PRINCIPALS’ APPLICATION OF HENRI FAYOL’S ADMINISTRATIVE PRINCIPLES FOR MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study investigated principals’ application of Henri Fayol’s administrative principles for managerial effectiveness in secondary schools in Anambra State. Three research questions guided the study and three hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 8,192 respondents (275 principals and 7,917 teachers) from the 275 public secondary schools in Anambra State. The sample for this study consisted of 952 respondents (83 principals and 869 teachers) drawn using proportionate stratified sampling technique. A researcher-developed questionnaire titled ‘‘Principals’ Application of Henri Fayol’s Administrative Principles for Managerial Effectiveness Questionnaire (PAHFAPMEQ” was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts who are lecturers, two from the Department of Educational Management and Policy and one from the Measurement and Evaluation Unit of the Department of Educational Foundations, all from the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Using Cronbach's alpha for the test of internal consistency, the coefficients for clusters A-F of the instrument were 0.77, 0.81 and 0.78 respectively, with an overall coefficient of 0.79. The researcher, together with five research assistants, collected data for the study using the direct administration method and a 98% return was recorded. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while the t-test was used to test the null hypotheses. The results of the study showed that division of work and discipline principles are applied by principals for managerial effectiveness in secondary schools in Anambra State. It was also found that unity of direction principle is not applied by principals for managerial effectiveness in secondary schools in Anambra State. Further results showed that there is no significant difference in the mean ratings of principals and teachers on all the administrative principles applied by principals for managerial effectiveness in secondary schools in Anambra State. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others, that the Ministry of Education should develop standardized handbook to guide principals in applying unity of direction principles for managerial effectiveness in secondary schools.