Leadership Styles and Spiritual Traits of Catholic Priests

Aning Amoah's Leadership Styles and Spiritual Traits of Catholic Priests explore the relationship between leadership styles (transformational, transactional, and laissez–faire) and spiritual traits (self–directedness (SD), cooperativeness (CO), and self–transcendence (ST). The quantitative correlational study sampled 93 catholic priests from Ghana in active ministry. The results showed a statistically significant correlation between transformational leadership and spiritual traits, a nonstatistical correlation between transactional leadership and spiritual trait variables, a negative statistically significant correlation between laissez–faire leadership style with self–directedness and cooperativeness, and a positive statistically significant correlation between laissez–faire leadership style and self–transcendence. Thus, the more catholic priests provide guidance, counseling, teaching, and shepherding among congregation as a transformational leader, the more likely they will be reliable, mature, effective, helpful, compassionate, and spiritual. Contrary, the more catholic priests become laissez–faire leader, the more likely they will be weak, blaming, ineffective, emotionally unstable, lacking internal organizational principles (low SD), self–absorbed, intolerant, critical, revengeful and self–regarding (low CO), and absorbed in what they do, spiritual and capable of adapting to situation of pain and suffering (high ST).

-- Rev. Fr. Francis Aning Amoah, PhD. Industrial and Organizational Psychology