The effect of leadership behaviour on organizational outcomes in a dual command situation

Abstract

This is an empirical study for examining leadership effectiveness in a dual command situation. The study was carried out in the Police Tactical Unit of the Royal Hong Kong Police between 1992 and 1995. In that Unit, police officers are mobilized in units called 'Platoons' which each has two commanders. In the study the behaviours of the Platoon Commanders (n=112) were analysed by using LBDQ (which categorizes the respondent's behaviours into two dimensions, i.e. Initiating Structure and Consideration). Their behaviours so categorised were then used, singly and jointly with their partners, to compare with the performance and organizational commitment of their units. The findings of this study suggested that Initiating Structure had a positive and significant correlation with unit performance, a relationship which became most obvious when only the behaviour of the 'weaker partner' of the two co-leaders were taken into consideration (2-0.64). On the other hand, it was found that Initiating Structure did not seem to have any remarkable correlation with Platoon members' Organizational Commitment, as witnessed by the weak rank correlations found between the two variables ( -0.03 < r <0.12). As to Consideration, it was found to have mild positive correlations with Organizational Commitment of the unit members ( 0.12 < t < 0.32). Unlike Initiating Structure, the 'stronger partner' of the two co-leaders appeared to have a bigger share of influence in this regard. Inconsistent findings were found on the nature of the correlation between Consideration and unit performance ( -0.17 < r < 0.3 1 ), which indicate a need for further research before a firm conclusion can be drawn. The findings of this study also suggested that the two behavioural dimensions were largely independent from each other (-0.13 < r < 0.17), and that unit performance had little rank correlation with members' organizational commitment ( 0.08 < r < 0.09).

Date of Award	14 Mar 1997
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong