Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-2001

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Human Ecology

Major Professor

Gerald D. Cheek

Committee Members

Robert Hanson, Jackie DeJonge, John Peters

Abstract

The rapid onset and constancy of change in organizations today have created a climate that challenges leaders and followers alike. To complicate matters, there was little evidence to support the need for leaders to demonstrate new and/or different leader traits and leadership competencies, to be successful during major organizational change. The purposes of this study were: (a) to identify the leader traits and leadership competencies necessary for leaders to be successful during major organizational change initiatives; (b) to determine if there were significant differences between the perceptions of leaders and followers on the importance of leader traits and leadership competencies; (c) to determine if there were significant differences between experts, leaders, and followers in their perceptions of the traits and competencies, (d) to determine if there were significant correlations between experts, leaders, and followers' rankings of importance of those traits and competencies, (e) to determine if there were significant differences in the perceptions of importance between healthcare professionals in rural and urban organizations on the necessary leader traits and leadership competencies, (f) to determine if there were significant differences in perceptions of leaders and followers on the importance of the leader traits and leadership competencies when grouped by demographic variables (gender, race, and educational levels), and (g) to determine if there were significant relationships between age, number of years in healthcare, number of years in the current organization, and the number of major changes experienced while working in healthcare, and the levels of perceived importance of leader traits and leadership competencies necessary during organizational change. The study was a descriptive survey research. An extensive review of the literature was conducted to identify leader traits and leadership competencies necessary during organizational change. The identified traits and competencies were validated by a Delphi panel of experts. The 5 leader traits and 17 leadership competencies were validated as necessary for leader success during major organizational change. They were formatted into in a researcher-developed instrument, named the Leadership Trait and Competency Assessment (LTCA). Data for the study were collected from a stratified random sample of 550 healthcare professionals from rural and urban healthcare organizations. The sample included 444 urban participants (123 leaders and 321 followers) and 103 rural participants (17 leaders and 89 followers). A total of 347 completed the questionnaires were returned, which was a return rate of 63 percent. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of each leader trait and leadership competency necessary during change. A Likert scale of 1 to 6 was used. One was the least important and 6 was the most important. Respondents were also asked to provide demographic data. Research data were tabulated and statistical analyses were conducted to test the research hypotheses. The results of the study were:

  1. The LTCA is a valid instrument for assessing the perceived importance of leader traits and leadership competencies during major organizational change. The 5 traits and 17 competencies were perceived to be important by leadership experts and healthcare leaders, and followers.
  2. Healthcare leaders and followers have the same expectations of their leaders during major organizational change.
  3. Experts in the leadership field and healthcare leaders and followers all have the same expectations of their leaders during major organizational change.
  4. Rural and urban healthcare professionals have the same general expectations from their leaders, except for the leader trait "determined."
  5. Females expect their healthcare leaders to have higher standards than their male counterparts.
  6. Healthcare professionals who were of different races and educational levels were in agreement on their perception of the importance of necessary leader traits and leadership competencies.
  7. The age of healthcare professionals, the number of years in healthcare, the number of years in the current organization, and/or the number of major changes experienced while working in healthcare were unrelated to the expectations of leaders during major organizational change.

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