This study focuses on two basic research questions: 1. Do discrepancies exist between the way hospital-based occupational therapy department directors perceive their managerial leadership and the way their occupational therapy staff members perceive the directors’ leadership? 2. What effect does the managerial leadership of the directors have on staff occupational therapists’ job performance? Mailed questionnaires were completed by 93 occupational therapy directors and 348 nonmanagerial registered occupational therapists who were employed in hospitals throughout the continental United States.

The directors and their staff members demonstrated significant differences in their assessments of the directors’ managerial leadership styles; directors generally gave themselves higher ratings than did their staff members. The occupational therapy directors gave their staff high job performance ratings. Also, discrepancies between the directors’ and their staff occupational therapists’ ratings of the directors’ leadership styles correlated negatively with staff job performance. The results of the study suggest some potentially beneficial management training topics for department directors.