THE RELATIONSHIP OF LEADERSHIP STYLES AND SELECTED SITUATIONAL VARIABLES TO THE QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AT AN AUTOMOBILE PLANT

The purpose of this study was to investigate situational variables in the work place that have the most impact on the quality of work life (QWL). The study focused on the relationship between leadership style, four selected situational variables (span of control, task complexity, time urgency, information control), and their impact on QWL of employees in an automobile plant.;Three instruments were used to gather the data: (1) The SITUATIONAL VARIABLES SURVEY designed by the researcher; (2) The STYLE OF LEADERSHIP SURVEY by Hall and Williams; and (3) The PROFILE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS by Rensis Likert.;The data collected from these instruments were used to test the four hypotheses. Various statistical tests were conducted to determine relationships between production and non-production work groups, and between leadership style, the selected situational variables, and quality of work life.;Three of the four hypotheses were rejected resulting in the following findings and conclusions: (1) Production managers were more people oriented in their leadership style than the non-production managers. They were also focal points for the QWL efforts which perhaps account for the differences in leadership style. (2) A relationship could not be predicted between leadership style as measured by the STYLE OF LEADERSHIP SURVEY and the PROFILE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS sub-score of leadership. It appears that one instrument measured leadership style (SLS) while the other measured leadership behavior (POC). (3) Time urgency and information control were significantly related to the measure of quality of work life indicating that work groups facing time deadlines with fewer opportunities for sharing information still had higher POC scores than did their counterparts.;Specific hypotheses were developed to guide the research. These were: (1) There are no significant differences between production and non-production work groups in leadership styles, situational variables, or quality of work life. (2) There is no significant relationship between leadership style of the manager and quality of work life for the work group members. (3) There is no significant relationship between selected situational variables and the quality of work life. (4) There is no significant relationship between any of the selected situational variables and the leadership style of the manager.