How chief executives learn and what behaviour factors distinguish them from other people
Abstract
Purpose
To research how chief executives learn and what behavioural characteristics distinguish them from other managers.
Design/methodology/approach
The research used a personality profile (DISC) and structured interviews to compare the behaviours of a sample of chief executives from the public service with a sample from the private sectors in Northern Ireland.
Findings
The research found three distinguishing characteristics of chief executives and challenged stereotypes of differences between the public and private sector and between male and female chief executives.
Research limitations/implications
There were no historic data to compare findings to indicate whether the behaviours highlighted were intrinsic or learned. Neither were the data differentiated by age nor was there any indication of how successful chief executives were. Future research might also look at differences between successful and less successful chief executives or look at other categories of leaders. An extremely interesting field might be to look at political leaders and compare their profiles with the chief executives.
Practical implications
The research challenges some of the basis for core competency approaches to development and reinforces the argument for action‐based approaches.
Originality/value
Provides data for the debate on how one can best design and plan the selection and development of senior executives.
Keywords
Citation
Beamish, G. (2005), "How chief executives learn and what behaviour factors distinguish them from other people", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp. 138-144. https://doi.org/10.1108/00197850510593746
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited