Effects of Leadership Styles on Staff Productivity
Running Head: Impact of Leadership Styles
The Impact of Leadership Styles on Employee Performance
P. Parks Duncan
University of Central Florida
Abstract The need to develop better leadership styles is becoming increasingly important in all organizations. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain if there is a correlation between the supervisor’s leadership style and the employees’ performance, particularly in the law enforcement field. This paper reviews three recent and widely utilized leadership styles: contingency theory, transactional theory, and transformational theory. There is a lack of total agreement in the reviewed literature as to the best leadership style to be used in law enforcement, but transactional theory appears to be more effective than contingency theory. Transformational theory is considered by many to be an improvement to the transactional theory of leadership. There appears to be an ever increasing number of studies supporting the benefits of the transformational theory. In today’s ever changing climate, there are some researchers whose findings suggest the optimal leadership style may be a blend of transactional and transformational theories.
1. Introduction This paper attempts to find a correlation between the supervisor’s leadership style and the employee’s performance, particularly in the law enforcement field. The use of the correct and appropriate leadership style in all fields has long been a topic of discussion and debate by both scholars as well as practitioners. “The desire to develop better leadership styles is becoming a matter of increasing importance in the public sector and especially in law enforcement agencies.” (Bruns & Shuman, 1988, p 145). Police leadership is often not well developed because of the police culture, the law enforcement’s bureaucratic rank and file structure and the civil nature of the job (Densten, 1999). As a result, a variety of theories on different
The Impact of Leadership Styles on Employee Performance
P. Parks Duncan
University of Central Florida
Abstract The need to develop better leadership styles is becoming increasingly important in all organizations. The purpose of this paper is to ascertain if there is a correlation between the supervisor’s leadership style and the employees’ performance, particularly in the law enforcement field. This paper reviews three recent and widely utilized leadership styles: contingency theory, transactional theory, and transformational theory. There is a lack of total agreement in the reviewed literature as to the best leadership style to be used in law enforcement, but transactional theory appears to be more effective than contingency theory. Transformational theory is considered by many to be an improvement to the transactional theory of leadership. There appears to be an ever increasing number of studies supporting the benefits of the transformational theory. In today’s ever changing climate, there are some researchers whose findings suggest the optimal leadership style may be a blend of transactional and transformational theories.
1. Introduction This paper attempts to find a correlation between the supervisor’s leadership style and the employee’s performance, particularly in the law enforcement field. The use of the correct and appropriate leadership style in all fields has long been a topic of discussion and debate by both scholars as well as practitioners. “The desire to develop better leadership styles is becoming a matter of increasing importance in the public sector and especially in law enforcement agencies.” (Bruns & Shuman, 1988, p 145). Police leadership is often not well developed because of the police culture, the law enforcement’s bureaucratic rank and file structure and the civil nature of the job (Densten, 1999). As a result, a variety of theories on different
References: Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectation. New York: Free Press. Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1990). Transformational leadership development: Manual for the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1997). Full range leadership development: Manual for the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Bass, B. M., Avolio, B. J., Jung, D. I., & Berson, Y. (2003). Predicting unit performance by assessing transformational and transactional leadership Blank, Warren, Weitzel, John R., & Green, Stephen G... (1990). A Test of the Situational Leadership Theory. Personnel Psychology, 43(3), 579. Boerner, S., Eisenbeiss, S., & Griesser, D. (2007). Follower behavior and organizational performance: The impact of transformational leaders Bono, J., & Judge, T. (2003). Self-Concordance at Work: Toward Understanding the Motivational Effects of Transformational Leaders Bruns, G., & Shuman, I. (1988). Police managers ' perception of organizational leadership styles. Public Personnel Management, 17(2), 145-157 Bryan, Suzette Plaisance (2002). Cognitive complexity, transformational leadership, and organizational outcomes. Ph.D. dissertation, Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, United States -- Louisiana ABI/INFORM Global.(Publication No. AAT 3049195). Buchanan, K. (2006, September 4). Job Performance and Satisfaction. Retrieved March 2, 2010, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Job-Performance-and-Satisfaction&id=290072 Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row. Butler, John K., Jr., & Reese, Richard M. (1991). Leadership Style and Sales Performance: A Test of the Situational Leadership Model. The Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 11(3), 37. Chan, Donna Suk-Hing (2005). Relationship between generation-responsive leadership behaviors and job satisfaction of generations X and Y professionals. D.M. dissertation, University of Phoenix, United States - Arizona. Retrieved February 13, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Publication No. AAT 3194291). Conger, J. A. (2004). Developing leadership capability: What’s inside the black box. Academy of Management Executive, 18(3), 136-139 Cunningham, J., & MacGregor, J. (2000, December). Trust and the design of work: Complementary constructs in satisfaction and performance 1575-1591. Retrieved October 24, 2004, from EBSCOhost database. Deluga, R., & Souza, J. (1991). The effects of transformational and transactional leadership styles on the influencing behaviour of subordinate police officers Densten, I. L. (1999). Senior Australian law enforcement leadership under examination. Policing and International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 22(1), 45-57 Dobby, J., Anscombe, J., & Tuffin, R. (2004). Police leadership: Expectations and impact. London: Home Office Research. Retrieved from www.csa.com Engel, R Engel, R. S. (2001). Supervisory Styles of Patrol Sergeants and Lieutenants. Journal of Criminal Justice, 29(4), 341–355. Engel, R. S. (2003). Influence of Supervisor Style on Patrol Officer Behavior. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice Engel, Robin S. & Worden, Robert E Worden. (2003). Police officers ' attitudes, behavior, and supervisory influences: An analysis of problem solving*. Criminology, 41(1), 131. Fiedler, F. E. (1967). A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness, New York: McGraw-Hill Goris, J 343. Retrieved November 18, 2004, from EBSCOhost database. Graef, Claude L. (1983). The Situational Leadership Theory: A Critical View. Academy of Management Hersey, P., & Blanchard, K. H. (1977). Management of Organization Behavior: Utilizing Human Resources, 3rd ed House, R. J. (1996). “Path-Goal Theory of Leadership” Lessons, Legacy and a Reformulated Theory”, Leadership Quarterly, Vol 7 No 3, pp 323-352 House, R. J. (1971), A Path-Goal Theory of Leader Effectiveness,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 16 (September), 321-338 Johnson, R. R. (2006). Management influences on officer traffic enforcement productivity. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 8(3), 205-217. Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2007). The leadership challenge (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA US: Jossey- Bass Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2003). Encouraging the heart: A leader’s guide to rewarding and recognizing others Lowe, K., Kroeck, K., & Sivasubramaniam, N. (1996). Effectiveness correlates of transformation and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic review of the MLQ literature Masi, R., & Cooke, R. (2000). Effects of transformational leadership on subordinate motivation, empowering norms, and organizational productivity Murphy, Steven A., Drodge, Edward N. (2004) International Journal of Police Science & Management; Vol 6 Issue 1, p1-15 Ozmen, A. (2009). An analytical study of the impact of the perception of leadership styles on job satisfaction within the Turkish national police based on the Multifactor Leadership Performance. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved February 14, 2010, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/performance Schwarzwald, J., Koslowsky, M., & Agassi, V. (2001). Captain 's leadership type and police officers ' compliance to power bases Silvestri, M. (2007). “Doing” Police Leadership: Enter the “New Smart Macho”. Policing and Society: An International Journal of Research and Policy, 17(1), 38-58 Simmons, B. L., Nelson, D. L., & Neal, L. J. (2001). A comparison of the positive and negative work attitudes of home health care and hospital nurses Management Review, 26(3), 63-74. Retrieved December 20, 2004, from EBSCOhost database. Singer, M., & Singer, A. (2001). Situational constraints on transformational versus transactional leadership behavior, subordinates ' leadership preference, and satisfaction Standing Bear, Zug Galafa. (1986). Police leadership styles: An empirical investigation of the relationships between perceived leader effectiveness and prescriptive leadership Stashevsky, Shmuel & Koslowsky, Meni. (2006). Leadership team cohesiveness and team performance. International Journal of Manpower: Leadership in organizations, 27(1), 63-74. Retrieved February 13, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1073422021). Tan, H. H., & Tan, F. F. (2000, May). Toward the differentiation of trust in supervisor