Fostering Psychological Safety in Teachers: The Role of School Leadership, Team Effectiveness & Organizational Culture

Abstract

Psychological Safety is one of the most important conditions for team learning and has also been tied to improved organizational outcomes. The present study is an attempt to explore the influence of school leadership's task and relations-oriented behavior, leadership styles and the schools 'organizational culture on teachers' psychological safety. The study further analyzed the moderating role of team effectiveness on the relationship between leadership behavior and psychological safety. A survey was conducted using questionnaires gathering data from 600 secondary school teachers from 46 private schools, from urban Islamabad, Pakistan. The findings indicated a strong association between the leadership task-oriented and relation-oriented behavior and the teachers' psychological safety with team effectiveness as a significant moderator as well as a predictor of psychological safety. Further analysis showed that a collaborative and cultivating school culture has higher levels of teachers' psychological safety. Therefore, school administration should consciously develop a collaborative and innovation-oriented school culture and disseminate it through Team Leadership style which is oriented towards the teachers as well as the achievement of organizational goals. The theoretical contribution of this research is examining the construct of psychological safety amongst school teachers in relation to antecedents at organization and team level. Further analysis showed that a collaborative and cultivating school culture has higher levels of teachers' psychological safety. Therefore, school administration should consciously develop a collaborative and innovation-oriented school culture and disseminate it through Team Leadership style which is oriented towards the teachers as well as the achievement of organizational goals. The theoretical contribution of this research is examining the construct of psychological safety amongst school teachers in relation to antecedents at organization and team level. Further analysis showed that a collaborative and cultivating school culture has higher levels of teachers' psychological safety. Therefore, school administration should consciously develop a collaborative and innovation-oriented school culture and disseminate it through Team Leadership style which is oriented towards the teachers as well as the achievement of organizational goals. The theoretical contribution of this research is examining the construct of psychological safety amongst school teachers in relation to antecedents at organization and team level. school administration should consciously develop a collaborative and innovation-oriented school culture and disseminate it through Team Leadership style which is oriented towards the teachers as well as the achievement of organizational goals. The theoretical contribution of this research is examining the construct of psychological safety amongst school teachers in relation to antecedents at organization and team level. school administration should consciously develop a collaborative and innovation-oriented school culture and disseminate it through Team Leadership style which is oriented towards the teachers as well as the achievement of organizational goals. The theoretical contribution of this research is examining the construct of psychological safety amongst school teachers in relation to antecedents at organization and team level.

Keywords

• psychological safety
• school leadership
• organizational culture