Principals Decision Making Strategies And Secondary School Teacher’s Effectiveness

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The leadership roles of the principal as the chief executive in the school is enormous. He plays a key role in the success and failure of the organisation. He is obliged to be an effective head to the able to achieve the objectives.
A leadership strategies is said to be effective if it facilitates accomplishment of the organisation objective with minimum unanticipated cost or consequence. Therefore, for school organisation to survive and more importantly to grow, the need then arises for the management to face questions of how the organisation will work to see that these objectives are achieved.
One important way by which an organisation can achieve these objectives is to address the issue of managing people in the organisation coupled with coordinating directing commanding and controlling their efforts which is the major problem facing most organisations today. Hence, the problem of personnel management would be view with the purpose of adopting an appropriate system of co-ordinating relationship between men and materials resources. They should be the primary concern of any organisation be it profit oriented, social service, charitable, or even school organisation in line with this salami (2002)describe education as “this theory and practice of the organisation and administration of the existing educational establishment and system as well as process of seeing to it that the police the principals methods for achieving the fully carried out. In his own research work, Adama (2000) observes that human resources are the greatest assets of an organisation. In educational setting the teacher are regarded as the greatest assets. This is becomes the teacher determine what goes on, in the classroom.
Abiri (2005) Education has been as a vital tool that brings about rapid development to any nation. To this end, smooth running of the school system calls for effective leadership.
Maintained that no matter what is done in educational matter what educational policy is made, unless teacher determine, to a very large extent, what happens in the classroom. Such a great demand for teaching in the school level opens the need for effective management practice.
However, more often than not one hears of growing poor performance of student in our school educational management expert such as Ogunsaju (2000) observed that the poor performance of student can be attributed to the condition of service of teaching as a consequence of bad personnel management practice employed by the government and the school principal.
Realizing importance of manpower in organisations.Ogundipe (2002) stressed that what determines the success of an organisation does not only include the necessary tools, materials and equipment but also the wider organisation” in other word, organisation of education should included the co-ordination of relationship between education and men; man in the society his behaviour, ideas and matter affecting him, the institutions and how education has contributed to help the society grow.
In his explanation on human behaviours to work, Ogundipe (2000) stressed further that people bring with them variety of experience, skills and knowledge are put together in a job which provides, hopeful, most of the organisational resources for carrying out the work.
The teacher therefore require adequate knowledge of fact and morale to enable him function effectively as interpreter of intent and transmitter of knowledge that guarantees individual development and substance of societal virtue and culture.
Hence, their motivation is imperative in a particular education setting at a point in time.
The same view was shares by Ogunyinka (2008) if the students perform well in the school the society would view the school as being effective the school principals make various democracy makes various decision in the school which their follower’s that is students teaching and non-teaching staff have a follow. The autocratic strategies of decision making may bring about unnecessary conflicts as consultation is not sought by the administrator from any of his follower’s.
Decisions are solely arrived at by the principals. This is diametrically opposed to the principal “two good heads are better than one.”

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
In Nigeria, lack of job satisfaction characterizes the life of many, employees. In most organisations this is evident in the poor attitude of many to work among whom teachers are chief. Hence, we witness great loss in the organizations as a result of poor services, high labour turn-over, psychological withdrawal, disloyalty, lowmoral.
Abdulkareem, A.Y (2002), Realizing the significance of democratic principles as against the adverse effect of autocratic principal in decision making. There is the need for a systematics and pragmatic search into the influence of principal’s decision making strategies on teacher’s effectiveness among secondary school teachers in Ijumu. It is general agreed that to build a strong, sound and everlasting house for a living, the foundation has to be properly laid. Observation show that some principals maker irrational decision, when some are subtle in their decision making process.
This research would therefore investigate the influence of principal’s decision making whether it has made or mar the smooth running of secondary schools.

PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY
The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of the principal’s decision making strategies on teacher’s effectiveness among secondary school teachers in Ijumu.
Specifically, the study intends to
i. Examine how decisions are made by the principals at the secondary school level.
ii. Examine teacher’s perception of the principal’s strategies of decision making about individual characteristics and behaviours
iii. Asses the influence of principals decision making strategies on teacher effectiveness.
iv. Asses the possible ways in which decision could be made in the secondary school and the present method of decision making in the secondary schools.
v. Assess the problems that may arise from the present method of decision making in the secondary schools.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The study intent to answer the following question.
i. How are decisions made by principals in Ijumu secondary school?
ii. What influence has principal strategies of decision making on teachers effectiveness
iii. What are the teacher’s perceptions of the principal’s strategies of decision making?
iv. What are the problems faced in decision making process in school?
v. Does democratic principal strategies have influence on teacher’s effectiveness in secondary schools?

RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
i. There is no significant difference between the principals decision making strategies and teacher effectiveness.
ii. There is significant difference between principal decision making strategies and decision making problem.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The followings are the benefits
1. Correlation between job satisfaction and worker effectiveness
2. I will also afford the principals opportunity of knowing when their teachers are dissatisfied with their jobs
3. It will assist them to determine the type of decision making strategies that could best motivate teacher’s effectiveness in their schools.
i. Among the physical resource in any organisations, employees who constituted the labour force are highly valued simply because of their contributions to the achievement of the organisations goals. Actually it could be said that there is a direct correlation between job satisfaction and worker effectiveness generally.
ii. If workers are being favorable effect on the school in performance. It will also afford the principal’s the opportunity of knowing when their teachers are dissatisfied with their jobs, when behaviours such as disloyalty, increasing rate of absenteeism and lassie fare altitude become common phenomena in the organisation
iii. The study is of great importance to principals and manager because it would assist them to determine the type of decision making strategies that could be motivate teacher’s effectiveness in their schools. In addition, the study could make its contribution to the scholastic pursuit in effectiveness and decision making strategies.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study focused on the influence of principal’s decision making strategies/ leadership strategies on teacher’s effectiveness among secondary school in Ijumu Local Government.
It is streamline to cover only 10 selected secondary schools.
OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
The following terms are operationally defined.
i. Decision making:- Is a process of selecting among the best alternative to solve the problem under study.
ii. Principals:-Principals refers to the head of secondary school who oversees activities going on in the school. He performs the function of administration and taking decision of production in educational setting.
iii. Teacher:- refers to utilize the appropriate teaching method, learning resources good evaluation techniques to enhance student’s academic performance.
iv. Effectiveness:- It is the extent to which the leader or principal is successful in a completing what he is assigned to do.
v. Autocratic strategies:- Is an approach of school management in which the principal is the leader that makes the decision and give order to his teacher without asking for their opinions.
vi. Democratic strategies:-Is an approach of management of the school administration that permits self-expression creativity.
vii. Laissez-faire:- Is a leadership strategies that gives complete freedom to staff as they wish.