Influence of head teachers‟ management styles on teacher motivation in selected senior high schools in the Sunyani municipality of Ghana

Abstract

Senior High School administration in Ghana is bedeviled with a lot of problems most of which emanate from deficiencies in management styles of heads of these institutions. There have been times when teachers had to stage open protests to register their displeasure about head teachers‟ management styles which they often described as administrative and managerial incompetency. This situation has often led to low morale among teachers and therefore this study focuses on finding out the effects of head teachers‟ management styles on teachers‟ motivation in SHSs in Ghana. The study also attempts to look at and explain how head teachers‟ informal relationship with teachers serves as a motivation for teachers to work to achieve institutional goals. The study sampled 100 senior high school teachers and 10 head teachers in the Sunyani Metropolis. These were sampled using the quota and simple random sampling procedures. The study, among other things, revealed that most teachers see their heads as bosses and not as friends. Again, it was revealed that though teachers were involved in decision making, the actual setting of objectives for a school were left in the hands of the heads and the school management team. It was therefore recommended for head teachers to adopt the Management by Walking About and Management by Objective so as to get closer to their teachers in the running of schools.