climate

3.40 0.74 3.40 0.68 -0.06 Reject

7




3.70 0.46 3.41 0.70 3.51 Reject

8



students which leads to

effective school climate

2.25 0.95 2.62 1.04 -2.99 Not

Rejected

69

Table 6 showed that out of 8 identified administrative strategies for

improving school organisational climate in secondary schools in Kogi

East, 7 strategies recorded significant differences in the mean ratings of

the principals and the teachers with the given t’tab of ±1.96 at 0.05 at 474

degree of freedom. These administrative strategies with the respective

calculated‘t’ values, included staff development (4.04), students’

involvement in decision making (4.16), promotion of staff welfare (6.66)

and fostering of team spirit (2.41). Other strategies included provision of

appropriate and adequate teaching and learning facilities (4.33), and

effective implementation of staff promotion scheme (-0.06), effective use

of rewards and recognition (3.51). The only one strategy that showed no

significant difference in the mean ratings of the principals and teachers

was stringent control measures on staff and students (-2.99).

Summary of the Findings of the Study

The following findings were made based on the analysis of data

presented in the tables for the research questions and the hypotheses.

In Kogi East, there were three types of school organisational

climates as follows: open climate, autonomous climate and controlled

climate. The school organisational climates that did not exist in the

secondary schools in Kogi East were: familiar climate, paternal climate

and closed climate.

70

The factors that influenced school organisational climate in

secondary school in Kogi East were: clean school environment, good

aesthetic school environment, cooperation among staff members and

parents’ supportive behaviour. Others included students’ disciplined

behaviour, principal’s administrative competence, teachers’ teaching

competence, effective monitoring by governing bodies, magnificent

school building, principal’s thrust leadership behaviour and principal’s

consideration leadership behaviour. The two factors that did not influence

school organisational climate were: principal’s aloofness leadership

behaviour and principal’s production emphasis behaviour.

The administrative strategies that could improve school

organisational climate in the secondary schools in Kogi East were: staff

development, students’ involvement in decision making, promotion of

staff welfare, fostering of team spirit, provision of appropriate and

adequate teaching and learning facilities, effective implementation of

staff promotion scheme, effective use of rewards and recognition and

stringent control measures on staff and students

The analysis of data that tested hypothesis one revealed significant

differences in the mean rating of principals and teachers on open climate

and autonomous Climate. There were no significant differences between

the mean ratings of the principals and teachers on the four types of school

71

organisational climates including; controlled climate, familiar climate,

paternal climate and closed climate.

Furthermore, there were significant differences in the mean rating

of principals and teachers on the following factors that could influence

school organisational climate in secondary schools in Kogi East: good

aesthetic school environment, cooperation among staff members, parents’

supportive behaviour, students’ disciplined behaviour, principal’s

administrative competence, teachers’ teaching competence, effective

monitoring by governing bodies, magnificent school building, principal’s

thrust leadership behaviour and principal’s consideration leadership

behaviour. No significant differences between the mean ratings of the

principals and teachers were observed on the following three factors:

clean environment, principal’s aloofness leadership behaviour and

principal’s production emphasis behaviour.

It was revealed that there were significant differences in the mean

rating of principals and teachers on the following administrative

strategies that could improve school organisational climate in secondary

schools in Kogi East. These included: staff development, students’

involvement in decision making, promotion of staff welfare, fostering of

team spirit, provision of appropriate and adequate teaching and learning

facilities and effective implementation of staff promotion scheme,

effective use of rewards and recognition. On the other hand, there was no

72

significant difference on one of the administrative strategies that could

improve school organisational climate - Stringent control measures on

staff and students.

73

CHAPTER V

DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS,

RECOMMENDATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND

SUMMARY OF THE STUDY

This chapter deals with the discussions of the findings,

conclusions, implications of the findings, recommendations, limitations

of the study, suggestions for further research and summary of the study.

The discussions of the findings were presented according to the findings

of the study derived from the research questions and the related

hypotheses.

