LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOR OF PRINCIPALS AND THE ZONE OF ACCEPTANCE OF ELEMENTARY TEACHERS

Effective administrative authority involves willing rather than forced compliance; hence, a major concern of school principals should be to find strategies to increase the zone of acceptance among teachers. This research investigates the leadership behavior of principals and the personal characteristics of teachers as both are related to elementary teachers' professional zone of acceptance. Data from 46 elementary schools support the hypothesis that a large professional zone of acceptance for elementary teachers is nurtured by a principal's leadership style that combines both structure and consideration. The personal characteristics of individual teachers, however, were not as strongly related to zone of acceptance as predicted.