The preferred style of managers: An empirical study of Australian and Thai employees

Abstract

The study examined the preferred and perceived style of managers among employees in Australia and Thailand using a questionnaire survey. The correlation analysis and analysis of variance techniques were employed to investigate the relationship between preferred style of managers and perceived influence in decision-making, utilisation of skills, satisfaction with participation and job satisfaction. The results indicated that the most preferred style of managers among Australian employees was a participative manager, followed by a consultative, and a paternalistic manager. Surprisingly, nearly one third of Australian employees perceived their managers to be autocratic. Thai employees' preferred style of manager was the consultative manager, followed by participative, and paternalistic, while a large proportion of employees perceived they worked under a consultative manager. For both nation samples, employees who perceived their managers to be more democratic, also reported a higher degree skill utilisation, satisfaction with participation, and job satisfaction. In addition, Thai employees reported a greater degree of influence in decision-making when the manager was perceived to be more democratic.