Exploring differences in leadership styles: A study of manager tasks, follower characteristics, and task environments in Korean human service organizations

This study was designed to analyze the leadership style of managers in Korean Public Human Service Organizations (PHSOs) in terms of the leadership continuum developed by Tannenbaum and Schmidt (1973). Its purposes were to explore whether or not there is a difference in leadership styles between human services and administrative work and, if there is, to examine whether or not their leadership styles are adaptive to the follower’s characteristics and task environment. Results showed that the leadership style of administrative managers is significantly different from that of human service managers. However, the leadership style was not changed in accordance with follower characteristics and task environment. This result indicates either one of the following interpretations; (1) that follower characteristics and task environments cannot be counted as an independent variable of the leadership process, or (2) that the leaders in Korean PHSOs have not yet been transformed into situational leaders.