| Summary: | Includes bibliographical references (pages [304]-311). Effective leadership skills and interpersonal communication competencies are vital to accomplish the many job responsibilities that principals face as school leaders. This study addressed the relationship between specific leadership skills and interpersonal communication competencies principals need to carry out their everyday jobs. This study was quantitative in research design and addressed the following research questions: (a) What is the comparison of various demographic subgroups' self-ratings of their leadership skills? (b) What is the comparison of the various demographic subgroups' self-ratings of their communication competencies? (c) What is the relationship between specific interpersonal communication competencies as described by Spitzberg and specific leadership skills as described by Kouzes and Posner? (d) What are the constructs that underlie effective leadership and communication for principals? A self-administered survey was sent to a random sample of public school principals in five collar counties of Illinois. This survey consisted of a demographic form, the Leadership Practices Inventory, and the Conversational Skills Rating Scale. A total of 121 responses was received. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data including use of t tests, an analysis of variance (ANOVA), the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, and factor analysis. The data showed that there were significant differences based on gender and age of the principals in the responses to the LPI and the CSRS. There were many questions on the LPI, measuring leadership skills, and the CSRS, measuring communication competencies, that correlated highly, indicating a relationship between the questions and the instruments. The initial factor analysis conducted on the LPI and the CSRS together reduced the number of items from 60 to 15 which accounted for 74.993% of all of the variability among these 60 items. School districts and university administrators who prepare future school leaders need to develop training for principals that incorporate theory and application experiences that address the seven construct areas found to be significant in this study. More research should be conducted to analyze why female principals self-assessed themselves higher in both leadership skills and interpersonal communication competencies than male principals did and to determine if this could impact the job performance of principals. Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)
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