Abstract
Purpose. It was the purpose of this study to identify the perceptions of principals and superintendents regarding the relative importance of selected empowering techniques, to determine differences in the perceptions of superintendents and principals regarding the relative importance in the empowering techniques, and to determine the degree to which gender, experience, or school size may influence those perceptions. Methodology. The researcher used descriptive and ex post facto research. The population consisted of a random sample of superintendents and principals in California unified school districts. A survey was designed to determine the degree of importance on forty selected empowering techniques that a superintendent might use to empower a principal. For each item on the survey, descriptive statistics, specifically frequencies, means, and percentages were determined. Data were tabulated and significant differences were analyzed by using the Mann-Whitney U Test. Findings. The four empowering techniques identified to be "one of the most important" or "extremely important" by more than 91 percent of the superintendents and principals surveyed regardless of their years of service, gender, or school district size were cultivating a trusting atmosphere, listening actively to others, facilitating open communications and creation of safe environments for taking risks and assuming responsibility. Conclusions and recommendations. There is complete consensus by the principals and superintendents surveyed that "cultivating a trusting atmosphere" was the most important empowering technique. It is recommended that further research focus on determining the discrete skills necessary for a superintendent to effectively implement the top five empowering techniques identified in the survey.