Abstract
A survey was conducted of 495 United States Air Force (USAF) commanding officers and 1,205 of their subordinates using Leadership Behavior Analysis II surveys. The purpose of the study was three fold: (1) to determine the leadership styles, and leadership style flexibility and effectiveness of USAF commanding officers as perceived by the officers and their subordinates; (2) to determine if there were significant differences in perceptions of leadership style, flexibility and effectiveness between the officers and subordinates; (3) to determine if differences in perceptions varied with the officers' demographic variables of rank, education level, highest level of Professional Military Education (PME) course completed, the method of instruction for PME or source of commission. The study employed descriptive and ex post facto research methods. Frequencies, Chi-Square Tests of Difference, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Two-Way ANOVAs and Kolmogorov-Smirnov Tests of Difference were used to compute significant differences between the officers' and subordinates' perceptions. The study found that both groups agreed that the officers had one primary leadership style (S3-Participating), one secondary style (S2-Selling) and two developmental styles of (S4-Delegating, S1-Telling). There were significant differences in the groups' perceptions with subordinates indicating a lower degree of agreement with the officers. The officers' leadership style flexibility was perceived by both groups as being moderately flexible with no significant difference in perceptions. The officers' leadership style effectiveness was perceived by both groups to be moderate to highly effective. There was a significant difference in perceptions with the subordinates indicating a lower degree of agreement with the officers. None of the significant differences in the study could be attributed to the officers' demographic variables. Results show that USAF officers overrely on one leadership style of S3 with a secondary style of S2. This supports previous research which indicated that USAF officers use high supportive leadership behaviors. Results suggest that USAF commanding officers may not recognize situations which call for different leadership styles or they may not possess the skills to apply appropriate leadership behaviors in situations requiring a higher degree of delegation or directive behaviors.