Types of School Organisational Climate Existing in Secondary

Schools in Kogi East

This study revealed that open, autonomous and controlled climates

existed in the schools in Kogi East. It was found out that familiar,

paternal and closed school organisational climates did not exist in the

secondary schools. It was further revealed that out of the 3 school

organisational climates that existed, the opinions of the principals and

teachers did not differ significantly on one – the controlled climate.

Although their opinions differed significantly on open and autonomous

school climates in favour of the principals, it was observed that it was a

mere emphasis which the principals placed more than the teachers on the

climate types. Both the principals and teachers agreed that the climates

existed in the schools. These findings did not totally agree with the

74

postulations by Halpin and Croft (1963) that six school organisational

climates existed in schools, including, open, autonomous, controlled,

familiar, paternal and closed climates. However, the findings are

consistent with that of Cheng (1985) that the school organisational

climates of secondary schools were not the same in Hong Kong as

postulated by Halpin and Croft (1963) and concluded that the designation

and characteristics of school organisational climates may be different

based on culture, society and the educational levels. This was also

corroborated by Kottkamp, Mushern and Hoy (1987) and as a result

revised the instrument developed by Halpin and Croft to be used in

secondary schools which was known as Organisational Climate

Description Questionnaire-Revised. Therefore, the lack of agreement of

school organisational climate with the earlier postulations by Halpin and

Croft (1963) observed in Kogi East might be due to cultural and societal

differences and the level of the educational institution. The level of

educational system studied in Kogi East was the secondary school instead

of primary school level that was involved in Halpin and Croft.

Factors Influencing School Organisational Climate

The present study showed that eleven out 13 identified factors,

positively influenced school organisational climate. These included: clean

school environment, good aesthetic school environment, cooperation

among staff members and parents’ supportive behaviours. Others

75

included, students’ disciplined behaviour, principal’s administrative

competence, effective monitoring by governing bodies, magnificent

school building, thrust leadership behaviour and principal’s consideration

leadership behaviours. The two factors that did not positively influenced

school organisational climate in secondary schools in Kogi East were

principal’s aloofness leadership behaviours and production emphasis

leadership behaviours. It was revealed further that the opinions of

principals and teachers did not differ significantly on the clean school

environment, principal’s production emphasis and aloofness leadership

behaviours. There were significant differences of opinions on the rest ten

factors, but these differences only revealed the emphasis each group of

respondents placed on the factors.

The present findings were consistent with the assertions of Taguiri

(1968) and Sackney (2007). Taguiri (1968) identified physical, materials

and social factors that positively influenced school organisational climate.

Sackney (2007) identified leadership skills of principals, teachers’ skills

and collaborative efforts of school’s stakeholders are necessary factors

that influenced school organisational climate. The consensus of the

principals and teachers on aloofness and production emphasis as factors

that did not positively influence school organisational climate affirms the

general belief that workers are very important for the achievement of

76

organisational goals and their welfare should be of paramount

importance.

Administrative Strategies for Managing School

Organisational Climate

Findings revealed that the eight identified strategies were all found

to be useful for improving school organisational climates. These

included: staff development, students’ involvement in decision making,

promotion of staff welfare, fostering team spirit and provision of

appropriate and adequate teaching and learning facilities. Others were

effective implementation of staff promotion scheme, effective use of

rewards and recognition and stringent control measures on staff and

students. Furthermore, no significant difference of opinion was observed

on the use of stringent control measures on staff and students between the

principals and teachers, but significant differences of opinions were

observed on the rest seven strategies. However, these differences merely

revealed differences in emphasis and not a rejection of the strategies.

The findings of the present study were consistent with the findings

of Harris (2002) that staff development, quality of facilities are critical to

improving school organisational climate. The findings also corroborate

with George (2004) that team spirit among staff members improves

school organisational climate.

77

Conclusions

Based on the findings and the discussions, it was concluded that

secondary schools in Kogi East adopted three types of school

organisational climates – open, autonomous and controlled climates. The

factors that positively influenced the climates included the following:

clean school environment, good aesthetic school environment,

cooperation among staff members, parents’ supportive behaviour,

students’ disciplined behaviour and principal’s administrative

competence. Others included, teachers’ teaching competence, effective

monitoring by governing bodies, magnificent school building, principal’s

thrust leadership behaviour and principal’s consideration leadership

behaviour.

