Perceptions towards College Management - A Comparative Study 233 CHAPTER-7 PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS COLLEGE MANAGEMENT - A COMPARITIVE STUDY In recent years the use of perceptual measures of students, teachers and principals in international research activity has been boosted to enquire about various areas of management. Students’ views on all aspects of their higher education experiences are now being widely canvassed and regarded as essential to the effective monitoring of different aspects management of higher education (Hill, 2003). Views of students help in making judgments regarding effectiveness of management of colleges. Over last decade or so, many international studies of higher education have taken the students perceptions as base for arriving at their conclusions. In the same way, many researchers are of the view that opinion of faculty is also an effective surveillance tool to determine the management effectiveness. Pashiardis et al. (2005) reviewed that views of subordinates can be used as a development tool for evaluation of managers and leaders. Ascertainment of views also indicates enquiry about satisfaction level of respondents. Views of employees’ satisfaction influences organizational performance as much as customer (student) satisfaction (Chen et al., 2006). Satisfaction of teachers of education institutions with the college management can promote quality of teaching and research. Besides, it is also pertinent to find out perceptions of principals because management of colleges depends on how principals themselves perceive the functioning of management. Perceptions, beliefs and values of principals have a great contribution in their management approach. Hence, the manner of understanding of management issues and resultant reactions are ascertained by the principal’s perceptions. This is because recognizing perceptions and attitudes of principals towards college management is so essential. So, exploration of perceptions of principals and other members of the college like students and teachers are very imperative to judge the quality of management. Gaziel (1996) suggested that attempts to make educational institutions more effective will themselves be more effective if the perceptions of the parties involved like teachers, parents, students and evaluators are considered and the rationale behind the
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Perceptions towards College Management - A Comparative Study
233
CHAPTER-7
PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS COLLEGE
MANAGEMENT - A COMPARITIVE STUDY
In recent years the use of perceptual measures of students, teachers and principals
in international research activity has been boosted to enquire about various areas of
management. Students’ views on all aspects of their higher education experiences are
now being widely canvassed and regarded as essential to the effective monitoring of
different aspects management of higher education (Hill, 2003). Views of students help in
making judgments regarding effectiveness of management of colleges. Over last decade
or so, many international studies of higher education have taken the students perceptions
as base for arriving at their conclusions.
In the same way, many researchers are of the view that opinion of faculty is also
an effective surveillance tool to determine the management effectiveness. Pashiardis et al.
(2005) reviewed that views of subordinates can be used as a development tool for
evaluation of managers and leaders. Ascertainment of views also indicates enquiry about
satisfaction level of respondents. Views of employees’ satisfaction influences
organizational performance as much as customer (student) satisfaction (Chen et al.,
2006). Satisfaction of teachers of education institutions with the college management can
promote quality of teaching and research.
Besides, it is also pertinent to find out perceptions of principals because
management of colleges depends on how principals themselves perceive the functioning
of management. Perceptions, beliefs and values of principals have a great contribution in
their management approach. Hence, the manner of understanding of management issues
and resultant reactions are ascertained by the principal’s perceptions. This is because
recognizing perceptions and attitudes of principals towards college management is so
essential. So, exploration of perceptions of principals and other members of the college
like students and teachers are very imperative to judge the quality of management.
Gaziel (1996) suggested that attempts to make educational institutions more
effective will themselves be more effective if the perceptions of the parties involved like
teachers, parents, students and evaluators are considered and the rationale behind the
Perceptions towards College Management - A Comparative Study
234
conceptual clarification among the different parties is based on following three
assumptions:
In the process of introducing management change, there must be conceptual
communication among the involved parties.
The topics of change must be meaningful to those who are expected to introduce
it and those for which they are introduced.
For any change project to succeed, the perceptions of practitioners must not be
divorced from those of researchers, educational policy-makers and other parties
involved.
Views of different groups towards college management are asked because of following
reasons:
Making educational institutions more effective should be guided not only by the
perceptions of the researchers and educational policy makers but also by those of
the groups directly involved in assessing the existing levels of effectiveness of
management of colleges (Gaziel, 1996)
Upward evaluation of administrators can improve the organizational climate and
thus facilitate the improved organizational functioning (Loveland and Whately,
1977).
