Analysis of the administrative mentality of school administrators according to Webers types of power

Abstract

Keywords: Power; legitimacy; sources of power; Weber.

Introduction

School organizations are traditionalist and conservative in Turkey. They contain a hierarchical structure in which the authority and responsibility of all individuals including administrators and officers are identified clearly (Yılmaz & Beycioğlu, 2017). In this hierarchical structure, school administrators tend to use various sources of power to improve the organisational performance of its employees. Administration, which was started to be studied as a science discipline the late 19th century, used to be described as the ability of making employees work by using authority and power. However, new administration approaches emphasize the importance of motivating employees for work by focusing on the performance improvement in human resources and increase in efficiency (Eren, 2005). Therefore, the administrative skills expected from an administrator and the sources of power an administrator can use have also been affected by this new approach. The act of power used by managers is defined by Weber (2013) as follows: “Power (Macht) is the potential of an individual in a social relationship to realize his will despite the resistance of others” (p.40). Administrators affect their subordinates by using various sources of power and steer the individuals to the desired acts that will realize the objectives of the organization (Toytok & Uçar, 2018). Weber (2013) divided the sources of power that help administrators establish authority over their subordinates into three: rational power, traditional power, and charismatic power. School administrators use certain sources of power to achieve the goals of the school organisation. It is possible to see various employee behaviors depending on the source of power school administrators choose to practice. This use of power constitutes the structure of the relationship between the administrator and the teachers (Aslanargun & Bozkurt, 2012). The way the power is perceived by teachers may create a positive or a negative effect in the school environment (Demirel, 2012; Diş & Ayık, 2016; Koşar & Çalık, 2011; Özdemir, 2003). Hence, the sources of power practiced by school administrators have great importance on school environment and teacher behaviors. It can be seen in the recent studies that school administrators have started to use different sources of power in addition to the ones defined by Weber and the focus has shifted

to the behaviors resulting from the use of these sources of power (Biçer&Koç, 2019; Bozan&Bozan, 2023; Çakır, 2022; Liljenberg & Wrethander, 2023; Steele, Steiner & Hamilton, 2021). For example, Yılmaz and Altınkurt (2012) conducted a study with teachers and concluded that one third of teachers’ job satisfaction depends on the sources of power exercised by school administrators. It has also been identified that the relationship between the power of reward used by school administrators and the school environment has a high average, whereas the relationship between the use of coercive sources of power and the school environment is very low (Diş & Ayık, 2016). Özcenay (2017) conducted a study with teachers and school administrators and found that the most preferred power type of administrators was legal power. Toytok and Uçar (2018) stated that the inability of school administrators to use power resources is related to the emergence of perceptions and behaviours related to depression in teachers. Therefore, they emphasized that using the sources of power in the right time and with the right methods has a supportive role in ensure that the school organisation achieves its goals. It can also be seen that different power groupings have been made based on the sources of power defined by Weber (French, Raven & Cartwright, 1959; Yukl & Chavez, 2002). In literature, there have been studies about the concepts related to the use of power sources in school organizations such as organizational silence and motivation (Deviren, 2019), organizational commitment (Bağcı & Bursalı, 2011), organizational citizenship behavior (Çınar & Özen, 2019; Karaman, Yücel & Dönder, 2008; Uzun, 2019), organizational cynicism (Acaray, 2018; Balay, Kaya & Cülha, 2013), organization environment (Ayık & Diş, 2016, Koşar & Çalık, 2011) and job satisfaction (Yılmaz & Altınkurt, 2012). What makes this study different from the ones mentioned above is that the sources of power used by school administrators will be examined closely within the scope of Weber’s typology of power. The purpose of this study is to determine the power sources used by school administrators to ensure legitimacy in the context of Weber’s power types. The data obtained for this purpose will contribute to the literature in terms of revealing the use and effects of Weber’s power sources by educational administrators in educational organizations. It is considered that the results

