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A comparison of interpersonal communication style and relationship satisfaction of academic and student affairs administrators in two-year colleges

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Date Issued:
1997
Summary:
The purpose of this dissertation was to compare the communication style of academic and student affairs administrators and to determine whether these administrators were satisfied with their mutual relationship. The study was conducted among 109 chief academic and student affairs administrators in two year colleges from five states who took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the researcher's Relationship Satisfaction Survey. Oneway analysis of variance and the Selection Ratio Type Table were used to compare responses by groups of academic or student affairs administrators on MBTI scales of sensing or intuition and thinking or feeling. Oneway analysis of variance was also used to compare participants' responses to six items on importance and satisfaction scales of the Relationship Satisfaction Survey. The MBTI findings of the study indicated that academic affairs administrators were more likely than student affairs administrators to prefer intuition and student affairs administrators more likely to prefer sensing. Almost one half of the academic affairs administrators preferred intuition plus thinking, and almost eighty percent preferred intuition. The student affairs administrators' types were more diverse, with one third scoring as feeling types and over one half sensing types. These findings have an impact on the communication style that might be used by administrators when collaborating with counterparts of differing psychological types. The findings of the Relationship Satisfaction Survey indicated no significant difference between the two groups in their importance or satisfaction ratings of six aspects of the partnership. These aspects included agreement on resource allocation, agreement on policies and procedures, agreement on ethical principles and practices, effective listening by partner, general understanding and maintaining a collaborative working relationship. The means of the sums of importance and satisfaction scale scores for each group were similar, indicating both groups believed the items important and were satisfied with those aspects of their partnership. Conclusions related to the findings include suggestions to improve the communication between academic and student affairs administrators. Specific suggestions were given for each of the four MBTI functions of sensing plus thinking, sensing plus feeling, intuition plus thinking and intuition plus feeling. It is recommended that future research include larger studies, studies where participation is of a less voluntary nature and studies of matched pairs of administrators who work together.
Title: A comparison of interpersonal communication style and relationship satisfaction of academic and student affairs administrators in two-year colleges.
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Name(s): Anderson, Patricia Jean.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Ijams, Karl, Thesis advisor
Lynch, Ann Q., Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1997
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 129 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The purpose of this dissertation was to compare the communication style of academic and student affairs administrators and to determine whether these administrators were satisfied with their mutual relationship. The study was conducted among 109 chief academic and student affairs administrators in two year colleges from five states who took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the researcher's Relationship Satisfaction Survey. Oneway analysis of variance and the Selection Ratio Type Table were used to compare responses by groups of academic or student affairs administrators on MBTI scales of sensing or intuition and thinking or feeling. Oneway analysis of variance was also used to compare participants' responses to six items on importance and satisfaction scales of the Relationship Satisfaction Survey. The MBTI findings of the study indicated that academic affairs administrators were more likely than student affairs administrators to prefer intuition and student affairs administrators more likely to prefer sensing. Almost one half of the academic affairs administrators preferred intuition plus thinking, and almost eighty percent preferred intuition. The student affairs administrators' types were more diverse, with one third scoring as feeling types and over one half sensing types. These findings have an impact on the communication style that might be used by administrators when collaborating with counterparts of differing psychological types. The findings of the Relationship Satisfaction Survey indicated no significant difference between the two groups in their importance or satisfaction ratings of six aspects of the partnership. These aspects included agreement on resource allocation, agreement on policies and procedures, agreement on ethical principles and practices, effective listening by partner, general understanding and maintaining a collaborative working relationship. The means of the sums of importance and satisfaction scale scores for each group were similar, indicating both groups believed the items important and were satisfied with those aspects of their partnership. Conclusions related to the findings include suggestions to improve the communication between academic and student affairs administrators. Specific suggestions were given for each of the four MBTI functions of sensing plus thinking, sensing plus feeling, intuition plus thinking and intuition plus feeling. It is recommended that future research include larger studies, studies where participation is of a less voluntary nature and studies of matched pairs of administrators who work together.
Identifier: 9780591293944 (isbn), 12497 (digitool), FADT12497 (IID), fau:9389 (fedora)
Note(s): College of Education
Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1997.
Subject(s): Interpersonal communication
Community colleges--United States
Communication in education
College administrators--United States
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12497
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.