This study was designed to investigate differences in administrative attitude adopted by line versus staff type administrators of community college based allied health career education programs when professionally and non-professionally related job responsibilities were considered.The population included 126 administrators each of whom represented a community college which hosted from five to fifteen allied health career programs, inclusively, and which maintained a full time equivalent enrollment of 2000 or more students. Seventy-three administrators identified themselves as line type and fifty-three as staff type.Data for the study constituted responses to a questionnaire survey instrument comprising twenty statements divided equally between professionally related and nonprofessionally related job responsibilities. Responsibility statements were adapted from conference reports citing specific competencies for allied health career administration.Participants responded to each of the twenty responsibility statements by selecting one of five equally marked referent positions on a leadership-management scale. Responses were quantified as line and staff group mean scores and analyzed statistically. Five null hypotheses were tested using non-directional t tests at the 0.001 level of significance. Where significance was determined, F tests were employed to verify homogeneity of variance. Three hypotheses were structured to test inter-group score differences when all and sub-sets of responsibilities were considered. Two hypotheses were employed to test intragroup score differences when professionally versus nonprofessionally related statements were considered.Analysis of data, organized relative to each of the hypotheses, led to the following conclusions:Line type administrators, as a group, adopted a moderate position of leadership when all twenty job responsibility statements were considered. Staff administrators tended toward an attitude of management. The difference was statistically significant.When professionally related statements were considered, both line and staff groups adopted attitudes of leadership. Line administrators, however, adopted a stronger referent than did staff. The difference was significant.Statistically significant difference was determined between line and staff responsibility referents to nonprofessionally related statements. Line administrators tended to a leadership referent and staff adopted a slight managerial referent.Observably large standard deviations for line and staff group mean scores necessitated tests of homogeneity of variance. These tests showed statistical significance when line versus staff group scores were compared in response to all twenty responsibility statements as well as in response to professionally related statements. Frequency polygon plots of individual scores depicted a bimodal distribution of staff respondent scores.The line administrator group adopted a position of leadership for both professionally and non-professionally related statements of job responsibility. This referent was expressed more so for the former set of responsibilities than the latter. The difference between referents was statistically significant.Staff administrators adopted a group attitude slightly on the leadership side of the leadership-management scale when professionally related statements were considered and slightly on the management side for non-professionally related statements. The difference, however, was not statistically significant.Tabulation of descriptive data revealed that approximately three-fifths of both line and staff respondents possessed a health career credential. Fifty-two per cent of line respondents compared to thirty-three per cent of staff reported that they occupied their position for five or more years.In summary, this study confirmed differences in attitudes of leadership and management adopted by line versus staff type administrators of allied health career programs when identical statements of job responsibility were considered. Ambivalence of staff group leadership and management attitude to responsibilities was also noted. The inherent nature of the line type administrative position as opposed to a staff type suggests a basis for these findings.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/181536 |
| Date | January 1975 |
| Creators | Twardowicz, Mitchell L. |
| Contributors | Park, Don L. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | vii, 148 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
| Coverage | n-us--- |
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