The relationship between the perception of management and supervisory styles and the perception of job satisfaction and autonomy among frontline social workers in child welfare organization

Human services are becoming increasingly bureaucratic at a time when business and industrial organizations are restructuring their workplaces to compete in the post-industrial era of new technologies and global markets. It is important for human service managers to adapt their leadership styles to ensure that their organizations are able to respond in creative and innovative ways to the complex problems arising from a turbulent, rapidly changing external environment.;This study will examine the relationship between management and supervisory styles and the work attitudes of frontline social workers in child welfare organizations. The researcher hypothesized that democratic, participatory styles would have a positive effect on the frontline social workers' perceptions of job satisfaction and autonomy.;One hundred and fifty questionnaires were sent to frontline social workers in Children's Aid Societies across the Province of Ontario. A total of ninety-two respondents completed the questionnaires. The data indicate that participatory management and supervisory styles are positively and strongly correlated with job satisfaction. Autonomy and management style are not strongly related and the relationship is not statistically significant. There is a slightly stronger relationship between supervisory style and autonomy and the relationship is statistically significant. Management and supervisory styles tend to be similar in the degree to which they are participatory, but where they are different, supervisory style is more participatory.;The most important implication of this study is that human service managers and supervisors should develop participatory, democratic leadership styles. The assumption is made that democratizing human services would foster positive work attitudes in frontline staff and, consequently, enable these organizations to adapt to the challenges of a post-industrial society.