Leadership and management styles of school administrators working in secondary schools (Manisa province sample)

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between school administrators' leadership styles and management styles according to the views of secondary school teachers working in public secondary schools. Despite the studies on similar topics in the literature, the originality of this study is that it analyzes the effects of leadership styles and management styles of school administrators in two large districts in Manisa province on the educational environment through teachers' perceptions. This study aims to contribute to the field of educational administration by examining the role of leadership styles and management styles of school administrators in these districts in achieving the goals of educational organizations. The research will focus on determining the effects of school administrators' leadership and management styles in the educational environment by evaluating them in line with the perceptions of teachers. In this context, relational survey design, one of the quantitative data analysis methods, was used. The population of the study consists of teachers working in secondary schools in Yunusemre and Şehzadeler Districts of Manisa Province in the 2023-2024 Academic Year. According to the data of Yunusemre District Directorate of National Education, there are 728 teachers in secondary schools, while according to the data of Şehzadeler District Directorate of National Education, there are 513 teachers. In total, 342 out of 1241 teachers working in secondary schools in these two districts were determined as the sample. In the data collection process, "School Administrators' Leadership Style Scale" and "School Administrators' Management Styles Scale" were used. The data obtained were analyzed with parametric analysis methods such as Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis, Unrelated Samples t-test for Independent Samples and One-Way Analysis of Variance. In addition, analysis assumptions, descriptive and distributional statistics were also reviewed. The results of the study revealed that there is a significant relationship between leadership styles and management styles of school administrators working in secondary schools. The lowest score belongs to autocratic leadership style and the highest score belongs to permissive leadership style. This shows that school administrators generally exhibit a participative and libertarian leadership approach. In management styles, the lowest score belongs to disinterested management style and the highest score belongs to autocratic management style. This finding shows that school administrators are dominant in decision-making processes and provide clear direction on how to do things. It was concluded that gender was not a determining factor on the perceptions of leadership styles and management styles. In addition, it was observed that the length of seniority of the participants did not create a significant change in their perceptions of management styles, and the level of seniority did not affect this perception. On the other hand, it was observed that there were significant differences in teachers' perceptions of school administrators' leadership styles according to branch areas. While these differences were evident between verbal-linguistic, verbal-numerical and verbal-special ability groups, a significant difference was observed between language and verbal groups in terms of their perceptions of school administrators' management styles. However, it was stated that these differences were not observed in other branch areas. It was found that school administrators were perceived and evaluated more positively by teachers. This suggests that school administrators' leadership and management skills are effective and create trust and satisfaction among teachers. As a result, the relationship between leadership styles and management style was found to be at a high level. The effects of school administrators' leadership styles and management styles on teachers were found to be remarkable. Key words: Management, Leadership, Management style, Leadership styles