Consequences of Interpersonal Relationships between Teaching Assistants and Supervising Faculty

Abstract

This study investigated how teaching assistants' relationships with their supervising instructors affect their ratings of role satisfaction and effectiveness. Teaching assistants' most positive and negative experiences with faculty varied on the basis of the instructor's style of authority. Instructors who provided the most positive experiences were rated highly by assistants and classified as democratic or permissive. Their most negative experiences were associated with instructors whom the teaching assistants perceived as highly demanding, i.e., authoritarian. Ratings of satisfaction and effectiveness were significantly associated with judgments of instructors who were classified as showing a democratic style of authority.