| The central purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to identify the formation and functions of the social network relationships of entry-level school administrators; and (b) to determine whether formal organizational socialization strategies, specifically the implementation of a school administrator intern cohort program, influence the development of social networks of entry-level school administrators. Using a sequential exploratory mixed methods approach (Creswell, 2003), the ten research questions were designed to explore four primary areas of focus: interpersonal, intrapersonal, intragroup, and intraorganizational levels. The initial phase of data collection included in-depth interviews with fourteen cohort members of a school administrator internship program, followed by the distribution of a questionnaire eight months later.; Results from this study revealed that the social network relationships of the entry-level school administrators can take many forms and include a wide range of people, including both those within and outside the organization. Collectively, the fourteen participants identified 202 dyadic relationships which they perceived to be important in providing them with support during their transition year as an assistant principal. Extraorganizational relationships accounted for 19.3% of the total, with 80.7% falling into the category of intraorganizational relationships.; Relationships both within and outside the school division were identified by the participants as serving a broad range of the identified career and psychosocial functions: acquisition of information and knowledge; affiliation or sense of belonging; appraisal or evaluative feedback; affective concern or friendship; advancement in career; and arousal or transfer of energy. Affective concern or friendship was the psychosocial function (22.1%) most often selected, while acquisition of information and knowledge (20.1%) was the career function most often identified by participants. Advancement in career (10%) was the function identified the least to describe relationships.; Results from this study indicate that the formal organizational socialization strategies employed by a school division do have the potential to affect the development of connections among and between its members, hence in the potential development of social capital within the organization. Just over one-third of the total relationship dyads (42.3% of the intraorganizational relationships) were connections associated with the participants' participation in the intern program. |