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obtained from this study will benefit school administrators as the users of the power sources in school organizations, teachers as the ones affected by the power sources, central organization officers who conduct controls and inspections of the power sources used in school organizations, and various educational environments. Power in Terms of Administration Humans have a constant desire to dominate and control things and events around them (Özcenay, 2017). Power is a notion emerging in different forms in the relationships created by social life throughout history (Bağcı & Bursalı, 2011). The questions of why there is power between people or why some have more power than others have been ongoing matters of debate from the times of Marx (1930) to today (Bayraktaroğlu, 2000). According to Russell (1972), ‘power’ is one of the main notions of human and social sciences, just like ‘energy’ is one of the main notions of physical science. According to Scott (2001), power is a type of social relationship between an employee and an administrator. In other words, power is the skill of making someone act in a desired way (Koşar, 2012). Aydın (2014) described power as the skill of enforcement Individual A has power over individual B to the extent that individual A can control individual B’s reinforcement. In this case, the presence of other people is of great importance for the effectiveness of power. The notion of power, which has an enormous importance in a social environment, has no importance when individuals have it on their own (Şakar, 2013). The importance of the power an individual has can only be understood in situations where s/he interacts with other individuals (Uzun, 2019). Power is very important for administrative activities in terms of managing the employees and getting work done in the desired time and in the desired way (Karaman, 1999). In this sense, organizations need the use of power. Administrators can only use the power they have efficiently and productively when they understand it wholly and completely (Koşar & Çalık, 2011). According to Weber (2013), power generally brings about coercivity and it is seen in places such as prisons where strict control is required. The duty of school principals as administrators is not only managing the school by confining themselves to maintaining obedience to the rules of legal texts (Arslantaş & Özkan, 2012). The principals also have many formal and informal duties such as enhancing the school environment, maintaining an efficient communication environment, and creating a reasonable intramural disciplinary system (Çelikten, 2004; Gürbüz, Erdem & Yıldırım, 2013). Considering that school principals should also be school leaders, it can be said that they need to be strong to fulfil their responsibilities and the expectations of others (Özcenay, 2017). Sources of Power The notion of power is used to determine the borders of different forces existing in daily life (Bayraktar, 2000).

Considering that school principals are the most powerful ones in school organizations, the power sources they use are tried to be determined.The power school principals are expected to have does not come into existence on its own or extraordinarily. Arslanargun (2009) expressed that there are various sources for power to come into existence and researchers group these sources in different ways. French, Raven, and Cartwright (1959) defined five types of power sources. These are the power of reward, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power, and expert power. After this classification, Raven (1992) divided sources of power into six groups as power of reward, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power, expert power, and informational power. Yukl (2002) divided it into legitimate power, power of reward, coercive power, expert power, referent power, informational power, and ecological power. However, the differentiation in the groupings results from giving different names to the sources carrying the same features. Sources of power state the basis of the power. For example, if we consider an incident in which a traffic police officer stops a vehicle exceeding the speed limit, there are many sources of power such as the position of the police, the authority that the position gives to the police, sources of communication created in various channels, etc. One can look for the answer to the question ‘Where is the power obtained from?’ to detect the use of the sources of power. From where people obtain the power they have can be explained by the basis of power. To detect the basis of power, one can ask the question ‘Which tools are used to affect the people around me?’ Mintzberg (1983) remarked that there are four main sources of power and organizational life is controlled by these sources (Akt. Hoy & Miskel, 2010). “These sources are authority system, ideology system, expertise system, and policy system” (Baydemir, 2016, p.17). While it is the authority system that contributes to the realization of the formal objectives detected for the organization, it is the ideological system that realizes the informal objectives emerging on its own in the organization. The expertise system expresses the control of the behavior related to the profession aimed by employees individually. Lastly, the policy system is a narrow-minded and discriminative power system that is not seen as legitimate in the organization. Robins (1994) examined the sources of power in four groups: personal features, expertise, position, and the opportunity to access and control the information. Wagner and Hollenbeck (1995) divided sources of power into five by adding ‘social relationships’ to the sources of power defined by Robins. Schermerhorn (2000) remarked that power consists of special and identifiable sources. He examined these sources under two main groups as position and personality. The power of position consists of sources based on organization. Yet, the power of personality depends on individual sources. Kemikkıran (2015) expresses that power and status should be separated in that matter. She argues that the

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power emerges from the existing sources, whereas status is given to individuals by others. When we look at the body of literature, we can see that there are many power definitions and power basis groupings (French & Raven, 1959; Robins, 1994; Yukl, 2002; Weber, 2013). According to Robins (1994), the basis of power is composed of ‘rewarding, punishing, information and persuasion’. Yukl (2002) examined the basis of power under two groups as position-based and individual-based. He identified legitimate power, rewarding power, and coercive power as position-based power while identifying expertise power and power of similarity under individual-based power groups. When we examine the studies above, the notion of power that has been analyzed as a sanction on individuals and groups throughout history is based upon various sources depending on traditions, power obtained by status, and personal features of an individual. Weber also did some research on the sources of power like the ones aforementioned. According to Weber who analyzes administration theory not as an organization but as a social structure (Bursalıoğlu, 2003), there are types of power that originate depending on the power that is used. According to Özcenay (2012), while power is exclusive to the individual, authority is exclusive to position. Hence, the notion of authority is narrower than power. “Authority is the ability to affect people, whereas power is in expressing the skill” (Kılıçlar, Kızanlıklı & Koç, 2016, p.11). Weber divided the basis of authority that enables administrators to keep their subordinates under control by using the sources of power into three: “rational basis, traditional basis, and charismatic basis” (p.48). The grouping made by Weber with the basis of power is adopted in this study. Legal authority (rational basis) is a type of authority based on power. It is a type of authority that is not individual, that is defined by rules and that is expected to be abided by in the case of legitimate dominance. It is based upon the opinion that the ones who have the sovereignty according to the determined rules have the right to command. This authority, also known as rational authority, is based on a democratic logic, and a means-ends relationship. Weber (2013) used these words to express that legal authority is equal for all individuals regardless of their positions in the organization and it is conducted with the same rules: “A typical authority owner has their own bureau/office. In their actions related to their position including the orders they give; they are dependent on an impersonal order, and they conduct their activities within the rules they set and the orders they give. This is not only valid for ‘officials’ who perform the legitimate authority, but it is valid even for an elected president” (p.50). In this respect, in organizations where legal authority is dominant and practiced in the right way, there are no individualistic inequalities and the problem of favoritism. The rules are set, they cannot be changed for specific situations and specific individuals. Traditional authority (traditional basis) is based on the holiness of the traditional values that has been believed

