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Keywords Leadership, Behaviour, Management styles
Abstract Several studies have examined the leadership styles and behaviour of managers across hierarchical levels to see whether or not the styles and behaviour are similar. The present study collected data from over 400 managers in tlie UK to research the topic. It found that generally there are significant differences in the leadership styles between senior and first-level managers, but not between senior and middle-level managers or between middle and first-level managers. The study suggests that differences in the leadership styles practised by managers may be blurred in organisations with short chains of command, while it will tend to be pronounced in organisations with long chains of command, other things bang equal Overall, while there was a weak but statistically significant difference between the leadership styles of senior and first-level managers, the differences in their leadership behaviour was statistically strong. The implications of these results are explored.
A great deal of research on leadership has focused on leaders at the upper organisational levels alone. This was because, perhaps, until recently, it was erroneously thought that middle and first-level leaders have significantly less roles to play in contributing to organisational success. However, with new organisational paradigms including decentralisation of decision-making authority to lower organisational levels, the development of leaders across all hierarchical levels has become a desideratum aimed at enhancing organisational success. The sharing of information and the widespread use of teams within organisations also contribute to the development of leaders across different hierarchical levels (Lowe et al., 1996).
The present research examines the leadership styles and behaviour of managers at different levels in UK organisations. It found that there were significantly different delegative practices at each of the three organisational levels analysed. It also found that there were significantly different directive and participative practices between the senior and first-level managers. Overall, there was a weak but statistically significant difference between the leadership styles of senior and first-level managers.
Results from the leadership behaviour dimension suggest that it is only in contingent reward, intellectual stimulation and inspirational motivation that there are significant differences across hierarchical levels in the behaviour of the managers. Differences in transformational leadership were significant between senior and middle-level managers and between senior and first-level managers, but...