Identification of the communication time demands of educational leaders

Abstract

Email has become a prominent communication tool for principals. Although principals have reported benefits of communicating via email, they have also indicated that it has intensified their workload. Specifically, principals have indicated that they receive a large volume of email, which contributes to extending and fragmenting their workdays. From actual email records, this study examined how email contributed to principal time demands and time use. Results indicated that the sample of principals received a substantial amount of email, which occurred during an extensive portion of the day, and also intensified during instructional hours. The comparisons of the timing of email activity revealed that principals experienced similar time demands from email, but used their time differently to address the demands. In addition, the email activities of principals exhibited descriptive differences from school district leaders. The findings indicated the need for more studies of principals’ email activities and the time demands of principals, as well as suggested the need for principal preparation programs to provide specific training related to email and other such information technology.