| Summary: | This thesis describes the results of an exploratory cross-cultural study of the constructs of power held by first-line supervisors in industrial factories in Auckland, New Zealand. A model was developed and tested which identified some of the antecedents of supervisory power constructs as being personality (measured by cognitive style and tolerance of ambiguity) and social values. Personality and social values were held to affect perception of work goals, bases of power, strategies of power, perceptions of job effectiveness, and job satisfaction. The findings of the study were that Polynesian supervisors were more associated with field dependence, intolerance of ambiguity, and a pattern of power-construing which emphasised a referent-coercive power base and both surveillance for conformity and aggrandisement power strategies. Polynesian supervisors also reported themselves as being higher in socio-emotional effectiveness and in satisfaction with position. European supervisors were more associated with field dependence, tolerance of ambiguity, and a pattern of power-construing which laid less emphasis on a referent-coercive power base and surveillance and aggrandisement power strategies. European supervisors also reported themselves as being lower in socio-emotional effectiveness and in satisfaction with position. It was suggested that the inter-relationships which were identified between culture, personality, social values and power constituted an internally consistent conformity pattern of power-construing (associated with Polynesian supervisors), and a self assertion pattern of power-construing (associated with European supervisors).
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