ABSTRACT

Purpose: The present study aimed to scale the political tactics used by teachers and principals based on rank-order judgments.

Research Methods: This study was a descriptive study in which the political tactics used by school principals and teachers were scaled from the most to the least frequently used ones based on rank-order judgments. The study group consisted of 488 teachers and 61 school principals, who were determined through simple random sampling technique among the universe working at the primary schools affiliated to Şehitkâmil District Directorate of National Education in Gaziantep in the academic year of 2019-2020. The research data were collected using a 7-item instrument developed by the researcher based on the research conducted by Hoy and Miskel (2012) to identify the most frequently used political tactics in business organizations.

Findings: According to the research findings, the rank-order judgments of teachers and principals for the use of political tactics differed. It was concluded that increasing indispensability was the most and scapegoating was the least favoured tactic by teachers, while networking was the most and increasing indispensability was the least preferred tactic by school principals.

Implications for Research and Practice: Subsequent researchers may conduct qualitative studies on the reasons of teachers’ and school principals’ rank-order judgments regarding political tactics. Moreover, the present study was limited to primary school teachers and principals. Comparative studies can also be conducted on teachers and principals working at different levels of education.

Keywords: Interior design, design education, multidisciplinary work, professional competence.