The Effect of a Leadership Development Program on Behavioral and Financial Outcomes: Kazakhstani Experience

Abstract

Nurturing of leaders within an organization has become an increasingly important phenomenon in the highly competitive global economy. In a long-term, quasi-experimental study we explored whether the delivered leadership development program has any effect at the individual and organizational levels. The in-house one-year leadership development program was conducted at the local company in Kazakhstan. The sample included 44 regional mid-level managers of the company. To reveal an effect of the training program, we identified two different outcomes to discover leadership behaviors at the individual level and sales results at the organizational level. We used a pretest-posttest control group design to reveal significant differences between trainees and non-trainees. The results of the study confirm the effectiveness of the leadership development program. Based on a statistical analysis, the t-test revealed statistically significant differences on behavioral scales, Vision, Support and Relentlessness. Linear regression indicated that who were trained performed better in terms of sales outcomes than those who received no training. Thus, the study supports both hypotheses and indicates clearly that the leadership development program has had an effect on two different outcomes of trainees compared to non-trainees and might be stipulated as an effective program.