The Effects Of Leadership Training On Inter-Personal And Intra-Personal Development

This study was designed to assess the impact of leadership training on inter-personal and intra-personal development of middle management in the banking and financial sector. The population under study was chosen from the bank and savings and loan industry in greater California. Sixty-six middle management personnel constituted the sample under study, with 51 branch managers of one financial holding company making up the experimental group and 15 branch managers of another association making up the control group. Both groups were asked to participate in the study and there was no random assignment. The instruments used to assess the effects of the leadership training were the Individualized Management/Leadership Profile (IMLP) Self- and Supervisor-Rating Scales; the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS); and the Dogmatism Scale (D-Scale). Pre and post data from the IMLP Self-Rating Scale, the IMLP Supervisor-Rating Scale, and the TSCS were gathered from the experimental and control groups. The Dogmatism Scale data was gathered from the experimental group to control for rigidity, and closed-mindedness. The leadership training program, the Perry Leadership Training Course (PLTC), a four-day, six-hour per day, one-day per month author-composed program, was administered by the author and another independent professional in order to control for experimenter bias. The program rested on the assumption that as leadership skills improve, so does the quality of the leader/follower relationship and also the level of the leader\u27s self-concept. The hypotheses of the study tested this assumption by measuring leadership skills as self-perceptions and perceptions of the leaders\u27 respective supervisors, and measuring self-perceptions of self-concept. Data analysis was performed using three two-way analyses of covariance with treatment and sex being the independent variables. The post-test scores of the IMLP Self-Rating Scale, the IMLP Supervisor-Rating Scale, and the TSCS were considered the dependent variables, while the pre-tests on those instruments were used as covariates. Analysis of the data of the D-Scale was performed using a one-way ANCOVA with a mean split of high and low dogmatics. The results of the study showed no significant difference in self-perceptions or supervisor-perceptions on the IMLP Scale. Further, there were no significant differences between self-concept scores on the TSCS. However, there was a significant difference between males and females self-concept scores on the TSCS. The findings suggested that males in this study had a significantly higher self-concept than females, although there was no evidence that the PLTC had any direct effect upon these differences. The findings of the data analysis on the D-Scale showed a significant difference in the experimental group between high and low dogmatics as measured by the IMLP Self-Rating Scale. A conclusion might be drawn that would suggest that high levels of dogmatism might inhibit possible treatment effectiveness that might be more evident should the subjects be more open-minded and more susceptible to change. While there were differences between high and low dogmatics as reflected in the self-ratings of the IMLP Scale, there were no similar differences between high and low dogmatics as reflected by the IMLP Supervisor-Rating Scale or the TSCS. This would suggest that dogmatism had no effect on supervisor-ratings of participants\u27 qualities nor on self-rated self-concept of the subjects. It appears that the PLTC had no overall effect on changing leadership qualities or improving self-concept but there were differences between males and females self-concept and high and low dogmatics which might inhibit effectiveness