JOURNAL OF NEW APPROACH IN EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
Year:2013 | Volume:3 | Issue:4 (12)|Papers Count:12

The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between a learning organization (from Peter Senge’s point of view) and creativity and innovation of high school teachers in Bijar. The population of this correlational study comprised 210 male and female high school teachers from which a sample of 135 teachers was selected through stratified random sampling. For the purpose of data collection, a use was made of the learning organization questionnaire with 28 items and the creativity and innovation questionnaire with 18 items. The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability indexes of the questionnaires were 0.91 and 0.72 respectively. The results of data analyses employing Pearson product moment correlation and stepwise multiple regression indicated that: a. there was a positive relationship between the learning organization and the creativity and innovation of high school teachers, b. there was a significantly positive relationship between the components of learning organization and creativity and innovation of high school teachers, c. it was also revealed that from among the learning organization components team learning and personal mastery could predict the variable of creativity and innovation.

The Purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship of organizational justice and organizational commitment to job productivity of Marvdasht teachers. Research method was descriptive-correlational. The Population consisted of Marvdasht female high school teachers. A sample of 105 teachers was drawn using simple random sampling method based on Krejcie and Morgan’s sample size table. In order to collect data, a use was made of three questionnaires of organizational justice, organizational commitment, and job productivity. Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficients of the instruments were 0.73, 0.90, and 0.83 respectively. Data analysis involved Pearson correlation and multiple regression. The results suggested that there was a significantly positive relationship among organizational justice, organizational commitment and job productivity. In addition, organizational justice and organizational commitment components positively correlated with job productivity.

The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between high school principals’ self-efficacy and leadership effectiveness in Gilan in the school year 1388-1389. The population of this survey correlational research included all high school principals and teachers in Gilan. The study sample comprised 230 principals and 690 teachers selected through stratified sampling strategy. Two standardized questionnaires were used to assess self-efficacy and high school leadership effectiveness. The reliability indexes (Cronbach’s Alpha) of the instruments were 0.87 and 0.86 respectively. A use was made of independent t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, ANOVA and hierarchical multivariate regression to analyze data. The results indicated that there was a positive correlation between the respondents’ level of leadership self-efficacy and leadership effectiveness. The principals’ management experience affected mean differences. There was no significant difference in principals’ effectiveness in regard to gender and experience. Additionally, It was revealed that there was a significant difference between the level of principals’ self-efficacy and their education and service location.

The research was to examine the effect of delegation of authority on productivity of human resources with the Herssi and Goldsmith model in the first region of Islamic Azad University. Delegation of authority is an event inside organizations and is accomplished under certain conditions according to which parts of decision-making and executive authority is delegated to lower lines. Delegation of effective authority is the best tool that administrators use to improve productivity. Productivity is an efficient criterion for evaluating the performance of these activates and efforts in various economic, social and cultural parts. The research methodology was descriptive. The study population included 2720 persons. A sample of 272 individuals was randomly selected through stratified sampling. In order to gather the data of this research the questionnaire of Herrsi and Goldsmith was used. The analyses of data were conducted in two levels of descriptive and inferential statistic, the results of which are as follows: there was a significant relationship among ability, organization support, law validity and organization decision and delegation of authority. It was concluded that based on the increase and decrease of the amount of delegating authority the productivity of the human resources would increase or decrease.

This study aimed at exploring the public decision-making styles of Shiraz University administrators. The study was a descriptive survey. The sample included 116 administrators who were selected using stratified random sampling. Sample size was determined in accordance with Morgan’s sample size table. In this research managers’ public decision making styles scale (Scott & Bruce, 1995) was used. Its validity and reliability were both assessed and were satisfactory. In order to analyze data a use was of repeated measures analysis of variance, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation. The results indicated that spontaneous style was the most prevailing style of the administrators. In addition, there was no significant difference among the administrators as regards decision-making styles in relation to their education and gender. However, a significant difference was observed among them in relation to their experience regarding intuitive decision-making style. There were, also, significant relationships among rational and dependent, spontaneous and intuitive, and avoidant and dependent decision-making styles.

The purpose of this study was to explore secondary education teachers’ attitudes toward graduates of educational administration, curriculum studies and other majors who are working as school principals in Shiraz. The research method was descriptive-survey and causal comparative, and the population included all public school principals, administrators and teachers in secondary education in Shiraz. A sample of 75 principals and 375 teachers were selected using stratified and simple random sampling methods respectively. In addition, all 15 secondary education administrators in all 4 districts of education organization were interviewed. Research instruments were three Likert-scale questionnaires for teachers (55 items), semi-structured interviews with administrators, and documents of students’ academic achievement. In order to analyze data a use was made of both descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (ANOVA, factor analysis, and multiple regression). The results indicated that there was no difference between the performance of graduates of educational administration and curriculum studies and graduates of other majors. Further analysis of demographic variables suggested that only gender impacted significantly the principals’ performance as regards students’ achievement.

