Abstract:
Superintendent of schools is a leadership role that requires a strong ability tocommunicate competently with a broad range of stakeholders. Therefore, there is a needto determine the relationship between specific leadership styles and interpersonalcommunication competencies in order to inform aspiring and practicing superintendentsand to ensure the development of effective training in communication competence withineducational leadership programs for district-level leaders and current superintendents.The purpose of this study was to identify the leadership styles and interpersonalcompetencies currently employed by Kansas public school superintendents, to examinethe relationship between the two, and to inform potential improvements in schoolleadership training.A non-experimental quantitative research design addressed these researchquestions: (1) What are the self-perceived leadership styles of Kansas public schoolsuperintendents as measured by the LBDQ – Form XII (Self)?; (2) To what extent are theself-perceived leadership styles of Kansas public school superintendents as measured bythe LBDQ – Form XII (Self) affected by any of the following variables: gender, age,years of experience as an educator, number of years as a superintendent, number of yearsin current position, size of district as defined by student enrollment, and pathways toleadership?; (3) What are the self-perceived interpersonal communication competenciesof Kansas public school superintendents as measured by the CSRS(Attentiveness/Altercentrism, Composure, Expressiveness, or Coordination/InteractionManagement)?; (4) To what extent are self-perceived interpersonal communicationcompetencies of Kansas public school superintendents affected by any of the following variables: gender, age, years of experience as an educator, number of years as asuperintendent, number of years in current position, size of district as defined by studentenrollment, and pathways to leadership?; (5) To what extent is there a relationshipbetween the self-perceived leadership styles, initiating structure and consideration, andself-perceived interpersonal communication competencies of Kansas public schoolsuperintendents?; and (6) To what extent are the relationships between the self-perceivedleadership styles and interpersonal communication competencies of Kansas public schoolsuperintendents different between the groups in the following variables: gender, age,years of experience as an educator, number of years as a superintendent, number of yearsin current position, and size of district as defined by student enrollment?The population of interest was all public school superintendents in Kansas. Thesample for this study consisted of 88 Kansas public school superintendents servingdistricts during the 2012-2013 school year. Hypotheses were tested using chi-squaretests, Pearson product-moment correlations, and Fisher’s z tests. The results indicatedstatistical significance regarding the number of respondents who identified a preferencefor consideration style of leadership. Statistically significant differences were foundamong the responses related to interpersonal communication competencies, with mostsuperintendents indicating strong alignment with expressiveness and composure. Weakto moderate positive correlations were found between interpersonal communicationcompetencies and leadership styles indicating that relationships do exist between the twothat cannot be simply attributed to chance. The research supports the importantconnection between communication and effective leadership for educational leadersalong with the critical need for more effective professional development.