Abstract
The purpose of the study was to identify to what extent superintendents from districts of 10,000 ADA or greater and superintendents from county offices of education are currently using and desire to use managerial attributes found to be successful in the corporate world. A survey was conducted by questionnaire of county and district superintendents of districts of 10,000 ADA or greater in California. The questionnaire included general information questions and eight behaviorally anchored rating scales (BARS) for each of the eight managerial attributes. The overall response rate was eighty-seven (57%) superintendents--thirty-five (60%) county superintendents and fifty-two (55%) district superintendents. The results from the questionnaire rendered the same profile for both groups of superintendents. No significant difference was found at the.05 level of confidence for either perceived current or perceived desired use of the managerial attributes between the two groups of superintendents. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov Two Sample Test was applied to determine differences between the two groups' perceived current use and their desired use of the managerial attributes. The Sign Test was used to determine whether or not there was a significant difference at the.05 level of confidence between current and desired use of the managerial attributes. There was a significant difference for all but two of the attributes for district superintendents and all but one of the attributes for county superintendents. There was a significant difference at the.05 level of confidence for the superintendent sample between current and desired use of all eight managerial attributes. Greater value was placed on desired use than current use of the attributes. It was concluded from the results of the study that one profile of superintendents could be developed. It could be concluded that for each of the eight managerial attributes there was a greater desire to use the attributes in the future than currently. It was recommended to conduct case studies of successful superintendents who are using these managerial attributes. Additional recommendations were made to bring the leaders from the corporate world and public education together for a sharing of leadership practices that may lead to the review and revamping of administrative training and inservice programs.