The power motive and managerial success in a professionally oriented service industry organization

Examined the validity of D. C. McClelland and D. Burnham's (1967) leadership motive pattern (LMP) for 2 levels of management personnel in a professionally oriented, service industry organization. The study was conducted in a profit-making company that provides second-language instruction to full-time students; 550 people were employed at 23 centers. All 21 center managers and 18 curriculum directors participated. Managers completed a TAT designed to elicit stories about power, achievement, and motivation. Three types of outcome measures were used: attitudinal variables taken from survey responses of subordinates, objective measures of administrative performance taken from company records, and a variable representing the importance or status of the location in which the manager worked. The LMP was significantly related to the importance of the center in which the manager worked; however, the LMP was not related to administrative job performance or subordinate morale. For the subsample of first-line supervisors, need for affiliation was related to job performance and favorable subordinate attitudes, not need for power or the LMP. Results are interpreted in light of the technical/professional nature of the employee sample and support the suggestion that the motivation to influence others may not be critical for managerial success in technical/professional settings. (14 ref)