A Correlational Study of the Communication Styles and Use of Power among Lead Pastors

• Main Author: Grusendorf, Stephen Aaron
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2016
• Subjects: Communication; Organizational behavior; Religion
• ISBN: 0355832666; 9780355832662

The leadership responsibilities of the local lead pastor are many. At any given time the lead pastor is responsible to manage the staff of a church, cast vision for the organization, effectively preach and teach the Word of God, lead a board, manage a budget, and assimilate new individuals into the organization. These responsibilities all hinge on the lead pastor’s ability to exercise his leadership well. In this age of increasing leadership complexity, many congregations are seeking a competent lead pastor. These same congregations are exhibiting progressively lower tolerances for ineffective leaders within their churches. Thus, lead pastors of large churches must consistently exhibit strong leadership skills. Communication is a core element of leadership. How a lead pastor communicates beyond the pulpit is an important topic that does not receive much attention in popular literature today. Yet perhaps few others skills are more important for effective leadership. Furthermore, how a leader exercises power both significantly impacts and is impacted by a leader’s communication style. Thus, the correlation between a lead pastor’s communication style and use of power is of critical import. This present research sought to understand what, if any, correlations exist between the communication style and use of power among large church lead pastors. It focused on lead pastors of churches with an average main worship attendance of 300 or more who are part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination. Respondents took two self-assessing instruments. The first instrument was the Communication Style Inventory (CSI) that assessed the individual’s primary communication style. The second instrument was the Personal Power Profile (PPP) that assessed the way in which the individual primarily exercises power in the context of leadership. Completed surveys were aggregated and analyzed. Responses to the CSI and PPP were analyzed using means and standard deviations for scaling and were placed in rank order to determine the most common communication style and use of power among lead pastors. Furthermore, responses were analyzed for any correlations between responses to the CSI and PPP. As predictive patterns emerged, a secondary analysis using multiple regression examined the communication style combinations most predictive of power style. Finally, the effect of selected demographic variables on both use of power and communication style were considered and reported if significant. In order to discover any potential effects, a simple demographic survey was issued to respondents, and responses were analyzed. Overall, several moderate and weak correlations were noted to exist between communication styles and use of power styles among lead pastors when they were categorized by the size of the church in which they serve. Further, several interesting observations were noted related to the use of the most common power style of lead pastors, referent power. Inverse correlations were seen to exist between the use of referent power and both the age of the pastor as well as the overall years the lead pastor has been in ministry. Also, level of education was observed to have an effect on the use of referent power.