MGT 506 Module 4 SLP

Lecture Notes: Style Approach: Tasks vs. Relationships

There are two important behaviors related to leadership style: task and relationship. Task behaviors facilitate goal accomplishment by helping group members achieve their objectives (Northouse, 2004, p. 65). Relationship behaviors help subordinates feel comfortable with themselves, with each other, and with the situation in which they find themselves (Northouse, 2004, p. 65). Finding the optimum way to lead has been the optimum goal of many researchers at several universities.

The "Ohio State" Studies

In the late 1940s, the leadership research program at Ohio State University measured specific leadership behaviors. The researchers had subordinates complete questionnaires about their leaders by using the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ). Researchers found that subordinates responses on the questionnaire clustered around two underlying dimensions of leader behaviors: initiating structure and consideration. Initiating structure behaviors were essentially task behaviors focused on getting work completed as efficiently as possible. On the other hand, consideration behaviors were essentially relationship behaviors focused on building friendships. Around the same time, researchers at the University of Michigan were also investigating leadership behavior.

The "Michigan" Studies

The Michigan studies revealed two types of leadership behaviors: employee orientation and production orientation. Surprisingly, those studies revealed similar concepts to initiating structure and consideration. Employee orientation describes the behaviors of leaders who approach followers or subordinates with a humanistic perspective or relationship orientation. On the other hand, production orientation describes the behaviors of leaders who focus on productivity and efficiency or task orientation. Northouse (2004) explains, ...the Michigan researchers, in their initial studies, conceptualized employee and production orientations as opposite ends of a single continuum ... leaders who were oriented toward production were less oriented to employees, and those who were employee oriented were less production oriented (p. 68). Since then, researchers have tended to look at these two orientations as separate dimensions, rather than a single constuct, so that a leader can conceivably be high on one dimension, but low on the other, high on both, or low on both. Today, this framework is often used to better understand the behaviors of leaders from different cultures.

For this SLP, you will complete a short survey and then will analyze your results.

Survey instructions: Take the following task vs. relationship leadership survey. After you have completed the survey, add up your scores for tables 1 and table 2 to determine your dominant leadership style. To determine your dominant personal leadership style, circle one of the following options that best describe how you see yourself (or the person that is being evaluated) regarding each statement. For each statement, you can indicate the degree to which you (or the person being evaluated) engage(s) in the stated behavior. A rating of 1 means Never and a rating of 5 means Always with the person demonstrating the specific behavior.

SLP Assignment:

Drawing on the material in the background readings and doing additional research, please prepare a paper that addresses your results for the survey (more task oriented or relationship oriented) and how you plan on using your results to become a more influential leader. Also, discuss whether you think it is more beneficial for a leader to be focused on tasks or relationships in an organization. Please provide examples to justify your response.

SLP Assignment Expectations

Your paper should be short 2- page not including the cover sheet, references, and assessment sheet) and to the point. You are expected to deal with these issues in an integrated fashion, rather than treating them as a series of individual questions to be answered one by one and left at that.