The administrative strategies for improving school organisational

climate included the following: staff development, students’ involvement

in decision making, promotion of staff welfare, fostering of team spirit,

provision of appropriate and adequate teaching and learning facilities,

effective implementation of staff promotion scheme and effective use of

rewards and recognition.

Educational Implications of the Findings of the Study

Based on the findings and discussions, certain educational

implications were derived. The findings on the types of school

organisational climates implied that the principals could adopt a blend of

78

the different types of school organisational climate that could achieve the

desired goals rather than sticking to only one type. In doing this,

situational factors and the established culture of the school should be

taken into consideration by carefully observing, studying and analysing

the peculiarities of the school in question.

The findings on the factors influencing school organisational

climate implied that secondary schools administrators (principals) have

the responsibility of maintaining a clean school environment and ensuring

aesthetically appealing school environment. This further implied that the

school landscaping and beautifications when appropriately and

adequately maintained would enhance positive school climate and

subsequently conducive teaching and learning environment.

Furthermore, the results of the administrative strategies for

improving school organisational climate implied that the principals and

teachers need to be adequately trained and constantly retrained to gain

relevant competence in the use of the strategies. This in turn would

produce the desired results of improved school organisational climate.

It is pertinent to state also that the findings of the administrative

strategies implied that all stakeholders in secondary schools in Kogi East

have respective roles to play in improving the school organisational

climate. The stakeholders include government, community, parents,

principals, teachers and students. These stakeholders need to be kept

79

abreast of their respective roles in improving school organisational

climate.

Recommendations of the Study

The following recommendations were made based on the findings,

discussions, conclusions and implications of the study:

1. Principals in Kogi East secondary schools should adopt an

appropriate blend of the characteristics of the various types of

the school climates in improving school climate. For instance,

the principal should not give absolute freedom to the teachers

without some measure of strict supervision. This is a blend of

both the open and the closed school organisational climate.

2. Principals should source for funds from government,

community, parents and other stakeholders to embark on school

environmental face-lift in school building and landscaping to

ensure clean and appealing school physical environment which

are critical for improving school organisational climate.

3. The principal through the special funds sourced should provide

appropriate teaching and learning facilities.

4. Principals should regularly attend workshops, seminars and

conferences in order to improve skills in adopting appropriate

administrative strategies for improving school organisational

climate.

80

5. Deliberate efforts should be made for the creation of conducive

and collegial atmosphere by all the stakeholders of secondary

schools in Kogi East in order to improve on the existing school

climate. To achieve this, regular joint fora should be organised

where all the stakeholders would interact and engage in

discussions for improving school organisational climate and

performance.

6. Educational institutions charged with the responsibility of

training and retraining school administrators should enrich the

curriculum and instructional facilities to ensure adequate and

appropriate coverage of learning experiences in school

organisational climate.

Limitations of the Study

The following limitations may affect the generalisation of the

findings of this study,

1. The researcher made use of only a Senatorial Zone in Kogi

State out of the three zones. Considering the slight variations in

culture and environmental factors, the findings may not

adequately be used to generalise on the entire Kogi State.

2. The descriptive survey design employed for the study permitted

the use of questionnaire for data collection. Therefore the data

collection relied mainly on the ability and the knowledge of the

81

respondents to supply the required data. The use of other

instruments such as interview, observation and checklist may

improve the quality of data generated thereby improving

generalisation of the findings.

3. The researcher considered that the best respondents for the

study were the principals and teachers, leaving out the students

and other government agencies. The inclusion of these other

stakeholders may improve the quality of the data generation and

generalisation.

Suggestions for Further Studies

Based on the findings and limitations of this study, the following

suggestions were made for further studies:

1. This study should be replicated in other two senatorial zones of

Kogi State.

2. A study on the relationship between school organisational climate

and students’ academic performance should be carried out in

secondary schools in Kogi East.

