leadership

Age influences on the leadership styles and behavior of managers

Introduction
Very little work have been published on the influences of age on the leadership style or behavior of managers.
There is the need to manage both young and old workers effectively in order to realize organizational goals more fully.

Both age groups have something to offer: technology has driven the rapid promotion of younger workers, experience has made the older workers very relevant

Finding by Kakabadse et al. (1998)

They study attitudes and hence the behaviors of senior leaders within Australian organizations.

Three leader profiles emerged the radicals, the bureaucrats and the team players.
The radicals were the youngest (between 26-35 years), the team players were the oldest (56 years and over) while the bureaucrats were in between (46-55 years).

Previous researches
Older manager were mature, saw challenges and initiatives through to completion and had longer-term perspectives in managing people and systems. Younger manager were competitive, results oriented, energetic, and adopted an open style of management.

Kabacoff and Stoffey (2001) Young managers ( 25-35) Feel more comfortable in fast changing environments and are more willing to take risks and consider new approaches. Old managers (45-55) Study problems in light of past practices in order to ensure predictability, and minimize risk.

Operate with more energy and Maintain an in-depth intensity, and have a greater knowledge of their field and capacity to energize others. use this knowledge to approach problems. Are more likely to seek out opportunities to take charge and push vigorously and competitively to achieve a high level of results. Work to develop and promote themselves. Cooperate and delegate more, and show a greater degree of empathy and concern for other workers. Work to develop and promote others

Schubert (1988): political experience interacted with age to affect activity. Oleszek (1969) attempted to describe the relationship between age and first-time election to a political office. He speculated that the legislative candidate in his 50s may have an advantage over one in his 40s in terms of his capacity to project a politically desirable image of wisdom and experience.

Mitchell (2000) suggests that several factors account for generational differences in the attitudes and behavior of workers. The level of education and age were identified as important determinants.

Research method
A questionnaire survey was conducted where the population for the study comprised leaders and managers working in the UK. A total of 1,440 questionnaires were administered to potential respondents from various organizations and at different organizational levels.

A total of 405 completed and usable questionnaires were returned

Results and discussion The differences in their consultative practices/behaviours are statistically significant at the 95 percent confidence level On consultation, the evidence suggests that older managers consulted more widely in comparison with younger managers. It is surprising that younger managers, who may have been on their jobs for much less number of years, fail to consult as often and as widely as older managers. Another leadership style that older and younger managers rated significantly differently is participation. The younger managers rated participative leadership style significantly less than the older managers did.

Results and discussion

On delegative leadership styles, however, the two groups of managers have similar practices. Although the older managers delegated more than the younger ones, the differences are not statistically significant.

Individualized consideration was rated rather highly by both younger and older managers; it was rated higher than fairly often but lower than very often by both younger and older managers. The differences in the ratings by the two groups of managers are, however, not statistically significant at the 95 percent confidence level.

Results and discussion

intellectual stimulation. the older managers here display more intellectual stimulation in comparison with the younger managers

the result of the t-test is insignificant at 95 percent confidence level.

It is surprising that younger managers display less intellectual stimulation when compared with their older folks because it is the younger managers who are often more innovative, energetic and change oriented.

However, as stated, these differences are not statistically significant.