What do effective managerial leaders really do? Using qualitative methodological pluralism and analytical triangulation to explore everyday ‘managerial effectiveness’ and ‘managerial coaching effectiveness.

Abstract

The present study analyses the qualitative research methodologies used for several 'emic' case-study explorations of managerial behaviours that we have carried out independently within various UK and US public, corporate/private and voluntary sector organisations. These results have subsequently been used for a collaborative cross-cultural 'etic' study. The aim of each 'emic' study was to identify either the criteria and/or behavioural indicators/categories of 'managerial and leadership effectiveness', or of 'managerial coaching effectiveness'. The aim of our collaborative cross-cultural 'etic' study was to search for evidence of commonalities and relative generalisations between the findings of our respective 'emic' studies and, if possible, synthesise a 'unified perspective' from the 'multiple realities' identified. The main conclusion of the present article is that research designs embracing 'qualitative methodological pluralism' and 'rigorous analytical triangulation' can result in meaningful generalised findings, and these can lead to the production of 'general knowledge' and 'management theory'.