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An empirical test of a leadership contingency model for teaching behavioural science concepts to managers
Author(s) -
ROSEN NED A.,
GEORGIADES NICHOLAS J.,
McDONALD GAIL
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
journal of occupational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.257
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 2044-8325
pISSN - 0305-8107
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8325.1980.tb00001.x
Subject(s) - operationalization , psychology , situational ethics , contingency theory , test (biology) , personality , argument (complex analysis) , leadership style , situational leadership theory , contingency , process (computing) , applied psychology , mathematics education , social psychology , shared leadership , knowledge management , computer science , epistemology , paleontology , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , biology , operating system
This study tests the assumption that classroom training dynamics characteristic of many management training programmes (in this case concerned with teaching behavioural science concepts) closely parallel leadership‐group process dynamics in organizational settings outside the classroom. Accordingly, a situational leadership model incorporating three categories of variables is proposed and operationalized. The variable categories include: Traditional Instructor Qualifications; the Technological Favourableness of the Teaching Situation for the Instruction; and the Initial Motivational Favourableness of the Training Situation for the Instructor. Data are presented on 39 diverse groups of managers exposed to a specific but not atypical behavioural science training system. A total of 832 managers were involved, of whom approximately 20 per cent were female. The findings support the argument that a situational leadership/influence model may be usefully applied to the teaching processes in the industrial classroom. The findings also indicate that it may not be necessary in all cases to consider instructor differences in style or personality as vital to group effectiveness.