3.2 Early research (1970s)
Only two studies were undertaken during the 1970s and both focused on
identifying the most appropriate leadership style for the hospitality sector. White
(1973) found in his UK (behavioural-based) study that more consultative
leadership approaches would be welcomed in the hotel and catering sectors while
Nebel and Stearns (1977) found (using a contingency approach) that a task-
orientated leadership style would be the most effective in the North American
hospitality industry.
White (1973) compared preferred and perceived leadership style amongst
supervisory and managerial staff in UK hotels. Leadership styles were
categorised as A = Autocratic, B = Persuasive, C = Consultative and D =
Participatory. Although White’s article does not contain any specific references or
citations, his descriptions of the four styles is very similar to Likert’s (1961) ‘four
management systems’ where 1 = Exploitive Authoritative; 2 = Benevolent
Authoritative; 3 = Consultative; and 4 = Participative Group Management.
White found that the majority of respondents perceived their managers as using
an autocratic management style, and that a significant proportion of those
respondents said they would prefer a more consultative management style.
Accordingly, White recommended a change from the prevailing autocratic style,
towards a more consultative approach. He also noted, however, that there is no
panacea for leadership style and that to a great extent, what works best will
depend upon a variety of situational factors including size and nature of hotel, age
of staff and length of service of staff.
The second of the 1970s studies, Nebel and Stearns (1977) employed Fiedler's
(1967) LPC (Least Preferred Co-worker) Contingency Theory in their survey of
first line supervisors in hospitality businesses in the New Orleans (USA) area. A
significant amount of the analyses reported by Nebel and Stearns focus on
differences relating the race of the respondents – although they do not report why
this particular demographic characteristic was chosen as an independent variable.
Significant differences were found relating to the educational levels achieved by
white and black respondents and also with regard to levels of psychological
independence (the desire to be more or less supervised while at work). Relating
their findings to Fiedler’s LPC model, Nebel and Stearns suggest that a task-