Title: The positive effect of leadership profile of managers on work environment and business performance

Authors: Sarote Phornprapha, Potchanart Seebungkerd

Addresses: Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. ' Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Abstract: While quality of leadership is considered one of the key success factors of business performance, a pleasant work environment also plays a critical role in enabling employees to perform at their best. This detailed study of a group of Thai managers provides a close look at the leadership profiles of middle-level managers, and assesses their impact on business performance and on the work environment from the viewpoint of employees. The results confirm that strong leadership has a definite correlation with performance results and impact on the work environment. The result also showed a contrarian relationship between the work environment and business performance. In other words, happier teams usually delivered lower performances. Regardless of leadership abilities, the result showed that male managers created a better work environment than female managers but that teams led by female managers delivered a stronger business performance than teams led by male managers.

Keywords: leadership; management; business performance; work environment; enabling employees; managerial effectiveness; male managers; female managers; work teams; Thailand.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMDM.2007.012720

International Journal of Management and Decision Making, 2007 Vol.8 No.2/3/4, pp.190 - 213

Published online: 10 Mar 2007 *

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