Questions... Chapter 3 and 4

Behavioral Approach

Chapter 4

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Overview

 Behavioral Approach Perspective

 Ohio State Studies

 University of Michigan Studies

 Blake and Mouton’s Leadership Grid

 How Does the Behavioral Approach Work?

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Behavioral Approach Description

Perspective

 Emphasizes the behavior of the leader

 Focuses exclusively on what leaders do and how they act

Definition

 Composed of two general kinds of behaviors

 Task behaviors  Facilitate goal

accomplishment: Help group members achieve objectives

 Relationship behaviors  Help subordinates feel

comfortable with themselves, each other, and the situation

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Ohio State Studies (1 of 2)  Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire

(LBDQ)

 Identify number of times leaders engaged in specific behaviors

• 150 questions

 Participant settings (military, industrial, educational)

 Results

• Particular clusters of behaviors were typical of leaders

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Ohio State Studies (2 of 2)  LBDQ-XII (Stogdill, 1963)

 Shortened version of the LBDQ

 Most widely used leadership assessment instrument

 Results--Two general types of leader behaviors:

• Initiating structure--Leaders provide structure for subordinates

 Task behaviors--organizing work, giving structure to the work context, defining role responsibility, and scheduling work activities

• Consideration--Leaders nurture subordinates

 Relationship behaviors--building camaraderie, respect, trust, and liking between leaders and followers

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University of Michigan Studies  Exploring leadership behavior

 Specific emphasis on impact of leadership behavior on performance of small groups

 Results--Two types of leadership behaviors conceptualized as opposite ends of a single continuum  Employee orientation

• Strong human relations emphasis  Production orientation

• Stresses the technical aspects of a job  Later studies reconceptualized behaviors as two

independent leadership orientations--possible orientation to both at the same time

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Blake and Mouton’s Grid

Historical Perspective

 Leadership Grid Components  Authority-Compliance (9,1)

 Country Club Management (1,9)

 Impoverished Management (1,1)

 Middle-of-the-Road Management (5,5)

 Team Management (9,9)

 Paternalism/Maternalism (1,9; 9,1)

 Opportunism

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Historical Perspective Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Leadership Grid

Development

 Developed in early 1960s  Used extensively in

organizational training & development

Purpose

 Designed to explain how leaders help organizations to reach their purposes  Two factors

• Concern for production  How a leader is

concerned with achieving organizational tasks

• Concern for people  How a leader attends to

the members of the organization who are trying to achieve its goals

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Authority-Compliance (9,1)

Definition

 Efficiency in operations results from arranging conditions of work such that human interference is minimal

Role Focus

 Heavy emphasis on task and job requirements and less emphasis on people

 Communicating with subordinates mainly for task instructions

 Results driven--people regarded as tools to that end

 9,1 leaders--seen as controlling, demanding, hard-driving, and overpowering

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Country Club (1,9)

Definition

 Thoughtful attention to the needs of people leads to a comfortable, friendly organizational atmosphere and work tempo

Role Focus

 Low concern for task accomplishment coupled with high concern for interpersonal relationships

 Deemphasizes production; leaders stress the attitudes and feelings of people

 1,9 leaders--try to create a positive climate by being agreeable, eager to help, comforting, noncontroversial

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Impoverished (1,1)

Definition

 Minimal effort exerted to get work done is appropriate to sustain organizational membership

Role Focus

 Leader unconcerned with both task and interpersonal relationships

 Going through the motions, but uninvolved and withdrawn

 1,1 leaders--have little contact with followers and are described as indifferent, noncommittal, resigned, and apathetic

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Middle-of-the-Road (5,5)

Definition

 Adequate organizational performance possible through balancing the necessity of getting work done while maintaining satisfactory morale

Role Focus

 Leaders who are compromisers; have intermediate concern for task and people who do task

 To achieve equilibrium, leader avoids conflict while emphasizing moderate levels of production and interpersonal relationships

 5,5 leader--described as expedient; prefers the middle ground; soft-pedals disagreement; swallows convictions in the interest of “progress”

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Team (9,9)

Definition

 Work accomplished through committed people; interdependence via a “common stake” in the organization’s purpose, which leads to relationships of trust and respect

Role Focus

 Strong emphasis on both tasks and interpersonal relationships

 Promotes high degree of participation and teamwork, satisfies basic need of employee to be involved and committed to their work

 9,9 leader--stimulates participation, acts determined, makes priorities clear, follows through, behaves open- mindedly and enjoys working

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Paternalism/Maternalism

Definition

 Reward and approval are bestowed on people in return for loyalty and obedience; failure to comply leads to punishment

Role Focus

 Leaders who use both 1,9 and 9,1 without integrating the two

 The “benevolent dictator”; acts gracious for purpose of goal accomplishment

 Treats people as though they were disassociated from the task

 Regards the organization as a family

 Makes most of the key decisions  Rewards loyalty and punishes

non-compliance

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Opportunism

Definition

 People adapt and shift to any grid style needed to gain maximum advantage

Role Focus

 Performance occurs according to a system of selfish gain

 Leader uses any combination of the basic five styles for the purpose of personal advancement

 May be seen as ruthless and cunning

 May also be seen as adaptable and strategic

Leaders usually have a dominant grid style used in most situations and a backup style that is reverted to when under pressure

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How Does the Behavioral Approach Work?

 Focus of behavioral approach

 Strengths

 Criticisms

 Application

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Behavioral Approach

Focus

 Primarily a framework for assessing leadership as behavior with a task and relationship dimension

Overall Scope

 Offers a general means of assessing the behaviors of leaders

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Strengths  Behavioral approach marked a major shift in leadership

research from exclusively trait focused to include behaviors and actions of leaders

 Broad range of studies on leadership style validates and gives credibility to the basic tenets of the approach

 At conceptual level, a leader’s style is composed of two major types of behaviors: task and relationship

 The behavioral approach is heuristic--leaders can learn a lot about themselves and how they come across to others by trying to see their behaviors in light of the task and relationship dimensions

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Criticisms  Research has not adequately demonstrated how leaders’ styles are

associated with performance outcomes.

 No universal style of leadership that could be effective in almost every situation. Contextual factors such as team goals or cross functional team membership may require varied leadership styles.

 Implies that the most effective leadership style is High-High style (i.e., high task/high relationship); research finding support is limited.

 Most of the research comes from United States--centric perspective. Different cultures may prefer different leadership styles than those favored by current U.S. management practices.

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Application

 Many leadership training and development programs are designed along the lines of the style approach.

 By assessing their own style, managers can determine how they are perceived by others and how they could change their behaviors to become more effective.

 The style approach applies to nearly everything a leader does.

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