since ancient times and on the accepted belief in power owners’ legitimacy. In traditional authority, the power owner needs to be abided by according to the traditions (Kılıçlar, Kızanlıklı & Koç, 2016). Traditional authority owners grow out of the beliefs of the people who received a mutual education. The authority owner is a ‘master’ in an individual sense, instead of ‘a superordinate or a chief ’. In the traditional authority administration, which is devoid of democratic principles and equality, the freedom that is valid for administrators is not valid for all members of the society. Weber explained the relationships in the traditional authority that is based on a traditional basis as such: “Their administrative officials are not their ‘employees’, but their personal servants. The ones that are administered are not ‘the members of the society’, but the authority owner’s ‘traditional friends’ or ‘subjects’. The thing that identifies the relationship between administrative officials and the administrator is not the impersonal obligations of the official, but their personal commitment to the administrator” (p.70). According to the Weberian view, apart from forming a historical period, the power of charisma is also an effective factor as a historical totality (Ekşi, 2010). Charismatic authority is based on the different or exemplary features the authority owner has, the exceptional holiness s/he has, or the belief in the holiness of the rules set by the authority owner. In this type of authority, the power is limited to the affected individuals’ commitment or belief in the charismatic authority owner (Kılıçlar, Kızanlıklı & Koç, 2016). It does not matter whether the activities carried out with the charismatic authority have ethical and aesthetic values or whether they are compatible with other aspects. It is sufficient for the people around to accept and obey the charismatic authority without the need for different support. Weber explained the approaches toward the person known as the charismatic authority owner as such: “In primitive conditions, this special form of respect is shown to prophets, to the ones famous for their treating skills or legal wisdom, to hunting leaders and war heroes. Most of the time, the charismatic person is thought to have a magical power” (p.84). Being in an administrative position, school principals should be the ones to increase the motivation of their subordinates to get the highest efficiency, to manage and steer them in the right way, and to reach the organization to its objectives. Power is one of the important needs of an organization for survival (Uzun, 2019). There is a linear relationship between the administration and the use of power from a holistic view. Therefore, school principals as administrators should aim to increase the success of the organization and the performance of the employees (teachers) by using more than one source of power. The sources of power used by the administrators in organizations and their frequency have an undeniable effect on the organization’s environment (Ayık & Diş, 2016; Koşar & Çalık, 2011). Hence, the source of power used by the principal as school

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administrator carries an important role in the school’s efficiency and productivity. What school principals should do is to make the teachers they administer act in accordance with the objectives of the organization by using the sources of power correctly and effectively. With this duty, school principals steer the individuals in the school organization towards performing the acts that are expected from them by using the existing sources of power. In sum, various sources of power identified by many researchers are explained under three groups by Weber: traditional, legal, and charismatic authorities. Particularly, the charismatic authority put forward by Weber has a great contribution to the literature. The first type to be discussed by Weber is legal-rational authority. It is a type of authority depending on legitimacy, official rules that are generally written, and complex and permanent laws of the state. The power of rational-legal authority was defined in the Constitution. Modern societies depend on legal-rational authorities. Government officials are the best example of this worldwide common type of authority. The second type of authority, which is traditional authority, stems from rooted traditions, habits, and social structures. In the traditional authority, the power is transferred from one generation to the other. Hereditary emperors can be an obvious example of this type of authority. The third type of authority is charismatic authority. The charisma of an individual or a leader plays a vital role in this type of authority. Charismatic authority depends on a higher power, or an inspiration request supported by the followers of the leader. The existence of the charismatic authority has endangered the implementation of traditional and legal authorities. This study aims to detect which of Weber’s sources of power are used by school administrators in administration activities and what positive and negative results they encounter due to the sources of power they use.