The current study investigated the impact of pedagogical beliefs and job-technology characteristics on the intention to use web-based learning amongst the faculty members of Payame Noor University (PNU). To this end, 343 faculty members were selected using multi-stage cluster sampling method from PNU branches located in Yazd, Eastern Azerbaijan, Khuzestan, Fars, and Khorasan Razavi. They were administered a ques-tionnaire. Its content validity was established based on the the experts’ views and its reliability was assessed to be satisfactory (Cronbach Alpha=0.7). Data were analyzed employing SPSS19 and LISREL softwares. Initially, the Kurtosis and Skewness of the variable distributions and their correlations were examined to see whether path analysis could be employed. The results showed that the variables were correlated and the Skewness and Kurtosis coefficients ranged from -1 to +1 (suggesting that the data had normal distribution). Then, the data were analyzed using path analysis. The results showed that pedagogical beliefs, job and thechnology characteristics exerted a significant impact on the intention to use web-based learning.

The present paper studied the effectiveness of Descriptive Evaluation Plan on the academic achievement and mental health of male 4th grader students of primary school in the school year 1389-90 in Arak. Research method was descriptive and causal-comparative. This study involved an experimental group of 60 students from schools, which applied Descriptive Evaluation Plan, and a control group of 60 students from regular schools. Research instruments included a standardized achievement test (Farsi, math and science) and Rutter’s 30-item questionnaire of mental health. In order to analyze the data a use was made of descriptive statistics and t-test. Research findings revealed that the academic achievement of the experimental group was significantly better than that of the control group. However, the students in the experimental group had a significantly lower level of mental health.

Involving students in School activities is one of the methods to empower schools in order to institutionalize the participatory thinking in students. The purpose of this article is to study student council’s performance and the obstacles it faces in involving students in school activities in Tehran city. Thus, the research questions were posed in line with the research aims. To answer the questions, besides a review of theoretical studies the views of 1225 students were solicited employing a questionnaire developed by the current researcher. The sample was drawn using stage cluster sampling method. The research method was descriptive-correlational with an applied orientation. Data analysis employing both descriptive and inferential statistics suggested that despite the efforts made by the student council, participation level was low, and in this respect, the legal, motivational and administrative obstacles had a significant relationship with the level of participation.

The aim of this study was to explore the effect of organizational strategic thinking (OST) on organizational performance improvement (OPI) taking into account trust in management (TIM) as an antecedent for OST, and the role of organizational commitment (OC) as a moderator between OST & OPI in the administrative parts of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in 1390. Research method was correlational and in particular, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on path analysis. From among the administrative staff of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad 151 respondents were selected through stratified random sampling and were administered an electronic questionnaire. The number of items and the Cronbach’s alpha reliability indexes of the scales were as follows: OST 10 items (a=0.94), TIM 3 items (a=0.95), OC 9 items (a=0.90), OPI 8 items (a=0.87). The validity of the instrument was established through a comparison with validated former questionnaires, applying the experts’ comments, and factor analysis. The results of path analysis using LISREL software revealed that TIM could predict 0.67 of OST variance, OST could predict 0.40 of OC variance and 0.56 of OPI variance, and OC could account for 0.21 of OPI variance.

Nowadays the role of research in advancing the goals of the educational system and subsequently achieving development goals is undeniable, but in practice, lack of active participation of teachers, as a key element of education, in these kinds of activities is witnessed. Thus, this study was motivated to identify the obstacles teachers in Behshahr face in undertaking research. The population (n=120) of this descriptive study included all female teachers of secondary school working in 1389-1390 selected through census. The research instrument was a questionnaire with a reliability of 0.75. Its face and content validity was reviewed and approved by subject experts. In order to analyze research questions, descriptive statistics and inferential statistical methods including factor analysis, t-test, and ANOVA were used. Results showed that the six main obstacles in doing research by teachers included the financial barriers, research culture, organizational barrier, lack of trust to research results, motivational factors and databases. The results also showed that all the six barriers are present and significant in the secondary school context in Behshahr. Further, teachers' points of views on barriers to doing research were significantly different concerning the organizational barriers and databases depending on their research and work experience.

The goal of this study was to explore the university admission criteria in Iranian universities from the perspective of scholars and experts. A use was made of a questionnaire in this descriptive survey research. The internal consistency reliability indexes were 0.806, 0.76, 0.804, and 0.810 for high school, job skills, university entrance and social activities respectively. In order to analyze data a use was made of multiple statistics including percentage, mean, standard deviation, internal consistency coefficients, Kappa coefficient, and one-sample Kolmorogov-smirinov test. The results of this study indicated that the respondents had differential views on using high school exam results, job skills, social activities, and Konkor university entrance exam results to select students. In other words, experts advocated using multiple criteria along with the entrance exam results.