An Empirical Investigation of Supervisory Management Styles and Associated Factors for Postgraduate Level Research Supervision

Abstract

Based on the dynamic model of supervisory management styles this research focused on the empirical verification of the preferred supervisory management styles and their associated baseline characteristics of supervisors and supervisees. The study used a mixed-methods research approach and conducted in two phases. In the first phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted from 30 supervisors from different disciplines to get an overview of the context specific supervision problems faced by supervisors and their approaches to solve them during the different research stages. These interviews helped to develop items of supervisory management styles questionnaire (SMSQ). This questionnaire was based on 12 different situations. In the second phase, supervisors and supervisees from the 13 different universities of Punjab were selected purposively to respond the supervisory management styles questionnaire. The chi-square tests were performed to analyze the preferred supervisory management styles and their association with personal, academic and institutional characteristics of supervisors and supervisees. The results showed significant influence of the supervisees’ background profile characteristics and supervisors’ administrative position on the adoption of a particular supervisory management style at postgraduate level. The study identified the baseline characteristics associated with different supervision styles that may help to resolve possible supervisory alignment conflicts