Date of Award

4-1992

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychological typologies and leadership behaviors related to participative management of first-line supervisors in a plant of a large automotive company. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI, Myers & McCaulley, 1985) was used as a measure of psychological typologies. The Group Environment Scale (GES, Moos, 1974) was used as a measure of leadership behaviors. The population was 113 first-line supervisors; complete data were obtained for 76 supervisors (67%).

Hypotheses were formulated upon the expectation that GES mean scores would differ depending upon MBTI personality type. Twelve directional hypotheses were investigated using four MBTI functions-- sensing with thinking (ST), sensing with feeling (SF), in tuition with feeling (NF), and in tuition with thinking (NT)— as the independent variable; mean GES scores on the relationship dimension, personal growth dimension, and system maintenance and system change dimension were dependent variables.

The functions of the MBTI from this group of supervisors were compared to the GES dimensions using chi square and a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Demographic data were also compared to the MBTI and GES using a two-way analysis of variance, and no findings were significant (p = .01).

The first-line supervisors in this study were similar to other comparable populations for which normative data on the MBTI are available. The only major exception was the low number of NFs, which represented 2.5% of the population rather than the expected range of from 8% to 18%.

The mean scores for supervisors on the GES were comparable to the normative data available on this instrument. Supervisors in this population, based upon their perception of their leadership behaviors , were very similar to other leaders of groups.

The findings of this study do not support the existence of a meaningful relationship between personality type and participative leader behaviors. Despite these findings this relationship may merit further investigation. A flaw in this study was the lack of an adequate number of NFs to permit statistical analysis. Future studies should control for this omission.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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