MGT 656 Leadership Theory and Practice STYLE APPROACH
Style Approach Style approach emphasizes the behavior of the leader what leaders do and how they act How is it different from trait approach? How is it different from skills approach?
Style Approach Researchers identified two broad set of behaviors - Task behaviors Relationship behaviors Research at Ohio State University (late 1940s) based on the works of Stogdill (1948) University of Michigan (about the same time) Blake and Mouton (1960s)
Ohio State Studies Perceived personality based research as fruitless Wanted to know how leaders act Identified two general types of leader behaviors Initiating structure essentially task behaviors Consideration essentially relationship behaviors Not as two points at a single continuum, but as two different continua The degree to which a leader exhibits one behavior is not related to the degree to which she or he exhibits other behavior
Initiating Structure, Employee Grievances and Turnover (Fleishman & Harris, 1962)
Consideration, Employee Grievances and Turnover (Fleishman & Harris, 1962)
The University of Michigan Studies Identified two types of leadership behaviors Employee orientation strong human relations emphasis; parallels consideration Production orientation technical aspects of the job; parallels initiating structure Two independent leadership orientations
Managerial (Leadership) Grid (Blake & Mouton) Two leadership factors Concern for production refers to how a leader is concerned with achieving organizational goals Concern for people refers to how a leader attends to the people in the organization who are trying attain its goals Grid two intersecting axes Leader s concern for results horizontal axis Leader s concern for people vertical axis
Managerial (Leadership) Grid (Blake & Mouton)
Authority Compliance (9,1) The 9,1 style of leadership places heavy emphasis on task; less emphasis on people Controlling, demanding, hard driving, overpowering Critical assessment?
Country-Club Management The 1,9 style of leadership represents a low concern for task and a high concern for people They create a positive climate Agreeable, eager to help, comforting, uncontroversial Critical assessment?
Impoverished Management (1,1) The 1,1style is representative of a leader who is unconcerned with both the task and interpersonal relationships Could be described as indifferent, noncommittal, resigned and apathetic Critical assessment?
Middle-of-the-road Management The 5,5 describes leaders who are compromisers, who have an intermediate concern for the task and intermediate concern for the people who do the task They find a balance between task and people Could be described as one who is expedient, prefers middle ground, soft-pedals disagreement, avoids conflicts Critical assessment?
Team Management (9,9) The 9,9 style strongly emphasize task and relationships Stimulates participation, acts determined, get issues into the open, make priorities clear, follows through, behaves openmindedly, enjoys working Critical assessment?
Paternalism / Maternalism Refers to a leader who uses both 1,9 and 9,1 styles but does not integrate both. Benevolent dictator who acts graciously but for the purpose of goal attainment. Described as fatherly / motherly, regard the organization as family, make most of the key decisions, reward obedience and punish noncompliance
Paternalism / Maternalism Blake & McCanse (1991)
Opportunism Refers to a leader who will use any combination of the basic five styles for personal advancement Ruthless, cunning, self-motivated According to Blake & Mouton (1985), leaders usually have a dominant style and a back up style which they fall on to under pressure
Opportunism Blake & McCanse (1991)
Strengths Broadened the scope of leadership research by including leadership behavior Supported by multitude of research Identified leadership styles which are important for effective leadership by balancing these two styles Leaders can assess their own style and determine how they might want to change the dominant style
Criticisms Has not given focus on the relationship between leadership styles and outcomes (Bryman, 1992; Yukl 1994) Only strong finding about styles is that followers of considerate leaders are more satisfied (Yukl, 1994) Unable to identify universal behaviors associated with effective leadership It implies that a high high style is more effective. However, there is less empirical support for that claim