Method

The Research Design This study was conducted using the qualitative approach. The phenomenological model, which is one of the qualitative research approaches, was used in this study. Creswell

(2016) defined phenomenological research as such: “It defines the mutual meanings of some people’s experiences on a phenomenon or notion” (p.77). The phenomenology model was used because the participants of the research have different years of seniority and this model helps detect the mutual and different perceptions these different groups have on existing notions. In the study that aims to examine the sources of power school principals use according to their administration understandings, the phenomenology model was preferred to bring about the mutual and similar experience cases that will be deduced from the opinions of the participants (Merleau-Pont, 1981). Participants of the Research Participants of this research were determined by the criterion sampling method, which is one of the purposeful sampling methods. Criterion sampling is used for determining the cases meeting specific criteria (Baltacı, 2018). Principals of schools located in populous cities such as Amsterdam, Chicago, and Istanbul differ in their seniority as principals. This diversity brings along discipline problems in schools and the need for the use of power (Demirtaş, 2010; İnce, 2011). Criterion determined for this research is the years of management seniority of the principals. When body of literature is examined, there are differences in teachers’ behaviors, expectations and aims in accordance with their career phases (Bakioğlu & Korumaz, 2014; Karaevli & Levent, 2014). However, it is an unknown area how career phases (years of seniority) of school principals affect their administration processes and the sources of power they use in their administration processes. In order to meet the objective of this research, the interviews were held with 7 school principals working in public schools in İstanbul with different years of seniority. When the expressions in the interviews started to be repeated, the interviews are completed presuming that it fulfilled its objective. Code names and information of the participants are as below: Participants of the research consist of seven school principals. Three of the participants serve in primary schools, two of them serve in secondary schools and two of them serve in upper secondary schools. Participants’ period of duty in the schools they are currently working range from four months to six years.

Table1. Demographic Features of the Sampling Participant/ Code

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Ethics Considerations In this research, ethical principles were taken into consideration to increase the accuracy of the data. Interviews were recorded with the permission of the participants. While transcribing the interviews, the real names of the participants were not mentioned in order to protect the confidentiality of the participants. Before the interview, the participants signed a consent form declaring their voluntariness and permission to use their interviews within the scope of this research. After the transcription of the audio-recorded interviews, the participants’ consent was obtained. Ethical principles were taken into consideration to increase the accuracy of the data. Data Collection Tools and Process Meetings were held face-to-face with the participants for this study. The main aim of this meeting technique is to discover the experiences of the individuals and to learn their perception of these experiences (Türnüklü, 2000). Semi-structured meeting questions were used in the interviews. The reason why semi-structured interview questions were preferred is that some questions were standardized, and some had a more independent expression structure. It is a technique that is convenient for qualitative research philosophy as it enables the researcher the freedom to ask participants new questions if needed during the interview. While preparing the interview questions, a relevant body of literature was examined and other studies about the subject were scanned. A pool of questions was composed with the proper questions for the main goal and sub-goals of the research. No irrelevant questions were used. Expert opinions were consulted for the draft questions determined as suggested by Gallete (2013) for semi-structured interviews and it was checked whether the questions were appropriate for the purpose. A pilot interview was held with a school principal with the questions that were determined by receiving expert opinions. After the pilot interview, semi-structured interview questions were addressed to the participants. It was aimed to reach in-depth data related to the notion of power as a result of the interviews. The interviews were recorded by a tape recorder with the authorization of the participants. The interviews were held in each participant’s official office that are in the schools they work in to prevent the interviews from being artifical and the participants from feeling uncomfortable. The interviews were held during the hours chosen by the participants; so that they would not have time concerns. Credibility, transmissibility, and repeatability were tried to be provided in order to increase the validity and trustworthiness of the qualitative research. During the analysis of the interview questions that were determined by more expert opinions, unclear expressions were clarified to the participants. By this means, it was tried to associate the data and the research questions in the right way. In order to increase transmissibility, the codes, categories and themes constituted in the data analysis were identified clearly and some sample expressions were

included. As Saldana suggested (2011), the obtained data were stored to ensure the reproducibility of the qualitative research. The Analysis of the Data The interviews that were recorded by a tape recorder were transcribed and read carefully. In the analysis of the transcribed data, the content analysis method was used. Content analysis is a type of analysis that aims to determine the existence and the density of the concepts and words in a specific text or texts. Content analysis method is frequently used in the research carried out in the field of social sciences (Büyüköztürk et al., 2013). New codes were created by focusing on the similar and repeated words/concepts by using content analysis on the transcribed interviews. With these codes, categories and themes were determined.

