BEHAVIORAL AND SITUATIONAL MODELS OF LEADERSHIP

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Principles of Management MGT503

Lesson 13.38

BEHAVIORAL AND SITUATIONAL MODELS OF LEADERSHIP

Identifying Leader Behaviors

A number of researchers have focused on the question of whether specific behaviors, rather than traits,

make some leaders more effective than others.

If behavior studies turned up critical behavioral determinants of leadership, people could be trained

to be leaders.

Four main leader behavior studies are carried out.

University of Iowa Studies--Kurt Lewin and associates--studied three leadership styles: autocratic,

democratic, and laissez-faire.

The Ohio State Studies identified two important dimensions of leader behavior--initiating

structure and consideration.

University of Michigan Studies identified two dimensions of leader behavior--employee oriented

and production oriented.

The Managerial Grid is a two-dimensional grid for appraising leadership styles using "concern for

people" and "concern for production" as dimensions.

Predicting leadership success involved more than isolating a few leader traits or behavior. This

"failure" to attain consistent results led to a focus on situational influences.

University of Iowa researcher, Kurt Lewin, conducted some of the earliest attempts to identify effective

leadership behaviors.

Three types of leadership behavior styles were identified.

Autocratic leaders tend to make unilateral decisions, dictate work

methods, limit worker knowledge about goals to just the next step to be

performed, and sometimes give feedback that is punitive.

Democratic leaders tend to involve the group in decision making, let the

group determine work methods, make overall goals known, and use

feedback as an opportunity for helpful coaching.

Laissez-faire leaders generally give the group complete freedom, provide

necessary materials, participate only to answer questions, and avoid giving

feedback.

Research on the comparative effectiveness of the three leadership styles was

inconclusive.

The laissez-fair style was ineffective.

The effectiveness of the autocratic and democratic leaders varied,

although satisfaction levels tended to be higher in the democratically led

groups.

Michigan Studies

The Michigan studies compared leadership within groups already identified as effective or as ineffective.

A continuum was developed from employee-centered to job-centered approaches.

With the employee-centered approach, managers channel their main attention to

the human aspects of subordinates' problems and to the development of an

effective work group dedicated to high performance goals.

With the job-centered approach (or production-centered approach), leaders

divide the work into routine tasks, determine work methods, and closely supervise

workers to ensure that the methods are followed and productivity standards are

met.

The outcomes of the study were mixed, but they sometimes showed that the high-

producing work units tended to have job-centered supervisors.

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Ohio State Studies

Researchers at the Ohio State University developed a questionnaire to measure leaders' behaviors and to

correlate them with group performance and satisfaction.

Two behaviors were identified as particularly important.

Initiating structure is the degree to which a leader defines his or her own role and the roles of

subordinates in terms of achieving unit goals.

Consideration is the degree to which a leader builds mutual trust with subordinates, respects their

ideas, and shows concern for their feelings.

In contrast to the Iowa and Michigan studies, the two behaviors were considered

to be independent variables and are best illustrated with separate continuums

rather than the single continuum developed in the Iowa and Michigan studies.

The leader who is high in both initiating structure and consideration was thought

to be the most effective, but further research indicated that such a generalization

was too simplistic.

The Mouton-Blake Managerial Grid uses concern for people and concern for production as its two axes.

Used a training device, the grid enables managers to understand their own styles.

The manager high in concern for people and concern for production is the

theoretical ideal.

Research into male-female stereotypes of management styles do not hold. Most studies indicate

that male and female leaders are similar in the amounts of interpersonal and task behaviors exhibited.

Situational Theories

Lack of success in identifying an effective leadership style generalize-able to all situations

led to consideration of situational factors--i.e., any particular style of leadership could be

effective depending on the situation.

Situational theories are theories that emphasize situations.

Contingency theories are theories of leadership because they hold that appropriate

leader traits or behaviors are contingent, or dependent, on relevant situational

characteristics.

Fielder's contingency model is a situational approach originally developed by Fred

Fielder and his associates.

A leader's LPC orientation is a personality trait measured by the least preferred

coworker (LPC) scale.

The LPC scale is a 1 to 8 rating by the leader of "the person with whom the leader

can work least well."

The interpretation of the scale has been controversial, but there is an orthodox

interpretation at present.

Low-LPC leaders describe a least-preferred coworker in relatively negative

terms and are likely to be task-motivated.

High-LPC leaders describe a least-preferred coworker in relatively positive

terms and are likely to be people-motivated.

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Fielder maintains that management style or LPC orientation is difficult to change,

so it is important to carefully match the leader's personality to situational factors

that favor the leader's prospects for success.

The situation should be assessed to determine the degree of situational

control for the leader.

The most important situational variable is leader-member

relations, i.e., the extent to which the leader has the support of

group members.

Task structure is the extent to which a task is clearly specified

with regard to goals, methods, and standards of performance.

