Influence of the Kinship System on the Management Leadership Style as Perceived by the Manager-Leader and the Employees: A Case Study

Abstract

The basic element of the Filipino social structure is kinship. Thus, even if various organizational structures should operate in a professional and impersonal manner (Andres, 1981), Filipinos tend to be influenced by this personalistic value-orientation. This is the premise that is used for this research. The researcher wishes to find out how kinship influences the management leadership style of the manager-leader. This study aims to determine (1) the influence of kinship in the managerial functions of the manager-leader (2) the management leadership style used with kin and non-kin employees in terms of the leadership variables provided by Likert in his System of Management Leadership (Luthans, 1995) (3) the difference in the management leadership style employed by the manager with kin and non-kin employees in terms of decision-making, and (4) the overall dominant management leadership styles used with both the kin and non-kin group. Small-scale businesses are prevalent nowadays. Water-refilling stations flourish in this fast-becoming polluted country. The researcher conducted the study at Agua Berkeley, a water-refilling station, mainly because the manager employs people who are related to her, and at the same time, those who are not. There exists the environment that the researcher wishes to study about: how kinship influences the management leadership style of the manager-leader in dealing with both kin and non-kin employees as perceived by the manager-leader and the employees. The manager of the organization, Mrs Susan dela Cruz, performs leadership tasks as well. Thus, her function is termed as that of a manager-leader. The title is given so as to differentiate her function from other managers who does not dwell hands-on with the employees. The framework used consists of the decision-making levels in the Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum of Leadership Behavior combined with the leadership variables in the Likert's System of Management Leadership The variable kinship was then placed in the table. The data is gathered through surveys and an interview with the manager-leader for the background of the organization. The researcher conducted the survey with the purposive sample consisting of six employees who are related to the manager (kin), and another six (non-kin) who are not related to her. The manager-leader was also given the 3-part questionnaires Part I deals with the leadership variables, Part 2 is about the managerial functions, and Part 3 focuses on decision-making The study revealed that the manager-leader more often use the Participative to Democratic style (Systems 3 and 4) when dealing with the kin group. On the other hand, she employs the Benevolent-Autocratic to Participative style (Systems 2 and 3) when dealing with employees who are not related to her. The overall dominant leadership style that resulted from the two styles is Participative (System 3). More or less, the perception of the employees corresponds with the views of the manager-leader most of the time. Based on the research, kinship does influence the management leadership style of the manager-leader. Most of the difference, though, lies in the degree of the application of a particular style when dealing with both types of employees.