ABSTRACT
The study sought to examine the mediating role of
organisational politics perception on leader-member exchange and work
withdrawal behaviour among teachers in public senior high schools in the
Sunyani municipality.
The Explanatory-Cross-sectional design with a sample size of
152 selected through the simple random sampling procedure, comprising 106 males
and 46 females with an average age of 37 was used. Questionnaires were used and
data was generally analysed using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation, Simple
Linear Regression and Independent Samples t-test. Also Hayes (2013) process
approach for testing mediation was employed. Analyses of results revealed that,
leader-member exchange had a significant negative relationship with composite
work withdrawal, turnover, absenteeism and presenteeism but a positive weak
correlation with acquiescent silence. Again, leader-member exchange had
significant negative relationship with organisational politics perception.
Further, organisational politics perception had a significant positive
correlation with work withdrawal. Also, tenure did not relate positively with
organisational politics perception. Moreover, there was no gender difference in
organisational politics perception and work withdrawal. Lastly, organisational politics
perception did not mediate the effect of leader-member exchange on work
withdrawal. Based on the findings it was recommended that, heads of schools
should endeavour to fulfil teachers’ expectations and ensure that there is
equity in dealing with teachers if they want to portray fairness.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
It cannot be overemphasised that teachers are easily affected
by the behaviour of their heads who have direct relationship with them. This
effect is likely to have a direct corresponding effect on students who are
generally the direct beneficiaries of teachers. Sowmya and Panchanatham (2012)
observed that in the teaching profession, teachers are affected by the feelings
of work place politics. This necessitated the need to study how their
perception of politics affect their behaviour in schools. Moreover, the more
distributed school leadership is to teachers, the better the performance of
that school in terms of student outcomes (Silins & Mulford, 2002). This
study sought to examine whether politics perception mediates the effect of
leader member exchange and work withdrawal among SHS teachers.
Background to the Study
Over the years, the roles leaders play and relationships they
develop with their subordinates have been measured as fundamental components of
subordinates’ work performance in various organizations (Yariv, 2009). It is an
extremely difficult task for anyone to produce and maintain an imperative
public school system in such a complex society without a committed and highly
proficient teaching force or teachers working together for a continuous
improvement of the schools (Fullan, 2003). In their study on principal-teacher
interactions and how relationships shape attitudes, Price (2012) indicated that
the satisfaction, cohesion, and commitment levels of teachers are highly influenced by
the actions of the principals. Also, Ward (2010, p.84) postulates that for communities
of practice teachers learn from what they experience within the group’s
relationship to enable them to put their felt-experience into practice. It
cannot be overemphasised that teachers will reciprocate when they are being
made to experience an unfair treatment and submit to power and authority and
vice versa.
Leaders have an important effect on employees’ attitudes and
behaviours, both positive and negative employee outcomes (Agarwal, Datta,
Blake-Beard & Bhargava, 2012). Studies have attributed the low level of
performance to many factors comprising; poor teacher motivation, low level of
job satisfaction, inadequate incentives, poor leadership and management, and
the vertical decision-making procedure in the system (Akyeampong, 2010). World Bank
(March, 2008) posits that the retention and the quality of education as well as
the capacity of schools to improve teaching and learning is strongly influenced
by the quality of the leadership more than the abundance of available
resources. Walsh (2005) lays more emphasis on school principals, saying that
building and sustaining a positive relationship with teachers maximizes the
potential for student outcome rather than purely principals’ innate abilities,
characteristics and behaviours. In South Africa, leadership training for
secondary school heads was to improve quality of Education; concerted effort to
improve school leadership is one of the most promising points of intervention
to raise retention, the quality and efficiency of secondary education across
Sub-Saharan Africa (Orodho, 2014).
