The purpose of the study was to examine educator–peer social relationships within the context of the organization and to consider the role of the school administrator in establishing collegial and caring relationships. The study was a critical collective case study of six educators—administrators and teachers—in U.S. schools. Through interviews, participants reflected on their experiences with educator–peer social relationships. The study found that all participants had experienced a range of positive and negative peer–social relationships, including incivility and incidents of educator–peer bullying. The article concludes with considerations for principals regarding antibullying in the workplace and recommendations for further research.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AchinsteinB., OgawaR., & SpeiglmanA. (2004). Are we creating separate and unequal tracks of teachers? The effects of state policy, local conditions, and teacher characteristics on new teacher socialization. American Educational Research Journal, 41(3), 557–603.
2.
AndersonM. (2007). Principals and conflict management: Do preparation programs do enough?Journal of Scholarship and Practice, 4(1), 4–13.
3.
ArcherD. (1999). Exploring bullying culture in the para-military organization. International Journal of Manpower, 20(1/2), 94–105.
4.
Association of Teachers and Lecturers. (2011, April). A quarter of education staff have been bullied by colleagues. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, Liverpool, England.
5.
BishopJ., BishopM., & GelbwasserL. (2004). Why we harass nerds and freaks: A formal theory of student culture and norms. Journal of School Health, 74(7), 235–251.
6.
BlassJ., & BlassJ. (2003). The phenomenology of principal mistreatment: Teachers’ perspectives. Journal of Educational Administration, 41(4), 367–422.
7.
BlassJ., & BlassJ. (2006). Teachers’ perspectives of principal mistreatment. Teacher Education Quarterly, 33(4), 123–142.
8.
BrownK. (2006). Leadership for social justice and equity: Evaluating a transformative framework and andragogy. Educational Administration Quarterly, 42(5), 700–745.
9.
BryantM., & Wolfram CoxJ. (2003). The telling of violence: Organizational change and atrocity tales. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 16(5), 567–583.
10.
CalderwoordP. (1999, August). Resisting community: Challenges for participatory action. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Boston.
11.
Cambron-McCabeN., & McCarthyM. (2005). Educating school leaders for social justice. Educational Policy, 19(1), 201–222.
12.
CapperC., & YoungM. (2007). Educational leaders for social justice.New York: Teachers College Press.
13.
ChanceP. (2009). Introduction to educational leadership and organizational behavior: Theory into practice (2nd ed.). Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.
CreswellJ. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
18.
DinhamS., CairneyT., CraigieD., & WilsonS. (1995). School climate and leadership: Research into three secondary schools. Journal of Educational Administration, 33(4), 36–59.
19.
DjurkovicN., McCormackD., & CasimirG. (2004). The physical and psychological effects of workplace bullying and their relationship to intention to leave: A test of the psychosomatic and disability hypotheses. International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior, 7(4), 469–498.
20.
DjurkovicN., McCormackD., & CasimirG. (2005). The behavioral reactions of victims to different types of workplace bullying. International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior, 8(4), 439–460.
21.
FoxC., & BoultonM. (2006). Longitudinal associations between submissive/nonassertive social behavior and different types of peer victimization. Violence and Victims, 21(3), 383–401.
22.
FreyM. (2007). Personality, lifestyle, and transformational leadership from a humanistic perspective (Doctoral dissertation, Georgia State University). Retrieved from http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cps_diss/8
23.
GardinerM., EnomotoE., & GroganM. (2000). Coloring outside the lines: Mentoring women into school leadership.Albany: State University of New York Press.
24.
GrayN. (2009). The role of school leaders in teacher–peer social relationships: A critical collective case study (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Idaho, Moscow.
25.
GroganM. (Ed.). (2002). Leadership for social justice [Special issue]. Journal of School Leadership12(2).
26.
GruenertS. (2006, January/February). Are teacher bullies infecting your school?Principal: The Healthy Child—Speaking Out, 85(3), 61.
27.
HabermasJ. (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere.Cambridge, England: Polity Press.
28.
HalawahI. (2005). The relationship between effective communication of high school principal and school climate. Education, 126(2), 334–343.
29.
HarveyM., HeamesJ., RicheyR. G., & LeonardN. (2006). Bullying: From the playground to the boardroom. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 12(4), 1–5.
30.
HenryM. (1993). School cultures.Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
31.
HenryM. (1996). Parent–school collaboration: Feminist organizational structures and school leadership.Albany: State University of New York Press.
32.
HenzeR., KatzA., NorteE., SatherS., & WalkerE. (2002). Leading for diversity: How school leaders promote positive interethnic relations.Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
33.
HoyW., & MiskelC. (2008). Educational administration: Theory, research, and practice (8th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
JonesL. (2009, November 5). The importance of school culture for instructional leadership. Retrieved from the Connexions website: http://cnx.org/content/m32618/1.2/
36.
KnutsonK., MirandaA., & WashellC. (2005). The connection between school culture and leadership social interest in learning organizations. Journal of Individual Psychology, 61, 25–36.
37.
LarsonC., & MurtadhaK. (2002). Leadership for social justice. In MurphyJ. (Ed.), The educational leadership challenge: Redefining leadership for the 21st century (pp. 134–161). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
38.
LewisD. (1999). Workplace bullying—Interim findings of a study in further and higher education in Wales. International Journal of Manpower, 20(1/2), 106–118.
39.
LiefoogheA., & OlafssonR. (1999). “Scientists” and “amateurs”: Mapping the bullying domain. International Journal of Manpower, 20(1/2), 39–49.
40.
MarshallC. (2004). Social justice challenges to educational administration: Introduction to a special issue. Educational Administration Quarterly, 40(1), 5–15.
41.
MarshallC., & OlivaM. (2010). Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
MaxwellJ. (2005). Qualitative research and design: An interactive approach (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
44.
MayerM., & CornellD. (2010). New perspectives on school safety and violence prevention: Guest editors’ preface. Educational Researcher, 39(1), 5–6.
45.
McKenzieK. (2008). From the field: A proposal for educating leaders for social justice. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44(1), 111–138.
46.
MerriamS. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
47.
MilesM., & HubermanM. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
48.
MintzbergH. (1983). Power in and around organizations.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
49.
MulfordB. (2003). School leaders: Changing roles and impact on teacher and school effectiveness.Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
50.
SalinD. (2003). Ways of explaining workplace bullying: A review of enabling, motivating and precipitating structures and processes in the work environment. Human Relations, 56(10), 1213–1232.
51.
ShieldsC. (2004). Dialogic leadership for social justice: Overcoming pathologies of silence. Educational Administration Quarterly, 40(1), 109–132.
SteinN. (2002). Bullying as sexual harassment in elementary schools. In BaileyS. M. (Ed.), The Jossey-Bass reader on gender education (pp. 409–428). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
54.
TheoharisG. (2007). Social justice educational leaders and resistance: Toward a theory of social justice leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 43(2), 221–258.
55.
ThomasM. (2005). Bullying among support staff in a higher education institution. Health Education, 105(4), 273–288.
56.
Tschannen-MoranM. (2009). Fostering teacher professionalism in schools: The role of leadership orientation and trust. Educational Administration Quarterly, 45(2), 217–247.
57.
TwemlowS., & FonagyP. (2005). The prevalence of teachers who bully students in schools with differing levels of behavioral problems. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162(12), 2387–2390.
58.
YinR. K. (2008). Case study research, design and methods (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
