The relationship between the perceived leader behavior of departmental chairpersons and faculty morale at the College of Education, King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia /

Abstract

This study investigated the question of whether certain patterns of departmental chairperson's behavior affect the faculty morale at the College of Education, King Saud University, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In conclusion, the departmental chairmen at the College of Education, King Saud University would increase the morale of the faculty if they emphasized more Initiating Structure rather than Consideration. The demographic data of the faculty were situational factors for the chairmen's leader behavior.

Appropriate instruments were selected for this study: The Morale scales from the Institutional Climate Inventory and the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ-real). They were administered to the faculty participants, producing 101 returns. The LBDQ-ideal was completed by all the fifteen departmental chairmen participants. Demographic data of both the chairmen and the faculty members were obtained.

The collected data were analyzed by using the Statistical Analysis System (SAS). Three different techniques were employed for data analysis: t Tests, Regression Analysis and Correlations. The major findings were: (1) Leader Consideration was perceived higher than leader Initiating Structure by both chairmen and faculty. (2) Leader Initiating Structure was perceived higher by the chairman and lower by the faculty. The differences were significant at p > .05. (3) The faculty morale's means for all scales were higher than the normative means of the faculty morale in the United States. (4) Only five percent in the variations of the total morale scales can be explained by linear regression on Initiating Structure and Consideration. (5) Size and type of departments were not factors affecting the leader behavior. (6) The correlations between the actual leader Initiating Structure scores and the total scores of the faculty morale scales were positive and significant at p >