Findings

As a result of the interviews conducted within the scope of this research, three themes were identified: Compulsory union, voluntary union, and repressive tradition. Theme 1: Compulsory Union Six categories were identified under this theme. These categories are compulsory volunteering, infusing by force, passive sanction, investigation, discipline, and helicopter parents. Compulsory volunteering is a category where opinions related to the threatening factor of punishments, rewards, class schedules, hall monitoring, initiative, and legal power are brought together. The power methods used in the content of this category can be expressed as the ways to make individuals act in a desired way by specific intermediary methods without using any direct sanctions. The category of infusing by force contains the importance of discipline, rules, and legal power. These written bureaucratic tools that supply power to the principals are used to infuse the required acts into individuals by force. The passive sanction category points out the limits and problems of the legal power principals have. In this category, the existence of a sanction is accepted. However, it is stated that the sanction remains passive in a way that will not be a result-oriented problem-solver. In the Investigation category, the authority of principals to open an investigation and what happens during the investigation process are explained. Under the discipline category, the processes related to the power and discipline practices containing the disciplinary regulations and implementations principals have on students are explained. The category of helicopter parents highlights that parents continuously monitor their children even from a distance and that family support gives the principal power over students. The reason why the concept of helicopter parents is used is that parents generally watch and maintain control from a distance, instead of following every step of their children too closely.

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For example, Ozan, one of the participants, stated his opinions about the category of compulsory volunteering below: … Actually, it is obvious that principals or district directors of national education have legal power over teachers in making them fulfill the duties they do not want to do. There are two types of teachers. The first group wants flexible working hours; they want to go home as immediately as possible. Yet, the second group aims at promotions. As I said, class schedules and hall monitoring are more important for the first type of teachers, while the teachers in the other group find punitive practices and control mechanisms more important. Because a teacher who got punished cannot take office as an administrator in five years and five years is a very long time. … As can be understood from the statements of Ozan, it is possible to infuse school rules into teachers by force with various factors such as class schedule, list of hall monitoring, punitive sanctions according to teachers’ expectations, and make them abide by the rules as if they are willing to do so. However, Kadir is one of the participants emphasizing the threat perception this situation can create on teachers. He explained the insufficiency of the legal power sources principals have, the problems it creates, and the negative effects of legal sanction processes as such: … So, what does happen when teachers do not perform the task they were given? This is the biggest problem. We have no sanction, no legal power. We can only start a 2-year binding investigation process for not performing the required task. This process has a negative effect on the whole school environment. Our experience in the position prevents us from applying to that solution. We try to persuade our teachers until they do what they are required; at least until they clearly show that they are not performing their tasks. … As can be understood from Kadir’s statements, the legal power sources principals have been seen as a negative and destructive element by teachers. Even the possibility of the usage of this legal power affects the school environment negatively. It was repeated many times by the participants that the investigation process that is not desired by teachers and school principals and the use of legal power is also undesired by higher authorities. Likewise, Muhammed stated his opinions about the categories of compulsory volunteering and passive sanction as such: … I have problems even when I use legal force or show the possibility of using legal force. We find it easier to solve a problem by persuasion method. The fact that we have legal power affects the teachers negatively. As I make the decisions related to the class schedules, hall monitoring, permissions etc., the teachers feel the compulsory need to get along well with me. … Ozan expressed his striking opinions on this matter: … Higher authorities expect us to solve the problems instead of creating them. This is not something we are officially notified by a written statement; but this is the thought implied to us. These sanctions are required occasionally.

Sometimes we ask ourselves why these people entrench on our rights and then walk away. But then we have to muddle along. There is this misunderstanding that we always have to tolerate people. We sometimes feel that this is not the state policy anymore. Moreover, after you use your legal power, people will think about you as if ‘You could not solve the problem, you could not manage it and penalised the teacher’. This is not a desired situation. Therefore, we generally try to find a solution to the problems with traditional and conversational methods. … When we look at these statements used in the interviews, we can see that the effects and results of the use of legal power in schools are strong. Besides the aforementioned issues related to the use of legal power, most of the participants emphasized the importance of legal power. Burak, one of the school principals, expressed his opinions about the importance and necessity of rules in the education system under the infusing by force category: … It is not good to be too well-disposed. I have not changed; I am still the same. However, some events teach you not to be too well-intentioned. Sometimes, you see that it does you harm. Sometimes, you have to completely abide by the rules. When I first started, I did not think about these too much. But now, I pay attention to making everything legitimate. When I first started, I used to focus more on human relations and humanity. Now I pay closer attention to the laws, regulations, minutes, and rules. I think people have different perceptions of well-disposed behaviors and it is good to switch to the legal side. I can tell you one of the 4-5 incidents I remember. … As can be understood from the expressions above, there are various consequences of the sanction practices school principals will enforce on teachers and students with the power sources they have. The unity of personnel that is desired to be created based on the official sources and authorities brings about negative results and reactions. The use or the possibility of use of these power sources results in prejudice towards the administration and reluctant participation by teachers. Within the compulsory union theme that is similar to the legal authority defined in Weber’s sources of power, these legal sources of power are used directly or indirectly. Theme Two: Voluntary Union Three categories were identified under this theme: organizational relations, corporate share, and voluntary association. Within the organizational relations category, there are the factors of trust in the administration, communication, and belonging that are determined to increase the will and motivation to work in teachers and administrators. Under the corporate share category, there are the behaviors that enable teachers to take an active role in the administration processes, namely envolvement in the decision process, cooperation, and transfer of authority. Lastly, factors that are detected to have a unifying effect on teachers and administrators, such as the culture of the institution, school

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environment, mutual objectives, transparency, and efficiency are identified under the voluntary association category within these themes. For example, our participants Selim and Kadir respectively emphasized the importance of the behaviors expressed in the organizational relations category with these words: … But what will we do? As educators, we will take every action of people into consideration. We will be transparent. People clearly see whether what you do is positive or negative. Trust is very important for our profession. It is important to be loved by others. There is an adjustment phase in every institution. In our jobs, you have close relations with the public. People can see what you do or what you do not. Trust is very important. … Remarking that the acts aiming to create a common share and a positive environment at school also increase the voluntary union of teachers, Burak and Emre shared their opinions on the matter respectively as such: … As the school principal, I set goals here. That is the reason why this school could manage to reach where it is today. We set goals at the meetings we have at the beginning of the year, and we achieve them. Teachers participate in this process as well. We also include parents. As can be understood from the examples of the participants, creating various common values and environments in school, and including teachers and other shareholders in the decision-making processes where necessary and relevant have a positive effect on the efficiency, as they increase the will and the motivation of the employees. By this means, school principals can make the teachers and other employees act in the desired way via communication method without the necessity of using legal sanctions against them. It shows that school principals can have administrative power without using legal methods or without any intermediary. Theme Three: Repressive Tradition Two categories were identified under this theme: external dependence and workload. The political pressure and the pressure of complaint school principals are exposed to during administration processes are explained in the external dependence category. Under the workload category, there are various tasks school principals are obliged to do besides their administrative responsibilities. Participants are very uncomfortable with the normalization of the external oppression that tries to largely affect the administration process and the behaviors of administrators. Loading school principals with tasks such as reparation, maintenance, expenditure, and personnel besides their legal responsibilities is described as duty pressure as well. One of the participants, Ahmet, expressed his discomfort arising from the external oppressions under the external dependence category: … It is a huge problem that political relations have a strong impact on schools. Particularly in recent years, we have started to encounter this a lot. For example, we receive too many phone calls and too much pressure from the political

side for the 1st-grade students each year. We make the student selection in front of the parents transparently to reduce the pressure. … Many participants complaining about the parent pressure along with the political pressure under the external dependence category made statements similar to the ones of Burak: … We do not generally encounter big problems in this school. We sometimes have small problems and the most important reason for these problems is parents. Parents think that they can interfere with the functioning in school. They believe that they can achieve this by complaints. It didn’t used to be like this.. They think that everything they see on social media can be a matter of complaint. We have a problem with the parents regarding this issue. … Participants strongly criticized the excessive interference of parents in the administration systems and their perception of taking this interference for granted. They emphasized that it became a tradition and transformed from a school-based problem into a systematic one. Ozan, one of the participants, used these words in the workload category to explain that school principals have many other tasks along with their legal responsibilities and they fall outside the education process while taking care of the other tasks: … While working as a teacher, you cannot look at the issues with this approach. That’s why I tell my colleagues that everyone should be an administrator for at least a year. As an administrator, you have to take care of all the problems of the school such as reparation, maintenance, accounting, personnel recruitment and even finding a teacher. Hence, it prevents you from finding time to get close to the students and teachers. Before I became an administrator, I did not care about the problems of school like I do now. But if I were a teacher now, I would go and ask the administrator if there is anything I can help. Because administration is extremely challenging. … As can be understood from the statements of the participants, school principals have many other external problems along with the ones in school. As they have to take care of many issues that are out of their job definitions such as reparation, maintenance, finance, etc., they cannot spare enough time for their main tasks. These problems expressed by the participants became traditional problems of public schools and got normalized. The traditionalized problems that stem from external pressures are explained in the repressive tradition theme as a power element that school principals are exposed to. The power resources that school principals will use to implement their own decisions in management processes have a negative and diminishing effect on their potential. When the obtained findings are summarized, we can reach three main themes following the interviews: compulsory union, voluntary union, and repressive tradition. Under the compulsory union theme, compulsory volunteering, infusing by force, passive sanction, investigation,

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discipline, and helicopter parents themes are reached. The sources of power school principals obtain by means of their status are identified under this theme. Under the second theme, which is voluntary union, organizational relations, corporate share, and voluntary association are the categories that are reached. Within this theme, the human relations that are developed during the administrative and educational processes in schools and the positive feelings towards the organizations provide school principals the power to make teachers comply with their administrative requests without the necessity of following legal procedures. As the last theme, external dependence, and workload categories were reached under the repressive tradition theme. Within this theme, it was concluded that pressuressuch as political oppression, parent pressure, and the intense workload of various tasks in school such as reparation and maintenance repress school principals’ free will to decide on administrative activities. Hence, various external forces are included in the decision processes in schools.