3. A correlational study between the principals’ leadership behaviour

and school climate should be carried out in Kogi East secondary

Schools.

82

Summary of the Study

The study sought to evolve administrative strategies for improving

management of school organisational climate in secondary schools in

Kogi East, Kogi State. To guide the study, three research questions were

posed and three hypotheses formulated and tested at 0.05 level of

significance.

To further guide the study, literature was consulted. From the

literature, the concept of school organisational climate was seen as the

total environment of the school ranging from the physical, social and

psychological environments that influence the behaviour of the members

of the school. Also, from the literature, there were gaps in factors that

influence school climate and strategies for improving school climate.

Based on the literature and the research questions, structured

questionnaire was constructed consisting of 37 items bordering on the

types of school organisational climate, factors influencing the school

climate and administrative strategies for improving school organisational

climate. The questionnaire was face-validated by three experts from the

University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The instrument was then trial-tested on a

sample of 25 in Kogi Central Senatorial Zone for reliability. Cronbach

Alpha reliability technique was used to determine the internal consistency

of the instrument and this yielded a total coefficient of 0.85 which was

considered adequate for the data collection.

83

A sample 503 (consisting of 85 principals and 418 teachers) was

drawn from the population of 2, 231 (142 and 2089 principals and

teachers respectively). The copies of questionnaire were administered on

the respondents personally and by the help of five trained research

assistants. A total of 476 copies of the questionnaire were duly completed

and useful for data analysis. This consisted of 80 principals and 396

teachers.

Data generated was presented in tables showing the mean and

standard deviations of the responses for answering the research questions.

Data for testing the hypotheses were presented depicting the mean,

standard deviations, t’cal and t’tab and the hypotheses tested at 0.05 level

of significance. Based on the data analysis, the following findings were

made:

1. Three school organisational climates existed in Kogi East secondary

school, including open, autonomous and controlled school climates.

2. Eleven factors that influenced school organisational climate were

identified: clean school environment, good aesthetic school

environment, cooperation among staff members and parents’

supportive behaviours. Others included, students’ disciplined

behaviour, principal’s administrative competence, effective

monitoring by governing bodies, magnificent school building, thrust

84

leadership between and principal’s consideration leadership

behaviours.

3. Eight administrative strategies that could improve school

organisational climates were identified as follows: staff

development, students’ involvement in decision making, promotion

of staff welfare, fostering team spirit and provision of appropriate

and adequate teaching and learning facilities. Others were effective

implementation of staff promotion scheme, effective use of rewards

and recognition and stringent control measures on staff and students.

