Relationshibetween Leadership Style and Communicative Skills of Managers with Mental Health of the Employees

This study intends to research the leadership styles (relationship oriented, task oriented) and communication skills (wordiness, listening, feedback) of managers and their effects on employees mental health at NajaValiasr Hospital in Tehran. This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study conducted in 1389 that enrolled 285 cases of hospital managers and employees. Subjects were selected by a relative random classical sampling procedure. The instruments used in this study were: i) Metzecas Standard Leadership Style Questionnaire; ii) Barton G.E. Communicative Skills; and iii) GHQ-28, a mental health questionnaire. Data were analyzed by means of descriptive and inferential statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficient test, multipul regression test and the MANOVA test by SPSS16. There was no significant relationship between leadership style and communicative skills of managers with relation to employee's mental health. There was a positive association between relationship-oriented style and the social malfunction of mental health, which was significant (P<0.05). Leadership style and communication skills of managers were not significant predictors for employee mental health (P>0.05). According to the different dimensions of mental health, the dimension of depression differed significantly among males and females (P<0.05). Based on the research findings, conducting workshops to familiarize managers with leadership styles and their impacts as well as workshops for improving employee mental health are recommended.