Examination of congruence perceptions of classroom teachers regarding organizational and individual values

The aim of this study is to examine individual and organizational congruence of classroom teachers serving at elementary schools in terms of various variables and present several findings regarding the individual and organizational congruence at such schools. This study was conducted at elementary schools located the Şahinbey and Şehitkamil central districts of Gaziantep province in the 2013-2014 school year in order to determine the congruence between organizational and individual values of classroom teachers serving at elementary schools. The study sample consisted of 550 teachers who serve at 36 elementary schools selected from the Şahinbey and Şehit-kamil central districts. To that end, a general conceptual framework was presented in relation to the importance of individual and organizational congruence and the congruence between individual values and organizational values. In this study which was based on survey model, perceptions of classroom teachers on congruence between individual and organizational values constituted the dependent variable of the study. The variables which were examined in terms of their impact on congruence between individual and organizational values, including sex, professional seniority at their schools, period of service, age, educational background, feeling themselves valuable and important at the school they are working, level of satisfaction with their work and their perceived attitude toward their schools and institutions of education, were used as independent variables in the study. Also, the study explored the order of importance that classroom teachers give to a set of values. Surveys were used to collect data in the study. For the analysis of sub-problems in the study, the t-Test for Independent Samples, the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient, and one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were utilized. Findings of this study showed that there is a medium, significant and positive perception between the per-ceptions of classroom teachers on congruence of individual and organizational values. From among the perceptions of classroom teachers on congruence of individual and organizational values, no statistically significant difference was found in variables including sex, their period of service at the school, age, educational background, their school of graduation and level of satisfaction with the work. Moreover, the per-ceptions of teachers on congruence of individual and organizational values indicated a statistically significant different when it comes to variables such as feeling them-selves valuable and important at the school they are working, professional seniority, and perceived attitude towards the school. The perceptions of teachers who can feel themselves as a valuable and important member at the school, has a high job satisfac-tion and feel a sense of loyalty to the school are more positive compared with other teachers in terms of individual and organizational congruence and perceptions towards congruence of values that they feel towards the organization. Furthermore, study findings revealed that when it comes to order of importance the values such as "honesty", "respect" and "trust" are considered more primary in terms of individual and organizational values, while values such as "involvement", "risk-taking" and "responsibility" fall behind in the list.