Date Awarded

1987

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of teamwork factors to perceived success of interagency collaboration.;Administrators (n = 375) of eight governmental service agencies, state and local, serving handicapped children, ages birth through twenty-one (21), in Virginia responded to the researcher's mailed survey. The survey instrument was validated with 20 graduate students and 4 national experts in interagency collaboration. A telephone follow-up on certain items in the survey with 26 randomly selected respondees resulted in a significant reliability coefficient (Spearman Correlation Coefficient of .9307). The survey collected, in addition to certain demographic data, information on the perceptions of agency personnel regarding successful interagency collaboration and the perceived existence of teamwork factors. Multiple correlation and regression was used to produce a linear combination of independent variables (perceived existence of teamwork factors) which correlated (p < .05) with the dependent variable (perceived level of success in interagency collaboration).;The major findings of this study were: (1) administrators perceived that teamwork factors make a significant contribution toward success in interagency collaboration, yet, it is their perception that these teamwork factors are not as evident in their interagency contacts with other agency personnel. (2) A relationship did exist between the perceptions of agency personnel as to the level of success in interagency collaboration and their corresponding perception as to the level of existence of teamwork factors; (3) Top and low level personnel within agencies did agree on the perceived level of success in interagency collaboration; (4) There was substantial agreement between the agencies on the perceived level of contribution each teamwork factor makes toward successful interagency collaboration; (5) Problem-solving ability and communication appear to be the two teamwork factors which best predicted the level of perceived success of interagency collaboration; (6) Trust appeared as a factor which differentiated between certain agencies as well as between state and local agency personnel. Local agency personnel did not identify trust as being as important as the other four factors, while three agencies did not view it as important; (7) Local level agency personnel did not identify leadership as being as important as the other four factors.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25774/w4-s5s2-za21

Rights

© The Author

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