The purpose of the article is to investigate the relationships between leadership styles, management competence and performance levels of an organizational unit that is submitted to a leader’s formal authority. Drawing on leadership contingent theories, the work examines how leadership styles and management competence influence team performance of an organizational unit taking into account contextual factors. Our research is based on a qualitative investigation. As the case study approach refers to an in-depth study and investigation of a contemporary phenomenon within the real-life context, we set up a case study. The research has been performed in one of the call centres of an Italian telecommunication company.