Leadership performance of nursing supervisors at two organizational levels.

The relations of leadership style and behavior to work group performance and subordinate job satisfaction have been investigated for 22 first-level and eight second-level nursing supervisors in a Veterans Administration Hospital of 1,680 beds. Nursing assistants supervised by task-oriented (Low LPC) leaders received higher performance ratings at the first level of supervision, while relationship-oriented (High LPC) leaders performed better at the second-level of supervision. Subordinate's job satisfaction was positively related to leader Consideration at both levels of supervision. However, Initiating Structure leader behavior contributed to high subordinate job satisfaction at the first level of supervision but low subordinate job satisfaction at the second level. These differences in effective management patterns are interpreted in the light of apparent differences in situational leadership demands at the two supervisory levels. (Author)