Candidate: Barry Eshkol Adelman

Degree of: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Psychology

Title: Behavioral Tolerance to Cocaine under Variable-Ration Schedules of Reinforcement

Committee: Dr. Alan Poling, Chair
Dr. Lisa Baker
Dr. Cynthia Pietras
Dr. Steve Ragotzy

Date: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 9:00 a.m.- 11:00 a.m.
3723 Wood Hall

Abstract: This study was conducted to determine the leadership styles of the career and technical education (CTE) area center principals in Michigan and how effective they are perceived by their subordinates. The population for this study included all the CTE area center principals in Michigan (N=53) and seven pre-determined subordinates (N=371) for each. The instrument used for collection of date in this study was the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5X (MLQ) that included four statements regarding perceived effectiveness and eight researcher-designed requests for demographic information. Leadership traits have been classified as transformational, transactional, or laissez-faire (Bass & Avolio, 2000; Kouzes & Posner, 2005) and subordinates respond differently to each. CTE area center principals may use a combination of these traits to achieve continuity within their institution, generating an atmosphere conducive for education. The concept of leadership traits or styles has been studied extensively within the K-12 general education setting, and enjoys a good deal of support in the literature, but lacks sufficient empirical evidence within the CTE community.

This study was conducted completely electronically from the participants' initial invitation to participate through their completion of the MLQ. The CTE area center principals and their subordinates were encouraged to complete the instrument in an open and honest manner and anonymity was insured for the respondents. The SAS/STAT ® software package was used to analyze the data collected. A t-test, frequency distribution, MANOVA, and the multivariate main effect for status were used to determine differences and relationships.

This study addressed the gap in the teacher leadership literature by contributing a quantitative analysis of the leadership styles of CTE area center principals. Michigan's CTE area center principals view themselves as possessing a transformational leadership style and received the corroboration of this from their subordinates. Subordinate perceived effectiveness of transformational leaders as having a positive correlation, while laissez-faire leaders were viewed negatively. The results of this study should be of interest to post-secondary institutions, public school superintendents, human resource managers, and teacher educators as the CTE area center principals age and the necessity to locate desirable replacements emerge.

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