Business Managers/Executives/Administrators
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess the front-line leader selection program and determine if there was a need to improve the process of hiring leaders identified as effective through Kouzes and Posner’s exemplary leadership skills.
METHODOLOGY The study focused on front-line leaders hired from May through December 2002 prior to the inception of a front-line leader selection program and those hired in 2003 from January through August with the new program in place. Each participating front-line leader’s direct reports and manager were included in the study, completing the Leadership Practices Inventory Observer. In the pre-selection sample there were 10 leaders, 94 direct reports and 8 managers participating, compared with the post-selection sample of 9 leaders, 76 direct reports and 6 managers. The typical leader was male (80%+), Caucasian (58%+), and with some college education (63%+).
KEY FINDINGS The leadership scores of 2003 front-line leaders (Time 2) were all higher than those of their counterparts in 2002 (Time 1), and statistically significant for Model and Challenge. Leadership scores were not significantly correlated with years of experience and level of education. Managers’ scores tended to be higher for the front-line leaders than those provided by their direct reports; significantly so for Model, Inspire and Challenge.
The findings showed that the 2003 sample, who had participated in a comprehensive selection program that included cognitive testing, personality testing and structured interviewing, were perceived as more effective in using the five leadership practices on-the-job than their counterparts hired the previous year (before the new program was implemented).
The author recommends that “a leadership development curriculum can be instituted with the exemplary leadership skills as the underlying tenets for front-line leaders first year” (p. 127).