Perceptions of Ideal Leadership held by IT Executives, Business Executives and IT Managers

Leadership of the IT unit appears to be a critical success factor in strategic planning and implementation of technology by organisations. One moderator of successful leadership seems to be the perception of leadership held by the senior business executives. This study evaluated the perceptions of ideal leadership held by the deputy CEO, his first line reports, the CIO and his first line reports and to key IT and business unit managers. This paper shows that the perceptions of ideal leadership held by the organisation exceed those behaviours observed in practice. It shows that though the same model of leadership is held by these communities, the IT executive has higher expectations of leadership behaviour than the Business Executive does