Explaining the Psychological Competency Criterions of School Principals and Determine Causal Relationships Between, them based on the Combination of Fuzzy Delphi (FD) and Fuzzy Dematel (FD) Methods in Isfahan Education Organization

Schools are faced with a variety of new challenges in the modern era. Cultural and socioeconomic developments, the increasing costs of financing schools, poorly-motivated teachers, the increasing harms caused by students’ free access to information and communication technologies and students’ inadequate academic motivation are issues that stress the important mission of the principal as the main element involved in realizing educational objectives. Given emerging paradigms such as increased school autonomy and the need for accountability, the school leadership is globally considered one of the main aspects contributing to the progress of schools. Attention to school principals’ managerial competencies and their development is an inescapable necessity, and failure to address these competencies in selecting principals leads to the loss of enormous financial and human resources as well as the dissatisfaction of the teachers and parents. The definitions of competency can be summarized in three groups. The first group refers to visible functions that focus on the results or completion of tasks, and specific functions have therefore been defined as competencies that form the basis for the individual’s performance evaluation, supervision and judgement. The second group regards competencies as quality standards for the individual's performance output and associates competencies with workplace efficiency or productivity. Competency is thus defined as visible standards or performances within the organizational context. The third group defines competencies as inherent personal attributes such as knowledge, skills and tendencies to perform competently. However, in recent decades, there has been a growing consensus in the field of human resources that introduces managerial competency as the set of related knowledge, ability, skills, and other characteristics. Other research results show that the concept of managerial competency that includes knowledge and skills, along with other characteristics, such as attitude, behaviors, work habits, abilities, and personality traits, is more widely supported Research

The present study was conducted to explain the psychological competencies of the school principal and determine the causal relationships between them by combining the Delphi and Dematel fuzzy methods. The present research is an applied study in terms of objective and nature, since its results can be directly used by the education system to identify, evaluate and select competent individuals for the role of school principal, and since there is little knowledge about the phenomenon under study, i.e. management competencies in the education system. The goal is to collect data as they are, and the quantitative part of the study makes it a descriptive research in terms of data collection. The qualitative part of the study is based on the grounded theory method and provides the foundation of knowledge required for modeling. Since the initial data are collected and thematized through interviews, and the FD questionnaire is developed and implemented according to these themes, the present research is considered a mixed study (quantitative and qualitative). Since the interviews were initially held to develop a competency measurement tool (questionnaire), and supplementary data are only then collected using the questionnaire, the study is considered exploratory in design. A competency model should be consistent with the philosophical principles governing the society, the national and organizational culture and the strategic objectives of the school, and provide the bases for its key functions, processes and activities. The review of literature and the assessment of various theories showed Boyatzis’ theory (2008) as the most suitable for classifying school principals’ competencies. First, according to the research literature, the main criteria were extracted and the pre-model was developed. To determine the sub-criteria and modify the pre-model, a sample of 25 experts from universities across the country were selected by the Network Sampling method, semi-structured interviews were conducted, and 26 sub-criteria were determined. For secondary screening and the implementation of the sub-criteria, a questionnaire with Likert scale was prepared. A sample of 150 school principals was selected based on the targeted sampling method and the questionnaire was provided to them. The results of the questionnaire, using the Delphi technique and fuzzy approach, were analyzed and a hierarchical structure related to the psychological competency criteria including 10 sub-criteria was developed. Finally, eight experts from the university were be asked to use the Fuzzy Dematel Questionnaire and the causal relationships between the sub criteria of psychological competence were determined.

The research data were analyzed in MAXQDA, SPSS, EXCEL and AMOS. By studying the literature a number of subsidiary criteria for each major criterion were extracted, with regards to transparency in the subsidiary criteria of competency, the ability to measure and assess, the ability to transform into behavioral indices, the non-overlapping between the sub-criteria and the attention to the cultural. The results showed that variables of accountability, critique, self-control, decision-making skills, self-esteem and flexibility, are causality and job satisfaction, creative thinking, positive thinking, and systemic thinking are effect  Variables. Managers often overlook these competencies, perhaps due to the false belief that personal skills are inherent and cannot be changed. Some of these skills are inherent, but most can be changed and learnt. Psychological competency accompany people in both their work life and private life and act as a steppingstone for the emergence and development and considerable improvement of other competencies. This study presented a smart yet simple model based on human thoughts. Within the framework of a reliable theory of managerial competency and using an acceptable and scientific approach with the fuzzy logic, the present study provided a new method of presenting criteria for the selection of a competent manager. This model was also designed according to the theoretical principles of management science and the views of academic experts as well as the experiences of education experts to fill the gap between the experience and the science of education management. Each academic research faces barriers and limitations, and the current research is no exception. Fuzzy logic is a method that is not created for more than a few decades. The birth and formation of this method was in the industry and its penetration in human science studies has occurred with a delay. The lack of consensus and the agreement of professionals and experts in fuzzy logic in some fields and the lack of impressive number of researches carried out in this way in educational sciences has been one of the most important limitations of this research. It is possible to add the unfamiliarity of the subjects to the questionnaires used in this method.