A POLICY-CAPTURING APPROACH TO EXAMINE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ATTITUDES AND LEADERSHIP STYLE

The purpose of this study was to obtain more understanding of the relational qualities of leadership in military organizations by using a policy-capturing approach. The issue was the introduction of the innate dispositions of an actor and the demands of the situation at work. A survey instrument was administered to 326 Army leaders located throughout the United States. Analysis shows that the leaders could be classified either as developmental or punitive. Further, the leaders handled the same standard problems with significantly different solutions. Policy capturing seems a conceptually meaningful methodology to explain the process of leadership in specific organizational settings.