The effect of context upon leadership behavior

This research does not present a new theory, but uses some of the existing theories to get a better understanding of Leadership behaviour as affected by the situational context. Leadership research at the present time assumes that leadership style is primarily dependent upon the state of readiness of the followers. The authors believe that there is a contextual aspect and that the style, knowledge and training of the leader should vary with the manufacturing situation. The research methodology includes a literature review and analysis of case studies published in the literature. Analysis of published case studies has identified themes, for detailed study: leadership personality issues, perceptions that people in the internal and external environments have about the leader, power and control. This has led to further investigation of the concepts of situational strength (strong and weak situations), Attribution theory, and Jungian personality types. The development of the model has taken into account these concepts and presents a working model of leadership behaviour affected by the presence of a strong or weak situation, attributions flowing to the leader and the leaders Jungian type. The model is being validated with the help of a structured questionnaire sent out to leaders in manufacturing firms in the UK. The research provides a new insight into leadership behaviour as a result of the dynamics of the different concepts studied and the manufacturing context.