Toulouse School of Graduate Studies

Electronic Document Project

Ronald W. Newsom, Major Professor
J. Lynn Johnson, Minor Professor
John Paul Eddy

Are there differences in leadership styles among occupational therapy clinic administrators and program directors in professional and technical education programs? This study investigated transformational and transactional leadership behaviors and effectiveness as measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) Form 5x-Short behaviors and demographic characteristics of leaders and their organizations using a questionnaire designed by the researcher. MLQ Leader Forms were received from 50 clinic administrators randomly selected from the membership list of the Administration and Management Special Interest Section (AMSIS) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), 56 professional program directors, and 41 technical program directors from accredited occupational therapy education programs in the United States, for a total of 147 leader respondents. Rater forms were received from 2 to 5 occupational therapy staff or faculty per leader and average scores calculated. More than 86% of leader respondents were female and white.  Major findings indicate that administrative positions indifferent institutional contexts relate to leadership behaviors and effectiveness. Technical education program directors and clinic administrators scored higher on transformational behaviors and effectiveness than professional education program directors. Consistent with other research on leadership, the self-ratings of leaders were higher than ratings of subordinates. The data indicated statistically significant positive correlations between transformational leadership behaviors and perceived effectiveness, a frequent finding in the literature. With the exception of Contingent Reward (CR), all transactional behaviors had a negative correlation with effectiveness. No significant relationships were found between transformational behaviors and leader’s gender or ethnicity, but males scored higher than females on the transactional behavior Management by Exception-Passive (MEP) and Laissez-Faire (LF). Some transformational behaviors were related to the leader’s age and years of experience in academia, but relationships were not linear. Highest level of education was related to leadership effectiveness. No significant relationships were found between leadership behaviors and demographic characteristics of the institution (e.g. size, public or private). Differences in leadership styles among the three groups of leaders may be attributed to differences in organizational culture and raises additional research questions on transformational leadership and measures of effectiveness in the university culture. The findings suggest the need for education and training in transformational leadership during this era of rapid change in occupational therapy practice and education.

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