Evaluating teachers’ satisfaction with college management can benefit both
teachers and educational institutions by increasing organizational productivity,
performance and trust of employees and decreasing absenteeism and turnover of
employees. Teacher satisfaction with the working environment can promote
teaching and research quality (Chen et al., 2006). Dirks and Ferrin (2001)
explained that trust of employees in an organisation results in distinct effects such
as more positive attitudes, higher levels of cooperation, and superior levels of
performance.
Generalization of Views
A similarity of views generalized view of teachers and principals about
effectiveness of college management smoothens and improves the quality of future
planning, policies and agendas of management committee. Dissimilar views of students,
Perceptions towards College Management - A Comparative Study
235
teachers and principals about the availability/improvement of a particular factor/activity
of a college may affect effectiveness of the colleges. The overall symptoms of this
situation could give negative impressions on the main results of educational institutions.
Chen et al. (2006) evaluated in their study that employee dissatisfaction with various
aspects of management determines the improvement priority.
The underlying (and guiding) assumption for this study is similar to the project of
Pashiardis et al. (2005) that the effectiveness of a leader is (to a great extent) dependent
on how others view him/her as a leader and how the leaders themselves perceive their
leadership style. Accordingly, the present research is based on the assumption that
effectiveness of management depends on how the management of college is viewed by
others (students and teachers) and the principal (manager) himself as a representative of
the managing committee.
If the responses of students, teachers and principals are not found to be inclined
towards satisfaction with certain areas of college management then either the
management of particular item needs to be improved or there exists a gap in the views of
students, teachers and principals. This gap needs to be covered by knowing the reasons
for the same. The level of satisfaction of students, teachers and principals for college
management and identification of improvement areas are already discussed in chapter 5
and chapter 6.
Hence, emphasis of this chapter is mainly to compare the perceptions of students,
teachers and principals regarding management of colleges to identify the gaps if any. Gap
of views of students, teachers and principals towards certain items of management may
indicate misunderstanding and resultant disputes in the colleges. It could lead to
inefficiency and underutilization of capacities of the faculty. Likewise, if students are
dissatisfied, it certainly could give impact on their academic and other capabilities and
future enrollments. Therefore, uniform views of students, teachers and principals will not
only improve the performance of college rather this will help in easy identification of
ignored or mismanaged areas.
Therefore, in the present chapter an attempt has been made to compare the views
of students, teachers and principals related to management of colleges for promoting
religiousness and trace out if there are any discrepancies. Accordingly, this chapter has
Perceptions towards College Management - A Comparative Study
236
been divided into two main sections. The main theme of section 7.1 is management of
colleges where subsection 7.1.1 relates to comparison of views of teachers and principals
regarding management of colleges. While section 7.1.2 compares views of students,
teachers and principals concerning some other items related to management of colleges.
Section 7.2 compares the perceptions of students, teachers and principals regarding
management of religiousness in the colleges.
7.1 GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF COLLEGES – A
COMPARATIVE VIEW
Present section compares views of teachers and principals regarding ‘faculty
related aspects’ of college management. And, second part of this section deals with
comparison of views of students, teachers and principals concerning ‘student related
aspects’ of management of colleges.
7.1.1 General Management of Colleges- Comparative View of Teachers
and Principals
Views of teachers and principals have been asked towards college management
(details in chapter 5). Graph 7.1 depicts the comparison of means of students, teachers
and principals. It indicated that teachers are not very satisfactory with the research
environment and faculty motivation in the colleges. Graph 7.1 also indicates that
teachers are comparatively less satisfied than the principals.
To examine the discrepancies (if any) of the views of teachers and principals,
Mann-Whitney U test has been applied. But before applying the test number of
respondents in the groups have been tried to be equalized by reducing the number of
teachers randomly. Method of random numbers by ‘Rv. Bernoulli’ has been used at
probability level of 0.4 to reduce the statements. Finally, 16 teachers and 14 principals
are left for comparisons to be made. The hypotheses of Mann Whitney U test for the
comparison of two independent groups are:
Ho: The two samples come from identical populations
Ha: The two samples come from different populations
Perceptions towards College Management - A Comparative Study
237
Table 7.1 reveals that Mann Whitney U test is found significant for thirteen
items. These items are related to comprehensive strategy for developing learning
material, reporting teachers about new updates of library, advantageous use of
formal/informal groups, sufficiency of office room facilities, availability of
uninterrupted internet facility, outstanding dignitaries called for seminars are beneficial
in upgrading knowledge, adequacy of amount spent on staff development,
consideration of teachers’ suggestion by the management authorities, encouragement of
new ideas of teachers, involvement of teachers in decision making, adequacy of
channels available to express grievances of teachers and redress of the same,
recognition of the teachers contribution and, sufficiency of promotion avenues in the
college. Therefore, null hypothesis cannot be accepted for these items at 10 percent
level of significance. However, for remaining 28 items, null hypothesis is accepted.
