Date of Award

Summer 1986

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Spear, Stephen J.

Second Advisor

Ksobiech, Kenneth

Third Advisor

Guastello, Stephen J.

Abstract

Communicator style theory states that individuals interact with nonverbal, paraverbal and verbal behavior which gives form to the content of messages. These behaviors or styles were studied in their relationship to the successful completion of supervisory duties in a private utility. A group of first line supervisors (120) were rated by a manager with the Supervisory Performance Evaluation . Record, a 56 item Likert-type instrument which rates supervisory performance in several different categories. These same supervisors were administered the Communicator Style Measure, a 51 item Likert-type instrument which measures communicator style behavior in terms of ten "styles," It was hypothesized that one or several communicator style traits would be related to the successful completion of supervisory duties in this sample group. Low Pearson product-moment correlations were found between the friendly style and both problem resolution skill and interpersonal skill. Low correlations were also found between the attentive style and potential for the next level and potential for higher levels of supervision; the dominant communicator style was correlated with problem resolution skill. A significant association, as measured by an analysis of variance, was found between the friendly style and interpersonal skill, the attentive style and potential for higher levels of supervision, the relaxed style and promoting efficient performance, and the precise style and potential for higher levels of supervision. A heuristic ANOVA comparing communicator style to an overall performance score showed significant shared variance between the precise style and overall performance.

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