Assessing Leadership Adaptability in the Field of Program Management

Leaders must be aware and adaptable to the maturity level of the subordinates within their scope of command and control. This level of maturity represents the subordinates' ability and willingness to complete an assigned task. The leadership style that the individual in charge uses is situational dependent on follower maturity level. The problem addressed in this study is a lack of adaptive leadership in the U.S. Army field of program management, which can result in a bad organizational climate and diminished performance from subordinates (Cojocar, 2009). The purpose of this quantitative research study is to assess the leadership style adaptability of military leaders assigned to Program Executive Office Command, Control & Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T) in order to address the lack of adaptive leadership in the U.S. Army field of program management, which can result in a bad organizational climate and diminished performance from subordinates (Richardson IV, 2011). Data retrieved through the Leadership Style survey produced each respondent's leadership adaptability score and provided the leader's primary leadership style. The data showed a low level of leadership adaptability for 66.7% of the 42 respondents surveyed. Democratic leadership style is shown as the primary style used by 64.29% of the respondents surveyed. Data collected also served to tell the researcher what category of leader, if any, is more likely to utilize a particular leadership style (either authoritarian, democratic, or laissez-faire leadership). The responses received showed that the military leaders surveyed were primarily rated as moderate and low on the leadership style range scale.;Leaders must be aware and adaptable to the maturity level of the subordinates within their scope of command and control. This level of maturity represents the subordinates' ability and willingness to complete an assigned task. The leadership style that the individual in charge uses is situational dependent on follower maturity level. It is recommended that the current research study be further expanded throughout the Army to additional Program Executive Offices. Based on the number of military officers within PEO C3T, the number of respondents to volunteer to participate, and time limitations, the current study included only 42 military officers from one Program Executive Office. Including a more diverse selection of multiple Program Executive Offices and a larger selection of respondents could improve the credibility and validity of the current study. Expanding the research study would also allow for the gathering of additional data to increase the populations of each category analyzed within the research study. Increased populations of respondents will provide a greater density of data to determine whether gender, command experience, leadership experience in combat, or Program Management certification level, predict an individual's leadership style range.