Date of Award

8-1980

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Richard E. Munsterman

Second Advisor

Dr. Mary Anne Bunda

Third Advisor

Dr. Ernest Stech

Abstract

This study investigated a relationship suggested in the literature between the level of service which academic departments in former teachers' colleges render to the teacher-training function and the local or cosmopolitan role orientation of their faculties. Localism and cosmopolitanism are polar sets of role expectations toward which professors and other professionals might orient. Dimensions of the local-cosmopolitan concept are: level of loyalty to the employing organization, commitment to professional role skills, and the use of an inner or outer reference group.

A scale of local-cosmopolitanism was constructed for this investigation. Validity of the instrument was established by panel judgment and an estimated reliability coefficient of .87 was obtained through pilot testing. Eight academic departments were selected from those representing three levels of service to the teacher-training function. The instrument was sent to the 184 professors who made up the faculties of those departments. Sample respondents constituted 79% of the selected sample.

It was posited that the higher the departmental level of service to teacher training, the more localistic would be the role orientation of faculty. Level of service to teacher training was the independent variable. Local-cosmopolitan orientation was the dependent variable.

Differences among group means were tested using the one-way analysis of variance. Results showed that differences were significant at the .001 level. The differences between the means of all possible group pair combinations, tested by the Protected Least Squares Differences Method, were also significant at the .001 level.

The study produced evidence that a relationship does, in fact, exist between departmental level of service to teacher training and local or cosmopolitan faculty role orientation. Findings showed that higher levels of service to teacher training were associated with more localistic role orientations. Preliminary evidence indicates that the identification of predominant departmental and institutional role orientations has implications for both organizational analysis and administrative practice. The utility of the concept in the latter area would appear to center upon decision-making particularly as regards the planning process.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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