85

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Appendix A

List of Secondary Schools in Kogi East Senatorial Zone

S/No Name of School Total

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

IDAH

G S S IDAH

H R C Idah

I S C C Idah

G S S IDAH

O M G S Idah

D M C Idah

ST KIZITO SEM. Idah

S P C Idah

G T C Idah

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

DEKINA

A G S Abeji

C S S Okuro-Olafia

G S S Egume

C S S Egume

O L S Anyigba

C S S Anyigba

C S S Agbada II

C S S Emewe Efopa

C S S Adoji

O C H S Emewe Opada

C S S Ajowoni

M H S Anyigba

C S C C Anyigba

C S S Iyale

CMML (Special) School, Iyale

G S S Ologba

G S S Odu

G D S S Dekina

G S S Olowa

C S S Olowa

C S S Ajiolo

C S S Ajekalaga

B C SS Abocho

C S S Araga-Salifu

C S S Agada

Girls Sec Sch Ochaja

I E M C Ogbaloto

92

37

38

39

40

41

O C S S Aloko

G G S S Ojofu

CMML Sec Sch Ogbogodo

OBSS Ochaja

GSS Dekina

32

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

ANKPA LGA

YMC Sec Sch Ankpa

G S S S Enabo

E C S S Ofugo

C G S Occhi-Ofago

C S S Inye

C K C Awo-Akpali

C A I S Ojoku

C S S Ogodo

C S S Ojoku

A D C G S Ankpa

C A I S Ankpa

C S S Okenyi

G D S S Ikanekpo

C S S Emakutu

O C S S Okaba

U E C S S Ankpa

E C S S Enjema

U C S S E Odobio

A C S S Awo

M I S S Ojobe

I C S S Ikah

G G S S S Okaba

St. Charles Ankpa

23

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

OMALA LGA

Iyaji C S S Abejukolo

G D S S Abejukolo

C S S Olla

G S S Ogodu

I C S S Agbenema

C S S Ibado-Akpacha

B C S S Bagana

A C S S Agojoja-Oda

C S S Bagaji-Odo

Ife C S S Abejukolo

G S S Abejukolo

G S S S Abejukolo

12

IBAJI

93

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

C S S Odeke

G S S Onyedega

G D S S Ejule-Ojebe

C S S Enweli

C S S Iyano

C S S Odomomoh

C S S Affa

C S S Uchuchu

C S S Unale

F A M C Echeno

C S S Nwajala

11

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

98

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

OLAMABORO LGA

C H S Ofante-Ogugu

O C G S Okpo

O C S S Ogugu

E C S S Emonyoku

I C C Ikeje

A C C Etutukpe

E C C Ogbofe-Ogugu

E C C S Emagaba

C S S Adeh

E S S Emomoka

A C C Elokpo

O C G S Okpo

G S S Okpo

I C G S Imane

C H S Etutekpe

A C S S Adum-Ogugu

E C S S Adupi-Ogugu

G S S S Imane

C S S Igah

19

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

IGALAMELA/ODOLU

C S S Oforachi

C S S Ajaka

G S S Akpanya

O D S S Odolu

G S S Okenya

C S S Ogbogba

C S S Ugwaka/Olla

A D S S Avrugo

C S S Akpanya

G S S S Ajaka

C S S Egabada

94

118

C S S Ogbogbo

12

119

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

BASSA LGA

G S S Emi-Guni

G S S Mozum

B N C S S Adum-Woiwo

B N A G S Gboloko

C S S Akakana

C S S Effin

C S S Koji

C S S Kpanche

C S S Odenyi

G S S S Oguma

10

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

OFU LGA

G S S Alloma

C S S Onicha-Igo

C S S Ugwolawo

C S S Ejule

G S S Itobe

E C S S Ofabo

C S S Ochadamu

C S S Umomi

C S S Aloji

G G M S Ogbonicha

C S S Agojeju

C S S Ofolipa

C S S Obagu

C S S Ofakaga

14

Total 142

95

APPENDIX B

TABLE OF SAMPLE FOR THE STUDY

S/N LGAs No of Schools No of Teachers Sample No of Principals Sample

1 Idah 9 201 40 9 5

2 Dekina 32 505 101 32 19

3 Ankpa 23 448 90 23 14

4 Omala 12 131 26 12 7

5 Ibaji 11 80 16 11 7

6 Olamaboro 19 305 61 19 11

7 Igalamela/Odolu 12 168 34 12 7

8 Bassa 10 70 14 10 6

9 Ofu 14 181 36 14 8

Total 142 2089 418 142 85

Total Sample 503

96

Appendix C

Letter to the Respondents

Department of Educational Foundation

Faculty of Education

University of Nigeria

Nsukka

August 8, 2008

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

Dear Sir/Madam

REQUEST FOR COMPLETION OF QUESTIONNAIRE

I am a postgraduate student of the above named university carrying

out a research on the effective management of school organisational

climate. I therefore request you to complete the enclosed questionnaire.

The information generated would be used for academic purpose and your

responses would be treated with the strictest confidence.

I should be glad to receive your cooperation and your honest

responses to the questionnaire items.

Thanks.

Yours sincerely

M U Oborah

PG/MED/06/41665

97

Appendix D

Questionnaire

SCHOOL ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE MANAGEMENT

QUESTIONNAIRE (SOCMQ)

(A) DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

Name of School _____________________________________

Location of the School ________________________________

LGA ______________________________________________

Designation of Staff: (1) Principal (2) Teaching Staff

(B) (1) TYPES OF SCHOOL ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE

What is the extent of your agreement to the following

statements on the type of your school organisational climate?

