Generic behavioural criteria of managerial effectiveness: An empirical and comparative study of UK local government.
Hamlin, Robert G. Serventi, Susan A.
Hamlin, Robert G.
Serventi, Susan A.
Authors
Editors
Other contributors
Affiliation
Epub Date
Issue Date
2008
Submitted date
Alternative
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a “partnership-research” study of effective and ineffective managerial behaviour within the “local government” setting of the Wolverhampton City Council Social Care Department, and to describe how the research supports and challenges the organisation's existing “leadership and management behavioural competency framework”. Additionally, it reveals and discusses the extent to which the results are consistent with equivalent and comparable findings from an equivalent study within a “central government” department. Design/methodology/approach – Concrete examples of effective and ineffective managerial behaviour were collected using the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) of Flanagan, and the obtained data were analysed using content and thematic analytic methods. Findings – The paper finds that from a total of 218 usable critical incidents 50 discrete behavioural items were identified, of which 25 were examples of “effective” and 25 of “ineffective” behaviour. A comparison against equivalent findings from the “central government” study revealed high degrees of overlap with 92 per cent of the “effective” and 96 per cent of the “ineffective” behavioural items being the same as, similar to, or containing some congruence of meaning. Research limitations/implications – Although the number of CIT informants (n=40) falls at the top end of the typical sample range for qualitative research, it is possible that data collection “saturation” has not been reached. Whereas the subject of the present “local government” study was first line and middle managers, the focus of the compared “central government” study also included senior managers. Originality/value – The results of this replica research lend additional empirical support to those who believe in “generic” and “universalistic “ explanations of managerial and leadership effectiveness.
Citation
Journal of European Industrial Training, 32(4): 285-302
Publisher
Research Unit
PubMed ID
PubMed Central ID
Embedded videos
Additional Links
Type
Journal article
Language
en
Description
Series/Report no.
ISSN
03090590