Conclusion, Discussions And Suggestions

The main purpose of this study is to examine the types of power used by school administrators according to Weber’s power types. For this purpose, the types of power preferred by school administrators and the organizational effects of these power types were revealed. In this study where we examined the power sources used by school administrators, three types of power sources were identified. The types of sanction used by school administrators during administration processes are called ‘compulsory union, voluntary union, and repressive tradition’. Individuals come together and compose an obligation-based group with the aim of protecting their interests. Weber (2017) defined the concept of ‘compulsory union’ as such: “Institution (Anstalt) is an organization whose provisions of regulation are valid for anyone who engages in activities in a certain way according to certain criteria within the boundaries of a specific activity area” (p. 35). Based on this definition of Weber, it is stated in this study that individuals are held together by the concept of compulsory union by means of their obligations. In the education system where teaching is an occupational group, the compulsory union is formed in the cases where individuals within this system are bound by sanctions outside their will and this union puts power pressure on individuals in various ways. The objectives of the institution are realized with this power. Legal power is the primary power used in schools to maintain authority and sanction (Şimşek, 2005). As the feeling of obligation caused by the legal power practiced in organizational sanctions decreases individuals’ trust and commitment to the organizations, it creates a negative environment (Hoffman, Hartl, Gangl, Tiefenthaler & Kirchler, 2017). It aims to create problem-free teachers with the power of compulsory sanctions that vary depending on the teachers’ wishes and expectations. This situation is in

line with the results of the study by Yılmaz and Beycioğlu (2017) which stated that the clear determination of the legal authorities and responsibilities of the managers is more preferred because it prevents the problems that may occur during the process in a definite way. The administrators who administrate based on the authority they get from legal power generally use a commanding tone. They try to force teachers to adopt desired behaviours. However, it causes communication problems between the administration and teachers at school (Kaygın, 2020; Sorm & Günbayi, 2018). Administrators have many legal authorities such as class schedules, lists of hall monitoring, and the right of initiative for the tasks and obligations that are not fulfilled even with the commanding discourse. The use of these authorities as a threat risk that negatively affects the working conditions of teachers decreases efficiency and teachers’ commitment to school (Karakaş, 2020). The fact that administrators make teachers work with power elements based on threat sources negatively affects school culture as well as many organizational cultures. This result obtained in the study supports the result of Toytok and Uçar in 2018. According to UNESCO, administrators’ misuse of legal powers both demoralizes employees and damages the working relations (2015). It was determined that school administrators who tend to use legal power also use methods of avoidance and competition that require low communication during a conflict. This has a negative effect in terms of organizational relations and the organization environment (Riasi & Asadzadeh, 2016). This result supports Aslanargun and Bozkurt’s (2012) idea that the use of legal power by educational administrators creates the relationship structure between administrators and teachers and moves it in a negative direction. In school administration, the trump cards that are used to pull the teachers’ strings are class schedules for some teachers and a clean resume for others. Following the interviews, it was found out that school principals sometimes make the teachers fulfill their tasks with the power of sanction. For example, the principal who has a say in the preparation of class schedules and lists of hall monitoring may use this right to impose sanctions on teachers. It leads to the compulsory union of teachers. The fact that principals have the authority powers such as initiative, permission, reward, and punitive sanctions makes teachers compulsory volunteers. Teachers who know the power of the administrators cannot oppose them. Because they know that the teachers who oppose their administrators will most probably have bad class schedules, will not get permission when they want, and all legal sanctions will be used against them. Consequently, the teacher will have to leave the school as s/he will not have peace in their working environment anymore. However, a new school means uncertainty, and the teachers who are content with the school they work in do not want that. Besides compulsory union, there are mutual connections that keep individuals together. Weber (2017) describes the union individuals form willingly as such:

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“Voluntary union, association (Verein), is an institution that was established by agreement and whose provisions of regulation are binding only for those who participate with their free will” (p. 35). Johnson and Scollay (2001) emphasized that the positive attitudes of school administrators affect the school climate positively by stating that relational concepts such as belonging, collaborative decision-making, and communication are the factors that connect individuals in the organization and provide corporate sharing. It is expected that the administrators who show the features of effective leadership gain the trust of teachers. The principals are the rule-makers of the game that is played at school, the teachers are the players who abide by the rules (Pena, Raczynski & Weinstein, 2018). The existence of an administrative approach that supports the relational life at school has a positive effect on the school environment by creating a trusting relationship both among teachers and between teachers and the administration. The fact that the type of power perceived by teachers positively affects the school climate if it does not oppress them or create insecurity and if it is fed by a voluntary organizational culture and team spirit supports the situation revealed in the literature (Demirel, 2012; Diş & Ayık, 2016; Koşar & Çalık, 2011; Özdemir, 2003). Therefore, the construction of the values that will create a voluntary union between all shareholders in the school depends on the administrative style of the administrator. To minimize the psychological and actional distance between teachers and administrators, there are various tools such as communication, trust, participation in the decision-making process, mutual objectives, etc. (Khomsen, Karsten & Oort, 2016). It has been found in some recent studies that when all individuals participate in the administrative and decision-making processes by means of specific actions such as transfer of authority, it increases organizational efficiency (Bilton, Jackson & Hymer, 2017; Hoffman & İndjejikian, 2018; Lu & Hallinger, 2017). Moreover, it is possible to achieve success and efficiency even in schools with limited resources in disadvantageous areas by means of an effective administration. To construct a collective identity structure and consciousness is one of the most effective elements of this success. It is up to the school principal as the organization leader to create a mutual cultural structure (Bellei, Morawietz, Valenzuela & Vanni, 2019). The transparency between the individuals working in the same place supports the feeling of trust and increases organizational efficiency by creating feelings of belonging and eagerness in the work (Buell, Kim & Tsag, 2016). Just like all the obligatory sanctions that have a negative effect on the administrative processes and environment of the school, maintaining positive corporate shares is in direct proportionate to the school principal’s effort. Surely, educational organizations which include many shareholders are affected by both in-school and out-of-school factors. For example, many formal and informal groups such as family, environment, unions, and political groups affect the functioning of the school deliberately or unintentionally.

This effect gets traditionalized and normalized in the system after a while. It creates a repressive tradition that affects the administrators in the education system. As a result of the research, it was observed that principals are frequently exposed to these illegal sanctions, and it has many negative effects. There are external and internal factors that are identified as repressive traditions. Political pressure and the complaint pressure created by parents are described as external factors; whereas school principals’ obligation to undertake many tasks that are not officially specified is labeled as an internal pressure factor. The notion of helicopter parenting which is frequently discussed in recent studies reveals itself at this point. The act of helicopter parenting which describes excessive participation, control, and interference of the parents has both positive and negative effects on the education system (Hong & Cui, 2020). As family features and structure affect the school structure (Mugendawala & Muijs, 2019), this concept corresponds to the excessive interference of parents with school particularly in Türkiye. The excessive interference of parents is described as a big pressure on the administrative processes by school principals. As a result, some principals think that parents administer the school. Similarly, the political pressure on the decisions that will be taken in school by administrators is perceived as an external pressure that destroys objectivity and equality in the administrative processes. The administrators who try to resist this are likely to be concerned about their work safety. School principals who are busy with their responsibilities in school along with these external pressures (Xiao & Newton, 2020) cannot be involved in educational processes sufficiently. This situation that gets normalized in the education system causes school principals to be isolated from the processes in school and from the shareholders. Besides weakening organizational relation, it is perceived as a normalized source of internal pressure that affects organizational sanctions. According to the data obtained from the study, the suggestions below are put forward for the shareholders of education (parents, educational administrators, school principals, deputy principals, and teachers in central or provincial organizations) and political groups: 1. School administrators should try to create a school environment where there is mutual volunteering including all shareholders instead of maintaining the order in the administrative processes by means of legal and obligatory sanctions.

2. Administrators such as school principals and deputy

principals who have active roles in the school administration processes should develop positive relations with the teachers and other education shareholders or use the method of persuasion by means of people who have positive relations instead of using legal power for various decisions and obligations. 3. School administrators should not allow parents to intervene in the administration in an uncontrolled manner

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and as administrators should take a strong stance against parental pressure that has a negative impact on school climate. At this point, higher authorities should support the decisions and practices of school principals.

4. School principals should not be obliged to take care of

the tasks that are not within their work descriptions except administrative tasks. Ethics: This study was approved by Yıldız Technical University Academic Ethics Committee (Approval Number: 2020/4, Date: 19.06.2020). Peer-review: Externally peer-reviewed. Conflict of Interest: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to Financial Disclosure: The authors declared that this study has received no financial support. Etik: Bu çalışma, Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi Akademik Etik Kurulu tarafından onaylanmıştır (Onay Numarası: 2020/4, Tarih: 19.06.2020). . Hakem Değerlendirmesi: Dış bağımsız. Çıkar Çatışması: Yazarlar, bu makalenin araştırılması, yazarlığı ve/veya yayınlanması ile ilgili olarak herhangi bir potansiyel çıkar çatışması beyan etmemiştir. Finansal Destek: Yazarlar bu çalışma için finansal destek almadığını beyan etmiştir.

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