This was pre-experimental, field study research designed to examine the effects of the personality type of the manager on the strategy, structure, and performance of a small firm within a contingency framework. / Data were collected by interview from 31 independent restaurants and apparel stores in two small Southeastern cities. The population was restricted to firms that had been in business at least five years (1978-1982), employed 5 to 50 employees and reported less than $3 million sales in 1982. / The dissertation defined and measured four types of variables: (1) a managerial contingency variable represented by the personality type of the manager; (2) two strategy variables (growth and financial control); (3) an organizational structure variable; and, (4) an organizational performance variable. / Strategy (Growth in Total Assets and Growth in Debt/Assets) and performance (Return on Assets) variables were operationalized using accounting data. A delegation scale measured organizational structure. / The Filley and Aldag instrument (1978) classified respondent managers into Craft, Promotion, and Administrative types. Twenty of the respondent managers were classified as Craft types, the remaining 11 as Administrative types. The absence of Promotion types in the sample came as a surprise. / An important methodological finding was the ease of collecting financial performance information from managers of small firms using a set of tables requesting the respondent to choose numbers "closest to" the actual data. / Results of hypothesis testing using nonparametric statistical techniques showed: (1) the personality of the manager only affected the performance of a small firm through moderating strategy and structure variables; (2) small firms managed by Administrative types reported higher levels of organizational structure than those managed by Craft types; (3) higher organizational performance was associated with lower rates of growth among Craft types and lower levels of organizational structure among Administrative types; and, (4) simultaneous analysis of personality, strategy and structure revealed two patterns associated with higher organizational performance within each personality type. No "one best pattern" of personality type, strategy and structure emerged. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-02, Section: A, page: 0573. / Thesis (D.B.A.)--The Florida State University, 1984.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75276 |
| Contributors | HORNADAY, ROBERT WOODWARD., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 197 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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