Association between leadership style and decision making style in Indian organisations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the leadership style (LS) and decision-making style (DMS) of Indian manufacturing executives, and to explore the association between the LS and DMS. Design/methodology/approach – For this study the sample was drawn from Indian manufacturing organisations’ executives from both public and private sectors. The respondents were lower, middle and senior levels executives involved in leadership and decision-making functions. Correlation, regression and ANOVA were used to pursue the research questions. Findings – Indian manufacturing executives have shown highest rational and least avoidant in their DMSs. Transformational (TFM) leaders are found rational, while the transactional (TSL) leaders are observed to be rational and dependent. Laissez faire style has correlation with avoidant decision making and interactive dependent and avoidant styles. Research limitations/implications – The study is a cross sectional research with limitations of self-serving bias and common method variance. However, this limitation has been dealt with a statistical test. Practical implications – The study bears significant implications for Indian executives who are working on LSs and decision making. It also provides the details of decision-making behaviours of the manufacturing executives thereby suggesting the associated benefits and drawbacks of particular styles. Originality/value – This paper contributes to leadership and decision-making literature. In the recent times, no such study in Indian manufacturing context have been reported. Moreover there are few contrasting and contributing findings in this research.