Abstract
The university professor’s power position requires the professor to provide a high degree of structure, or task orientation, in courses taught according to the literature on leadership effectiveness. Goal clarity theory suggests that the structure will then be self-motivating, which in turn reinforces the professor’s power position. It would follow that students’ high effectiveness ratings for personalized system of instruction (psi) programs could be an artifact of the structuring of the course that the method requires. Different configurations of three courses (N = 252) were used in a complex quasi-experimental design. Courses were taught by traditional lecture, with full program PSI, and traditional lecture with the high-PSI structuring only. Highly structured traditional lecture courses matched the complete PSI programs of instruction in achieving higher effectiveness ratings than those given to traditional lecture courses. If students’ ratings of course effectiveness are the sole criterion of teaching effectiveness used by administrators, professors would be wise to structure their courses carefully and thoroughly. Results were significant beyond the.01 level.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Fiedler, F. E. A theory of leadership effectiveness. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
Fiedler, F. E. Validation and extension of the contingency model of leadership effectiveness: A review of empirical findings. Psychological Bulletin, 1971, 76, 128–148.
Fiedler, F. E. The contingency model: A reply to Ashour. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1973, 9, 356–368.
Latham, G. P., & Yukl, G. A. A review of research on the application of goal setting in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 1975, 18, 824–845.
Ryan, B. A. PSI: Keller’s personalized system of instruction: An appraisal Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association, 1974.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This study was partially supported by Grant 7251 to Dr. Allen J. Schuh from the Office of New Program Development and Evaluation, California State University and Colleges.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schuh, A.J. Variations in lecturer task orientation and student perceptions of course effectiveness. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 11, 193–194 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336805
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336805