Teachers’ Multiple Roles and Skill Flexibility: Effects on Work Attitudes

Abstract

This study investigated the mediating effect of teachers'skill flexibility (the mastery and utilization of various skills) on the relationship between holding multiple roles (extrateaching school roles) and work attitudes (burnout, tendency to quit, and organizational commitment). In this study, skill flexibility was composed of three components: skill utilization, skill variety, and multiskilling orientation. SEM path analysis revealed that skill utilization mediated the effect of holding multiple roles on all three work attitudes, and skill variety mediated the effect of holding multiple roles on burnout. Multiskilling orientation added little explanation to the final model. Skill flexibility components also mediated the effects of demographic variables (age, education, nationality, and school size) on all three work attitudes. These results contribute to the conceptualization of skill flexibility, which has been relatively underresearched in the organizational literature. Implications for teachers' work design are discussed.Oneofthemostnotedchallengestoorganizationsinrecentyearshasbeen how to adjust to the rapid pace of change. Environmental changes in consumer tastes and demands, legal requirements, demographic mobility, technological development, and economic fluctuations all call for constant organizational learning and adjustment in order to survive. In educational systems, schools are continuously undergoing changes in areas such as learning technology, social integration, and organizational structures (Levin, 1993). To help schools adjust to such changes, teachers often take on new roles and need to constantly acquire and utilize new skills-in short, to be 684

Work Redesign that Works for Teachers

“…Most studies show an overall positive affective result from mentoring (Smylie, 1997). Those findings are consistent with other research that shows that performing nonteaching duties in school increases skill flexibility and skill utilization and, in turn, better work attitudes for teachers (Rosenblatt, 2001). At the same time, though, mentoring newer teachers can lead to stress and overload (Bird & Little, 1983;Evertson, Wade, & Smithey, 1993).…”

“…Although theory would predict that changing job characteristics-perhaps by attaining a higher rung on the career ladderwould make employees happier and increase their desire to stay in the organization, it is difficult to summarize its impact in schools based on previous research. According to Rosenblatt (2001), Israeli teachers who have jobs with high skill variety and who utilize these skills report a lower tendency to quit than other teachers. But two studies of American career ladder districts, where skill flexibility and utilization should be high, provided no firm answers on the issue of retention.…”

A Review of Empirical Evidence About School Size Effects: A Policy Perspective

“…Instead, they wished to be able to offer the broad curriculum associated with large, comprehensive high schools. Lee and her colleagues (2000) as well as Rosenblatt (2001) associated smaller schools with higher levels of teacher commitment and sense of responsibility for student learning.…”

Distributed Leadership as Work Redesign: Retrofitting the Job Characteristics Model

“…Studies demonstrate the power of "enriched work" (i.e., work that shares the core job characteristics of the JCM). For example, teachers who assume nonteaching duties, and therefore have higher skill variety, tend to have better attitudes about their jobs (Rosenblatt, 2001). 74 D. Mayrowetz, J. Murphy, K. S. Louis, and M. A. Smylie With work redesign efforts in schools though (e.g., career ladders, the creation of formal mentor positions, teaming, and participative decision making) most studies are unable to detect considerable spillover from positive emotions to improved performance.…”