It has been noticed that for all the statements where the significant difference of
perceptions of teachers and principals are found, teachers are relatively more
dissatisfied. In sum, teachers are significantly less satisfied than the principals for
nearly one third of items.
Graph-7.1
Comparison of Means of Teachers and Principals regarding College Management
Source: Compiled from Primary Data
Perceptions towards College Management - A Comparative Study
238
Table 7.1
Results of Mann Whitney U Test
Statements
Mean
Rank
Teachers
Mean
Rank
Principals
Mann-
Whitney
U
Sig.
Teaching Environment
1 The college has good educational environment for
developing academic and intellectual qualities/
capabilities of the teachers.
15.5 15.5 112.0 1.000a
2 There is comprehensive strategy for developing and
disseminating learning material.
18.47 12.11 64.5 .047a
3 The teachers usually get the subject of their
interest/specialization for teaching.
14.47 16.68 95.5 .498a
4 Period and number of breaks after lectures are sufficient. 15.5 15.5 112.0 1.000a
5 Stationary and other relevant important material for
delivering the lecture is provided easily.
15.53 15.46 111.5 .984a
6 Teachers are informed regularly about updated library
collection.
18.88 11.64 58.0 .025a
7 The workload of teachers is excessive. 17.09 13.68 86.5 .294a
8 Teaching work suffers due to ‘other’ work assigned to the
teachers.
14.81 16.29 101.0 .667a
9 Relationship of teachers with students is supportive and
congenial.
16.31 14.57 99.0 .608a
10 Administrative personnel are quite helpful towards the
teaching faculty.
16.72 14.11 92.5 .423a
11 Inter faculty and intra faculty relation is healthy and
favorable.
16.72 14.11 92.5 .423a
12 Staff which is politically connected gets undue favors. 17.16 13.61 85.5 .275a
13 In the selection and promotion of the staff extraneous
factors (other than merit) are involved.
15.41 15.61 110.5 .951a
14 There is an atmosphere of mutual trust and fellow feeling
among the members of the teaching faculty.
16.34 14.54 98.5 .580a
15 Informal/formal groups of students/ teachers are used for
the advantage of college.
18.75 11.79 60.0 .031a
16 Proper monitoring and evaluation is there to keep
teaching and learning material under review.
15.63 15.36 110.0 .951a
17 Platform for overall personality development is available. 16.75 14.07 92.0 .423a
Contd…
Perceptions towards College Management - A Comparative Study
239
Research Environment
18 Amount of budget spent on research development is
satisfactory.
16.59 14.25 94.5 .473a
19 Separate rooms are available to the teachers. 18 12.64 72.0 .101a
20 Facilities available in the office rooms are sufficient. 18.28 12.32 67.5 .064a
21 Library collection for research in college is sufficient. 16.97 13.82 88.5 .334a
22 Library possesses digital data (CDs, VCDs, Subject
Cassettes)
17.84 12.82 74.5 .120a
23 Uninterrupted internet facility is available. 19.63 10.79 46.0 .005a
24 Sufficient seminars and conferences are organized by the
college.
17.97 12.68 72.5 .101a
25 Outstanding dignitaries called for seminars/guest lectures
are helpful in upgrading knowledge.
18.13 12.5 70.0 .085a
26 Number of articles published by the college teachers is satisfactory.
17.38 13.36 82.0 .224a
27 There is research plagiarism in the college. 16.88 13.93 90.0 .377a
Faculty Motivation
28 Amount spent on staff development is satisfactory in the college.
18.88 11.64 58.0 .025a
29 My suggestions on the well-being of the college are duly considered by the management staff.
19.06 11.43 55.0 .017a
30 Teachers are encouraged to put forward new ideas. 18.34 12.25 66.5 .058a
31 Teachers are involved in decision-making of the college. 20.31 10.00 35.0 .001a
32 Teachers are given adequate channels to express my grievances and grievances are redressed promptly.
20.03 10.32 39.5 .002a
33 Each faculty member gets sufficient chance to attend various seminars, conferences, workshops and refresher courses to update his/her knowledge.
