A STUDY ON THE LEADERSHIP STATUS OF MIDDLE MANAGERS AND SUBORDINATE SATISFACTION IN KOREAN ENTERPRISES : BY USING LEADERSHIP COMPETENCE ASSESSMENT TOOLS = 중간관리자의 리더십실태와 부하 만족도 조사

국문 초록 (Abstract)

이 연구는 한국 기업의 중간관리자의 리더십 실태와 부하들의 만족도에 관한 조사이다.
기업이나 조직에서 리더들이 가장 관심을 갖는 것은 성과나 만족도를 개선하는 것이다. 기업의 생산성에 영향을 미치는 주요한 요인 중 하나는 직원들의 만족도이다. 직원들의 만족도에 영향을 미치는데 중요한 역할을 하는 것이 바로 중간관리자들인데 이들은 부하들과 함께 비전과 목표를 공유하고 그것들을 성취하기 위해 구체적인 실행을 설계하고 계획하기 때문에다. 따라서 중간관리자들은 새로운 경영 목표를 성취하기 위해서 부하들을 신뢰하고 그들과 소통을 하면서 그들에게 분명한 목표를 제시하여 조직을 효율적으로 운영함으로 생산성을 향상시켜야 한다.
중간관리자들은 또한 조직이나 기업이 경영상의 위험에 노출되지 않도록 다양한 아이디어를 창출하고 구성원들의 독특한 환경에 변화의 속도를 조절함으로 새로운 환경에 변화를 불러온다.
중간 관리자는 조직의 핵심 인물로 상사와 직원들의 연결고리 역할을 한다. 최고 경영진은 이러한 중간 관리자의 역할이 조직에 매우 중요하며 조직의 성장과 발전에 기여한다고 생각한다. 그럼에도 불구하고 중간 관리자의 리더십 향상을 위한 연구는 많지 않다.
본 연구는 중간 관리자의 리더십 실태를 조사하기 위해 리더의 핵심 요소를 8차원으로 분류한 뒤 그것들을 20개 하위요소로 분류하고, 137개 요소(셀프 리더십과 리더십 개발, 훈련을 포함하는 리더십 요소 124개와 팔로워십 요소 13개의 추가 질문 포함)의 리더십 역량 평가 도구로 설문조사를 구성했고, 다면평가 방식을 통해 중간관리자의 리더십 실태와 그에 대한 직원들의 사실 판단, 그리고 만족도를 도출하였다.
연구결과 대다수 한국 사람들은 리더십의 개념을 잘못 이해하거나 리더의 역할을 정확히 몰라서 리더십을 잘못 적용한다는 것을 보여주었다. 특히 기업이 중간관리자를 리더로 인정하지 않고, 중간관리자들은 현재 상황에 매몰되어 문제 해결에 바빠서, 직원들에 의해 가장 만족스럽지 못하다고 평가를 받은 미래에 대한 중장기적 비전과 창의적 아이디어를 생각하거나 변화추구가 어려워 보인다.
이번 연구가 한국의 경영자들과 중간관리자들이 중간 관리자 리더십의 중요성을 깨닫고, 한국 기업의 발전과 성장, 지속가능성에 중추적인 역할을 하는 중간 관리자의 리더십을 개발하고, 훈련과 교육 프로그램을 제공하는 데 도움이 되기를 바란다. 또한 이 연구가 중간 관리자의 리더십 향상을 위한 교육의 방향과 방법에 기여하기를 바란다.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The study is to do research on the leadership of middle managers and satisfaction of their subordinates in Korean companies. What the leaders concern most in the organization or company is to improve performance or productivity. This is especially true in these uncertain times. One of the key factors affecting the company’s productivity is employee satisfaction. It is middle managers who can play a key role in influencing the subordinates’ satisfaction level by sharing their vision and goals with their subordinates, planning and designing specific practices to achieve them. Thus, middle managers must trust subordinates and present them with clear goals to achieve new management goals, and improve productivity by efficiently operating the organization while communicating with their subordinates.
The middle managers also bring about changes to a new environment by generating variety of ideas and adjusting the speed of change to the members’ unique circumstances so that the organization or company is not exposed to managerial hazard.
The middle manager is also a key figure in the organization and serves as a link between his/her superior and employees. The top management considers the role of these middle managers to be very important to the organization and contributive to its growth and development. Nevertheless, the research to improve the leadership of middle managers is not many.
For the study on the current status of middle managers’ leadership, the survey was organized by classifying the key elements of the leader into eight dimensions, and then classifying them into 20 sub-factors, and developing a leadership competency assessment tool with 137 elements (124 elements of leadership　including self leadership and a leadership development and training, 13 additional questions for followership elements) to derive the leadership status of middle managers, fact judgement of employee and employee satisfaction level through 360 degree feedback method.
