The relationship between organizational values and management behaviors and their influence on organizational effectiveness in an Army project management organization

This study explored the relationships between organizational values and management behaviors and their influence on organizational effectiveness in an Army project management organization. This research addressed two primary questions. The first question addressed whether the behaviors of middle-level leaders, as observed by their subordinates, are the same as the senior-level leaders in an Army program office. The second question attempted to determine whether those who are seen as more successful managers demonstrate more balanced leadership styles, as espoused by Quinn (1988), as compared to less successful general managers.; Senior leaders and 154 employees of the Program Executive Office for Army Aviation responded to two surveys. The top leaders of the organization responded to the Competing Values: Organizational Effectiveness Instrument and the employees rated their managers on the Competing Values: View of Others Instrument.; Quinn's (1988) Competing Value Framework postulates that the behaviors of managers should match the values espoused by the top leaders of the organization. No significant relationships between the behaviors of middle managers and the organizational values envisioned by upper-level leaders were noted. The model also suggests that the most effective managers balance behaviors across all eight dimensions of the competing values framework. The analysis of hypothesis two demonstrated a lack of uniformity in leader role utilization among those categorized as the Most effective managers (using Army performance ratings) as compared to those rated as only Effective.; The conclusions drawn from this study were twofold: (1) The findings here support Baker's (2003) findings that the roles emphasized by the middle-level managers were not the same roles emphasized by the top leaders. (2) Although the findings here support Quinn's (1998) and Baker's (2003) findings that managers rated as Most effective emphasize all eight roles at higher levels than their peers, the findings did not support the contention that More Effective managers demonstrate more balanced role patterns. The principal explanation endorsed was that leadership behaviors seem to vary by organizational level and their corresponding contextual pressures. Middle managers seem to emphasize managing group performance tasks more than senior leaders because of the pressures they face in their daily work.