17.84 12.82 74.5 .120a
34 Contributions of teachers are duly recognized by the college through honor, awards and increments etc.
18.75 11.79 60.0 .031a
35 The college assigns duties fairly. 17.47 13.25 80.5 .193a
36 Staff development programs are well planned. 17.22 13.54 84.5 .257a
37 Inductions, training opportunities and support for new teachers are adequate.
17.69 13.00 77.0 .154a
38 Sufficient salary and perks are provided. 17.66 13.04 77.5 .154a
39 Salaries are distributed on due time. 17.94 12.71 73.0 .110a
40 Sufficient promotion avenues are available. 19.47 10.96 48.5 .007a
41 I feel proud to be part of this college. 16.25 14.64 100.0 .637a
Note: * = Significant at 0.01 level; ** = Significant at 0.05 level; ***= Significant at 0.10 level
Source: Compiled from Primary Data
Perceptions towards College Management - A Comparative Study
240
7.1.2 General Management of Colleges- Comparative Views of
Students, Teachers and Principals
Students, teachers and principals have been approached to ask their views towards
management of colleges (details in chapter 5). The respondents of three groups namely
students, teachers and principals are 335, 88 and 14 respectively. In order to compare the
level of perceptions of three groups and to find the difference (if any) the Kruskal Wallis
Test has been applied. But before applying the test of comparisons, the number of
respondents in each group has been tried to be equalized by randomly reducing the
teachers and students. As per the total number of sampled colleges (16), teachers and
students have been tried to be randomly reduced to sixteen in number. This has been
executed with the help of random numbers by ‘Rv. Bernoulli’. Finally the comparison to
be made is left in fourteen principals, sixteen teachers and sixteen students. The
hypotheses for the comparison of two independent groups are:
Ho: The two samples come from identical populations
Ha: The two samples come from different populations
The application of Kruskal Wallis test helped in pointing out the significant
different perceptions of students, teachers and principals in some statements shown in the
Table 7.2. Different views of students, teachers and principals are found for the
statements related to availability of facilities of multimedia aids to deliver the lecture;
availability of essential equipment in laboratories; ratio between number of students and
equipment available in laboratories; security and discipline; regularity of career
counseling sessions; earlier placement of students; easy admissions of college students in
higher education courses; college encouragement for participation of students in
extracurricular activities; availability of fully-equipped lecture halls; well maintained
staff rooms, committee rooms and study rooms; and sufficiency of recreation facilities in
the college.
Perceptions towards College Management - A Comparative Study
241
For all these statements students and principals are found lowest and highest
satisfied respectively except statements related to lecture halls, staff rooms, committee
rooms and facilities of recreation in the college where teachers are found more
dissatisfied followed by principals.
7.1.2.1 Pair Wise Comparisons
Application of Kruskal Wallis test has resulted in rejecting the null hypotheses
that three samples come from identical populations but this does not provide where
correctly the difference between the groups lies. This can be concluded from the
Kruskal Wallis test that all the three samples do not come from the identical
populations but one may interested to examine the difference between the specific
groups. Therefore, Dunn’s multi comparison test has been applied to check the
significance of difference between all sets of groups (students vs. teachers, students
vs. principals, teachers vs. principals) to know which particular set of groups cause
the significance of overall Kruskal Wallis value.
Table 7.3 shows the results of Dunn’s multi comparison test. Students have
been found significantly (mean=34.19) dissatisfied with the views of teachers and
principals regarding availability of facilities of projectors/multimedia and; security
and discipline maintained in the college. Dissimilar views of students and principals
are discovered for availability of all essential equipments in laboratories; adequacy of
ratio between number of students and equipments in laboratories; easy admissions of
pass-out students in higher classes and; encouragement of students for participating in
extracurricular activities. Viewpoint of students and teachers are also diverse for fully
equipped lecture halls and; well maintained staff rooms, committee rooms and study
rooms. Teachers are also showing their disagreement with principals for adequacy of
ratio between number of students and equipments in laboratories and availability of
well equipped lecture halls.
Perceptions towards College Management - A Comparative Study
242
Table 7.2
Results of Kruskal Wallis Test regarding General Management of Colleges
Statements
Mean Rank chi-
square
value
Degrees
of
freedom
Sig. Students Teachers Principals
1 College makes sufficient efforts to cover up the knowledge gaps of students with different