As a result of the study, it indicates that most people in Korea misunderstand the concept of leadership or don’t know the role exactly and they apply it wrongly. Especially, since the company does not recognize middle managers as leaders and they are busy solving the problem stuck in the current situation, it seems difficult for them to think of a mid-to long-term vision and creative idea for the future, or pursue change which were satisfied least by employees.
I hope this research will help Korean managers and middle managers to realize the importance of middle managers’ leadership, develop the leadership of middle managers who play a pivotal role in the development, growth and sustainability of Korean companies, and be helpful in providing training and education programs. It is also suggested that the study will contribute to the direction and method of education to improve the leadership of middle managers.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• ABSTRACT ··············································································································································· ⅴ
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ······················································································································· ⅶ
• TABLE OF CONTENTS ························································································································· ⅸ
• LIST OF TABLES ··································································································································· ⅻ
• LIST OF FIGURES ································································································································ ⅹⅴ
• Ⅰ. INTRODUCTION ·················································································································· 1
• A. Background and Necessity of Research ······················································································· 1
• B. Purpose of Study ······························································································································ 3
• C. Scope of Study ································································································································· 5
• D. Research Method ······························································································································ 5
• Ⅱ. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ······················································································ 7
• A. The Current State Of Korea Enterprises ······················································································· 7
• 1. Korea Large Enterprises ··············································································································· 7
• 1) Definition of Large Enterprise ································································································ 7
• 2) The Current State of Large Enterprise in Korea ·································································· 9
• 2. Korea Medium Enterprises ········································································································· 12
• 1) Definition of Medium Enterprise ·························································································· 12
• 2) The Current State of Medium Enterprise in Korea ··························································· 14
• 3. Korean Small & Medium Enterprises ······················································································· 18
• 1) Definition of Small & Medium Enterprises ········································································ 18
• 2) The Current State of Small & Medium Enterprises in Korea ········································· 20
• B. Middle Manager ······························································································································ 23
• 1. Concept of Middle Manager ······································································································ 23
• 2. Roles of Middle Manager ·········································································································· 25
• C. Leadership ········································································································································ 26
• 1. The Concepts of Leadership ···································································································· 26
• 2. A Study on Leadership Theories ······························································································ 30
• 1) Leadership Trait Theory ········································································································· 31
• 2) Behavioral Style Theory of Leadership ················································································ 32
• 3) Contingency Theory of Leadership ······················································································· 33
• 4) Transaction Leadership ··········································································································· 35
• 5) Transformational Leadership ·································································································· 37
• 3. Elements of Leadership ·············································································································· 39
• 1) Leader’s Personality ················································································································ 39
• 2) Influence (communication and direction guidance) ····························································· 41
• 3) Pursuit of Change ··················································································································· 43
• 4) Decision making and execution ···························································································· 46
• 5) Human Capital ························································································································· 51
• 6) Followership ····························································································································· 52
• D. Literature Reviews on the Leadership of Middle Managers ····················································· 55
• Ⅲ. METHODOLOGY ··············································································································· 62
• A. Research Design ····························································································································· 62
• B. Production of Measurement Tools ································································································ 66
• 1. Plan of Measurement Tools ······································································································· 66
• 2. Generation of Measurement Questions ····················································································· 77
• C. Data Collection ······························································································································· 87
• 1. Tips for Assessment (survey) ···································································································· 87
• 2. Means of Collecting Data ·········································································································· 88
• Ⅳ. EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ······························································· 89
• A. Empirical Results Analysis ······························································································ 89
• 1. Analysis of Leadership ································································································· 89
• 2. Demographic Analysis ································································································ 127
• B. Statistical Analysis ·········································································································· 134
• 1. Reality Analysis of Middle Managers’ Self Assessment ······································· 135
• 2. Statistical Analysis of Employee Fact Judgement ··················································· 137
• 1) Reality Analysis of Employee Fact Judgement ··················································· 137
• 2) One-way ANOVA (Employee Fact Judgement) ·················································· 139
• 3) Multiple Comparison (Employee Fact Judgement) ············································· 140
• 4) Descriptive Statistics ······························································································· 141
• 3. Analysis of Employee Satisfaction Statistics ··························································· 143
• 1) Reality Analysis of Employee Satisfaction Statistics ········································· 143
• 2) One-way ANOVA (Employee Satisfaction Statistics) ········································· 144
• 3) Multiple Comparison (Employee Satisfaction Statistics) ···································· 145
• 4) Descriptive Statistics (Employee Satisfaction Statistics) ····································· 147
• Ⅴ. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ········································································ 149
• A. Conclusion ····································································································································· 149
• B. Suggestions ···································································································································· 151
• * REFERENCES ······················································································································ 155
• * APPENDIX ··························································································································· 165