An Examination of Leadership Styles and the Effect it has on Job Performance in Local Government

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this research study was to examine if the leadership behaviors of local government supervisors had any consequences on the job performance of their subordinates.

METHODOLOGY
The sample consisted of nine managers from the City of Chicago’s Fire Department and the Department of Family Support Services Contract Unit and 85 of their direct reports. The former completed the Self version of the Leadership Practices Inventory while the latter group completed the Observer version. All respondents were males.

KEY FINDINGS
Managers reported engaging most frequently in Enable, followed by Model, Encourage, Challenge, and Inspire; and this rank order was consistent with the perspective of their direct reports. While the average scores of managers were higher than those of their direct reports, none of these differences reached statistical significance levels.