Page Title

The Influence of Perceptions if Organizational Structure & Culture on Leadership Role Requirements: The Moderating Impact of Locus of Control & Self-Monitoring

May 30, 2007

"This study tests propositions made in Shivers-Blackwell (2004) that managers' perceptions of organizational context influence their utilization of transactional and transformational leadership behaviors. This study also recognizes personality as a moderator variable in the relationship between managerial interpretations of organizational context and perceived role requirements.

Extant research suggests that organic structures tend to be more effective in unpredictable environments; because these structures permit rapid organizational responses to changing external forces, while mechanistic structures are better suited to more stable environments where immediate organizational responses are not usually required (Covin & Slevin, 1989; Burns & Stalker, 1961; Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967). Subsequently, it is expected that organic structures will be more effective for organizations operating in unpredictable or even hostile environments, and mechanistic structures would be more effective in predictable and more stable environments.

Hypothesis 1: The more a manager interprets structure as organic, the more likely the manager is to interpret transformational role leadership requirements, and the less likely he/she is to interpret transactional leadership role requirements.

Hypothesis 2A: The more a manager interprets culture as transactional, the more likely the manager is to interpret transactional leadership role requirements, and the less likely he/she is to interpret transformational leadership role requirements.

Hypothesis 2B: "The more a manager interprets culture as transformational, the more likely the manager is to interpret transformational leadership role requirements, and the less likely he/she is to interpret transactional leadership role requirements.

Hypothesis 3A: The relationship between interpretations of structure and perceived leadership role requirements will be stronger when self-monitoring is high rather than low.

Hypothesis 3B: The relationship between interpretations of culture and perceived leadership role requirements will be stronger when self-monitoring is high rather than low.

Hypothesis 4A: The relationship between interpretations of structure and perceived leadership role requirements will be stronger when locus of control is external rather than internal.

Hypothesis 4B: The relationship between interpretations of culture and perceived leadership role requirements will be stronger when locus of control is external rather than internal.

This study was conducted in a Fortune 500 company in the technology industry (N=118) that had many of the structural characteristics of an organic organization and in a large public university (N=132) that had many of the structural characteristics of a mechanistic organization both organizations are located in the Midwest. Structural organizational characteristics suggested by House (1991) and used in the Atwater (1995) study considered relevant to the organic-mechanistic distinction were formalization, task specialization, standardization, and status stratification. These structural variables were used in the interview process in order to gather managerial interpretations of structural characteristics.

Two-hundred and fifty (25) managerial surveys were mailed. The response rate for the Fortune 500 managers was 78% (n=92) and for the university managers was 71% (n=94). The overall response rate was 74% (n=186).

Data collection was conducted at two points in time in order to reduce the effects of common method variance. At time 1, managers completed questionnaires asking them to provide information concerning interpretations of their department's structure and culture. At time 2, approximately two weeks after the time 1 data collection, managers completed questionnaires asking them to provide information concerning their interpreted leadership role requirements and locus of control and self-monitoring beliefs.

Khandwalla (1976/77) developed the instrument for assessing managers' perception of the organization and department structure as either mechanistic or organic. The seven-item scale asked managers to indicate on a seven-point Likert Scale the extent to which each item characterized the structure of their organization and department. Items included whether or not the department had: (1) highly structured versus open channels of communication; (2) a strong insistence of a uniform managerial style versus managers' operating styles are allowed to range freely from very formal to very informal; and (3) a strong emphasis on getting line and staff personnel to adhere closely to formal job descriptions versus a strong tendency to let the requirements of the situation and the individuals personality, define the proper job behavior.

Managers completed Bass and Avolio's (1991) 28-item Organizational Description Questionnaire (ODQ). Fourteen items deal with transactional elements in the culture's assumptions, processes and expectations. Responses were measured on a five-point Likert scale. A higher score indicated perceptions of a more transformational culture.

Interpretations of required leader behavior were operationalized as the degree to which managers believed that their work environment influenced the way that they carried out their roles. Managers' expectations of their role requirements wee based on the Form 5X of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) (Bass & Avolio, 1995). Thirty-two descriptive statements asked managers to judge the extent to which they are expected to engage in transactional and transformational leadership behaviors.

Self-monitoring was measured with 13-items taken from Lennox and Wolfe's (1984) scale. Responses were measured on a five-point Likert scale. Higher scores indicated high self-monitoring. Locus of control was measured with 12-items taken from the Rotter's (1966) scale and Kren's (1992) locus of control scale. Based on a Likert scale, higher scores indicated external locus of control.

Results indicate that hypothesis 1 was partially supported. Hypotheses 2A and 2B were also partially supported. Hypotheses 3A and 3B were not supported. Hypotheses 4A and 4B were partially supported.

This research has made several contributions. First, it is an empirical test of and provides partial support for Yukl's (1989) model of leader behavior determinants, the role of episode model (Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, & Snoek, 1964), and Burns and Stalker's (1961) mechanistic-organic structural distinction. Second, this work addresses the role of managers' psychological context by bringing attention to the antecedents of interpretations of transformational and transactional leadership role requirements. The findings also have a number of organizational implications. First, this line of research seems to suggest that locus of control impacts leadership role requirements through its interactions with psychological context. This finding has implications for influencing managerial interpretations of context through re/designing elements of the organization's inner context (i.e., job characteristics).

The aim of this research was to introduce self-monitoring and locus of control as moderators in the relationship between leader's interpretations of organizational structure and culture and their perceived transformational and transactional leadership role requirements. The study provides additional insight into why managers may behave differently in similar organizations and within similar jobs (Shivers-Blackwell, 2006, p. 27-49)."

Reference: Shivers-Blackwell, S. (2006). The Influence of Perceptions if Organizational Structure & Culture on Leadership Role Requirements: The Moderating Impact of Locus of Control & Self-Monitoring. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, Vol. 12, No. 4.

The Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies is available on loan from the Ohio State University Leadership Center. To borrow this resource or any other resource please go to the resource search page http://164.107.48.88/winnebago/index.asp?lib=???

If this is the first time you have borrowed resources from the OSU Leadership Center, please contact us at 614-292-3114 and we will register you in our library system. Once you have been added to the system, you may request resources via the website.

Learn how the Ohio State University Leadership Center is strengthening tomorrow's leaders today at <http://leadershipcenter.osu.edu/>

Back to Top >

Created: 2007-08-28, Updated: 2008-12-28