ool administrator.
Definition of the Human Relations Approach to Administration
Olivia (1993) defines the notion of educational administrators as human relation agents as a leadership approach that emphasizes group dynamics, the democratic process, and the application of the principles of the behavioral sciences to the educational setting. Olivia states that administrators who understand their role as human relations agents do not view administrative tasks as merely the handing down of methods and instructions to teachers followed by the subsequent monitoring of their performance.
Rather, the human relations approach emphasizes collaboration and partnership between administrators, teachers, and staff. The approach, according to Olivia (1993), recognizes that success as a an administrator is dependent more upon interpersonal and relational skills than upon technical skills and knowledge.
Further, Olivia (1993) states that the approach calls for principals and other administrators (e.g. supervisors) to be sensitive to the behavior of groups and individuals within groups. There is a need for awareness of and sensitivity to the needs of teachers/staff as they themselves perceive these needs instead of attention to the satisfaction of the principal's own needs and his or her "superior judgement."
The importance of the human relations role for public school principals has been addressed by Sergiovanni (1990) who states that the role calls for making teacher satisfaction a top priority with increased effectiveness as the means to that goal. As such, the principal pays close attention to teachers' degree of satisfaction with their jobs, their commitment and loyalty to the organization, the presence of mutual trust among all groups at the school, the mechanisms for teachers' input into the system, and to the frequency and quality of communication among members of the organization.
Sergiovanni (1990) makes an interest...