Ironically, in Ghana principals and teachers are expected to
work together, live in a genial relationship, have a mutual trust in each
other, and share ideas together for the prime aim of accomplishing a common
goal, however, most of these interactions tend to be cordial or strained
(Annoh, p.109. as cited by Gyimah, 2013). The author (Annoh) further argues
that to encourage a quality relationship in the school environment, heads
should ensure: involving teachers in school administration, respecting teachers’
ideas, opinions and decisions, communicating freely with the teacher, acting as
a role model for teachers, and being fair and just to teachers. He acknowledges
that embezzlement of school funds and illegal collection of monies can make or
mar the relationship between heads and teachers. In Ghana the teacher who is
considered to be playing a key role and as the most significant potential of
change agent in the system of schooling, is always criticized, blamed and
scorned by all and sundry, especially by the educational officials, academia,
the press, and the general public at large for low and unsatisfactory students’
achievement (Osei, 2006).
It cannot be denied that, most of such behaviours that are
known to have led to poor performance of students may be credited to poor
relationships between heads and teachers which stakeholders have ignored.
Interpersonal working relationships are important because they are central to
the well-being of the organisation. Thus, relationships in organisations,
according to Trenholm and Jensen (2008), are a “jointly created worlds of
shared meaning”. Relationships are unavoidably present and significantly
important in the sense that every activity that goes on in any organization and
schools in this context, happens in the milieu of relationships. There are many
types of workplace relationships or interpersonal relationships which
include leader-member relationship, peer-co-worker relationship, workplace
friendship, customer relationship, romantic relationships and so on (Sias,
2009). Each of these relationships have both negative and positive effects on
the parties involved. Graen and Uhl-Bien (1995) posited that leadership as a
concept is made up of the three domains; the leader, follower and the
relationship between them (i.e. leader-member exchange). Consequently, when
there is a deficit with any of these domains in senior high schools then the
long term effect will be on students’ academics.
Power distance refers to the extent that a subordinate or a
less powerful member in an organization submits and accepts from his/her
superior that power is reasonably distributed unequally in the relationship.
Power distance, has led some leaders tend to exercise their authority over
subordinates and might forgo their ideas even if their contribution could be
relevant (Lian, Ferris & Brown, 2012; Casimir, Waldman, Bartram, & Yang
2006). When power distance seems to dominate in our schools, it is likely to
put fear and apathy in teachers and they might feel relegated; they may
therefore keep their contributions even if it would be relevant to the schools.
Within the field of leadership, an approach that examines the quality of the
relationship between a leader and a follower (Leader-member Exchange, LMX) has
been popular (Yammarino, Dionne, Chun & Dansereau, 2005). According to LMX
theory, leaders can develop special relationships, increased communication with
different work group members whom they manage (Kraimer, Wayne & Jaworski,
2001). In this regard, high quality relationship is characterized by trust,
liking, professional respect, and loyalty (Liden & Maslyn, 1998) and members demonstrate behaviours that are desirable within a
particular organizational context (Van Breukelen, Schyns & Le Blanc, 2006).
LMX theory is defined as the quality of relationship that is
shared between the leader and the subordinates (Krumm, 2001). Members who
focused on only the formal role responsibilities became out-group members and
received little attention or opportunities from the leader. However, in-group
members negotiated with the leader, obtained extra opportunities and benefits
from the leader in a form of mutual trust, confidence, attention,
opportunities, information, and support (Hackman & Johnson, 2009, p. 91;
Northouse, 2007, p. 171). Sparrowe, Liden, Wayne and Kraimer, (2001) posits
that a vigorous leader member relationship is strengthened by the fact that it
encourages followers to demonstrate more positive behaviours and increase
employee morale. In the period between 1985 and 2009, 83% of all LMX studies
captured the employee perspective, thus, when LMX is measured from the
perspective of members and leaders, correlations tend to be modest (Hiller,
Dechurch, Murase & Dotty, 2011).
According to Jacobs (1970), two main terms cannot be
overemphasized “supervision” and “leadership” in defining LMX theory. A leader
keeping a “supervisory” (named later as out-group, or low quality exchange)
relationship with a member adheres closely to the employment contract between
the member and the organization. In the supervisory relationship, the
leader/member exchange is limited to the contract and there is little need for
social interaction between the leader and member. Under this condition, the
leader is treating the member as “a hired hand” (Dienesch & Liden, 1986).
