Identifying Critical Leadership Competencies of Manufacturing Supervisors in a Major Electronics Corporation

Abstract

This article reports the results of two studies that examined the critical leadership competencies of high-performing manufacturing supervisors in a major electronics company. Using critical incident interviews, Study 1 (n = 17) disclosed and initially tested 13 potential competencies. Study 2 (n = 38) then used questionnaires containing descriptions of the competencies to test the hypothesis that high-performing supervisors would be seen by subordinates, superiors, and self as displaying significantly greater levels of the competencies. Nine of the potential competencies identified in Study 1 significantly distinguished the high-performing supervisors from randomly selected supervisors when the subordinate-completed questionnaires of Study 2 were analyzed.