S/No Items Strongly

Agree

Agree Disagree Strongly

Disagree

1

Open Climate

The principal motivates and

encourages the staff members

2

The principal gives the staff freedom

to carry out their duties the best way

they know

3 Autonomous Climate The principal sets example by

working hard

4

The principal encourages

interpersonal relationships among

teachers, students and parents

5 Controlled Climate The principal emphasis hard work

and no time is given for social life

6 The principal supervises the teachers

very strictly

7 Parents are not encouraged to visit

school with their children’s problems

98

8

Familiar Climate The principal emphasis social

relationship and gives little time for

the official tasks

9

Informal groupings are rampart with

some resenting to the way the

principal runs the school

10 Most students do not take their

studies very seriously

11 Paternal Climate The principal is very hard working

and does almost all the works alone

12

The principal maintains only official

relationship with the teachers and

students

13 Teachers are not committed to hard

work

14

Closed Climate The principal does not give freedom

to the teachers to operate in the

school

15

Teachers are intolerant and

unsupportive to themselves and

students

16

There is no friendly social

relationship among the principal,

teachers, students and parents

(2) FACTORS INFLUENCING SCHOOL ORGANISATIONAL

CLIMATE

Do you agree to the following statements on the factors that

influence school organisational climate?

S/No. Statements Strongly

Agree


Disagree

17

Clean school physical environment

contributes positively to school

climate

18 Good aesthetic school environment


19 Cooperation among staff members

99


20 Parents’ supportive behaviour

promotes positive school climate

21 Students’ disciplined behaviour


22

Principal’s administrative

competence influence positively

the school climate

23 Teachers’ teaching competence


24

Effective monitoring by the

governing bodies promotes good

school climate

25 Magnificent school building


26

Aloofness

The principal’s leadership

behaviour that maintains social

distance from staff and strict

adherence boost conducive school

climate for teaching and learning

27

Production Emphasis

The principal’s leadership

behaviour that directs all efforts to

work and little to the staff welfare

enhance improved school climate

28

Thrust

The leadership behaviour in which

the principal gives example and

motivates teachers to be committed

to hard work enhances school

climate

29

Consideration

The behaviour in which the

principal maintains a positive

social relationship with the

teachers leads to improved school

climate

100

(3) PRINCIPAL’S MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR

SCHOOL ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE

S/No Items Strongly

agree


disagree


development

31 He involves students in decision

making process

32 Principal promotes staff welfare

33

The effort by the principal to foster

team spirit among the staff

members could lead to enhanced

school organisational climate

34





35

Effective implementation of staff

promotion scheme leads to

conductive school climate

36




37



students which leads to effective

school climate

Thank your for your cooperation.

101

Appendix E

Computer Printouts for Reliability of the Instrument

****** Method 1 (space saver) will be used for this analysis ******

R E L I A B I L I T Y A N A L Y S I S - S C A L E (A L P H

A)

Reliability Coefficients - ALL SECTIONS



A)

Reliability Coefficients

N of Cases = 25.0 N of Items = 37

Alpha = .8520

Reliability Coefficients - FOR SECTION 1



A)



Alpha = .5548



102


A)



Alpha = .8420




A)



Alpha = .7025

103

Appendix F

Administration and Return of Questionnaire

S/N LGAs

Copies of Questionnaire Administered

Teachers Principals

No Administered

No Returned

% No Administered

No Returned

%

1 Idah 40 40 10 5 5 6

2 Dekina 101 94 22 19 18 21

3 Ankpa 90 86 20 14 14 17

4 Omala 26 25 6 7 7 8

5 Ibaji 16 15 4 7 7 8

6 Olamaboro 61 60 14 11 10 12

7 Igalamela/Odolu 34 32 8 7 7 8

8 Bassa 14 12 3 6 5 6

9 Ofu 36 32 8 8 7 8

Total 418 396 95 85 80 94

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