In a “leadership” (named later as in-group, or high quality exchange) relationship, the leader goes beyond the work
contract. In this relationship, the leader offers more job latitude, influence
in decision making, and open and honest communication in exchange for enhanced
performance and organizational citizenship behaviours.
Furthermore, Leithwood, Harris and Hopkins (2008) put forward
seven strong claims about what constitutes successful school leadership, which
are considered vital in educational institutions. These include focusing on
teaching pupils, responding to situations, improving learning, develop
leadership capacities and distributing tasks between staff. Past research has
established the organizationally advantageous nature of higher quality of LMX
to be positively related to a number of work outcomes, promotions (Ansari,
Hung, Aafaqi, 2007), organizational commitment and job satisfaction
and job performance (Dulebohn, Bommer, Liden, Brouer, & Ferris, 2012;
Ilies, Nahrgang & Morgeson, 2007).
Council on efficiency and equity in education and training
(2006) recognize that “the quality of school leadership is one of the key
factors in achieving high quality learning outcomes. Leaders have unique
relationship with members within work groups due to varying quality of social
exchanges between them (Allinson, Armstrong, & Hayes, 2001). Erdogan and
Bauer (2010) showed that the effects of LMX differentiation on work attitudes,
co-worker relations, and retention within the work group were contingent on the
fairness climate that existed in the group such that, LMX differentiation had
negative effects on outcomes only when fairness climate was low. There is a
need for organizations to understand LMX and its role in the survival and
fitness of business operations, which is to maximize organization success by establishing positive exchanges between leaders and their
individual subordinates (Truckenbrodt, 2000). An exhaustive review of the field
recently concluded that a cluster of six items tended to predominate in most
studies: these were mutual support, trust, liking, latitude, attention and
loyalty (Schriesheim, Neider, & Scandura, 1999). Knowing what constitutes a
good relationship makes it easier to preserve and improve it. This relationship
whether favourable or unfavourable will lead teachers to perceive fair or
unfair treatment, thus perceive the working environment as either favourable or
unfavourable.
Organizational politics are informal, unofficial, and
sometimes behind-the-scenes efforts to sell ideas, influence an organization,
increase power, or achieve other targeted objectives (Brandon & Seldman,
2004). Kacmar and Ferris (1991) have argued that the higher in an organization one
perceives fairness in distribution processes and fairness in procedures, the
less likely they view the organizational setting as political. Thus when the
relationship between a leader and his subordinate are efficiently managed, thus
fairness perceived, there will be less feeling of politics. Those who follow
proper procedures often feel jealous and resentful because they perceive unfair
distributions of the organization’s resources, including rewards and
recognition (Parker, Dipboye, & Jackson, 1995). The most common forms of
employee work disengagement are withdrawal behaviours, which manifest as
absenteeism, employee turnover, tardiness, and burnout (Timms, Brough, &
Graham, 2012).
Statement of the Problem
An indirect activity such as school leadership would mostly
produce influence on teaching and learning opportunities (Vidoni, Bezzina,
Gatelli, & Grassetti, 2008). The quality of leadership matters in
determining the motivation of teachers and the quality of their teaching as the
teacher’s performance directly affects student’s performance (Sergiovanni,
2000). From this perspective, certain work environment factors cause negative
emotions in the employee such as anger, guilt, or boredom, and these negative
emotions in turn lead to counter productive work behaviours. According to Graen
and Uhl-Bien (1995), leadership literature over the years has mostly focused on
the leader’s influence at the neglect of other domains such as the subordinates
and the dyadic relationship that exists between the leader and the led; the
issue has created confusion, disagreement and complexity in understanding what
leadership really is.
