Investigation of organizational moral values and natural leadership profiles in schools with social network analysis

The main purpose of this research is to examine the relationships in primary schools with a social network analysis approach, to determine the organizational morale (spirituality) levels and variables of the employees, while the sub-purpose is to aim to identify the actors and their qualities that are strong natural leaders in primary schools. The research was designed with a nested (embedded) pattern, which is a mixed pattern model. Using stratified sampling technique, 495 teachers and school administrators from Erzurum's central districts (Yakutiye, Palandöken, Aziziye) were selected to determine the sample of their research, in order to determine the level of organizational morale (spirituality) of the participants, the "Organizational Spirituality Scale" developed by Kinjerski and Skrypnek (2006) and adapted to Turkish by Ünal and Turgut (2015), suggested by Ibarra (1993) to determine the characteristics of the network. ésocial Network Questions "and finally semi-structured questionnaires were used to determine the profile characteristics of natural leaders, Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used in the compliance analysis of the scales, Pearson Moments Multiplication Correlation Coefficient was used to determine the relationships between the variables, and t-test and ANOVA were used in the analysis of the differences of the opinions of the participants according to demographic variables such as gender, branch, age, seniority and duration of service at school. In the social network analysis, the values of centrality, structural gap and eigenvalue were used to determine the centralization, reciprocity and density values of the whole school and the position of the actors in the network. According to the results of the research, the gender variable in favor of women on the organizational spirituality levels of the participants, the marital status variable in favor of married people, the age variable in favor of participants aged 46 and over, the socioeconomic level (SES) in favor of good schools the SES variable, in favor of school principals and teachers of religious culture and moral knowledge branch variable leads to differentiation. While the seniority variable does not make a difference by itself, it causes a high differentiation when it has a common effect with SES. There is a positive and high relationship between the social networking characteristics of the schools and the level of spirituality of the participants, while the organizational spirituality dimensions that have the highest impact on the social network densities of the schools, the spiritual bonding and loyalty to the work, the social network reciprocity rates are more effective. While organizational spirituality dimensions have positive and high relations with each other, the dimension with the highest values in these relations is the dimension of community feeling. According to the social network analysis results of the schools, in the social network analysis related to the specialization, the network density of 8 schools from 29 schools is at a high level, 16 schools are at a medium level and 5 schools are at a very low level. In the reciprocity ratio, 10 schools have medium level and above, and 19 schools have low level bilateral relations. Schools' specialization social networks are more intense and tight compared to friendship networks. While the gender factor has no effect in the specialty network, it is quite effective in the dating networks. In the analysis for the determination of natural leaders of the schools' specialty social networks, 10 of the 29 schools are considered as natural leaders, while 19 of them are not considered as natural leaders. The findings of the research are important in terms of showing the relationship between the organizational spirituality levels of schools and social network analysis and the effect of strong natural leaders in schools in this relationship. According to the research results, strong natural leaders are extremely effective in increasing the organizational spirituality levels of schools, which increases the social network qualities of schools. In other words, social network features in schools increase the organizational spirituality of schools, and the effect of strong natural leaders lies behind this relationship. Some suggestions were made based on the results of the research. Accordingly, strong natural leaders can be identified for effective and productive schools, and it may be recommended to appoint them as principals or to continue their directorates. In this context, the natural leadership qualities revealed as a result of this study should be taken into account in executive appointments or executive development programs. In addition, a human resources management that will increase organizational spirituality in schools can make it easier for schools to achieve their goals by strengthening their social networks. As a result of this study, examining the social networks of the schools, which have a high relationship with the spirituality levels of the schools, with other managerial and organizational behavior variables can provide important parameters to decision makers and practitioners.