An investigation of the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational health

This correlational study examined the relationship of the principal's transformational leadership style on organizational health in an elementary school setting. Participants in this study consisted of elementary principals and teachers in a suburban school district in central South Carolina. Educational research asserts the belief that the leadership style of the principal directly impacts the school climate. The purpose of this study was to identify key transformational leadership components that directly cultivate a positive school climate. The Primary Program School Survey (PPSS) and the Organizational Health Inventory for Elementary Schools (OHI-E) was used to collect data. These instruments were administered to teachers and principals to determine if a correlation exists. The following research questions were posed: (a) to determine the extent in which transformational leadership style affects the perceived organizational health differences of teachers; (b) to investigate the correlation between mean teacher organizational health inventory (OHI-E) responses and specific leadership behaviors of a transformational leader/principal (PPSS) as perceived by teachers; (c) to determine the relationship between teacher perception of their work effort as indicated on the organizational health inventory (OHI-E) and the perceived transformational leadership style of the principal; and (d) to investigate the difference in the perceived organizational health of an institution and the leadership capabilities of the principal based upon select categorical variables (age, race, gender, highest degree obtained, years teaching, time in current school). Correlational statistics was used to measure the degree of relationship between the independent variable (principal's transformational leadership style) and dependent variable (school climate).