Globally, employee withdrawal behaviours consume
approximately 15% of an organization's payroll (Hicks, Faulk & Quirin,
2015). In Ghana, the public sector has the highest number of employees in the
formal sector (Adei
Boachie-Danquah, 2003) and contributes so much to the economy
of the country, it is important that studies of perceived organizational
politics on employee commitment be done in the public sector and schools for
that matter. The behaviours of teachers, who directly deal with students, are
important to determine students’ performance. The use of
politics in an organization is quite common throughout the world and school is
no exception (Downe, Cowell & Morgan, 2016). Cobbold (as cited in Sam,
Effah & Osei-Owusu, 2014) postulated that, “policy makers and school
leaders in Ghana encounter the challenge of retaining qualified teachers in
schools to ensure quality teaching and learning for all students”
Past research has noted that when people are asked to report
what constitutes unfair treatment, their responses have focused on
interpersonal rather than structural factors (Valle & Perrewe, 2000). Most
of the researches done in organizational politics have been in the private
sector organizations (Vigoda & Kapun, 2005). Politics is an unavoidable
aspect of modern organizations (Ferris, Frink, Galang, Zhou, Kacmar &
Howard, 1996). According to Hochwarter, Kacmar, Perrewé and Johnson (2003),
political environment at work can affect employees in different ways ranging
from extremely beneficial to enormously harmful. A recent study informs that
there is a problem of understanding the parameters within which
heads/principals and teachers work and the process of achieving the demands of
the educational principles; this has seriously portrayed the relationship
between heads and teachers as a milieu of conflicts and counter accusations
(MacBeath, Swaffield, Oduro, & Bosu, 2010). The head’s status is affirmed
and preserved by maintaining a distance from teachers, symbolically behind his
or her office desk and by not being seen to socialize with staff” (MacBeath et
al., 2010).
In addressing the popularity of withdrawal behaviours that
results from head-teacher relationship, studies conducted focused on the
production and service organisations other than senior high schools. These
studies did not focus on the work withdrawal tendencies that may arise from the
differences in the head-teacher relationship. For instance, a study by Milner,
Katz, Fisher and Notrica (2007) focused on gender and the quality of the
leader-member exchange: findings from a South African organisation while Gyimah
(2013) focused his study on the relationship between heads and
teachers in junior high schools in Ashanti Region. Thus, there is a limited
study on leader-member exchange relationship in Ghanaian schools especially
second cycle institutions.
Again none of such research has been conducted in the Sunyani
municipality where the researcher seeks to conduct the research. Withdrawal
behaviours constitute a significant expense for many organizations (Lobene
& Meade 2013). The researcher therefore wishes to is to examine the
mediating role of organisational politics perception on leader member exchange
and work withdrawal behaviour among teachers in public senior high schools in
the Sunyani municipality.
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of the study is to examine to the mediating
role of organisational politics perception on leader member exchange and work
withdrawal behaviour among teachers in public senior high schools in the
Sunyani municipality.
Research Objectives
Specifically, the study sought to:
Assess the relationship between leader member exchange and
work withdrawal (turnover intentions, absenteeism, presenteeism and acquiescent
silence).
Ascertain the relationship between of LMX and organisational
politics perception.
Assess the relationship between organisational politics
perception and work withdrawal (turnover intentions, absenteeism, presenteeism
and acquiescent silence).
Examine the relationship between tenure of teachers and
organisational politics perception.
Assess gender difference in politics perception and work
withdrawal
Assess the extent to which organisational politics perception
mediates
LMX and work withdrawal.
Research Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were formulated to guide the study.
H1: There is a significant negative relationship between
leader member exchange and work withdrawal (turnover intentions, absenteeism,
presenteeism and acquiescent silence).
H2: LMX has significant negative relationship on
organizational politics perception.
H3: There is a significant positive relationship between
organizational politics perception and work withdrawal (turnover intentions,
absenteeism, presenteeism and acquiescent silence).
H4: There will be no significant relationship between tenure
and politics perception
H5: There will be no gender difference in (a) politics
perception and (b) Work Withdrawal
H6: There will be no mediation role of politics perception on
the effect of LMX and Work withdrawal.
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