Leader-Follower Expectations: Pygmalion in Management

Abstract

Leadership is a concept which has been explored, researched; and various theories have been developed on this concept. These theories have helped in achieving overall organizational efficiency. Pygmalion leadership style (PLS) is as yet a relatively unexplored area. This style includes behaviours that assist the subordinates to be productive in an organization. Leader behaviour and its impact on followers performance has been studied by various theorists abroad. Most of the researches have been conducted in military and educational settings. This study explores the impact of Leader’s behaviour based on PLS and its impact on performance of the subordinate. Self-fulfilling prophecy is at the root of Pygmalion Leadership style hence two variables namely employee self-expectations and leader expectations have also been considered in the study. The study also aims to uncover the subordinates characteristics and expectations from a leader. A questionnaire was developed on a seven point Likert scale. Based on the secondary data, four variables were identified: expectation raising on selfexpectation, expectations from leader, leadership behaviour and performance of the subordinate. An analysis of 230 banking professionals was conducted. The data was analyzed using descriptive as well as correlation analysis which revealed that there is a link between performance and expectations. The correlation matrix revealed a significant relationship between performance of the subordinate and self expectation(0.98), performance of the subordinate and expectations from leader (0.75) and leader behaviour and performance of the subordinate(0.55).