Leadership Approaches in Public Owned Industrial Organisations: Evidence from a Developing Country

This paper aims to examine the styles of leadership as practiced and desired by the management personnel within publicly owned industrial organisations in the developing country of Bangladesh. Sixty management personnel were systematically selected from three distinct manufacturing organisations for the study. Following a review of pertinent literature, a behavioural scientist assisted in the development of a questionnaire that included twenty forced-choice items. Analysis of the data was conducted using SPSS software. The findings show that perceived control in decision-making by the management personnel was much far from ideal. In the decision-making areas, such as, departmental policy making in connection with subordinates’ work, determination of the techniques and methods of the department, job assignment to subordinates, participation in subordinates’ activity, and maintenance of discipline, they had virtually little influence. They had to act in accordance with the systems and procedures laid down by the company. They, of course, desired much influence in decision-making in all the areas.