Position power is the amount of power that the organization

gives the leader to accomplish necessary tasks.

Leadership style should be matched with situation.

Low-LPC leaders do best in situations of either high favorability

or extremely low favorability.

High-LPC leaders do best in situations of moderate favorability

Recent analyses are tending to support Fielder's original research do suggest that

there are additional factors at work that are not accounted for in the contingency

model.

The normative leadership model is a model that helps leaders assess important

situational factors that affect the extent to which they should involve subordinates in

particular decisions.

Five types of management method for solving group problems are delineated.

Autocratic I (AI): You solve the problem or make the decision yourself

using present information.

Autocratic II (AII): You obtain necessary information from subordinates

without involving them in the decision, and make the decision yourself.

Consultative I (CI): You share the problem with the relevant subordinates

individually, then you make a decision which may or may not be

influenced by subordinates.

Consultative II (CII): You obtain ideas and suggestions from subordinates

in a group session, but make the decision yourself.

Group II (GII): You share the problem with your subordinates as a group

and coordinate their efforts to devise a solution.

A decision about which method to use is guided by the answer to eight questions.

How important is the technical quality of this decision?

How important is subordinate commitment to this decision?

Do you have sufficient information to make a high-quality decision?

Is the problem well structured?

If you were to make the decision by yourself, is it reasonably certain that

your subordinates would be committed to the decision?

Do subordinates share the organizational goals to be attained in solving

this problem?

Is conflict among subordinates over preferred solution likely?

Do subordinates have sufficient information to make a high-quality

decision?

The revised normative leadership model can be used in either of two variations:

when developing subordinates is more important than conserving time in decision

making or when minimizing time is more important.

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The situational leadership theory, developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard, is on

the premise that leaders need to alter their behaviors depending on the readiness of

followers.

Two leader behaviors are considered to be independent dimensions.

Task behavior is the extent to which the leader engages in spelling out the

duties and responsibilities of an individual or group.

Relationship behavior is the extent to which the leader engages in two-

way or multi-way communication

The four levels of readiness defined along a continuum from low to high readiness

prescribe the appropriate leadership style.

Telling is used in situations of low readiness, when followers are unable

and also unwilling or too insecure to take responsibility for a given task.

Selling is used for low to moderate readiness, when followers are unable

to take responsibility, but are willing or feel confident to do so.

Participating is used with moderate to high readiness, when followers are

able to take responsibility, but are unwilling or too insecure to do so.

Delegating is used for high readiness, when followers are able and willing

or confident enough to take appropriate responsibility.

Leaders should help increase the task-related readiness of their followers as quickly

as feasible by adjusting their own leadership styles.

Studies have found the situational theory of leadership particularly effective with

newly hired employees and employees in new jobs.

Recent analyses are tending to support Fielder's original research do suggest that

there are additional factors at work that are not accounted for in the contingency

model.

The path-goal theory of leadership attempts to explain how leader behavior impacts the motivation and

job satisfaction of subordinates.

The theory gets its name from the fact that it focuses on how leaders influence the

way that subordinates perceive work goals and possible paths to reaching both

work goals (performance) and personal goals (intrinsic and extrinsic rewards).

Path-goal theory relies heavily on the expectancy theory of motivation.

Four major leader behaviors can be used to affect subordinate perceptions of

paths and goals.

Directive leader behavior involves letting subordinates know what is

expected of them, providing guidance about work methods, developing

work schedules, identifying work evaluation standards, and indicating the

basis for outcomes or rewards.

Supportive leader behavior entails showing concern for the status, well-

being, and needs of subordinates; doing small things to make the work

more pleasant; and being friendly and approachable.

Participative leader behavior is characterized by consulting with

subordinates, encouraging their suggestions, and carefully considering

their ideas when making decisions.

Achievement-oriented leader behavior involves setting challenging

goals, expecting subordinates to perform at their highest level, and

conveying a high degree of confidence in subordinates.

Situational factors must be taken into account when choosing a leader behavior.

1. Subordinate characteristics include personality traits, skills, abilities, and needs.

2. Context characteristics include the task itself, the work group, and the organization's formal authority

system.

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Diagnosis in terms of expectancy theory leads to a choice of appropriate leader behavior and involves three

steps.

Think in terms of the elements used in expectancy theory to diagnose various situational factors in

terms of their effects on the three expectancy-theory elements (the path).

Effort-performance is the probability that our efforts will lead to the required performance level.

Performance-outcome expectancy is the probability that our successful performance will lead to

certain outcomes or rewards.

Valence is the anticipated value of the outcomes or rewards.

Diagnose situational factors that can be changed to enhance the expectancy theory elements are

targeted.

Appropriate leader behaviors are initiated to change the situational factors.

Path-goal theory encompasses multiple leader behaviors and a potentially large number of situational

variables. Its flexibility provides a useful framework about likely impacts of leader behavior on subordinate

motivation, goal attainment, and job satisfaction.

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