Job Characteristics and Biases in Subordinates' Appraisals of Managers

Abstract

This article develops a general model relating job characteristics to biases in the perception of managers' abilities. A 2 x 2 x 2 between-subjects design was used to vary managerial task complexity, subordinate task complexity, and managers' rates of giving orders. The subjects were 216 upper-level undergraduate students who were randomly assigned to 72 three-person groups. Relative, but not absolute, levels of task complexity biased subordinates' evaluations of managers. This finding is consistent with equity theory and with leadership theories that emphasize the relative contributions of leaders and group members. Procedures that increased order-giving increased subordinates' appraisals of managers when managers performed either relatively more or relatively less complex work than did subordinates, but had no effect under equal complexity conditions. The results are discussed in terms of leader-member exchange theories and contingency theories of leadership (Dienesch & Liden, 1986; Fiedler & Chemers, 1984; Graen, Novak, & Sommerkamp, 1982; Kerr & Jermier, 1978).