ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY, LEADERSHIP STYLE AND THE MASTER CONTRACT

With the proliferation of collective bargaining in public schools, administrative prerogatives have been assumed to be curtailed. The influence of the school administrator on teacher behavior has been viewed as beng diminished with the constraints and the formal relationship of the master agreement. This study, based on the notion that administrative influence is not diminished by the negotiation process, measured the teacher's professional zone of acceptance as the dependent variable and compared this measure among those teachers in schools with teacher oriented contracts and those with management oriented contracts. Further, the relationship of leadership style was examined both within and between those groups. It was found that personnel in districts with teacher‐oriented contracts reported a wider professional zone of acceptance than those in management‐oriented districts. In addition, teachers operating under task‐oriented leaders reported greater administrator influence than those whose administrators were high in consideration. It is concluded that task‐oriented leaders in districts with teacher‐oriented contracts have greater influence among their teachers than do people‐oriented leaders,and that leaders high in both task and people orientation have greater influence among teachers in systems with management‐oriented contracts.