Some leadership styles can produce job dissatisfaction, resulting in labor turnover and financial loss to organizations. Despite these known consequences, there is a lack of research on the perceptions of leadership styles on job satisfaction for hourly wageworkers. This phenomenological study was used to understand the experiences of non-management employees on how management leadership styles affected their job satisfaction. Bass's leadership theory, Herzberg's dual factor theory, and Maslow's hierarchy of needs guided this study. The primary research questions were used to explore themes in leadership styles affecting selected North Carolina employees in the workplace. Data collection included in-depth interviews with 25 hourly wageworkers who completed at least one annual performance discussion with their first-line supervisor. Utilizing Moustakas' modified van Kaam method of data analysis, 4 primary themes emerged: (a) perceptions of 3 leadership styles, (b) insights on job satisfaction, (c) observations of leader behaviors, and (d) leadership agility. The 4 primary themes and 18 subthemes indicated that participants perceived more positive experiences with transformational leaders than they did with transactional or laissez-faire leaders. The findings are important for first-line supervisors in the fields of business, finance, and education to develop strategies that may maximize positive experiences with leadership styles that will create and improve overall job satisfaction. Social change implications, given the findings, include supervisors' increased awareness of how the 3 leadership styles could provide more favorable experiences for hourly wageworkers.

Since North Africa is considered as one of the future hot spots for tourism development, western hotel chains increasingly expand to this region. Especially in the opening phase, these hotel groups tend to fill leading positions with male and female western managers. However, we assume that since the Arab culture is very male-dominated, the employment of women managers might cause cultural conflicts. Thus, our thesis aims to identify possible barriers for women to succeed in hotels in North Africa as well as to elaborate critical success factors for future female western leaders to overcome these barriers and to manage effectively. In order to find out about underlying attitudes towards foreigners and female superiors, we conducted a survey among Arabic hotel employees at an international five star hotel in Egypt. The results of our survey were topped up with insights from the literature and the remaining knowledge gaps were filled by holding conversations with industry experts. The findings of our study indicate a trend towards a more liberal Arabic society as well as certain openness towards foreigners and women, which could be ascribed to driving forces, such as globalization and a rise in information technology. However, there are still cases of gender inequality and religious intolerance, which shows that social practices have not yet completely changed. It is thus suggested that female western leaders still face barriers, such as chauvinistic behavior as well as suggestiveness. In order to be able to deal with these barriers, we developed critical success factors for future women managers, such as being cultural intelligent, being interested in the employees, being a coach and a team player, and trusting yourself. In addition, we provided general implications for women operating in other seemingly hostile environments, such as male-dominated industries or women-aversive surroundings.