En för alla, alla för en : sjuksköterskors och ingenjörers syn på ledarskap : en enkät och repertory grid studie sista terminen i utbildning och efter ett till ett och halvt år i arbete

Sammanfattning: Research has indicated that there is a growing tendency for young, well-educated people to hold different values toward work and management of work than previous generations. Thus managerial difficulties can arise when these different generations collaborate at work. In order to survive organisations and companies need a managerial leadership that knows how the younger workers view leadership, how they prefer to be lead, and what they consider to be a good leadership. This thesis is based on research and theories about values, implicit leadership theories, Full Range of Leadership Model, and is informed by Personal Construct Theory. The purpose of the study was to develop knowledge about how young nursing and engineering students view leadership. Does this view change when at work? Are they interested in attaining a managerial position? The two occupations represent one traditional female and one traditional male occupation. A longitudinal design has been used and the study included three different methods, namely questionnaires, semantic differential tasks, and computerised Repertory Grid interviews. Measurements were conducted on two different occasions, during the students last term of study and at work, one and a half-years later. The questionnaire and semantic differential tasks were used to examine how nursing and engineering students valued different qualities in a managerial leader and how they valued different aspects of ideal work. The computerised Repertory Grid interviews were aimed at obtaining a deeper and more extensive understanding of the students´ views about leadership and to capture their own constructs about leadership. The results showed that the nurses and engineers valued highly a managerial leader who stimulates the employee's personal development, has the capability to collaborate, make decisions, is clear in expressing his/her opinions, is honest and is willing to listen with a sensitive ear. Results that are related to transformational leadership and implicit leadership theories. The students also valued highly working in teams, having pleasant work-mates, and being appreciated by the manager and work mates. They least valued to be in a managerial position, but it was possible for them to imagine themselves in a managerial position in the future. The study showed few differences in view over the time frame. There were few differences between the gender and occupational groups, and no interaction between gender and occupation. Though the repertory grid interviews demonstrated that considerably elaboration had taken place individually. A structural analysis with LISREL showed that immaterial aspects of ideal work, namely social relations, altruism and self-realisation, were significantly related to attributes in managerial leadership, namely honest, strong, creative, and trustworthy. Based on these results I argue that there is a relationship between the nursing students' and engineering students' values and views on leadership, their personal construct about leadership based on their implicit leadership theories, and researchers constructs about leadership, formulated in explicit theories about leadership.