Abstract
A survey was conducted on 303 health administrators of the Los Angeles County Department of Health to determine if a relationship operated between the Health Administrator's: (1) leadership style and role conflict indicators; (2) leadership styles and the demographic variables of gender, age, years in health administration and years in the present position; and (3) role conflict indicators and the demographic variables mentioned. Methodology. The study utilized Fred Fiedler's Least Preferred Co-Worker (LPC) Scale, and Osipow and Spokane's Occupational Role Questionnaire (ORQ). The questionnaires were distributed to the Health Administrators through the U.S. mail with self-addressed return envelopes. The items correlated were: (1) the LPC and ORQ, (2) the LPC and demographic variables and (3) the ORQ and demographic variables. The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to correlate the above variables, with the exception of gender. The relationship between (1) Least Preferred Co-Worker and Gender, (2) and Occupational Role Questionnaire and Gender were calculated by the Point Biserial Correlation Coefficient. In addition to the above, the Spearman Rank Order Correlational Coefficient was used to further examine the findings of the Pearson. Scatter plots were extracted from both the Pearson and the Spearman to show a pattern of scores of the above correlations. The Minitab software program was used to analyze the data. Findings. The results showed a weak correlation between Role Insufficiency (RI) and the Demographic Variable of age (.188) which was confirmed by the Spearman's results of.182. The level of confidence was.10. No other relationships were found among the correlated variables. Conclusions and recommendations. With the exception of the weak correlation between RI and the demographic variable of age, the findings indicated that leadership styles, role conflict indicators and the demographic variables were independent of one another. The recommendations were as follows: (1) A replication of this research project using a different population of health administrators and the same instrument for assessing leadership style and role conflict indicators is needed. A replication would determine if the findings were similar to the present study. (2) This research should also be replicated using the same population with different instruments for assessing leadership style and role conflict indicators. The use of different instruments may increase the likelihood of correlations between the variables. (3) A replication of this research project using both different populations and different instruments for assessing leadership style and role-conflict indicators is also needed. A replication with different populations and instruments may increase the likelihood of correlations between the variables. (4) The LPC and ORQ should not be used as the sole instruments for the selection, promotion, and assignment of employees.