Effective leadership is deemed important because of the impact leaders have on employees, which affects organizational outcomes. How leaders are deemed effective is connected to the implicit leadership theories held by employees, which informs the expectations employees have of their leaders. A gap was identified in the literature regarding employee expectations. This study explored how non-manager, professional staff (non-faculty) employees in U.S. community colleges managed the match or mismatch between their expectations of their immediate leaders compared to their perceptions of the leader's behaviors. A generic qualitative inquiry design was used for the study, which is an ideal methodology for exploring the participants' perceptions and opinions about working with their supervisor. Purposive sampling was used to define the population, and a snowball recruitment approach resulted in a sample of twelve participants, seven females and five males, from nine community colleges located in the U.S. Thematic analysis was used to code the data gathered from semi-structured interviews. NVivo software was used to process and track the coding process. Patterns emerged from the coded data resulting in the emergence of five themes of "expectations, importance of match, impact, managing expectations," and "change of expectations." The results of the study revealed that employees are aware of the impact their leaders have on them and that, in response to how they perceive the actions and behaviors of their supervisors, employees take certain actions to manage the expectations they have of their supervisors. The study's results suggest that when leaders have an improved awareness of their employee's expectations, they can improve the match between what employees expect and perceive in their supervisor's actions and behaviors. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]