Leadership Style Preference of Undergraduate Occupational Therapy Students in Australia

Abstract

Background Occupational therapy graduates are expected to assume leadership roles in a variety of contexts and capacities. Objective To investigate the leadership styles of undergraduate occupational therapy students. Methods First, second, third, and fourth year undergraduate occupational therapy students from one Australian university were asked to complete the What's My Leadership Style (WMLS) questionnaire. Results The total sample response rate was 86.3% (n = 182/211). Overall there was a statistically significant difference in students’ preference for the leadership styles (p < .001). The two most preferred leadership styles were the Considerate and Spirited styles while the two least preferred were the Direct and Systematic leadership styles. There were no statistically significant differences in preference for any of the four leadership styles based on students’ sex, age, or year level of study. Conclusion The Considerate leadership style is characterised by creating comfortable working environments, following established procedures, and creating an easy work pace, while the Spirited leadership style is about inspiring people, generating excitement, turning work into play, and rallying people. It is recommended that leadership be integrated into occupational therapy curricula so as to adequately equip students for future professional practice.

Mobile three-dimensional visualisation technologies for clinician-led fall prevention assessments

“…44 All participants were female, which, to a large extent, reflects the female-dominated OT profession. 45 Table 2 presents a summary of participant profiles.…”

Impact of cultural values on leadership roles and paternalistic style from the role theory perspective

“…According to the situation, also, leaders adapt their roles. That means in the same organizational cultural context, or situation roles and styles are being customized by leaders (Brown et al, 2014;Oforchukwu, 2011). In a nutshell, effective leaders are not only adjusting to context by roles through expectations but also influence the cross-cultural exchange by their styles (Solomon and Steyn, 2017).…”

Informal Leadership in the Clinical Setting: Occupational Therapist Perspectives

“…Practically, the leaders studied in this type of work would be referred to as formal leaders. Perhaps not surprisingly, leadership research in health care has largely mirrored this focus on the more formally defined and titled leaders (Brown, Williams, & Jolliffe, 2014;Heard, 2014;Wong & Laschinger, 2013). While formal leadership has compelled significant and ongoing scholarly attention, it appears that shifts in workplace environments and cultures are influencing the centrality of new approaches.…”